R.W. Krpoun's Blog, page 9

Update 8-30-21

Grog 3 has finished the first stage of editing, which added around 2000 words, and a simple (crude) map has been assembled. Do not expect great things of the latter, but it is better than no map at all.

No estimate on release date yet.

But the search for a viable frito pie has shown some progress.

The rough draft of Grog 3 is done!

In the midst of a massive personal crisis (my search for the right ingredients to make a proper frito pie still continues without measureable success) I have finished the rough draft of Grog 3, weighing in at 92,000 words.

Editing will begin tomorrow. I have no estimated publishing date yet, but I will not dally. However, editing, even at the simplest of books, is not consistent in its challenges, which is why I’m not inclined to make an estimate.

I will also have to choose a cover image, which is a terrible trial for me, and an area in which I take justified flak from reviewers. Still, you don’t pick your aptitudes, and visual arts is definitely not one of mine.

The ending of The Zone

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

So I just got a rather negative three-star review of The Zone, specifically the ending. I thought I would explain a bit.

The idea for The Zone was a story of personal redemption. The protagonist leads his people into a house, and that event shadows him for the duration of the novel, culminating with his solo intrusion into another house, complete with the crayon box. The outcome of that final encounter was not the issue, but rather the full circle and the redemption in the protagonist’s mind.

Given he was wearing body armor should indicate he was not suicidal, and that he was going up against computer hackers means he had a decent chance of survival. But I wanted to end the story where it began.

It was a ambitious effort, and one that might have exceeded my grasp. The Zone has sold OK, but it only has 17 reviews.

The Wastrel’s ending has also taken some flak, including a passionate one-star review. When you crank out as many books as I do, a very real worry is that you turn into one of those guys whose every book is just a re-named version of the same.

Plus the story flows where the story flows.

Update 8-16-21

Grog 3 now clocking in at 84k. I lost a little ground when I realized that the final plot arc would require a short re-write of the current chapter.

Meanwhile, my life has been complicated by my efforts to purchase a Nautilus treadmill from Amazon, to replace on that we wore out. First, they tried to deliver it to an address 254 miles from us, then they wrecked the box. The third effort saw an undamaged unit delivered, and I managed to wrestle the thing out of its box and assemble it with the help of my wife in two hours, hindered by instructions which relied upon diagrams drawn by a artist who was was working off a description of a piece of exercise equipment relayed by a guy who saw one a long time ago.

After exercising the full range of my not-inconsiderable vocabulary of profanity, it was together.

Then it would not start. At this point I was ready to drag it out to my range to use as a target stand, but my wife called tech support, and a surprisingly perky young woman determined that we would get another panel and most importantly, a technician to install it.

Such is the background of Human tragedy against which Grog 3 is being written. It’s not the fall of Kabul, but it was pretty annoying. Meanwhile I’m walking up and down my driveway (0.2 mile long) pondering how to ambush the creature who deliberately poops on my driveway every single evening instead of sorting out plot issues.

Anyway, that’s the current state of progress.

Update 8-9-21

Grog 3 is now over the minimum length for a novel, and closing in on the final plot arc. Hopefully I will have the rough draft done in a week or so.

Update 7-26-21

Greetings, all. Grog 3 is currently at 71k or rough draft, with the final plot arc conceived but still needing some arrangement. I’m handicapped as we have (belatedly) hit the 100 degree days and I’m not able to mow, which is my favored venue for the pondering of plot issues.

Browsing in a gun store a week ago, I actually saw the rare double-barreled M1911, the AF-2011. It was a lovely weapon; I’m not sure how I feel about it, but I certainly would jump at the opportunity to fire one (priced at $7500, they weren’t even bothering to let looky-loos handle it).

I’m not sure where the idea came to build what is essentially two M1911s into one handgun, but I suspect it was along the lines of ‘if one M1911A1 is great…”

Sometime you can have too much of a good thing.

Update 7-12-21

This continues to be a very odd summer, with heavy rains and temps in the mid-90s and lower; normally we would be locked in the heart of the 100 days of 100, but while the SW bakes, we are green and damp.

On an associated note, of the herds of deer wandering my place, I’ve seen several does with new fawns, which is very late in the year. Apparently all the greenery is encouraging a bumper crop of deer, which we don’t need (the population is so large already the State has been having to re-write the hunting season every year in efforts to bring things under control).

It is time to chance fate and reveal that my current project, which has topped 60,000 words of rough draft, is Grog 3.

Until next time!

Update 6-28-21

Much pointless and annoying drama has dogged my steps since my last missive, but the current project has reached 53,000 words and feels ready to start the final plunge to completeness.

I have been inspired by a steady stream of wonderful reviews, and sales have been good. Summer is surprisingly cool (mid-90s on the average), but the mosquitos are having a bumper season due to the lower temperatures. Still, you take the good with the bad.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Update 6-17-21 A time of terrible trial

Living in the country is wonderful, but there are drawbacks. One of those is that in the course of repairs, property upgrades, and general wear and tear, you accumulate a sizeable amount of junk, either because it might be useful, or because it is too big or too heavy to fit in a dumpster, and you can’t just leave it by the curb until it gets stolen.

So after over two+ decades, my junk pile was too large to sustain. Therefore, after much putting-off, I addressed it this weekend. My timing was terrible; the long, cool, start of summer ended that Saturday, meaning that in addition to mosquitos the size of pigeons, it was humid and in the high 90s.

It took eight hours of wrestling with dirty, heavy, awkward, often sharp-edged junk while mosquitos fed with wild abandon and the air felt like a sauna to rid my property of the mess, and I was very thankful that I hired someone to do it for me.

There was a time when I would have done it myself, but with age comes money, and money lets you hire several someone elses to do the suffering.

Anyway, the place looks great, and the current project stands at 44,000 words rough draft.

Update 5-31-21

Not a lot to report; the current project is at 36,000 words rough draft, with some plot issues but still has room to work.