Novel Writer, Screenwriter, Filmmaker & occasionally an Actor. Handy with a Sword, Ukulele, and Skis. Author of Nun With a Gun: The Town with No Name, The Matilda, Twistin' Matilda, Black Matilda, and Secret Matilda. Writer of the upcoming Sci-Fi sequel, Waltzing Matilda.
As the end of this adventure comes closer to completion, so too has the chapter list been completed… a playlist of songs that inspired me.
Has it been on your mind to know what Luli Qing has in her repertoire for the final book of the saga? If you’re a Spotify user, you can check out the Chapter List for Waltzing Matilda. You can even give it a listen.
Let’s just say I received heavy criticism about the ending and that it better changed. I know what you’re thinking, ‘didn’t you have the ending of the whole story written forever ago?’ And you’d be right.
I had that ending in mind when the characters were still partially formed in my head. I wrote that ending in its completion about 4 years ago. But it doesn’t fit the story anymore and I was already working on a replacement. In my opinion, it’s a much better ending and suits the overall arc of the crew of the Matilda. I dare say, I am rather proud of it. I think you’re going to love it, too.
And it is done! As I wait to receive the edits for most of the book, the final rewrite (given the stamp of approval by my alpha reader) is in the mail and on its way to my editor!
My final convention for the year has been completed! And it was a grand time. First off, I wanted to say thank you to all the people who came by my table. There were quite a few familiar faces at Mile Hi Con and I had a grand time getting to hang out with folks I haven’t seen in a long while.
I didn’t get to participate in as many conventions as I wanted this year, but overall, it was still a successful run. I had a few firsts at this one too! I was finally able to drop a story I’m working on in the blind slush pile challenge. There wasn’t a single change mentioned when mine was read out loud and I felt pretty dang cool for the rest of the day.
I was also able to model some of my T-shirt designs for the Matilda Series (you can find them here). And I must say, I looked pretty sharp in my Anton Roane shirt.
I picked up a few more tricks and nonsense to make the whole process go even smoother. As 2023 creeps ever closer, my plan is to attend more conventions in new locations… you know, while also writing another Nun With a Gun story or two.
What about the final Matilda story? That will be completed and available before the next set of conventions roll in. My editor is wrangling paragraphs on pages while I am busy rewriting the end of the series. Once those are done, it’s almost a walk in the park to print!
Here we are in October… (looks at the calendar and shrugs) or will be in a day and I can confidently say that the final novel in the Matilda Series is in the hands of my editor! Later than I wanted but thems the breaks. I hate to say it, but it won’t be ready for Mile Hi Con this year. It is still set to be out by the end of 2022 and I’m all engines forward to making that happen.
After what feels like a million-word correction and heavy rewrites of the end, I can say without a doubt, this completes the journey of the crew of the Matilda.
It has been one hell of a journey for me, and it feels weird to be at the end. The kernel of the story came to me back in 2005, the first words in the series were written in 2014 and the last ones will be put down in 2022.
I really can’t describe how it feels as I’m still processing it. And I probably will be for a while. I am sad to say goodbye to these characters that have been hounding me for longer than I care to think about. I’ll miss their weird instructions at all hours of the day and night, their plans and dreams, recipes, and research. It’s going to be quiet for a while.
On the plus side, now I can prep for new stories with different characters, different worlds even different genres! I can already hear them clamoring for brain time!
… Oh wait. My alpha reader is telling me I need to rework the rewrite of the end. Back to the grindstone! So… close…
Though I have experienced love it is hard for me to believe in. The horrors one commits to another in the name of love only reminds me of the hate I’ve known.
Is it that love, like faith, requires hope? And hope needs belief to thrive? How do we deny the truth that there is no hope?
Is belief the key? Can hope grow within the belief that it exists? And within that faith? And love?
Is it will that is needed? To reshape your future to be loved, to be needed only requires focusing on hope? Is it all a trick of the mind?
Can it be as simple as that? Invest the will to create the hope and that will build the foundations of belief in love. Is that all it is?
Things are moving… slowly on the editing front. There has been some progress but nowhere near enough to what I would like. Some of this is down to other projects taking root and needing forward momentum to just being brain fried after a long work shift (or many).
Even writing this update is a bit of a struggle right now, but them’s the breaks.
Sometimes, I must remind myself that I can’t keep running at 110% without everything catching up and knocking me over. Getting back up again is always the next move, but I need to suck in a few breaths before I get back to my feet. The book will be completed this year, no worries on that. That will be happening even if I have to resort to 24-hour days.
But on to other things! I am working on a secret project that I should be able to talk about a bit more freely in the very near future! I am still weighing options on the Audible track for The Matilda Series. That will also be happening but not until 2023. The outline on the next Nun With a Gun is nearing completion and a completely different novel idea is in the works as well!
Of course, none of these are set to happen until after Waltzing Matilda is done. Now for a nap.
I can hardly believe it, but I assure you it’s the truth! The first draft of the Waltzing Matilda is now completed! I’d run laps right now, but it has been a very long night, err day. One of those things… or maybe both. Is the sun out?
This one has taken longer to write than anything else I have ever worked on. The first words I put down for this story were back in 2017, long before I knew this would be a five-book series. Looking back, it’s been nuts. There were days of clarity, weeks of cloudy days, what felt like unending brain drains, and hourly sparks of creativity. It has not been the easiest road to cross.
I do have to say that given everything I’ve learned in this whole process, I was able to utilize just about every lesson I learned on this one. From starting with an outline, pantsing it every now and again, letting the characters take me along for the ride, to brutally writing every word down in the most structured and controlled manner.
And I picked up a few new tricks, too! Also, some pointers for the next big excursion (having a character sheet with people’s full names, places names, actually anything to do with names for one). And it all worked. I’m serious about running some victory laps, but (oy) these legs are dead.
Now comes the fun part! Editing this story I told myself into something worthy of reading. I like editing, I really do!
Jon Gray Lang.com 