A More Detailed Look Ahead

I posted about this last week, but I’ve tried to project ahead with a more concrete plan about what’s to come for the Dream Series (and my other writing, if I can ever get it done!) over the next year and a half or so.  So here’s what I’m hoping to accomplish:

“Dream Home” (book #7) will be out on May 23rd.  That’s set in stone.  And you already know what that’s about.

Next will be the audiobook edition of “Waking Dream” (book 5), which I hope to have out for sale the last week in June (it’s just started production, so the timing on this is up in the air)

Following that will be the audiobook edition of “Dream Reunion” (book 6), which is currently scheduled to be out the last week in August (this is more up in the air, obviously!)

“Dream Vacation” (book #8) will be released on October 31st, 2014.  I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to make this date.  And what will it be about?  Sara, Brian and the kids will be heading to Europe for a week’s vacation, followed by a trip to Scotland for Janet Black’s wedding.  There’s sure to be last-minute drama from Janet, difficulties with fellow tourists, and some serious growing pains for Grace (if you’re familiar with Jane Austen, think about what happens with Lydia Bennet and Mr. Wickham…).

Sometime before the end of November, I expect that the audiobook edition of “Dream Home” will be up for sale, but this is obviously really tentative!

“The Twelve Dreams of Christmas” is scheduled for December 12th.  My plan is for a collection of a dozen short pieces (2,000-4,000 words), each from the perspective of a different character in the Dream Series, and all taking place around Christmastime.  So far, the stories I’m thinking will definitely appear are:

• Helen Alderson’s take on her first meeting with Sara (recounted from Sara’s point of view in “Dream Student”)
• Betty Barnes’ view of the birth of her first grandchild (Lizzie’s birth, which takes place in between “Dream Doctor” and “Dream Child”),
• Grace’s first Christmas as a member of the Alderson family (a couple of months after the events of “Dream Family”),
• Beth’s visit to Sara’s house during Christmas break of their freshman year in college (mentioned in passing in “Dream Student”)
• Janet Black’s Christmas visit with Sara and the rest of the Aldersons (in between “Dream Reunion” and “Dream Home”)
• Ben and Steffy’s experiences in Christmas of 2003 (a month after the events of “Dream Home”)
• I still need to figure out stories for: Brian, the other Ben (Brian’s father) Bob, Lizzie, Howard, Aunt Kat.

Next up, but this is a lot more uncertain, will hopefully be the launch of a standalone book (or, possibly the first in its own series), which I’ve mentioned here before.  It’s Jane’s story (one of the girls from Sara’s dorm in “Dream Student”, and we also meet her in “Betty & Howard’s Excellent Adventure’ ten years later), tentatively titled “Queen of the Idiots”.  If I can make good progress on it while also working on the Dream books, my plan would be to launch it on January 23, 2015.  But stay tuned on that.

I hope that I’ll have the audiobook edition of “Dream Vacation” produced and up for sale by the end of February, 2015.

The next definite launch after that will be “Shattered Dream” (book 9), on March 17, 2015.  I’m pretty sure this will happen right on time, as I’ve already got 12,000 words written for this book.  It starts with the sudden and mystifying death of one of Sara’s patients, which leads Sara to dig into other unexplained deaths at the hospital, some of them dating back to before she started working there.  She’ll discover a cover-up, reveal a conspiracy and find herself in danger that threatens to destroy not just her life, but the lives of everyone she cares about.

Sometime in this gap, during the summer of 2015, I expect the audiobook editions of both “Shattered Dream” and “Queen of the Idiots” (if I finish it) to be available for sale.

On September 18, 2015, Book 10 of the Dream Series will be launched.  I’m not sure if it will be the final book of the series, “Dream Wedding” or if there will be another story in between “Shattered Dream” and “Dream Wedding”.  Obviously, “Dream Wedding” will feature the wedding of one of Sara’s children, either Grace or Lizzie, and it’ll take place in the summer of 2013.I’m leaning towards possibly putting another book in there, though.  There may be room for a story after what happens in “Shattered Dream” and it might be time for Sara’s father, Howard Barnes, to step forward and have a much bigger role.  We’ll see…

By the end of November, 20115, I hope to have the audiobook edition of book 10 produced and available.

And, finally, there’ll be a book launched on December 11th.  It will either be “Dream Wedding” (if book 10 turns out to be a different story), or it’ll be a totally new book (maybe a second Jane story, or maybe Beth will get her own book, if I can come up with a story for her, or maybe it’ll be something totally new.  I really don’t know yet!).

I can say that I’ve already written the very final chapter of the Dream Series, the epilogue that will go at the end of “Dream Wedding”.  It just came to me, what that chapter had to be, and I think it’s just a perfect end to the series.  But, even after “Dream Wedding” comes out, there will still be room for more stories in the world of the Dream Series – and not only stories about Sara….

So there you have it – plenty to look forward to!

 

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