1865
March 26, 2024
There is something so satisfying watching Scrivener folders ticking down to the last folder for Book II and the excitement of making a folder for Book III.
I am currently in 1865, and will head into Book III this week, which starts in 1866 and ends during the birth of the modern Edwardian era. It is where everyone and everything dies. I love the ending so much.
The moment my editor receives my third draft, I start on the second book, mostly photographs of the items that are mentioned in the first book. The first book will have photographs, but the second will go much deeper, it will be a feast for the eyes, all of it items never before seen and all of it from my private collection. It will be a nice change to switch from writing to photography.
When the book is finally published, I plan to do a small send-out and then put the book up for sale on my website and announce it here. I even have two brand new posters that are already drawn and printed and will be revealed when the book is out.
I am not doing any book tours or interviews. I am a very happy introvert. I don’t need to be talking on about myself, except here.
Five years ago I got confirmation that I was on the right track when two separate but big things happened simultaneously on the same day, within the same hour. I had traveled cross country to visit a certain relic (not once, but twice) that is mentioned all through the book and is associated with one of the main characters in my book.
Moments before we were about to leave the hotel to see the relic, someone emailed me and offered to sell me a 19th c. specimen that was deeply associated with the piece I was about to visit. The relic that was for sale had to do with a second main character in my book.
My two characters had never met, but the one character became obsessed with the second character as a mentor figure which continued right up until their death. I bought the relic on the spot. To have those two main characters from the 19th century collide together in my hotel room, it was a uniquely odd experience.
I also somehow acquired a tanned human skin tattooed war trophy from the Civil War. It hangs above my drawing table and is also a huge part of the story as well as two Shrunken heads, a 19th century American cane made in Ohio from the dried skin of two men, a book bound in human skin and an ancient Egyptian mummified hand that once belonged to R. B. Haselden, curator of manuscripts of the Henry E. Huntington Library in California. This is just a small sampling of the artifacts that will be prominent in the book.
All of my research comes from primary and secondary sources, I do not use AI or reference anything published after 2014. Even Wikipedia is compromised with so much misinformation, I can no longer use Google for search. I have to double-check everything with primary sources and am appalled at just how bad Wikipedia is.
And finally, last month I was approached by a significant American publisher who is interested in what I am working on. They said it was because I do not have a social media account. Unfortunately with the unfortunate state of the American publishing industry, I don’t think I would be a good fit, especially with the proliferation of unreadable pop science and pop history books. If I do decide to go with a publisher, I am open to a UK publisher - but for now, I am still leaning toward self-publishing. Nothing is set in stone.
I miss SPY magazine.
Onward, indeed.
Music: A Fine Colour by Kassi Valazza
Music: Red Eyes by John R Miller
Music: Rats Get Fat by The Hill Country Devil
“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald