My Worst Enemy

I though I’d talk about my paranormal time travel romance series, Kiss Across Time, today.  As there is sort-of news.  Actually it’s more a random musing…but I’ll get to that.

I have a list of release dates and proposed books that stretches out at least a year ahead of today.  That’s the usual state of affairs, mind you.

And no, I can’t share those dates and titles with you.

One, because the books I’ve listed for release mostly don’t have titles.  The way I refer to them is, for example, Kiss 11.  Or Scions 12.  Etc.  The tags are very not-romantic, and do not cast any light at all on the proposed contents.  So I don’t advertise the release list for this reason.

And two, because sometimes, the production release list gets changed around.

This last one happened just recently, when one of my science fiction titles got picked up for inclusion in a story bundle with science fiction doyen, Kevin J. Anderson.  Not only was that brilliant news for me, it also meant that straight science fiction was suddenly back on the table, and that I’d better finish the series, pronto.

Both of those things have happened now, after retooling the production schedule.  But if you had seen the schedule before that restructure and got thrilled about an upcoming book, I would have disappointed you.  I don’t like doing that.  So for this reason, too, I don’t publish my production schedule.

[Although you can sometimes catch a glimpse of changes to the schedule if you’re paying attention.  At the back of my books, I try to give the reader an idea of when the next book will be out.  When the production schedule changes, those dates can become inaccurate, revealing that a shift has taken place.]

Each day when I look at the production work for books currently written and being prepared for release (which can be anything up to six books at a time), I also catch glimpses of the very next book coming up, as deadlines for concept work and plotting hove into view.

That’s what’s happening right now with the Kiss Across Time series, because the very next book I get to write when I’m done with the current one, is Kiss 9.0.

See, how boring is that title, right?  It doesn’t tell you a thing.

Anyway, at the moment, the book isn’t even into concept development (that happens later this week), so the only thing I know right now is that is it a story featuring London, Remy and Neven.

So every time I see Kiss 9.0 on the schedule, I get a little let-down feeling.  Because I have no clue what the book will be about.  Well, that’s not entirely true–I have a pretty good idea who’s story it will be, and how that might play out.  The problem is…well, that just is the problem:  I don’t have a problem.  There is no conflict yet.  There’s no story for me to sink my teeth into and develop into a full novel.  There’s no angst or emotional intensity.

This point of blank emptiness happens with every single book, of course.  There is always a point where I know nothing about the story and have to build it out of thin air.

Only, you who are reading this love the series so much, that every time I fire up to write the next book in it, there’s a touch of nervousness.  I don’t want to let you down.

It’s a small thing.  A writer thing.

And it never really goes away.  In fact, it gets worse with each book.

You watch, though.  I’ll report back in two weeks’ time, with the plot half-finished and every light green.

My worst enemy is me.