Hello, dreamers. It’s already been a busy month, but it’s only halfway over. I have a lot to do this week on my road to Pitch Wars. So without further ado, here’s what I’ll be working on:

The Pioneers

It’s finally happening. As of tonight, I’ve converted The Pioneers to manuscript format in preparation for Pitch Wars.

That alone was a feat, but I also managed to draft my query letter this evening. While there will no doubt be changes, already I feel better about this query letter than I have for any iteration of the one I wrote for Wide Horizon. That, I feel, confirms my long-held belief that the biggest impediment to publishing the novel wasn’t marketability; it was me. Now, with a story I truly believe in, it’s not so hard to write something to really sell this. I still have a synopsis to write, and I still feel I can improve my query letter. But I feel good about this start, and about having several more weeks to play around with it.

Over the course of the week I plan to continue refining the query letter, and to eventually draft a one-page synopsis.

Rise of the Pioneers

With most of my notes and initial plotting complete, I feel I’m ready to tackle this new novel. As such, this week I plan on continuing work on the eventual sequel to The Pioneers.

At this point, I have a much clearer picture of how the opening phases of the book will go. Much of the early chapters will be devoted to Holmes catching up with old friends on Samarkand, while providing the reader with some backstory regarding the preceding 33 odd years. Part of me feels that should make this portion of the story easier to write. But after two novels, part of me knows better.

This much is certain: I need to get some solid work done on this. Last year I had already written a great deal of The Pioneers prior to the start of Pitch Wars. After Pitch Wars began, however, my output dropped to zero. The anxiety combined with the demands of a new circle of writers pulled me away from my project. And while I managed to get back, it took NaNoWriMo to get there.

If I’m to follow the same path I took last year, I’d like to lay down at least one phase of the novel prior to Pitch Wars. That’s about 60,000 words, most likely. I have my work cut out for me.

It’s going to be a grueling week again, dreamers, but I feel I’m up to the task. Keep reading, and dare to dream. – MK