Delayed Reaction

Yes, the rumors are true: Point & Shoot, the third novel in my Charlie Hardie series, has been pushed back to April 2013. This is entirely my doing; I simply needed more time with the novel. And I'd rather give you guys the best novel I could write rather than "the best possible novel I could write by a certain date," you know?

Over the years deadlines have saved my ass as much as they've nearly killed me. While there's no thrill like racing up against a deadline... and there's no desperation like a writer who sees a deadline ready to flatten him like an 18 wheeler. Maybe it's the fact that I'm older now (40, God help me), but the crush of a brutal deadline seems to be hurting more than helping. So I've decided not to step into the middle of the freeway anytime soon. I'm through selling novels with sample pages and an outline; I'm just going to write the the things, giving them as much time as they need (could be two weeks, could be 12 years) and then see if anyone's interested.

Comics are different; that's a deadline driven business, and I do my best to nail those, because writers are at the start of a long production line involving artists and letterers and colorists and editors and production folks... and if I screw up my deadline, those folks don't eat. Comics are also different because they follow a somewhat predictable schedule (for me, anyway). I pitch a short idea, I write a 700 to 1,000 word plot (or "beat sheet"), receive notes, then write the script. I know which deadlines I can hit because I know how much time each step takes.

Novels, though... they don't usually fit into these neat little boxes. They need to breathe and develop and mutate on their own.

That said... I'm very proud of what I accomplished with Point & Shoot. The first draft is in, and it's the pulpiest (and probably most violent) thing I've ever written. I can't wait for you guys to read it; I just hope you'll think it was worth the wait.