WOOL 5 is coming right along. I have at least three more passes to make, but I should have them done over the next week and a half. That leaves plenty of time to format the story for Kindle and print editions.

I will say this about the swelling size of each entry: it makes for a whole lot more work in revising and editing. This is a blasted novel that I’m trying to turn out in six weeks. That’s six weeks from typing the first word to paginating the 56,000th! Do you have any idea the sort of mania required to get this done? Seriously, if this story manages to not suck completely, it deserves five stars on effort alone.

Six frickin’ weeks.

And if I absolutely had to, I could probably shave a week or two off of that. Let’s not forget that I haven’t worked my last day at the bookstore yet. Man. Okay, enough whining about my work schedule, this is about any fears of WOOL 5 being “the end.”

For me, an ending means I’m not leaving you with a crippling cliffhanger. I thought the original WOOL had a tidy ending. So does the fourth Molly book, THE PLAGIARIST, THE HURRICANE, and HALF WAY HOME. You would sure as hell enjoy more of these characters and worlds, but it isn’t a burning need.

At the ends of WOOLs 2, 3, and 4, you have that burning need. You must know what happens next. When I say WOOL 5 wraps things up, it means you’ll be able to breathe, to sleep well that night, to make it through the next month without refreshing my home page and checking my word count. It doesn’t mean there won’t be more silo stories.

When you get to the end of WOOL 5, you’ll see what I mean. There’s a LOT more to tell. And then there’s stuff that already happened! You think the end of the original WOOL is sad? Wait until you’ve read a series of mystery novels featuring Marnes and Holston. In fact, if I was planning a TV show around the WOOL universe, I would start right there. I wouldn’t waste the awesomeness that is Holston (and Allison) right off the bat; I would devote a full season or two just to getting to know the silo, Jahns, the various troubles residents get into, the tensions between levels and classes of people, the sneakiness of IT.

I picture BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA meets THE WILD, WILD WEST. Human drama, constant tension, bleak world, dry humor, a rusted/rustic setting . . . sounds perfect to me.

The best part would be the Juliette cameo in that first season when they head down to investigate George’s death. Viewers in the know would flip out! Especially if the actress’s identity could be kept secret to this point, so the cameo becomes a reveal. That would be a spectacular TV moment.

Anyway, three weeks from today, eager readers will be coming home, propping up their feet, and digging into WOOL 5. I’ll be hard at work on a completely new series. But don’t fret: there will be more with these characters you’ve come to love. More, even, from the ones who are no longer with us. I may shear a few sheep in the next entry, but WOOL is awesome like that:

It keeps growing back.