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I’m that writer that lays down in the evening and lets backbrain grind and churn as I relax and start to fall asleep. In the old days, I worked out most of Javier and Suvi long before I discovered that I could make money writing about them. And Uly and Dan.

These days, I’ve trained myself to listen and remember the good bits. Usually, little chunks or scenes will come out of such things.

Then there’s last week.

Wednesday night, a new character started yammering at me. I mean YAMMERING.

Thursday, he would not shut up, so I started taking notes on my phone. I have immense numbers of worlds and settings I have documented that way. Less than half of them ever turn into books, though sometimes three ideas will cross-fertilize and mutate into one thing. Those are usually the ones that gestate.

Yammering.

Friday, I opened up the writing phone and let him run. I mean, I already has the entire damned plot in my head. Usually, I have character/setting/problem and maybe a couple of milestones to touch on as we go, with a fair estimate as to how it ends. Usually not where, so I let any Book One establish itself and dictate what the rest of the series should strive for in length.

No. I know how the villain gets it. And why. And what happens in more than a dozen points along the way that I had a hard time figuring out which of three different points to start from. Ended up with the first of them, chronologically, just so I could run like hell forward without stopping to flashback or info dump later.

Sometimes, you start in the middle, then use those flashback moments to slow the pace down and give the reader a moment to breathe.

Fuck that. You are going to start a four minute mile with this one. Hope you’re ready.

Started writing Friday. Mind you, I’m still churning happily along on Scattered Tribes 3 in the morning. This is sitting on the couch or in the chair in the afternoon/evening, furiously typing on a virtual keyboard with autocorrect off and suggestion on. I have gotten really fast on that phone, because it has learned my vocabulary now.

So Friday-Monday, while doing things like going to a book fair in Pyuallup or the BBQ event in Enumclaw or hanging out with the boyz, I have over 12,000 words on Harri done. And I’m just going to write the damned thing and get it done with so he’ll shut up for a while. Probably the start of a new series because hello, have you met me?

It will come out at some point. Might finish it and throw it to the wolves just because. Not like I’m not into my 2027 publishing schedule at this point. Got all of 2026 nailed down. And Harri is novel #11 this year, with three months to go. And plans for more Last Stand novellas, which go really fast.

You will be entertained. I just have to get Harri, Dash, and Royce to shut up for a while.

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

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