Katoji: Ask and ye shall receive…even if a bit late!
The “how” and “when” of RoC: Alizant is a bit involved (what isn’t in my life!?! 
) A sequel involving Alizant’s machines was always “in the plan”, but after I finished Ring of Destiny, I really wanted to get back into my SF universe. By that time I’d gotten the rights to the original GroundTies Series back from Warner, whose SF line had pretty much gone down by the stern anyway. I also wanted to write a book on spec for the first time since my first novel to try to get some real feedback on my writing from new editors who weren’t already committed to a series. I felt my books still weren’t as “accessible” as they could be, even without compromising my own style.
Thus, ‘NetWalkers came into being. I knew reselling the GT series was going to be difficult, so a new book and a prequel that would give the new publisher a market for the backlist was the plan. Besides, that was the book aching to be written. Wesley clambered for my attention throughout the writing of Ring of Destiny.
The following few years were … interesting. I was about halfway through ‘NetWalkers when we made the big move from OKC to Spokane. This makes for a very short sentence, but involved dropping everything to pack way too much stuff, prep a house for sale, and unpack once we got here. Again, a short sentence for a very involved and stress-filled procedure that took months out of my writing schedule.
‘NetWalkers consumed my writing time for the next couple of years as I wrote the original, rewrote several times, the final time based on the first real feedback I’d gotten from NY, which had been very, very helpful, then rewrote all three of the original books to include the expanded knowledge I’d gained from the prequel (as well as that feedback). This was a massive rewrite because the idea was to make them different enough to warrant new editions, yet still have the same story.
During this period, I also lost both my parents and we moved yet again.
Finally, in … 2004, I think, I wrote RoC: Alizant. Because of the delay, it took quite a different direction than I’d originally planned…a far better one, IMO. My brain had had some time away from the series and characters and I was able to go back to the world with a fresh energy. At this point, I really can’t reconstruct what the original story was going to be, but I can tell you a new character is introduced that I’d never dreamed of five years before!
I also wrote it from a very positive place mentally. DAW had ‘NetWalkers and the rewrites and was making noises that they were very, very interested. I had hopes that perhaps, finally, that series was going to get something remotely like proper care and feeding. So there’s some really upbeat moments in it that wouldn’t have been there had I jumped into the story immediately after I finished RoD, with Wesley still being sulky and the move and all the rest, still wondering what I needed to do to be more “accessible.” (That magic word…)
So…anyway…that’s how the actual physical writing of the book fits into the overall history. How the story fits into the series chronologically, it starts several months after RoD ends and centers around first Deymio’s wedding, then Alizant’s electrical company and a little fellow by the name of Jeremin. 
Thanks for asking! Back to work!
Yes, that little fellow named Jeremin. I know something about him, . Well, I have the 2 NW books to finish up, then RoD.
Thanks Jane! I love to hear about how things are made. Sometimes the process is just as interesting.
I think you have lots of valuable things to say about the nature and process of writing, personal vision, and commercial concerns.
After having read your work, I wouldn’t say there is some issue with accessibility. I would say, from an editor’s point of view, that the issue is more of unpredictability–over a series of books.
Some types of stories are very suited to serialization. The characters are well set into their “way of being.” Conan the Barbarian. Bren Cameron. Sherlock Holmes. Batman. Each new story is plot driven. We read to find out what adventures our hero is going to encounter. There is always surprise and twist, but these characters are settled. The opportunity for personal angst is there–especially for Bren Cameron–but there are limits to the personal universe.
Your stories are more about developing characters. They are in tremendous personal flux–not settled yet. Still growing, still changing–this is where your plot lines tend to go—more about personal struggle. It’s still driven by plot of course, but because the characters aren’t settled, a serialized story structure is much harder. The challenge with a long set of stories would be to not let the characters stray too far, as they are developing this ‘persistence of self-consciousness’ that will eventually settle them.
I suppose you could call that accessibility–implying that the reader won’t be able to figure out where all these changes are coming from or why they are happening–but I think really it’s more a matter of being able to see the entire series as whole, so that meandering and exploring can be done with confidence. The ability to see the forest through the trees, as it were.
It’s going to be really interesting to see what such a distance in time from the previous works will bring! It does sound like the break, though unexpected, led to good things.
Counting down the hours….
Some days I feel I’ll catch up with all the reading I mean to do. But I will definitely need ‘Ring of Change,’ oh Janeness! All those women having babies, relationships still unsettled, and Mother being….Mother. I’ll bring a chicken.
For the ragweed, I don’t know if they still make it, but Ortho Triox Vegetation Killer will prevent ANYTHING fro growing in the applied spot for about 2 years. I’d use it on the ragweed patches, and rather than cut them down, which I believe adds to the pollen in the vicinity, spritz them with some RoundUp before you put the Triox on the ground. Be warned, the Triox smells horrible, but it does work.