An Author’s Work Is Never Done

As an author who always has multiple projects going on, each one of which is typically in a different stage of the production process, it can sometimes be difficult to keep all of it straight. Sometimes, I feel like I need a critical path schedule like those used in construction projects, which sets benchmark dates and prioritizes things.

That would, of course, be overkill, but it sometimes feels like it’s that confusing. Here’s an example. At present, I have the following projects going on:

1. Stuart’s Ride: waiting for the book clubs to make their decisions and then to the printer; nothing to do but wait.
2. Retreat from Gettysburg: In copy editing. Will require revisions upon completion (this one is a real challenge, since I have two co-authors).
3. Rush’s Lancers regimental history. Waiting on newly found set of letters; must scan over 100 illustrations and a dozen maps.
4. Dahlgren bio: Ten chapters in rough draft form, three to go. Project is temporarily on hold.
5. New edition of Trevilian Station book: Have to finish putting together driving tour and shoot battlefield photos (I’m doing that on Friday of this week). I will work on the driving tour some yet this evening.
6. Morgan’s Raid: In the research phase. Making progress, but it’s going to be quite a while before I’m ready to begin writing.

That’s not all of it, but you get the idea.

Right now, my number one priority is finishing up that driving tour for the new edition of the Trevilian Station book so I can put that project to bed. That is, in part, why the Dahlgren project is temporarily on hold. The other reason is completing the Lancers project. So, while I’m back to work, I’m kind of all over the road with this stuff.

I had hoped to add new material to the Trevilian book–I’ve had a bunch of good new material surface since the book was published in 2001–but Bison Books will not permit to add anything substantive to the text, only the driving tour of the raid with some photos. That’s disappointing, of course, but at least the book will be back in print. It was a pretty good seller, so I’ve never understood why Brassey’s allowed it to go out of print in the first place, especially considering that it was only a couple of years after the book was published, and they had to remainder a whole bunch of them to permit it to go out of print. When push comes to shove, I’m just happy it’s going to be back in print.

And, on top of everything else (and this does not include my professional responsibilities as lawyer), I have my Ironclad duties to attend to. This evening, I had some bookkeeping to do and an order to pack.

How do I keep it all straight? Honestly, I have no idea. I just know that an author’s work is never, ever done. Even for books that have already been published. 🙂