Joshua P. Simon - The Accidental Author

Thought I’d give another quick writing update for the blog.

Hero of Slaves - The novella which takes place after Books 1 & 2 in the Blood and Tears Trilogy is in the final edits/proofing stage. As mentioned previously, this shorter work fills in the gaps surrounding Cassus since his departure from the Hell Patrol at the beginning of Rise and Fall.

It shouldn’t take me long to wrap these last tweaks up and hand it over to Leah for formatting. I just need to set aside some time in the next few days to do so. After that, the blurb/description needs a final read through, then it will be ready to publish. I was originally planning for a December 1, 2012 date. If that date changes, it will only be earlier which is a good thing

Book 3 of the Blood and Tears Trilogy – The good news is that I have officially finished the rough draft of the book (completed on Friday, October 19th, after a solid 3000 word writing day). I will admit that I do need to add a couple of short scenes here or there, and I have yet to write the epilogue...however, the story is essentially done. Call me silly, but I don’t want to write the epilogue (probably only a couple thousand words) until I’ve finished a couple rounds of revisions.

Though completing the draft felt good, it didn’t feel as satisfying as I thought it would. This is probably because I know it isn’t ready for anyone to read yet. I’ll feel better about the work as it goes through my normal revision process. Still, it’s a noteworthy accomplishment that I’m pretty proud of. I’m hoping to get this to Leah for her first read through in the next few weeks…kind of scary to think about.

Oddly enough, the book is a lot shorter than I thought it would be. The final version of Rise and Fall was about 174K, Steel and Sorrow about 145K. Despite being packed with action, story, and character development, Book 3 is currently sitting in the low 130s (plus a couple thousand words for the epilogue). I hope that means that I’m doing a better job of telling a lean, yet satisfying tale. :)

Now, if I can only decide on a title . . .