When 4 Comes Before 3

Every time I’m paging through my folders, navigating to the manuscript for In the Space of an Atom, I hesitate when I have to choose between the one named Book 3 and one named Book 4.  That’s because Atom was supposed to be book 4…and it won’t be.

 

In the Space of an Atom is currently listed on Kindle Scout (and if you haven’t already, you can nominate it here for a chance to win:  https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/1OQP8Z4KLWJVF).  But win or lose in Kindle Scout, this book should be out in about 6-8 weeks.

 

Retroscape of a Future Mind, on the other hand, was supposed to be book 3, but it’s probably 4-5 months from release.  What happened?  Something I never expected.  My beta readers agreed on a concern!

 

Usually, I get one reader saying something like your villain made no impression on me, while another says, I absolutely hated that guy.  But on Retroscape, five of my six readers all made the same comment.  That alone, of course, wouldn’t necessarily delay release.  I mean, if they all said, ‘you know, Retroscape isn’t a word,’ which several did, I’d just go ahead because that’s intentional.  But their concern involved a rather central scene.  The scene’s so important, in fact, that I’m in the process of not only changing it, but the characters and some of the story.  Even the title will be changing.

 

So, what did I learn from this situation?  That’s easy.  If I don’t want to waste those few precious seconds finding my files, I shouldn’t name my folders with numbers…because the rest of this story is just part of writing.