The Ghost Had an Early Check-Out by Josh Lanyon

I waited too long on that one too, and readers had too much time to decide the story they wanted-which turned out to not be the story I had in mind. It's the lesson of The Ghost Had an Early Check-out. Also having waited so long, I ran into the problem of other people's expectations. I mean, it was just a novella!!! Thirty thousand words! Why the hell couldn't I come up with a measly thirty thousand words?!!

So no, I really, really, really did not want to have to cancel this one. So there was every practical incentive to complete this project. I'd already sold the audio rights on the sequel (which now have to be repaid). The first little novella earned over 30K.

I've had it happen to me, and when it does, I feel that exact same frustrated why can't they just write the damn thing?! I know how this feels and I hate doing it. In fact, disappointing readers is the last thing I want to do. I wouldn't have dragged this out for years, if I'd actually wanted to cancel. As though this was something a writer did simply to disappoint and anger readers. I've read such stupid comments about books being delayed and cancelled. I tried every inspire-creativity trick I know, but the story and the characters just seemed to drift farther and farther away. I even did a couple of trailers and teasers. I've got whole scenes playing out in my mind. I've started and stopped at least a dozen times. I don't think I can completely blame it on the pandemic, though clearly that didn't help. Maybe I just waited too long to tackle this one.

The Ghost Had an Early Check-Out by Josh Lanyon