Thursday, November 8, 2012

Time to get moving

The election's over. Baseball's over. My book is published. It's time to step into the future. But there are two things standing in my way.

The first is that I'm waiting for my next manic period. Longtime readers of this blog know I'm manic-depressive. I call it manic-tired because I never experience depression; I just feel exhausted when I'm not manic and as a result, I can't do much. I experienced a very long manic period while working on Xmas Carol but it ended the instant I clicked "Publish". Regrettably, it hasn't returned. It's kinda weird. Each day I wait for mania to hit and...nothing. I'm stuck here in non-mania. Bor-ing.

I'm also not sure what I should work on once the mania hits, which it inevitably will. Should I rewrite The Worlds, the first novel of my sci-fi trilogy? It would be a ton of work but it's doable. The book is "already written" but after reading the draft recently it's obvious that I would have to rewrite the book from scratch. That's all right. I learned so much while writing Xmas Carol. I could put this knowledge to good use when tackling the rewrite. The Worlds was my first attempt at writing fiction -- and it shows. This would be a simpler task than writing a totally new novel because I wouldn't have to come up with the storyline. It's already there and it's a wonderful story.

On the other hand, I want to write something new. I could always save the sci-fi novels (there are two: The Worlds and The Pod, the God and the Planet) to work on when I get old and can't come up with new ideas because my brain doesn't work anymore. A scary thought. But right now I have a ton of story ideas I could work on. And I would be starting fresh. That sounds so good.

I also have this notion that it would be fun to write a short novel. It would require me to be economical and concise. In other words, it would require skills I haven't learned. That sounds appealing. I love to learn new things.

Anyway, this is just a shout-out to let readers know what's going on. I'm thinking about what to write next and I'm waiting for that next rush of mania. Where is it?! You haven't seen it, have you? If you do, would you send it to my house? I'd appreciate it. Thanks.