You can still barrelhouse, baby

Crossroads - Rush

I'm at a crossroads of sort right now, actually. I finished the line edits of The Archmage earlier today, which took me less than a week to accomplish. My next night job will be a much more in-depth revision of Pariah's Moon, which I need to lengthen by probably a third to move it from solidly within the realm of novellas to become a bona fide novel. Realistically, I suspect that will take me through September and into October. After that is NaNoWriMo, which I will probably attempt once again given my past five successes.

With the completion of Blackout earlier this month (approximately 75% of which was written with my thumbs on my BlackBerry, in case you're interested), I'm a man without a writing project. My editing queue is full up at least through the middle of next year, but it's time to consider what will be my next "real" project. I don't consider the NaNoBooks to be "real" projects in the sense that they are diversions for me - chances for me to experiment in different genres, styles, what-have-you. It's a little disingenuous of me to lay that moniker on them, especially given that the previous two outings have resulted in diversions I'm quite proud of (Troubleshooters, Pariah's Moon). I have this year's diversion planned to the point that I know what it's about and what it's called, and since I won't be starting it until November 1st, I have some time to consider my OTHER next project.

I have four options, so like the song goes, I'm standing at the crossroads.

1. I could write yet another book related to the Just Cause Universe. This is what my agent is trying to sell right now, and if she does, it would never hurt me to have another book in the series ready to drop. I have so many planned, it wouldn't be much of a chore to start in on yet another manuscript about superheroes (and when completed, would represent the 6th book in the series).

2. I could write a sequel to Pariah's Moon. This seems a little more likely, given I'll have the PM universe fresh in mind from doing all the edits. However, it would be difficult to be revising one book in the series while writing another from the same series at the same time. I'm good (and modest, too!), but I'm not sure I'm that good. I do have a skeleton plot and title (which I love - Pariah's War) worked out for this one. The other problem is that it's in a genre which is chancy at best, and despite my fiercely independent streak of writing what I want, a cross-genre fantasy/Wild West series just may not be viable. At some point, I do have to consider the business implications of what I choose to write (or not, as the case may be). Writing a novel is a significant time investment and although any writing is a good thing, writing that doesn't return dividends could be considered wasteful when I have other work which could bring in sorely-needed income.

3. I could write a sequel to Troubleshooters, with the same benefits and pitfalls of a sequel to Pariah's Moon. Cyberpunk is a bit easier sell, but again comes the question of working on a sequel to a book my agent hasn't sold yet.

4. I could write something new. I have no idea what.

If you have opinions on this, I'd love for you to weigh in.