My New Writing Adventure

As some of you may know, I've begun a new blog. It chronicles my efforts at writing a novel, my first. Actually I started one several years ago but let it die on the vine as I was really not happy with it. This one is different, however. I'm in a "good space" and am 100% committed to writing it. I haven't come up with a title for the book yet, so I refer to it as either my novel-in-progress or The Dresser, since a dresser plays an integral role in the story.

The title of the blog is R.W. Harrison - http://www.rwharrisonauthor.com - which is my official "authorial" name. As I explain on the blog, R.W. Harrison sounds like an author's name. I probably would have gone with Robert Harrison as my first choice, but there are already several established authors with that name. And I felt like Bob Harrison was too informal, not authoritative enough. So, after an informal poll on Facebook, the votes were counted and most people preferred R.W. Harrison, so that's what I went with.

As of this writing, I'm about 15,000 words into it, or a fifth of the way done. So why am I creating another blog when I'm not even done with it? From everything I've read, it's critical to establish a "platform" to get people interested in it, even before it's published. And I don't plan on publishing it in the traditional sense; I'm going to self-publish as an e-book (although paperback copies will be available on demand).

And why am I writing about it here on my Sweetest Smoke blog? Because this blog already has an established readership and I need to do everything I can to spread the word.

The biggest reason I'm writing about my novel-in-progress here is because one of the story's main characters is...a pipe smoker! The novel takes place just after World War II and the character, George Carmichael has just relocated from England to the fictitious town of Kingsbridge, New York, where the story is set. And naturally, since he's a pipe smoker, he's one of the good guys. Unless I throw in a twist where he's one of the rare pipe-smoking bad guys!

I haven't decided exactly what kind of pipe he'll be smoking. Will it be something like a Dunhill or will George's tastes go toward the more pedestrian? And what tobacco does he smoke? For that, I think definitely Dunhill, maybe Royal Yacht or My Mixture. I need to do some research and find out what was available back then. That's part of the fun of writing the book - doing the research to ensure the accuracy of everything.

So, slide on over to my new blog and take a look. There are currently two chapters available for download - the Prologue and Chapter One. Feedback is always welcome.

Thanks!