Creative Writing update

Thought I'd provide an update on my writing efforts (aka works in progress).

Psalm 90: A Prayer of Moses the man of God. 
I've been working on re-assembling my sabbatical project into 13 study sessions of roughly equal length, so that it is suitable for a Sunday School quarter. It has proven to be more difficult than I first imagined. I am presently working on Session 11, which will take me through verse 15 (of 17) when it is complete.I hope to finish the structural part of the re-write in the next three weeks. Then it will go into final editing. Still have not done the cover design. Realistically, it will be early fall before it is published (by Doorway Press, of course).

Outlander Chronicles: Icarus
The only thing I am actively doing for the second book of the Outlander series is research and plot formation. I recently completed reading The Industrial Revolutionaries by Gavin Weightman in order to get a notion of what the Phoenix folks will be up against as they seek to resurrect technology. I will continue to do reading research, but will not do any significant writing until the Falcon series is published. I'd say we are at least three years, maybe four, out before serious writing on this project resumes. However, I enjoy the characters in this series and can't wait to involve them in their next trials and challenges. I will give you a hint of what is coming: familiarize yourself with the myth of Icarus, and it will give you an idea of from where the troubles of the Phoenix group will come.

Falcon Down
I'm really excited about this first book of what will be four in the Falcon series. I am within shoutin' distance of one-quarter of my word count for the first book (planned word count is 80,000 - I am currently at 17,000+). I have a complete, three-part novel of 200,000 words, unpublished, that will be carved into three books, and which will comprise the final three books of the four-book Falcon series. Falcon Down is functioning as a prequel.

The series is set in the Cold War era in 1986, and is a military/espionage thriller with lots of action and plot twists. The first and fourth books take place largely in the Soviet Union, the second and third are concentrated in Alaska. There is a great deal of research going into the project, down to such trival matters as the tail numbers on the aircraft I am using, or the construction of aircraft fuel-level senders. To be sure, you the reader are not subjected to such mind-wearying details; I am just ensuring that the tale, the plot and subplots, and the action are as authentic as possible.

I'd love to imagine that Falcon Down would be done in time for Christmas, but I think that's a little optimistic, probably by about six months. So lets say, June of 2013.

And what about Outlander Chronicles: Phoenix? How is it faring in the market?
It's selling, veeery slowly. I think I've given away more than I've sold at this point, but that's to be expected. An advertising piece for the book is being stuffed in the convention bags for the Christian Home Educators of Ohio conference that will be held June 21st-23rd in Akron. We hope to get a bump in sales from that. We had an excellent book-signing at Bread of Life bookstore here in Greenville in March, as well as a good author-interview on JoyFM at the end of February. But marketing is not my forte, and until I do better in this area sales will remain sluggish. We've gotten a lot of very positive reader comments. To this point, we've gotten no big-name reviews.