Monday, January 26, 2009

The Ten Thousand Paths


Every day, you get up, and there are myriad choices to be made. 

One of my choices is: Which project do I start next?

The doorstop fantasy is on hold until the market either crashes entirely or comes back, so whether we do a sequel or not is out in the future somewhere. (If the money isn't better than what we have been offered so far, it's going to be a one-book deal, we get that far.)

The most recent novel about the spiritual warrior Kane, is cleaned up enough to show to my agent, but I'll want to see what kind of response it gets before I start on another in that universe. (And thanks again to the readers who offered input on that one.)

A potential work-for-hire project seems to have stalled -- I haven't heard back on it, and while no news is sometimes good news, in such cases, it usually isn't.

The Indy book is waiting on final approval, and if that doesn't require more rewrites from me, off the table until it comes out. If it sells like ice water in Hades, might be another one of those in the offing, but that's eight months away, minimum. 

It's not as if I don't have a laundry list of possible projects. I could write about my retired old man spy and his deadly wife. I could do the final book in the Matador series. There's a tea-cozy mystery idea, The Cardigan Corgi Kill I've got percolating. Or I could always do a vampire romance novel. My most recent foray into vampire tales was a long-ago short story whose punchline was "Kevlar!" but everybody and her kid sister is writing and selling those today, it has become its own genre. Bed-hopping and boinking among the undead and were-whatevers. "Oh, Count! Your ... hand is so cold!"

I could try and turn the Kane book into a movie script or a comic book miniseries. I could do a a how-to-write book, most of which is probably buried in the blog over the last few years. I could hunt down some more tie-in work.

So many choices ...

6 comments:

Brad said...

Well, we could always use another Matador novel. I can't imagine that universe just drying up and blowing away like dust. So many possibilities. Like, what happened to Sleel between closing down the Jade FLower and him showing up on Renault? Back stories that I'm sure would be great or a look 20 years down the road with Bork and Veate's child.

Hey, I'm interested, even if no one else is.

Then the retired spy and his wife teaser you posted was good too....

Tiel Aisha Ansari said...

I bet your regular readers would mostly vote for another Matador novel; I sure would.

Nataraj Hauser said...

Matador!
Matador!
Matadora!
Matadors...

Pretty please?

There's still room for a story between Musashi Flex and 97th Step. A follow-up of Dirisha and Geneva might sell well in the current market. Especially if it involved a vampire lover and a gang of evil werewolves. And Sleel could make an appearance as a man on a quest to find a magic sword! OK, forget those last two sentences. A story about D. and G. would make me buy. Could be a development about aging martial artists and how they modify their art to remain competent when youth and vigor fades. You know, becoming the spiritual guru that Kane finds...

J.D. Ray said...

I would be remiss if I didn't vote for another Matador novel. Or two. I mean, we'd take one, but if we can talk you into two, well, so much the better! :D

Jason said...

Do I hear three!?

I'll take as many Matador stories as you'll gimme. :)

That said, two of the ideas you posted that most rang for me were the retired wacko dangerous spy and the kid stumbling into the out there martial/spiritual master ijn the alley.

They both looked like a blast.

Jordan said...

You had to know what you were doing to your Matador fans by even /hinting/ about another novel. I suspect we'll continue to come out of the woodwork in support of another one. Consider this my vote.