Taking a Break
I haven't hashed it out that much, but I'm thinking about taking a break of some sort between book 4 and book 5. I don't know if it'll be a few months or just a few days, but I'm planning on working on a side-project, The Lost, intently for a little bit. Whether I'll finish it in this break or not, I don't know. I just have a feeling that after book 4 I'm going to need to spend some time just thinking and planning--not completely writing.
Why?
Because book 4 marks the end of the first four novels, which are thematically linked. They are like their own complete arc. The next four books are their own set, so I want to be in a fresh, thoroughly planned out mindset for them. Also to give the first four some time to settle. When book 4 comes out, I'm planning on making HTSW perma-free and maybe price dropping Harmonic Waves. So I can market that. I'm also thinking about creating a streamlined four pack of them. Maybe do another editing run on each of them. I don't know. Just some maintenance/pressing forward ideas. What better time would there be to do it then after completing a whole arc? Probably never. So yea. Those are some of my ideas.
Whether I'll actually do them is an entirely another issue, but yea.
I don't know if all the above actually constitutes 'taking a break' but to me it is. When I was writing the other books, I didn't take a break in between. I just kept going at it. Writing and editing. Not a moment really wasted. Like time was slipping away and I wouldn't be able to finish. But I've written three books and polishing up a fourth. That's amazing.
The creators of Game of Thrones said they'd be happy to get to the Red Wedding and they did.
I got these four down. Four full length novels telling these stories in full. I did it.
Maybe a break is needed so I can do it again. The next four can come out and the first four are solidified in full. And over and over again until I am gone from this world. That's what the end-game is---keep playing until there is nothing left of me to give.
When I rationalize it like this, the break isn't so much a break but an interlude.
Everything is an interlude for something else.
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