Behind Again

I am writing this one-handed as Galahad has formed a new equally adorable and annoying habit of demanding to be held while I'm at my desk working.  He is currently perched across my chest, held in the crook of my left arm, purring quite happily. I haven't the heart to put him down, though my left arm is straining a bit now. He's not a small boy. That's a lot of weight to hold in one arm for any length of time.

In any case, I thought I'd give you all an update on where I am with my writing stuff. The Starlings (those who are monthly supporters of mine on Ko-Fi) already know most of this.

The first is that I am not going to hit my already pushed-back deadline of the end of this month to finish the last book in the Three Worlds War series that I'm trying to get finished. It sucks, and I'm sorry. I was hoping to be able to put the first book in the series on submission before the official start of summer, but that is looking terribly unlikely. I'm so sorry to keep you all waiting. I am determined to at least get one book written this year, damn it!

There is a silver lining. I have bought myself some time, in which you aren't kept waiting for things from me. At this very moment, The New Haven Incident has started to roll out. For those of you just joining me, it's a novel that I'm offering completely free as a serial right here on this blog. It's all already written, so there's no fear that it will fizzle out and go nowhere. It goes up every Friday morning and will remain forever free for as long as this blog exists. While the Starlings on Ko-Fi are getting it chapter by chapter, here on the blog I've split each chapter in twain. That means it'll be going up for just over a year. So you'll all have something from me going into 2025 (if you're new here and would like to read it, you can start here).

Also, The Lioness of Shara Mountain is currently scheduled be published the following year, so all in, you'll have something from me for a couple of years at least.

Also, the first book in the series is ready for submission. I was waiting for the series to be complete before I started submitting - largely because I want to assure readers that they won't be starting a series that has no end. I know it's a huge concern for some readers (including me. There's nothing I hate more than falling in love with a series only to find that it hasn't and likely won't ever be completed). So as soon as I'm done the last word of the last book, I'll submit book one. Book two and three still require some beta readers. Beta reader one has already gone through the second book, but I'll need to find another beta reader to take over the second reader slot. Book three, obviously, hasn't seen a single edit yet. It's not done.

I'm quite a bit behind in my monthly Read-Along thingy I'm hosting on Story-Graph... which has me quite annoyed as it's a book by Steven Erickson, and he's literally my favourite writer ever. I will get it done, though. There is a great deal of reading in my future. 

But there are things I'm not behind on. There is some movement on a workflow programme I'm setting up for Renaissance in the hopes that it'll help smooth things out and help people keep on top of exactly where a book is in the publishing phase and what has been done and still needs to be done. I'm feeling pretty good about what I have, and will be adding to it as we go. I think I can come up with something that is useable and helpful.

And I've also come up with a possible design for the back of a school shirt for my martial arts students. I'm contemplating also offering it on merch and maybe if it sells, put that money towards stuff for the school - maybe like equipment (I need my own Thai pads, rather than relying on the current location where I teach, for example, and there are no kicking paddles there at all, so a pair or two would be great). I haven't decided about that yet, though.

I'm also working on a few paintings that will be for a project that will be available for the Starlings. One painting is finished, and another is well under way. I'm relatively happy with how the second one is going (hands are hard, alright?) and will hopefully have that finished by next weekend, ready to start on the third. I have an idea about the third painting that is really exciting me, and I'm really hoping I can pull it off.

So, all of this to say, I'm quite annoyed with myself about having to push the deadline for the third book yet again, but I'm trying to be gentle with myself about it. After all, it's not like I was not doing anything at all.

Man, I can't wait until I'm able to work on my projects full time. Come on, lotto win!

Right, that's all I've got for now. I have to go and do work that earns me a wage now.

Slán go foill!