How much is too much?

I'm now edging in on the end of my Cuts of Flesh series (at long last). I hadn't intended for the process of writing them to carry on much into the new year, but both welcome and very unwelcome changes in my life occurred between January and March which dragged my writing progress down. I didn't feel like I could face imagined troubles on top of genuine troubles.

Now I'm finally getting into a rhythm again, getting up between 3.30 and 4 am to write before the kids wake up. I've finished Gashadokuro and am half way through Eat, so after that's done there's just Rapture and then the series is complete!

I have mixed feelings about Gashadokuro. I think it would work well if it had different characters and was stand alone as it feels like it has a different beast to the other novellas in the series. Unfortunately as I'm releasing sequentially (as soon as I have written them) I'm quite tied to the plot points, which is why I'm waiting until I finish Eat to release Gashadokuro, just in case I need to tweak the continuity. Hopefully people won't consider it a 'flabby middle'. I have enough of that with my own physique!

As I'm writing Eat (which I'm pleased with so far, even if it is intensely dark), I'm finalizing the plot of Rapture, but wondering if there is too much shadow and not enough light. I think it will out-bleak Heal The Sick. The suffering of the main character Aleister Ward does however have a reasoning behind it from a plotting point of view (however flawed that reasoning might be), so hopefully it will work.

I will be bringing out a complete Cuts of Flesh for £2.99 on kindle when it is finished, along with a paperback (the cover of which I am tentatively sorting myself). 

In other news, my manuscript is still with Harper Voyager and hasn't been thrown out, so I have a glimmer of hope for publication (imagine a coin at the bottom of a four mile wide lagoon).

When Cuts of Flesh is complete I will also have to decide which of my projects to get on with next. The choice is between Clock (classic sci fi), Fangrok (Horror/Dark Fantasy), and Ojiisan (Zombies set in modern day Japan/tragic love story).

If anyone has a preference they can let me know and I may take notice ;)