Welcome to Jon's Author Diary for the week ending July 7, 2019.
This week has been characterised by getting first drafts done. I complete the first drafts of Cleric of the Wasteland, the Black Death trilogy, and Black Death: London.
Black Death: London
Now, I’m not quite sure what Black Death: London will end up being. It could work as a standalone novella, my co-author could write his own point of view story around it, or I could write another point of view character and turn it into a standalone novel—I’ve got far too many ideas for this one!
Black Death: London is an apocalyptic story about a politician who uses the outbreak of a deadly plague to move up the political ranks. It’s probably the most satirical thing I’ve ever written, and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the insanity of the story…I know what they say about laughing at your own jokes.
The main character is a scheming egomaniac who will stop at nothing—and I mean nothing—to get just a little bit more power. I used to work as a political reporter and also worked as press coordinator for a shadow minister, so it’s definitely one of those ‘write what you know’ situations.
The Hermit
On Thursday, I released The Hermit, which is episode nine of The Ravenglass Chronicles. I didn’t think until I set the date for release that July 4 is a holiday in the States. I think it celebrates that time Will Smith punched an alien…I might be wrong. You can check that out HERE.
Blind Reset
I’ve just finished doing an edit of the first quarter of my follow-up to my gamelit novel/story about coming to terms with going blind, Blind Gambit, titled Blind Reset. If you have been following my work for a while, you’ll know that I abandoned Blind Reset a year ago. I didn’t think the story was working and I made the decision to give it up as a bad job.
I hate abandoning projects, and this has hung over me for the past year. So, a few weeks ago, I dug out what I had written so far and revisited the outline. I made a few tweaks and I’m now excited about the story again.
I think I made the decision to abandon Blind Reset at a time when I was dealing with depression, so it feels good to resurrect this project and throw up a middle finger to depression’s hold on me.
Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to focus primarily on getting a first draft done. So, wish me luck.
My thinking is that when I come to the end of The Ravenglass Chronicles next year, I want to be in a position where I have no lingering projects. I can start on something new and focus all of my attention on one thing.
If you enjoy reading these newsletters, my Author Diary podcast goes into more detail and is probably a bit more stream-of-consciousness than these posts. Got to joncronshaw.libsyn.com or find Jon Cronshaw’s Author Diary on iTunes, Stitcher, or through your favourite podcast app.
Yours,
Jon
