I regularly receive inquiries asking when the next–and final–installment of The Strongbow Saga will be coming out. It has been a while since I’ve given a detailed status update, so here it is.
My goal and plan has been to complete and publish the fifth and final book during 2016. That is still my hope and goal, but my progress is admittedly far behind where I’d thought to be at this point in time.
I suspect many readers wonder, “How can he take so damn long to write a book?” It’s a fair question, and one that deserves an answer. After all, many authors turn out, on average, a book per year, and some more than that. I have one author acquaintance who cranks out two or three books every year. They’re considerably shorter than my books, and they’re urban fantasy, written straight from her imagination, but she’s a talented author and they’re good books. Why can’t I do that? There are several reasons.
First of all, I live on a small farm. My wife, Jeanette, and I produce a large percentage of the food we consume each year. We have animals: a flock of chickens and a herd of sheep. All of that takes time–a lot of time–to tend to. Many times it’s not just time; we do quite hard physical labor. I’m not complaining–I love this life–but I’ll be 65 this year, plus I have Multiple Sclerosis, so often I simply don’t have the energy, after a long day’s labor, to write. The author I mentioned above just walks to her in-home office, sits down, and writes every day. She doesn’t have a farm to run.
Second, in addition to our farm, my wife and I run a small business–our publishing company that publishes my books–on the side. Every month I have to process our company’s royalty earnings, pay the company payroll, pay the state and federal taxes and prepare and submit the various reports required of a small business by the state and federal governments. All of that requires a considerable amount of time each and every month. And periodically there are other time consuming aspects of the business. In recent weeks, for example, a lot of my “writing” time has been taken up with preparing the German language edition of Dragons from the Sea for publication, in the various e-book and print formats it will be released in.
Last, book 5 is proving to be a hard one for me to write.There is a lot of research to do. Book 5 has two main locations: Russia and Ireland, and digging into what was happening in both of those, during the mid 9th century, takes a lot of work and time. Also, this book is the culmination of a long, continuing story that I have been working on for at least fifteen years. I want to get it right. I want the conclusion of Halfdan’s story to be a satisfying, moving finale to what has come before. I cannot rush it just to get something out there. To do so would dishonor myself, not respect Halfdan and his story, and be unfair to all who have been loyal fans of the Saga.
I am truly sorry for the delay. But the book will come when it comes. Until then, to steal a line from the Broadway musical Hamilton, I am afraid readers will just have to “Wait For It.”
PS this is a great web site
No worries man..Listen, I love your books, which i listened to on audible having read or listened to every viking or saxon or celt book i could find. I was a little wary at first, as i had once purchased a self published Saxon book, that clearly turned out to be a KKK or White supremacist bullshit fantasy, which was soon thrown into my wood burner.
I have pretensions to write, i have the skeleton of a great story, but find it hard to get started…So i consume and spectate rather than create. Therefore i respect what you have ..and what will write.
Your life sounds great
Thank you, Graham. If you do decide to write your story idea, I suggest starting by doing some research on the process of written storytelling–there are some aspects to it that are not necessarily obvious or intuitive, but which need to be mastered, because having a good story idea, and being able to tell it effectively are two very different things (it took me many years of practice to learn). A good place to start is this book by Orson Scott Card, who is both an excellent author and a very good writing teacher: Characters & Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing)
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Truly man was made to desire that which he does not have or none would seek Heaven, all work on earth would stop and the death of mankind would shortly follow. Tomas Paine said,”That which we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.” Do I wish to have your book, of course! Half the joy of Chirstmas was in the desirous wait to open the expectant gifts. Your book is no different to me. If I could have it now I would gladly consume it’s pages but as I can’t it fans the passions of my desire to own it yet the more.
Now I come to you with hunger for the rest of the saga but with that hunger a realization a half cooked turkey is worse than no turkey at all. Take courage in the fact I intend to buy your book when it comes out. Draw strength from the fact that I will wait and make it a book well worth that wait. You don’t know me but I write in hopes that seeing yet another loyal reader will push you to write the best book you can. Trust me when I say the best book you can write is not going to happen overnight. Fight the good fight and when the race is won it will be worth the prize.
Thank you Tim–that was very eloquent. And don’t worry–I don’t intend to produce a half-cooked turkey (great Thanksgiving metaphor, by the way). I’ve been working on this story too long, well over fifteen years now, to not make its final installment as powerful and satisfying as I can. Worrying about and trying to achieve that, of course, is part of what is making this one so slow and difficult to write, but Halfdan’s story, and readers like you, deserve the best I can do.
Thank you giving us an explanation. Makes it much easier to wait and calms any worries that you might have plans to leave the series unfinished.
Don’t worry, there’s no way I’d leave this story unfinished. I’ve been working on it since the late 1990s, and look forward to finally writing the climax and conclusion.
Thanks for the update. We anxiously await the next installment. What a great series…I have thoroughly enjoyed it! All the best to you and yours.
Thanks.
Work-life balance is a must. We will wait for it. Hey, compared to George R.R. Martin you’re light years ahead! LOL!
Thanks very much. And I should thank George R.R. Martin, too, for although I write like a tortoise compared to many authors, he lets me look like a speeding arrow.
I’d much rather wait for a great book than read an average one. Take as long as you need to make it feel right. Thanks for the update!
Thanks very much.
I agree. Halfdan’s story has been too perfect a telling thus far to rush it’s ending. I look forward to reading it when it is done.
I am an author as well, I also live and work on a farm and tend to a dad with sundowners. I know exactly where you are coming from and understand. a lot of readers don’t, but you have to do what you have to do. I will wait patiently for book five. it is well worth the wait. I wish you the best in all you do.
Thanks, and I wish you the best, too. Sorry about your Dad.
It will be worth the wait! Thanks for letting us know.
Thank you!
I understand Judson. I too am an author, and try to write two to three hours a day, but at about a page an hour you get an idea of how long it takes to write a book, and that’s before the editor gives you a C+, sends it back for the first re-write, then the second, and so on. Then it finally gets the stamp of approval and goes to the literary agent who wants even more stuff either added, or removed. A book a year is about right. Patience and determination are paramount, and I use gardening as a way of hashing out how to make the changes that often seem impossible to make without corrupting the story. So, hang in there, and know that some of us out here who read your books, do understand the economics of both time, and morale it takes to finally get something in a cover.
Thanks very much. If I managed a book a year that would actually be an improvement.