In the midst of all the excitement over the release of my second novel in the Cerah of Quadar series, (perhaps you’ve heard? Many Hidden Rooms is now available?) I haven’t done much writing about what I’m writing currently. (Don’t you hate writers that write about writing? I should write something about that one day!)

This seems like as good a time as any to correct that. I’m currently 18 first-draft chapters into the third Cerah of Quadar book, entitled A New Shadow. It has been a somewhat different experience than writing the first two books.

I found the process has evolved over the course of the three, which I suppose is a logical outcome. Everything changes, and if you’re working hard at it, hopefully it changes for the better.

When I wrote A Dark Clock, (perhaps you’ve heard? A Dark Clock is still available!), I’ll be honest, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I had an idea, and I started writing and hoped that eventually, I’d end up with a book. Thankfully that’s what happened. With Many Hidden Rooms, I knew exactly where I was going, and I only had to figure out how to get there. Thankfully that’s what happened.

The third book deals with a new generation, with new challenges and a new shadow, oddly enough [ed. note: see title above] cast upon the planet. What I’m running into here is a new phenomenon for me. I don’t know if I will be able to fit the scope of story I’ve envisioned into the same format that characterized the first two. As I said I’m eighteen chapters in, and I’m just beginning to get to the heart of the story.

I should probably explain what I mean when I speak of format. The first two books worked out, totally organically, to be 30 chapters in length, with a 31st chapter that served as a teaser for the book that followed. I am not 100% sure I’ll be able to do that again.

Of course, we’re still on the honeymoon. The first draft of any book is all about plunking words down on the screen and not worrying much about if it’s any damn good. (I can tell you right now: it isn’t!) Like any relationship in its early stages, you overlook a lot of faults that will later drive you to places you do not want to go. It’s all about getting to know one another. It’s about good feelings.

Kind of how writing book three feels.

So the fact that I’m feeling with each new chapter that there’s so much more that I need to fit isn’t really freaking me out… too much.

The folks on my mailing list, (perhaps you’ve heard? You too can join my mailing list), are going to receive some insider info about A New Shadow very soon that will discuss some of the intricacies and specifics that separate the storyline from what’s come before but I won’t cut you out of the sizzle altogether. I will tell you this: book three will end with a short teaser chapter that holds a twist which will make the first two seem positively blasé. Your face will literally look like this:

This will be YOUR FACE!!