As some of you may have noticed I finished the final draft of Surreality last week. There should be about two months of proofing and formatting before the book is released on Amazon (not your summer beach read, but your fall curled up in a cabin by the fire read maybe?) There’s still a bit to do. I’m going back and forth on the formatting for chapter headers, first sentences and letters of each chapter, line spacing, scene differentiating and of course cover shooting and designing. And there’ll be a lot of Columbus themed posts before and after the launch to help you guys get even more immersed in the world of Surreality and city I write from.
But right now I’m fighting the urge that I think most writers have to face at some point. The urge to start another book right away.
This has been a bit of a pattern for me. I’ll finish a draft and be happy and pleased but exhausted. My brain wants to go in a different place for a while and I start writing on something else. Pretty soon I’m well into another first draft of a book. This so far has resulted in a queue of two more books in various stages of development, and untold numbers still in my head.
That said, I want to follow up Surreality with something exciting as soon as I can. I’m working on the outline (though admittedly all in my head at the moment) for the second book, and have a tentative idea of what books 3-4 (or 5) will be. Each of these are self-contained mysteries (but there are also series long arcs and character developments to think about as well).
And what I really should be doing is writing short stories, some for the blog, and some hopefully for some kind of publication. I have a problem though with coming up with short ideas. Everything that pops in my head wants to be a novel. I have been enjoying participating in a facebook writing group with Jo Eberhardt called Bradbury’s 52. There we write a short story each week with a brand new random theme (person, place or thing). So far the prompts have been very challenging but my mind always manages to come up with something. I think this will be a good exercise in keeping me from going down the same paths again and again, and getting me to think in different ways. Depending on how fully realized each story is, I may share some of these with you on the blog.
I’m trying to do some more reading (and more than just comic books though you’ll see some more NetGalley reviews on Thursday). I’m working through the first of the Kathy Reichs Bones novels, and I’ve got a couple of collections of short stories I’m reading to put me more in that headspace. I might try some Jeffrey Deaver as well or another Elizabeth George or Colin Dexter. I’m looking for good books in the thriller, mystery, suspense genre at the moment, so if you have any thoughts leave them in the comments.
And I of course will be working on the final text of Surreality. In fact I promise to do some work right after I post this and drink some more coffee 😉
[BTW] : Ben Trube, Writer 
Congratulations, Ben!