Book 4 Progress and Other Thoughts

One thing that's clear to me as I move forward in the Overdrive stories is that coming up with plausible real world stories to set these characters in is a challenging balance. While every first instinct I have is to make things louder, make the violence really pop and have more risque moments flood the pages ... At my core I have to remind myself what these books are about.

They're about Joe, the people in his life and how they connect to each other in relatable ways.

Maybe that isn't the flashiest or the sexiest option for a reader. But as a writer it is the story I am compelled to tell.

So as I navigate these waters of upping the stakes and broadening Joe's world there are few things I like more than putting normal, pedestrian struggles and concerns in his path to offset the plot. Because while plot is important, the story is in the characters and their struggles.

So yeah. Outline is almost done for Book 4, I figure to have a workable thread to build from by the end of the day tomorrow. After that I'll sit on it for the weekend and try to craft something on Monday. It might be the beginning of Book 4. It might be the first of the Overdrive short stories I want to write. Or it might be something else I've had on the backburner for a bit. We'll see what mood strikes me.

In the meantime if you haven't yet checked out my books on Amazon feel free to zip over to the Smashwords website where you can (for a limited time) download an eBook copy of Book 1 "Cowboy Ending" for free with the coupon provided. If you do that, please leave me a review (either there or on Goodreads or your socials or wherever people like to read reviews) if you'd be so kind and consider carrying on with the rest of my writings. 

AK

Quick Update

 Happy Tuesday. Still roughing out the outline for Joe's next adventure in the Overdrive series. Having fun with some ideas though it's odd diving back into this so quickly, given how long of a hiatus I took between books 2 and 3. Which of course worked to my detriment as opposed to enhanced quality of the product. 

Ah well. 

Trying to explore some different themes and ideas. Really wanting to both expand Joe's world and keep the novels as grounded as possible, with real (ish) world settings. And again with the heavy focus on all things Winnipeg.

Still fun though. Looking forward to sharing some of it with you all once I get it past the scribbling in a notebook stage of creation of course. Yes, I still do that.

In wrestling news I'm planning to begin a more rigorous stretching regime to supplement my home workouts for the next few weeks as we wait for the gyms to reopen safely here under COVID Code Red Restrictions. Maybe not a full DDPY gimmick, but lots of exercises to hopefully strengthen my knees, hips and lower back and get the body a bit more supple.

My personal "bump card" is almost full after all, but if I can get the body into a less husky condition I might be able to extend my warranty for a few more years of in ring activity. Complete with some travel if places will have me.

Oh yeah, and I'm doing a panel for this years virtual Keycon event this Saturday evening. Myself and some other authors will be getting to chat and discuss the process of writing and speculative fiction and so much more. please visit the Keycon Website for all the details and this weekend's schedule.

Finally if you're interested, the first book in Overdrive "Cowboy Ending" is absolutely FREE to download right now over at the Smashwords eBook website. Please mention this to others or take a chance on it yourself. It would be really great to get my downloads and reviews up on Smashwords and diversify the eyeballs from being so Amazon heavy.

Thanks all

AK