in October 2013, I brought out my first 'war world' novel TANDEM via Chimericana Books. It took two months to write and edit. It was liberating; great fun to do. in January 2014, I brought out 'free planet part 2' LIBERATOR via Chimericana Books, the follow-up to CUSTODIAN (free planet part 1) released in early 2013. I had begun Liberator earlier in 2013 and put it to one side until after the writing of Tandem when I realised that 'character writes its own story'. And I noticed something about 'the way my writing mind works'. I was 'distracted' by having to do something else REALLY IMPORTANT during the successful writing periods of both of the above novels. I mean by this, "I wasn't just writing a book in isolation, chapter after chapter, scene after scene." I was doing 'something else' for the majority of the time. In fact, squeezing in writing-time for both those novels was quite a job of work in itself. I mean, I had no time to write but I found I could take notes and slip in the odd chapter here and there. Sometimes one set of pages a day, the cumulative weight of words snatched when time permitted. So, what would be the best way for me to progress with a more productive writing schedule? Write two books at once. Allow the writing of each book to distract me from the writing of the other. And that's what I'm going to do. And it'll work. They're going to be STALKER'S GUIDE TO... and DAY OF THE REAPER (free planet part 3). I always tend to have two book ideas on the go anyway, so there's always a modicum of cross-pollenation. One's always more part-written than the other. But if I intentionally write the first chapter of 'guide to', then intentionally write the first chapter of 'reaper', then intentionally write the second chapter of 'guide to', then write the second chapter of 'reaper', and so on... But shouldn't I be out doing promotional tours for Tandem and Liberator first? Shouldn't I be ensuring that sent-out copies get review column inches? Isn't it more important to 'grow my market'? Grow my audience? Well, no, not to me. You The Reader don't want to find out about Mike Philbin books, I can't help that. In fact, I never started writing books so that I could spend my in-between-writing periods slutting and schmoozing around the 'let me on your show' circuit. Fuck that. I got things to make and things to do before I'm dead. If you wanna tag along for the ride, you're more than welcome. But I am not stopping for nobody. Ding, ding. This bus driver got passengers to get to destinations.
Books Magazine
New Novel(s) Plural - the Promotional Tour That Never Was - Writers Aren't Whores at the Capitalist Gang-bang
By Freeplanet @CUST0D1AN in October 2013, I brought out my first 'war world' novel TANDEM via Chimericana Books. It took two months to write and edit. It was liberating; great fun to do. in January 2014, I brought out 'free planet part 2' LIBERATOR via Chimericana Books, the follow-up to CUSTODIAN (free planet part 1) released in early 2013. I had begun Liberator earlier in 2013 and put it to one side until after the writing of Tandem when I realised that 'character writes its own story'. And I noticed something about 'the way my writing mind works'. I was 'distracted' by having to do something else REALLY IMPORTANT during the successful writing periods of both of the above novels. I mean by this, "I wasn't just writing a book in isolation, chapter after chapter, scene after scene." I was doing 'something else' for the majority of the time. In fact, squeezing in writing-time for both those novels was quite a job of work in itself. I mean, I had no time to write but I found I could take notes and slip in the odd chapter here and there. Sometimes one set of pages a day, the cumulative weight of words snatched when time permitted. So, what would be the best way for me to progress with a more productive writing schedule? Write two books at once. Allow the writing of each book to distract me from the writing of the other. And that's what I'm going to do. And it'll work. They're going to be STALKER'S GUIDE TO... and DAY OF THE REAPER (free planet part 3). I always tend to have two book ideas on the go anyway, so there's always a modicum of cross-pollenation. One's always more part-written than the other. But if I intentionally write the first chapter of 'guide to', then intentionally write the first chapter of 'reaper', then intentionally write the second chapter of 'guide to', then write the second chapter of 'reaper', and so on... But shouldn't I be out doing promotional tours for Tandem and Liberator first? Shouldn't I be ensuring that sent-out copies get review column inches? Isn't it more important to 'grow my market'? Grow my audience? Well, no, not to me. You The Reader don't want to find out about Mike Philbin books, I can't help that. In fact, I never started writing books so that I could spend my in-between-writing periods slutting and schmoozing around the 'let me on your show' circuit. Fuck that. I got things to make and things to do before I'm dead. If you wanna tag along for the ride, you're more than welcome. But I am not stopping for nobody. Ding, ding. This bus driver got passengers to get to destinations.
