And so it begins—again.
Yep, you’ll recall that last week when I finished the copyedit I also reminded you of an earlier post’s observation that:
“…the copyedit is also the milestone after which I really feel freed up — to concentrate fully on the next book. In this case … that book is The Chaos Gate (working title), otherwise known as The Wall Of Night, Book Four.
And as we all know, The Wall Of Night Book Four is also the final book in the WALL series.”
A statement that is both exciting and daunting, because a book constitutes a mighty voyage and although one may always hope for fair conditions and a steady following breeze, one may also have to weather squalls, languish in the doldrums, or even round the authorial equivalent of Cape Horn before finally making safe harbour.
And, of course, although I have obviously been working on The Chaos Gate (GATE for short—not least because there’s NO WAY I want to invoke chaos right now 😉 ) between the various edit and copyedit stages of Daughter Of Blood, some character storyboarding, detailed plotting, background research, and passages of exploratory writing, are not the same thing as pulling out the (albeit metaphorical these days) blank page and saying: “Yup, this is it. The beginning.”
Isn’t that magical, though, just saying it: the beginning?!
I love it!
So think of me, like Masefield’s mariner in Sea Fever, as the craft of story* slips its moorings and turns ocean-ward to:
“…the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking…
…for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied…”
And bid me “godspeed” & wish me those fair, following winds as you wave from the auld grey shore. 🙂
—
*alludes to Ursula Le Guin's wonderful book on writing, Steering The Craft
Whoooaaaa … how wonderful Helen.
Godspeed .. waving from the shore.. oh damn it, rogue waves = wet boots!!
😉
Robin
You gotta watch those rogue waves–but thank you!
Wishing you a tall ship and bright star to sail her by!
A pilot star. 🙂 (A reference that will become even clearer—I hope—once DAUGHTER is out.)
Wow, how exciting! Intriguing title. Good luck and don’t get caught out.
I shall try not to, Marion.:)