As I’m writing this, it’s about 3:00 PM on Wednesday afternoon July 3.  I am exhausted.  About 2:00 this morning, I completed the first draft.  Now I just can’t find the energy to do anything.  Today, I’ll make some changes to the manuscript suggested by my writers group Tuesday evening, but I’m not going to seriously start the revision process until Monday (that’s tomorrow for you reading this.)

I have two main things that I will be especially looking at as I do my first revision pass.  The first is to make sure that I haven’t flipped from one point of view to the other.  This story is more from Patience’s point of view, but I know I’ve slipped in a few places and given the reins to Mike.  The second is to balance out how much sex is in the story.  In the first two books, there are some strong allusions to sex, but not a blow by blow, as it were.  This book has a couple of fairly descriptive sex scenes and one not so descriptive.  I have to decide how I’m going to play it.

Of course there are plenty of other changes I’ll have to make.  I need to get them all done before I start editing.

Keep an eye on this blog, because I will be giving out coupon codes for free ebooks as soon as it’s done.  Thanks to everyone who has stopped by or written to tell me how much they enjoyed the other books and how much they are waiting for this one.

I finished writing chapter 12, and just like the last chapter, it took me five days.  That is it took me five days, if you consider writing away at 2:30 in the morning of the sixth day, to still be in the fifth day.

Unlike the last chapter, everything that was supposed to happen in this chapter did.  Well, almost.  A little dialog planned for chapter 12 has gotten pushed back to chapter 13.

I was also lying in bed last night and came up with a different way to do a particular plot point.  I had originally envisioned something happening a certain way, and now I’ve decided to change that.   Looking back on it, I think the original idea was kind of stupid– even though I was basing it on real events.  I think I would have been ‘jumping the shark’ for Patience and Mike, and I don’t want to do that, because lately I’ve been coming up with some other story ideas for them.

Anyway, three to four more chapters to go, depending on how they play out.  I’ll keep you updated.

It may seem odd for a science-fiction author to complain about technological change (though I remember Ray Bradbury before he died, complaining about ebooks), but that’s what I’m thinking about today.  Sometimes I love technological change, like when I want a new iPad and I need an improved model to convince my wife that I need to upgrade.  Other times it’s a pain, like when I’m trying to write.

Somewhere I have a sheet of German Postage Stamps printed in the early thirties.  They were 1 Mark stamps, but as soon as they came off the presses, they had to be sent back in to be printed over with 100 Marks, because of the horrible inflation that Germany was experiencing at the time.  It was changing so fast that they literally couldn’t print stamps or money fast enough to keep up with it.

I kind of have that feeling today.  Some of the technology I describe in His Robot Girlfriend and His Robot Wife seems quaint now, and some of the stuff in the new book is already sounding antiquated.  I’m going back and making some changes, particularly to how processes are processes.  I already know I’m not going to get too far in front of the change, but I at least want my story to be up-to-date with present technology.

Specifically in this case, Mike pays with a cash card.  Credit cards and debit cards are already facing extinction.  It won’t be long before apps on telephones replace making a purchase at a cash register or a store counter.  Think of it– scan your item, press pay, authenticate (probably with a thumbprint) and walk out of the store.  No more standing in line, no more waiting, no more identity theft.  It’s a lot closer than you think– much closer than 2037, when my story takes place.