Screwing Up the Future

Ever since I started writing the Screwing Up Time series, I wanted to travel to the future. And I knew Mark would want to travel to the future, but I couldn’t just “joy ride” there without a reason. It wasn’t until I wrote “Screwing Up Mongolia” (which hopefully will be out soon—when file conversion and cover art are done) that travel to the future became a possibility.

Mark and Miranda’s trip to the future to find Nin is only a small part of the text—the majority of the story is set in two ancient civilizations—but writing about the future opened huge possibilities. It was so fun to play there, though I had to restrain myself since the SUT series is not sci-fi and the focus of the novels always has to be Mark and Miranda and their problems.

As I created the future, the one thing I kept in mind was that human history always seems to be a constant struggle through war, disease, and technology. (I know tech seems to be “modern,” but consider the huge impact catapults, cross bows, and battering rams had in their time.) So I kept war, disease, and tech in the back of my mind as I explored how the future might look and feel. And my obsessive love of reading Popular Mechanics and Chemical and Engineering News gave me ideas on the technology in our near-ish future.

So, in book three (which I’m back to working on after a 6 weeks hiatus due to computer problems) be on the lookout for a couple of scenes set in the future and technology like DNA ident keys, toadstool chemical grenades, and camo cloth. 

PS Does anyone have any idea why the font changes in the middle of the text? I've checked the HTML code and it doesn't show a font change. This is driving me crazy. Thanks.

Almost Done

At the end of October, I started writing book 3 in the Screwing Up Time series. Now I’m about 5000 words from finishing the first draft. (Okay, it may be longer than that—so much is happening to the characters that I don’t think it will all be over in 5000 words. But the end is close.) And I can’t believe it. I’ve never been able to write so fast.

And I’m not sure why it happened. Maybe it’s because I’ve got more experience writing. Maybe it’s because I’ve stuck to a rigid schedule—writing five to six days a week, 4000 to 5000 words a week. Maybe it’s because it’s winter and I’m not working in the flower gardens. It’s probably all of those things. But it’s also because I love this book. I love Mark’s willingness to deal with everything from guns to tasers because he wants to do the right thing—and if it gives him more time with Miranda, that’s even better. I love that Miranda keeps her cool no matter how crazy things become, even when angry pagan priests are thirsty for blood. I love Nin, a certifiably crazy cryptographer. And I love my antagonist, a villain that Mark didn’t expect, who could definitely give Nin a run for her money in the who’s-the-most-psycho category.

I hope that whets your appetite for the book. I don’t have a publication date yet. But I can promise that as soon as the first draft is written, I’ll start the edits right away. The weeds in my flower garden will just have to wait.