I’ve been concentrating on Shipbuilder these days, with its publication approaching quickly. I haven’t been doing any writing at all, although I promise I’ve been thinking about it a lot.
Shipbuilder is the first of a series. The second book is about half done, maybe a bit more than that. It has existed under the title of The Time Travel Journals: Returning, but I’ve changed the sub-title to Bridgebuilders. It’s not exactly a sequel – Shipbuilder stands on its own, and Bridgebuilders has all new characters, and takes place in a different time. But it takes place in the same universe.
Er… universes.
Anyway, I had put the story aside for a while, in order to work on Worlds Apart. But with Shipbuilder coming out, I know I need to have Bridgebuilders published within the next year. I’ve just put myself on deadline!
Last night, I retrieved Bridgebuilders from the archive to see what condition it was in. There was a lot of dust. I was shocked to see that I haven’t looked at it since October.
How is that even possible? Where did all those months go? I’m telling you, we’ve got to hang on to time. It gets slippery. I feel awful, letting the poor story languish for so long. And now, I have to finish it. It’s going to require a huge effort on my part, but I suspect that will be a good thing. Maybe one reason my writing has been iffy lately, is because there’s no pressure. I think I’m the kind of person who needs a deadline. Otherwise, I just dabble.
So y’all please keep my feet to the fire. As a self-published author, I’m under contract to you, the readers. I’m hoping you’ll like Shipbuilders enough to want to see what happens in the future. If you’re curious, the first chapter of Bridgebuilders is up, here.
I am officially On the Clock.
Marlene Dotterer 
That’s a great kind of person to be. You’ll get it ready in no time!
I loved shipbuilder, what a ton of research, excellent!!
So this next one is going to be hard to wait for!!
Keep up the good work!
Thank you, Julie! I love hearing from people who’ve read the book. I’m actually approaching the end of Bridgebuilders, and hope to have it available by this fall. Be sure to stick around the blog as I go on the Titanic Memorial Cruise in April. I actually get to tour Dunallon and the shipyards where Thomas Andrews worked. I’m almost more excited about that than I am about the cruise!