So the novel is going through a couple of editorial steps, which will take a couple of months. Lord knows, even with all the eyeballs on it we’ll probably still miss some punctuation thing in every single chapter. Got to learn to be Zen about such things.
Don’t have a release date for it yet, but we’re not beholden to any publisher’s calendar, so it really just depends on having adequate lead time to promote it. I would imagine we’re on-track to birth it into the world this autumn. That will be a new kind of excitement in my life – to be a guy who Has a Book Out.
I tend to be greedy about these things, though, so the plan is that not only will the novel (Family History, remember the title!) be coming out, the short story collection I’ve teased about in the past will also be dropping before the end of the year.
I am on the fence about writing one more story for it, but most likely all the content is on paper. There are 15 stories, and since 6 have been previously-published in lit outlets, I’m going to just drop those in as-is. 3 more have been polished and are ready for the editor. 2 more need only minor polishing before the same. The last 4, though, need more substantial revision, and that will be the primary holdup.
It is entirely within my power, though; a finite number of hours, and my choice when to apply them. I’d rather apply them soon; I have a lot more control over this than my screenwriting career, which usually operates under Wonderland logic.