What it looks like at the moment

Hello Adventurers,

It's cold and rainy day here in the northwest. A perfect day to sit back and work on Adventure #4. I received an email from my editor and he promised to have Next Rest Stop: Earth back to me before Christmas. Once it's back in my hands I can make the changes and be one step closer to completing it. Until then I will focus on Edgar.

Growing up I always wondered how my favorite writers worked. Did they just barricade themselves in a room and hover over a typewriter with a pot of coffee? Did they write the entire book out by hand first? Did they retreat to a cabin in the woods to escape the world?

I unfortunately have to hold down a full time job in advertising, which makes it hard to concentrate on the books. I give them as much time as I can on the weekends and evenings, but I do have a family and life to live as well. I dream of the day when writing is my only job. I'm sure it will happen one day. There are a lot of books in my head and all I have is time. As for my process;

1. I start with a detailed outline of the entire story. I also write out a characters list and highlight all the notes from my research.

2. Once I have all that I open the laptop and type out a first draft. It's really rough, just me getting the basic story out of my head and into the computer.

3. I will then read through this draft and make sure I haven't missed anything from the outline and I also make sure the story flows and makes sense. At this stage I'm not worried about spelling or grammar.

4. The pages are then printed out and I read it again, but this time sentence by sentence with a pen and extra attention on the details.

5. I'll then make these changes to the file, read it one more time and then send it to my editor for their notes.

Right at this moment I'm between steps 3 and 4. Above is a picture of what I have. On the left is my marked up manuscript. On the right is the list of characters in the story.

I'd better get to it if I'm to have it completed by late summer.

Your friend and storyteller,
~p