Sequelitus.

Managed to do 50 pages of collating the two versions of The Dead Spend No Gold yesterday.  Plus a little rewriting here and there.  I figure I'll get the collating done in four to five days.

Then I'll set in on the actual rewriting from scratch.  Mostly the "Search Party" scenes.

I'm not sure how the "historical detail" will work this time.  It seemed pretty easy with Led to the Slaughter.  But I had very specific sections there that I thought would benefit from research.  With this book, it's just an overall addition of flavoring, if you will.

What I do is research, find interesting details, and figure out where they can be added to the story.

Feeling insecure about things, suddenly.  Both Linda and me are questioning it all.  The time, the money, the frustrations.

But I keep trying to remember my original goals, and I want to follow through on them.   Right now, I'm struggling with how much rewriting I should do.  When am I actually doing too much?  Wouldn't it be better to move on?  Am I being lazy to think that?  Where is my time best spent?

Heard a new term recently.  Sequelitis.

I think I have a touch of that.  I found it was fun and actually easier to write another book in a series.  But there are some downsides, like, it makes the first book ultra important.  Like, you're not really creating a whole new world.

My books are written so that they should be enjoyable on their own -- but simply by making them part of a series, I am limiting reader options.  Personally, I have no problem reading mysteries out of order -- books starring the same characters, but with a new story each time.  That's what I was trying to do with the Vampire Evolution Trilogy and the Lander books, and now with the Virginia Reed series.

I mean, a person should be able to read The Dead Spend No Gold, and THEN read Led to the Slaughter.

But that's not the way most people treat it, unfortunately.  People are surprising rigid about the order in which they'll read things.

The other thing about writing stand alone books -- I'm giving myself a chance to catch new readers each time.

So tying these thoughts back to the "rewriting" thing above, I'm finding that I'm spending a lot of time either on material I've already written, or in worlds I've already created.

I've got a Steampunk novel germinating in my head.  I kind of want to think about it this time.  Really make notes.  Character sketches, backstory history, geography, etc.  There is always that initial excitement, that "discovery" of a new world and new characters and new story.  But this time I want to put some thought into it first.

Of course, I always say I'm going to do that, and then the story takes off without me. 

I have to balance the joys of writing new material, with the need to finish old material.  I need to rewrite Wolflander, Ghostlander, Deviltree, Deeptower, Sometimes a Dragon, Spell Realm, and more.

Basically, I'm trying to alternate, new and old, new and old.

But when I'm mired in rewriting, it seems like that's all I'm doing...