It’s been about two weeks since my last author update, and part of the reason for the gap is pretty simple: I was traveling.
I spent a week out of town at a conference for one of the jobs I work, and it was an interesting experience. Some of the sessions covered things I had already been trained on, but there were also a couple of guest speakers I enjoyed listening to. I also learned about a program that I would love to see if I can implement in my local area. I don’t know if anything will come of that yet, but it gave me something new to investigate.
Now that I’m home, though, I’m getting back into my normal routine, which means writing, publishing, planning, and trying to figure out where I put things that Past Carrow apparently thought Future Carrow would magically remember.
One of My NDA Projects Is Officially Finished
First, I can finally cross something off my increasingly ridiculous project list. My involvement with the last NDA project I’ve been working on is officially finished.
Unfortunately, that is about all I can tell you.
At this point, I just have to wait for the project to eventually make its way out into the world. Once it does and I’m allowed to talk about it, I’ll let everyone know what I was working on. Until then, it gets to remain one of those annoyingly vague “I did a thing, but I can’t tell you about the thing” updates.
The Continuing Search for My Blood in the Rain Manuscript
On the fiction side, Blood in the Rain is still my primary project, although lately “working on Blood in the Rain” has mostly meant trying to locate Blood in the Rain.
I found the first portion of the manuscript, but somehow managed to lose track of a significant chunk of the second half. I have been going through files, folders, devices, and whatever other hiding places I can think of trying to piece everything back together. At one point, I genuinely started wondering if I was simply going to have to rewrite a large portion of it from scratch.
I’m still not entirely sure whether that would be a good thing or a terrible thing.
The good news is that I’ve now recovered roughly 60 percent of the manuscript, which means I’m no longer staring at a complete disaster. If the remaining 40 percent never turns up, then I’ll have to rebuild it. Maybe that means rewriting scenes from memory. Maybe it means taking the opportunity to make some substantial changes. Either way, Blood in the Rain is getting finished.
Before I put all of my attention into that, however, I’ve added another type of book to my publishing plans.
Introducing Carrow’s Writing Craft
Over the last couple of years, I’ve been attending more conventions, participating in more panels, and giving more talks about writing craft. That got me thinking about what else I could offer people who attend those talks.
If I’m spending an hour discussing characters, dialogue, storytelling, editing, or some other aspect of writing, why not have something people can take home with them and continue learning from?
That idea has turned into a new series of short writing craft books.
My goal is to make these around 90 pages each and focus every book on one specific aspect of writing. I don’t want them to be enormous textbooks that try to explain everything there is to know about storytelling. I’d rather take one subject, dig into it properly, give writers practical information they can actually use, and then move on to the next subject.
The plan is to publish roughly one of these books per month and bring physical copies with me to conventions. It also gives me another publishing avenue alongside my fiction, particularly since I’m already spending so much time talking about writing craft anyway.
Characters That Fight for You
The first book in the series is Carrow’s Writing Craft: Characters That Fight for You, and it’s a deep dive into creating memorable characters.
I’ve always believed that characters have to do more than simply exist to move the plot forward. Readers need a reason to care about them. They need to understand what a character wants, what makes them interesting, where their flaws come from, how their relationships affect them, and why they make the decisions they make.
The book digs into those ideas and looks at what makes characters memorable, how to flesh them out, how characters interact with plot, and how writers can create people readers actually want to follow through a story.
I started seriously working on the book this week, and considering its size, there is a very good chance the first draft will already be finished by the time many of you read this.
After that comes Writing Dialogue That Dances, which should surprise absolutely nobody who has ever talked to me about writing. I am extremely particular about dialogue. I care about efficiency, rhythm, character voice, subtext, and making sure conversations are actually doing something for the story instead of filling pages.
That book is currently planned for next month, and I already have several more topics I’m considering for December and beyond. I’ll share more about those once I have the schedule nailed down.
Finding a Writing System That Actually Works
One unexpected obstacle throughout all of this has been figuring out where the heck I’m supposed to write everything.
My life has changed enough that I need writing software capable of going wherever I go. I want to be able to sit down at my desk, grab my iPad somewhere else, or find a few minutes while traveling and continue working without wondering whether the latest version of a document actually synced.
I’ve tried several writing and productivity apps that I genuinely like, but syncing has repeatedly become the problem. If I can’t reliably access the latest version of something when I change devices, the extra features stop mattering.
So I hate to admit it, but a surprising amount of my writing has migrated into Apple Notes.
It isn’t fancy, but it works. Right now, that matters more to me than having the perfect writing software. My current routine is going to be working on the writing craft books in the morning and then shifting over to Blood in the Rain afterward. If Apple Notes is what allows me to keep moving between devices without fighting my software, then Apple Notes it is.
Dirty Deeds 2 and Others Are Heading Out Into the World!
There is also some actual release news!
Dirty Deeds 2 went into fulfillment on September 22, which means the book is officially making its way out into the world. As always, releasing something makes me a little nervous because there comes a point where the book stops belonging exclusively to the people who created it and starts belonging to the readers.
I hope everyone enjoys it. I suppose I’m going to find out one way or another.
Then, on October 6, Dirty Deeds: Jailbreak, the novel, is scheduled to begin fulfillment. If you haven’t picked up the preorder yet and want a copy, there is still time to get your hands on one before fulfillment begins.
I’m excited to finally have more of the Dirty Deeds universe reaching readers, particularly because there are plenty more stories I want to tell with these characters.
Twin Tricks Arrives in October
The next release after that should be Twin Tricks on October 13.
Twin Tricks is an all-ages graphic novel about a pair of twins who have a particular talent for finding themselves in trouble. It’s a very different kind of project from some of my other work, and I’m looking forward to finally having it out there for readers.
That gives me a fairly busy stretch of releases between late September and October, especially while I’m simultaneously trying to get the writing craft series underway and return my attention to Blood in the Rain.
Apparently, I have decided that having free time is overrated.
New Quarterly Goals and Starting 75 Hard Again
Outside of writing, I’ve also spent some time figuring out my goals for the next quarter.
Goal-setting has become its own ongoing experiment for me. Every quarter, I seem to change the system slightly. Sometimes I simplify things. Sometimes I add something new. Sometimes I realize halfway through that a system I thought would work absolutely does not work once it encounters real life.
I currently have around 20 goals I’m working toward. That number hasn’t changed much since the beginning of the year, but the way I approach those goals definitely has. I’m learning that goal-setting isn’t necessarily about finding one perfect system and following it forever. Sometimes it’s about continually adjusting the system until it works for the person you are right now.
Fitness is one of those goals, and I’m planning to tackle 75 Hard again.
After everything that happened with cancer this year, I’ve been trying to figure out how I want to approach getting myself back into shape and rebuilding some of the routines I had before everything got disrupted. For me, 75 Hard provides a very structured way to do that. I know exactly what is expected of me every day, and there isn’t much room to negotiate with myself about whether I feel like doing it.
This time, the goal isn’t simply completing a challenge for the sake of saying I completed it. I want to use those 75 days as a structured period for rebuilding consistency, improving my fitness, and establishing habits I can carry forward after the challenge is finished.
What I’m Working on Next
For the immediate future, my schedule is pretty straightforward. Mornings are going toward Kara’s Writing Craft, beginning with Characters That Fight for You. Once that work is done for the day, I’ll shift my attention back to Blood in the Rain and continue rebuilding whatever parts of the manuscript refuse to reveal themselves.
Meanwhile, Dirty Deeds 2 is heading into readers’ hands, Dirty Deeds: Jailbreak is approaching fulfillment, and Twin Tricks is right behind it. Somewhere between all of that, I’ll be working through my quarterly goals, tackling 75 Hard, attending more conventions, and inevitably changing my productivity system at least three more times.
So while the last couple of weeks have felt a little scattered from my side of things, there is actually quite a lot moving forward.
Sometimes progress looks like finishing a manuscript. Sometimes it looks like releasing a book. Sometimes it looks like starting something completely new. And apparently, sometimes progress looks like desperately searching every folder you own for the missing 40 percent of a novel.
Whatever works.