….well, it’s chosen but not confirmed so I will leave it unannounced for now. But the book is at the ‘first draft’ stage. We got ‘er done. For the most part, anyway. Still messin’ with some details.
The funny thing is that first draft really doesn’t mean much to us because we really just continue to ‘worry’ the content all the time until we can’t stand looking at it any longer. First draft sort of morphs, evolves or grows over time to yield the semi-final draft.
Semi-final draft we give to others (beta readers) to critique. If they are honest (they rarely are) then we can make improvements rather easily, polish it up, tie a ribbon on it and let her rip. Semi-final draft becomes the beta version after beta readers have had their way, limited as it is, as a rule. When someone does say what they think – in detail – it is a real gift. That can save us a ‘stage’.
After beta version has gone out AGAIN and all changes are finally made, we get to call it Final Draft and publish it. It is interesting to note that ‘completed manuscript’ is not part of our vocabulary and that’s because it is never really done. Not for us. Like a house you built yourself, you keep seeing mistakes and, over time you address them thus making the house (or the book) NEVER EVER REALLY FINISHED.
I am guessing that Sal made a change or two to the first book (electronically, of course, but that shows up immediately in the Kindle version and any later print runs if any later runs are warranted) as late as halfway through 2017. That first book was published in January of 2015. That’s two and half years of tinkering and, if someone told us of yet another typo, Sal would go back in again and fix it. Seriously, a book is never done. Not for us.
Well, CHOOSING could be considered finished if not done. It is finished because we are not worrying it to death. Not at all. It was practically still-born anyway. CHOOSING did not sell. It is NOT a best seller, to say the least. Beyond resuscitation. No hope. Goodbye. A dead polly.
Too bad. I liked CHOOSING, may it rest in peace.
This third book is not yet fully baked, hatched or born. But all the DNA is in order, the limbs are formed and the due date is foreseeable. We can feel the contractions. This little bundle of words will come.
“What is it?”
It’s a cheap B adventure featuring two old fools and setting the reader up for a series of geriatric adventures spread over a Hardy-Geezers-type series. Marvel meets Metamucil. The septuagenarian Jason Bourne and his silver haired biker-chick December Bride kick butt, solve crimes and go to bed early.
“Is it any good?”
Mediocre. Classic cheap B flick kinda thing. NOT good enough to get picked up by Ridley Scott or Tarantino but somewhat in the Thelma and Louise style. If OUR LIFE was a C+ (it was not but I am saying it anyway) and CHOOSING was an F, then GEEZERS is a solid C.
“Should I buy it?”
Absolutely.
We are three months away still, tho.
Our Off the Grid Home 
So what David didn’t say is that our latest book has been quite fun to write. In our six weeks in Thailand David has pumped out well over 60,000 words! Not too shabby! And no arguments between us, as I tweak his prose, other than over the odd comma. AND unlike David’s prognosis for ‘Choosing off the Grid’, I’m just waiting for it to become a cult classic.
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That was quick and writing together can’t be easy. Glad you are having fun with it. – Margy
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Soon, you’ll have a draft. If you want? You were a good beta reader – got into the nitty gritty of it.
It is fun in a different kind of way…….at the end of the day, we have so-many words in the bag and that means progress. Satisfying. We are not generally inclined to lounging at the pool. That’s not us. So, we have to do something. Writing is it.
Sal is referring to something else, however. She is my model. She is the heroine. So, I have to set the scene with her in mind and then she gets to act heroic. She likes that. Who wouldn’t? She’s Gal Gadot. She shoots the bad guys (doesn’t kill ’em) after tumbling out of a moving car to get a clean shot. Sal is that kinda woman and yet there’s not much call for that kinda thing in real life. This is cathartic for her.
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Thank you for the offer to be a beta reader again, but this new book isn’t a genre that I normally read. I hope you understand that this time I will decline. If you do another book with an off the grid theme let me know. – Margy
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Congrats Dave and Sal on your first draft. I’ve only just started reading books again. I might give your books a go. But I only review really good ones. Life’s too short. Maybe I’ll extend that to C+s. I’m sorry to say I judged Off-Grid by its cover. I thought it might be all technical. But if it is philosophical, like about the meaning of life, or even if it is just funny, then I could be interested. Maybe. No promises.
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No apologies necessary. But OLOTG is anything BUT technical. It was the lack of technical content (read: helpful) that prompted me to try CHOOSING but, to be fair, CHOOSING was more philosophical and thus NOT VERY helpful either. I like it, tho. OLOTG is just funny. It’s a ‘what-not-to-do’ kinda book. This one is an indulgence, a Sally request. She wanted a cheap B action flick. Fiction (mostly) based on some real life incidents.
‘REALLY GOOD’…..? Never gonnna happen. We strive for readable, no higher. We aspire to mediocrity and seem to come up a bit short on that score. I would normally riff humour to ‘have fun’ but this is an action thriller and, except for the odd wise-crack, there is nothing funny about being hunted by bad guys and the government while needing a nap and a bathroom.
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Sounds like my kind of action. If it’s too scary though, I’ll have to stop. I’ve have to put them all on my to read list. You’ll have to try harder to put me off. 🙂
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Nice going. Way to get the third book this far. It must be satisfying.
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Sal’s pretty happy. I tend to wait for the beta readers to comment. But I am pleased to think that we at least scaled the mountain and now we just have to come down. So, thanks. It is a nice way to remember a vacation, too. “Remember scootering in Thailand in C39 degree heat?”
We actually wrote the book back at our ‘digs’ with the AC on but that is the way we’ll tell the story.
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