I’m currently working on my first draft of Corruption of Blood, the third novel in the Blake Heira series. Things have not been going well. Actually, it has been so badly, I am thinking of reworking a huge amount of it. The main reason things have been going so badly is that I have been experimenting with my process. Usually, I use a modification of the Snowflake Method to plot out my books. For this book, I decided to go with a much more loose outline than normal. The premise was to try to be more free with my writing to see how things go. One key to improvement is to test your assumptions, try new things, and see if there are better ways to do something.

It turns out that this sort of free writing has turned into a rambling mess. Worse, even though I know where I want this to go, I’m stuck trying to get there. Quite frankly, the whole thing is frustrating. Therefore, it is time for me to adapt, cut my losses, and move on. That means going back to what I’m comfortable with. So, I’ll be replanning the novel using my standard methodology. It may mean significant rewrites, but that’s fine. I think I would have rewritten much of it, anyway.

This doesn’t mean that I’ll stop experimenting, though. If I want to improve as a writer, I need to take these chances. I don’t want to be stuck in a rut or worse, stop writing entirely because I’m bored with how I do it. As creatives, we are constantly chasing that high. The worst thing would be to give up on that, even if it is by becoming too comfortable with one’s self.

I still don’t have a date on the anthology, but once I do, I’ll put it up here with a link. My editor has had some significant personal issues recently, which has delayed the editing of Illusion of Truth. Once I know more, I’ll update my Books page. I’m hoping that we can get this out in May, but June seems more likely.