I know, it's not Blackjack, and I know, it's what's kept me from Blackjack, and I know, it's not terribly popular around here...but it's done and it's coming. And it's the best thing I've ever done. Now that this is out, and I've fulfilled my commitment up and until Episode 6 of the series, I can go at Fugitive hardcore. My plan is still to get back on an April/May timetable like books 1-2, and keep them coming as long as I have killer ideas coming.
See, this book was hard. Is hard. I've struggled. Anyone reading this blog for awhile will know this. I didn't want a letdown with this third book, I wanted to do something better than what we had before, and I'd kind of written myself into a corner. There's really only two logical places Blackjack can go from where we left off in book 2.
I wrote a good part of one of those two choices and it didn't feel honest. It felt rushed, and totally unreal based on the world Blackjack inhabits. So I went the other way, and I think it's made all the difference. Blackjack, though, is still fighting. For example:
I had this idea that Apogee takes Blackjack to her personal hiding spot - the home of Mirage. I had this idea that she drops him there, with the person that disapproves the most of their budding relationship and there'd I'd do "wax on, wax off" and what not. My people told me it's cliche, that it's been done to death, but I'm a stubborn old goat, so I went with it. Until I started writing it. That's what Blackjack said no. He didn't want to go. It's weird. It sounded stupid suddenly, what I had until recently been all excited about. It was passive, and my character objected.
So, yeah, Blackjack's got a mind of his own. We're redoing the whole Castle Black sequence and then Blackjack's leading me someplace else. Somewhere that's more fun.
Anyway, this week it's Interstellar Overdrive until I get it uploaded tomorrow (and it should be ready to go by Tuesday)...then the big guy comes up to bat.
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