In the on-going effort to turn a short story in a full novel, there have been a few forced realisations.

Callous Sky would have been about 17,000 words a the end of the short story, but with enough floating about in my head for probably five or six times that. Making those changes to an already written plot and creating a style sheet needed for the longer work, took a tonne. I had to shift my way of thinking about writing, something long overdue anyway. Under a more subscription-based model, there is a lot of pressure to keep pumping things out. People have paid a monthly sub and you want to keep things going on for them. I felt a bit like a rat running in a wheel. Running like crazy, but getting nowhere.

With possible move to actually publishing books, the process has slowed down. It also means I should not be hurrying to get the next thing out. While there is a certain level of residual impatience, I am taking my time with Callous Sky, something I learned from the publishing nightmare I inflicted on myself with NeoTokyo Dead. This means, carefully considered moves from writing, to editing, and through to actual publication. The learning curve is steep, but one worth taking the journey for.

When authors described writing as a marathon, they are speaking the truth. However, when you add everything which needs to be done post first draft, the marathon soon becomes a Marathon des Sables. ‘Highway to Hell’ by AC/DC, once played at the start line of the Marathon des Sable, becomes eerily, hauntingly poignant. And yet, the runners who endure unspeakable pain during des Sable gain something—profound, spiritual, life-changing—from the experience of near-hell. I wonder if authors do not experience something similar, if nowhere near as physically demanding or torturous.

The real marathon for me is editing. I am in a position where I need to do my own editing, and it is this process which takes up the bulk of my time. While I consider myself reasonably good at it, it is a job I find rather monotonous. Compared to getting the first draft onto the screen (or paper), editing is a long walk through a stadium littered with Lego blocks an inch deep. NeoTokyo Dead took well over ten runs, and I am being a bit conservative with the estimate, to get it anywhere near where I wanted it to be. In the two weeks before publication, it needed another four editing runs. One of those was just for commas. In some ways, I would have preferred to stand on six sets of Lego’s Botanicals, all busted up and scattered through my living room.

While the learning of new ways to think about a publishing journey can be a challenge, it is also a chance to step back and craft a much higher quality product readers will enjoy. The investment of time and effort is worth it, bringing a musician’s focus on just one note into understandable clarity. Aging wine and all that.