First, the “formal announcement.”
There was a time when these announcements meant a lot to me, and they still do in a very “course of business” way, although I think they have a greater utility for the publisher and my agent. The fact is, I started writing a draft of The Black Light Club (now The Lightning Tree) back in April 2023. I had various iterations of it done by early 2024, and we sold it in October or so of last year. We’re now working on flap jacket copy, copy edits, cover design, etc.
I’ve been living with this book for a while now, and it still won’t see store shelves until October.
This is a different book for me—yes, I know I say that with every damn book—and I am proud of it. I think each of the last two books have inched closer to…I don’t know, big commercial swings? But this one probably grabs for that with both hands.
I have absolutely no idea how it’ll do or be received.
All that being said, I’m still amazed, delighted, blessed, whenever one of my books gets out into the wild. Writing a book is hard, humbling work. No, it’s not like being an E.R. doctor (checkout The Pitt, on Max, it’s good) or even a federal agent the way I was for nearly thirty years. But it’s still a helluva an accomplishment, one I hope I NEVER take for granted. I went to a bookstore the other day and just cruised the shelves, checking out all the new releases, flipping pages and reading random passages, feeling the weight of someone else’s work in my hands, as a way of reminding myself that my new book will soon be on those shelves too. It’s important to recognize the accomplishments in this business, because they can feel few and far between, and truthfully, they often are.
Anyway, I’ll have more to say about this book in the coming weeks.
Now, onward—
My work flow over the last week has been a little all over the place.
My youngest daughter was here for a bit, escaping college for a few days, so we spent some time together, including trying a new pizza & cocktail bar, to both of our delight.
I also took the plunge and picked up a MacBook Air for my impending Los Angeles sojourn. I’ve never owned a Mac before, but wanted something slim and lightweight with an exceedingly long battery for the writer’s room and on-set. I’ve long used Final Draft for scripting, but also just grabbed Fade In, and I’m considering picking up John August’s Highland as well, which is Mac-only software. It’s not that there is anything explicitly wrong with Final Draft, it’s just I find it doesn’t seem to work quite as well on my Windows laptop as it does on my desktop, and even there it can be a bit wonky. Fortunately my daughter was able to give me some basic “here are your Mac” lessons, so I now have the new rig set up and ready for travel.
We’ve had multiple rounds of snow and cold here in Kentucky, which hasn’t made us housebound, but has made running around outside kind of a pain in the ass. I don’t mind snow or winter weather in theory, but I don’t like to freeze either. We truly won’t see much warming for another week or so, so even though today it’s sunny, it’s barely above 20 degrees.
I want to thank all of you who’ve pledged money to subscribe to the Far Six. I’ve set up the necessary infrastructure to do so, but still haven’t flipped the switch on monetizing this little endeavor. And while I’ve seen a nice steady influx of new visitors/readers every week, I’m just not yet willing to put a lock the door. But again, I appreciate those of you who find value in my musings here, and I hope you continue to do so.
I’ve been revising my spec screenplay (Ouroboros), working on my (most likely) next book (Murmur), and dealing with other odds and ends related to the joint screenplay I wrote last year and the shows I should be working on. I’m also reading a book I’ll be blurbing, and starting to noodle around on ideas for an online writing presentation I’m co-developing with another writer. The last couple of weeks have featured a little bit of everything, because nothing’s quite totally done, so every day my desk just kind of looks like this—
Leaving me looking like this—
Frazzled, frayed, but excited by what the year is going to bring…
Next week, I’m going to talk about feature-length screenplays!
As always, feel free to—
Congrats on the sale. Looking forward to what you have to say about screenwriting.
Congrats on the sale, Todd. Good work!