It’s done.

After months of writing, I have completed two full drafts and a final read-through of Trinity: Atom & Go. Yesterday, just before dinner I sent the final copy into my publisher.

Finishing a manuscript is bittersweet. There is great relief at getting it done, but there is also a feeling of emptiness. I’m left with the simple question — What next? I’m only a day removed from the conclusion of the last story and my mind, my imagination, is already diving into where to go from here.

To follow in the footsteps of my science-fiction predecessors, the living and career runs in the form of a series. Atom and Margo are not done. They have adventures to survive. The crew of the One Way Ticket has backstories left untold. This is not a series that can be written as a timeless snapshot where the book number is in the double digits and the characters are still the same age as in the first book.

Margo cannot stay two.

And so I’m approaching a crossroads.

I have one book left to decide which way I want to go with this series. The characters must grow and must age, as we all do. As things sit in my mind right now, I can either continue the series indefinitely and have each book be a year in the lives of the characters, or I can break the series into smaller groupings at pivotal times.

I’m undecided.

It could be fun to write three trilogies. The first could be as is, with Margo as a toddler. The second could chart her teenage years and her interactions with her middling father. And then conclude with a final trilogy where the roles have reversed and Margo is the bread-winning gunslinger and her aged father is her frumpy sidekick.

At the same time, writing a continuing series which charts the same flow, but without the gaps may afford you readers a smoother journey.

Any way about it, I’m going to take a week off. I’m taking a vacation to catch up on some reading and absorb movies I’ve put off watching. I might spend an afternoon in my backyard, smoking some ribs before the weather finally decides to turn. Maybe I’ll play a few extra board games or paint some minis with my kids.

I’m going to refill the well.

I’m plotting.

In the meantime, keep on reading, go eat something you’ve never tried before, and keep on flying the black.