The Galactic Sentinel

Number 2, Stardate 6 13 2019

Phil Nolte, editor

A new beginning.

My new book, "The Callisto Catacombs," Book three of "The Guardians of the Galactic Sentinel" was published last weekend!

Finally.

How does the author feel? Exhilarated? Vindicated? Relieved? Exhausted? Maybe even a bit lost?

The answer is—"all of the above to some degree." Writing a book is a huge undertaking. "Catacombs" took well over a year to write because I had been having so much fun with books one and two of the trilogy that I didn't realize how many loose ends I'd left. Book three took so long because I had to find some way to tie together a whole passel of those unresolved issues.

Fortunately, my heroes found a way.

So, why on earth would anyone feel lost after publishing the final book of a trilogy? Simple, the book becomes a part of your life while you're working on it. As an example, I started writing book one, "The Deimos Artifact," back in May of 2015! That means I've been working on this trilogy for just a little over four years!

And I remember when I didn't have time to do my homework back in high school! Go figure...

I normally write for about two hours a day, and those hours are generally between 6:30-9:00 am. The process of writing in the early morning seems to be a good way for me to wake up and get my mind focused. Yes, I certainly do write at other times of the day, but the early hours are the most convenient and, at least for me, the most productive.

Just because I'm not physically stroking the keyboard of my trusty laptop doesn't mean my mind isn't working on the story, though. A new idea or the solution to a knotty problem can strike any time of the day or night, and often does. The subconscious never rests.

I think the mild depression is due to the fact that this project—this trilogy—is finally done. I try to write every day of the week and usually succeed in doing so. However, even when I take a day or two off, I'm still thinking about the story at some mental level. This project has occupied me for four years. Now it's done and I need to channel my creative energies into some new—and currently undecided—project.

I certainly have some ideas. I have a short story called "Neocat," never published, that I might consider going back to. I never even imagined writing a novel when I wrote it, but looking it over now, I think it could be a good starting point for a new book. On the other hand, I actually started writing a fourth book in the "Junkyard Dogs" series, "Milk Run to Maqam." but decided I'd been confined to that universe for so long that some new direction was needed. The Guardians trilogy was the result. I could go back and finish Junkyard Dogs 4.

Or should I boldly strike out in a brand new direction?

Guess I'll have to get creative.