"MESA" Underway.

 This evening I sat down and wrote out the first 15 chapters in an outline and that means I've written the ideas and skeleton for about 1/2 of the book.  It will likely be about 30-32 chapters and since I know I'll add more to the bones of this thing as I go along, I will say that yeah, it's 1/2 was planned. 

    Tomorrow, I'll do the same, and get the thing in shape to be able to say it's planned and ready to be written in genuine. I really haven't done this in the past. I wrote, then planned, chapter by chapter, and then wrote more, and planned more. This time I am putting the entire book in order and trying to make sense of it so that I can stay on track and maybe write faster than I would if I was trying to make it up as I went along.

    It just made sense to me to do it this way, so I did it this way. I'm cranking out the thoughts and putting them in some sort of order. Before I did that, I collected ideas from books, films, art, and internet searches. I wrote the notes in my handy-dandy "notes" file. I do that each time. I have a note file for each book, and I fill it with hundreds of bullet-point ideas that may make sense or they may not. I have quotes, thoughts, ideas, and even rough-edged maybes that could end up being a real idea. I'm all about getting the thought out of my head and onto the paper somehow, and that usually means through a note first.

    So far I'm happy about what I've written. I'm happy that I didn't just jump into the story. I lead up to it, and I flush out and flesh out the thoughts before they become conversations between the characters. There are a lot of things that these guys will experience, but they talk throughout the book as well and have conversations and communications with past characters from my other books. That's a string that passes through all of my books -- and will continue.

    I've got another 15-16 chapters to pen out in an outline tomorrow, then I'll start with Chapter One and write the first line. I have decided to dedicate the book to my daughter Laura, as this book has horses and the circus in it. She's into both. The next book, "Cask" will be decided by my daughter Caity, as it deals with more cunning and clever tricks and means of innuendo. The next book will be "Stollen" and as it is a family book or a book about family, it will be dedicated to my parents, my grandparents, my children, and my grandchildren. The book following "Stollen" is "Kingdom" and it will be dedicated to my son. It has a military blend and flavor, so that makes sense.

    I have a lot of writing to do, don't I? Well I think maybe I should get motivated and start the process!! Mesa is a wonderful book already, and I can already tell it will be fun to research and write. I'm already learning so much - - so very much; from all about moonshine to the way paint dries naturally on a canvas. Very interesting stuff, let me just say that. 

Laura and Kiss My Assets "Rocket"  2012.  Photo Credit: Me.