I preach against procrastination all the time, arguing that it's a form of perfectionism, thinking you have to have all the answers in place before you begin writing. Instead, I tell students in my writing workshops that authors start out with a bunch of questions, and their stories are a way of discovering answers to those questions. Not only does that take the pressure off--you don't have to figure out everything before you put fingers to keyboard--it also makes for a more interesting story because if you didn't know something was going to happen, it's impossible for you to telegraph that to the reader.

All that to say, I've been procrastinating on Snowbound, the fifth novel in the Milligan Creek Series. Yes, I've been tremendously busy with other work, but I've also been fighting fear. Is the book going to be any good? Can I really pull this off again? Did I just get lucky the last few times? The same sorts of questions I ask at the start of any creative endeavour. 

However, now that I've put out a novel a year for the past four years, by the time April rolls around, writing the next instalment of the Milligan Creek Series feels like exactly what I should be doing at this time of year. Also, thanks to the coronavirus, some of my other work has slowed down, giving me a bit more time. That and the fact I tend to wake up early (unwillingly), sometimes as early as 4:30 a.m., means I have a bit more time on my hands. So, on Sunday, with about 2.5 chapters written, I decided it was time to finally get the ball rolling.

Now here I am three days later. It's 5:58 a.m., I'm well into chapter four, and I'm more excited about this book than ever. Furthermore, I've committed to write about 1,000 words per day on the book until it's done. So, about a month from now, I should have a spanking new first draft. 

That said, rather than working on the book right now, I'm writing this blog post. Another form of procrastination? It could be, so, time to get back to it . . .

GEO is a science-fiction novelette (7,500-10,000 words) that looks like it has definitely left readers wanting more--which I think is a good thing. This review from author Gilbert Stack seems to agree. 

I was doing writing workshops in a tiny community near Estevan, Saskatchewan, yesterday when one of the students (who just happens to be the son of the school principal, who I knew growing up in Foam Lake) showed me this cool diorama he made, depicting the climax of The Great Grain Elevator Incident. He did it as part of a book study project. Next up is Unlimited. I was pretty blown away by the amount of work he put into it and the fact he enjoyed the book enough to do it. He says it's his favorite in the series so far. All the encouragement I need to keep working on Snowbound!

The title of this post is a Homer Simpson quote, in case you're wondering. This is an interview I did recently talking about The Great Grain Elevator Incident and the Milligan Creek Series in general. 

That's right, folks. All four books at one low price--just $9.99. You can get your Kindle copy here.

Currently, all four Milligan Creek Series books are in the top 20 on Amazon.com's Canadian Literature's best-seller list, and two of them are in the top 10. That's pretty exciting. I'm also getting a lot of great reviews, including a rating of 4.8/5 on Up the Creek! after 40 reviews. If you've read any of the books in the series and haven't reviewed or rated them yet, please take a moment to do so on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, and Goodreads. Such reviews and ratings improve the search rankings, meanings more people will be exposed to the books. Thanks!

I'm very excited to announce the publication of GEO, a science-fiction story. Currently available in Kindle format. Soon to be available as a paperback. Here's a synopsis:

Buy your copy here or directly from Amazon.

I've been a fan of science-fiction ever since I first read Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke. I still consider him to be one of the pre-eminent masters of the genre. I've always wanted to publish my own science-fiction book, and I'm about to do that. It's a novelette--not quite as long as a novella--and it's about a space elevator. That's all I'll say for now. Here's a sneak peek at the cover. Coming soon!

It's from Briar's Reviews. She's been a big fan of the other books in the series so far as well. Here's an excerpt:

You can read the rest of the review here.