We’re at the beginning of my writing loop. A new project is on the horizon, and I’m excited. This is how a continuous loop breaks down within my writing schedule. Let’s start the breakdown at the end of a project. It’s usually between the end of July to mid-September. That’s the release of a project. Then I get a rest period from writing that usually extends from October to December, with a good deal of promotion from radio to print about the latest project.
For The Ghost of Gabriel’s Horn, promotion will be continuing long into this new year, and will run parallel with the promotion of the second epic poem, 2 Enlighten the G.O.D.Z. But it’s around mid-January where I begin to put together notes for the next project. Often times, if inspiration hits, this process might be around the end of December. When I do write notes toward the end of December, it’s just a few. And often times, inspiration hits even while I’m ‘resting’. But things are just jotted down as notes. I don’t take a closer look at what I’m planning and plotting until that mid-January mark. This year, it was at the end of January.
I’ve already spoken about how my fourth and final epic poem will be intertwined with this new narrative; much like The Son Dial Tone was with The Ghost of Gabriel’s Horn. I’ll speak about that process soon. I’ve been going through notes that date all the way back to ’99 and 2000 when the concept was first conceived. And of course, there are the years where the concept had its changes, character and plot rearrangement, structure.
We’re in March now, and the notes for the first act have been created. They’ve been sitting around, finished since early February, the eighth or so. The notes for the first act are a full eighteen printed pages. At the moment, I don’t know how that would translate into a written page count. I also scripted dialogue too, which stretches the notes. I started taking notes for notes of the second and third acts, but what I’ve jotted down has just been plot points that I want to hit, that I need to hit for these parts of the narrative. The notes for the second and third act are handwritten and in a notebook. The second act is two pages long, and the third is half a page long but not finished. I could just leave the notes as is. The second act isn’t in the proper order of events. Some things I have noted might happen parallel with one another. Some before, some after other events. I know where the second act begins and how it ends. It’s the arc that needs fine tuning. The third act will remain short, but segue into a short fourth act that I haven’t outlined, but I know the events of.
So, now I’ve entered a second rest period, although there is more to script (outline). I’m mostly sitting back and looking over my notes for the first act. The first major dive into writing will come at the end of April, near my birthday. From there: writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, and writing. A process that will last about a year. The writing period can begin anywhere between end of March to end of April. I believe, for The Ghost of Gabriel’s Horn, I started writing toward the end of March and finished mid-May of the following year. When I get into the last hundred pages or so of writing, I begin handing out the proper pages to editors for editing. It happens parallel to writing so that the overall process of editing can be cut down in time between finish of book and release.
After the second round of edits (and application of edits), the copyright gets processed and then we get the first printer’s proof, and the tedious task of proofreading goes into its first of a possible three stages.
And then, it’s yours to enjoy.
Then I can rest, with a good deal of promotion from radio to print about the latest project.
And that’s the process of the continuous loop of writing.
Rest, take a breath. Start scripting. Start writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, and writing. Editing (getting closer to finishing the project). Copyright. Printer’s proof. Proofreading. Release. Rest, take a breath.
And then, of course, there will be some new elements in the mix of this new project.
b write black.
