Novel Finished, Steampunk Gun Schematic, & More
I’m so excited to share my news with you today. I’m also dead tired, and you’ll learn why shortly. So, as I write, stopping every twenty seconds or so to get ahold of my thoughts… what was I saying? Oh yes. As I write, I’ll be stopping every twenty seconds or so to get ahold of my thoughts. Wait, is that right? I am tired. On we go.
Bodacious Creed News
As of yesterday evening, I had five chapters left to edit in my soon-to-be-published novel, Bodacious Creed: A Steampunk Zombie Western. It came to about 10,600 words. I’ve been working on this novel for nearly four years. Why has it taken that long? First, it’s the longest novel I’ve written. The first draft was 140,000 words, and the finished draft is 117,000 words. Second, until about two years ago, I was really struggling financially and much of what could have been writing time, I spent looking for freelance writing work. I have a full-time job now that I enjoy, and I’m a single father (as I have been for eight years), so… well, I think you get the picture. I’ve been busy, but writing novels is my passion, and I’ll keep them coming, even if it takes a couple years or so for each one.
Anyway, since Tuesday and Wednesday are my days off from work this week, I decided to finish editing this final draft last night, if I had to stay up until past dawn. And I did. I was up all night editing those last five chapters. Some sections needed heavy work. Others needed just minor tweaks.
I mentioned I’m excited. Wouldn’t you be? Of course you would, if you were me! I just finished the final draft of Bodacious Creed!
So, what’s next?
The most important next step will be reading the book aloud. If you’re a beginning writer, take this as a tip: read your final drafts aloud before you call them absolutely final. You should catch most of your grammatical, spelling, usage, and punctuation mistakes that way. I intend to correct any such problems in this manuscript, and to ensure that everything in the story is consistent. It’s possible there are a few minor, easily corrected inconsistencies in Bodacious Creed at the moment, and I’ll be able to smooth those over.
Meanwhile, it’s time for me to reach out to influencers in the science fiction and steampunk spheres, to ask if anyone would like to interview me, or to have me on their podcasts, or in their blogs. You can take this as a marketing tip. I need to get the word out! One good thing is that I have a lot to offer to influencers as well, namely, that I have a growing platform and can spread the word about their blogs and shows. I’m all about those win-win situations.
Finally, the book launch! I have a few things to figure out about this, and if you’d like to comment and offer ideas, I’d appreciate that. Do I make Bodacious Creed available for preorder? How soon before it’s published do I announce to look for it?
Also, I should have enough time and energy to post a more blog posts and maybe record some YouTube videos.
On to the next thing.
Bodacious Creed’s Powerful Guns
Whether you’re a fan of guns in the real world or not, I think most of us love seeing them in science fiction, from that huge machine gun Gamora fires in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, to blasters in Star Wars.
So, I thought that people might be interested in seeing how Creed’s guns work. My uncle John, who studied gunsmithing, and my cousin, Rita, who learned from him, came up with a way for Bodacious Creed to have some powerful guns carrying more than six bullets, with a blend of real 1870s technology and the steampunk physics from the novel. They both created some diagrams for me, and I’m making a 3D model of Creed’s final pair of guns to share with all of you.
It’s going to be a free item for anyone and everyone who subscribes to The Wild Steampunk newsletter. You can do that below! Plus, you’ll get a prequel story to the novel to whet your appetite for the larger story.
