Too Many Balls in the Air!

How many projects is too many? Man, that’s a great question. I am the kind of guy who prefers to work on one thing at a time. You might think I mean that in a generalized and figurative sense, like “focus on my career for a while” or “spend some time exploring my creative impulses.” But no, I mean I like to have precisely one and only one thing to do at any given moment. For example, “Today is Sunday. I will do a load of laundry. That is my singular mission for this 24-hour period.” If I’m feeling ambitious, I might add “make a sandwich” to the agenda. But pile on one more goal and I will be paralyzed with anxiety. I'll just activate Emergency Coping Strategy B and go hide in bed.

The point here is that I am decidedly, emphatically not a multi-tasker. Some people are energized by having lots to do, and bless ‘em. But not me.

So please tell me how the hell did I wind up with a stack of ten different manuscripts from four different series in my “Active Projects” folder? This was never my intention. The trouble is, these things tend to accumulate.

(And don't give me any of that “you-have-no-one-to-blame-but-yourself” malarkey.)

I just signed an agreement for a three-part series (writing under a different name), of which the first book came out in 2019. So I owe the publisher two more books, and I’m working on it, I PROMISE.

Aside from that, The Dandelion Experiment is the first book in a series of novels about the brilliant Cassie Troyer and her charismatic partner Zach David traveling from place to place together, assisting wth various investigations and recovery efforts. The second book in the series is titled Blood Rent, in which Zach and Cassie must solve a bizarre, gruesome mystery in Fairhope, Alabama. The third book is Sea of Corpses, in which a desperate lawyer’s arrest in the Caribbean sets in motion a flurry of events that lead Zach and Cassie to a compound in Texas riddled with lethal traps. There might be more after that , who knows? I guess it all depends on reader/agent/publisher interest.

My next trilogy, Cyanide of the Masses, is a dystopian series set in the aftermath of a global religious war. I’ve been working on it for several years. The first book, A Coterie of Apostates, tells the story of a small band of unbelievers who are on the run for various reasons. A Coalition of Enemies deals with the counter-revolution. And the cycle closes with A Foundation of Shards, in which the former freedom fighters must actually learn how to govern.

After that, The Divine Cortex is a straight-up science-fiction series exploring the struggle to become a mature species reflected in the personal journey of one individual. I have it loosely organized into three parts as well: Hell’s Prism, Theophany, and Mythoclasm. But it’s too early to tell if it will really be three books, or five, or two.

Looking ahead, it all seems like way too much. But I look back at this blog today and I read early posts where I was agonizing as I labored to complete the Victoria da Vinci trilogy, which has now been finished and out there for several years. That’s a strange feeling. There was a time when I wondered if I could ever climb that mountain. I suppose maybe someday I’ll look back at all those titles I just listed and I’ll think, oh yeah, I remember when I wrote that.


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My author page:
www.AustinScottCollins.com

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