This month’s progress report is full of interesting discoveries, just like the one in the picture above. (It’s from Valheim, showing a circular cistern, right between the Swamp and the Plains, This environmental feature tends to pop up in Swamp and Mountains).
Writing Progress Report
Still writing the next Wolf book, A Wolf’s Hacker, not with a lot of speed, alas. But I’m writing fairly consistently, and that makes me happy.
In addition, I have all the ideas for so many more books… I’m sure it won’t ever stop.
Oh, and before I forget, I am still updating my AO3 stories with a chapter a week, every Wednesday and Friday. Both are portal fantasy with shifters, but one is YA and the other is very… spicy. They also ended up being very different stories, despite the similarities. You get to pick:
YA Portal Shifters (Wednesdays)
Spicy Shifters (Fridays)
Winds and Pillars Progress Report
I just realized I still have to set up the print version of Sun Burns. There was a hiccup on Atticus with the More Books page that didn’t display in print in the way I wanted it to. I have to try one more thing (tedious), and if it works, great, if not, well, you’ll get a book with slight ugliness in one spot.
Just need to find the energy to tackle this.
Next book up is Moon Rises, but you’ll have to wait until 2025 for it. Sorry.
(Want to start reading the series? Book 1 is South Breaks. It’s free.)
Wolves Progress Report
Yep, definitely getting close enough to The End with A Wolf’s Hacker that I need to start thinking about a cover. Probably should commission that soon. I’d love to give you all an October release.
Even better, a new main character is coming out of this story, one of the discoveries I mentioned. The next Wolf book will be about Lucky, an important (and battered) side character in A Wolf’s Hacker. Preliminary title is A Wolf’s Escape, but that might be subject to change.
At any rate, I won’t write this until 2025, because there are two books that I need to do before I can return to the Wolves.
(Want to start reading the series? A Wolf’s Quest is free.)
Penumbra Progress Report
The moment I finish A Wolf’s Hacker, the first Penumbra book is up on my screen. I will ditch most of what I have written so far, but I’m keeping the plot. I’m just going to root it firmly in the 2040s, and my brain is still serving up new images of how that near future will look.
Of course, the science of how the climate catastrophe is actually going to play out is still fluid. And I still haven’t really picked a town to base the story in. Leaning towards Chicago or Cincinnati, because it’s supposed to be set in the US. I may need to find people living there to help me make it authentic.
I will say that Leander is definitely occupying my mind at times already. There are some very firm plot points set for the story, but as usual, the in-between is still open to change.
Valheim Progress Report
Things are about to get exciting again! My friend and I are planning to face the Plains boss, Yagluth. Neither of us have experience with that fight, so we want to do a trial run in my Twink’s world where fights are a little easier.
I’ve been preparing the site somewhat, by taking out a Fuling village, building a base and killing a small herd of lox that were loitering in the fighting grounds. As you can see, we’re close. Wish us luck!
I have been sneaking into the Mistlands, shot my first hares and even killed my first Seeker. But that fog is making things quite miserable.
Life Progress Report
Something fairly shocking happened last week: Pretty much exactly at midnight, one of my big pictures fell off the wall and crashed on the floor, smashing its frame. The crash woke me up out of solid sleep – and finding the debris in the morning was quite a discovery of the not so fun kind.
I made that poster myself, it was basically three Chinese words, painted somewhat crudely. It was part of my coaching practice decorations, and I suppose it was high time to move on from that. I’ve actually been looking for replacements, and this… incident forced my hand. I have ordered a new poster and will pick up a new frame at Ikea next week. Kind of looking forward to that.
If there is a bigger meaning to the whole thing, it’s probably this: This is very much MY life, and I get to live it my way, without being stuck in the past. That’s something I’ve been struggling with, still not claiming the full freedom I get from living in my own space. Because it also includes self-care – something that is difficult for me. Still, I’m leaning into that more now, and it’s… revealing. (More about this next month, I expect.)
Newsletter Progress Report
Some of you who have subscribed to my newsletter might have gotten strange emails yesterday. Apologies for that.
You see, I went through my newsletter system and fixed a few things behind the scenes that were caused by me being a little… inexperienced with automations and the programming behind them. I hope that my system is a little better now and will require less work in the future.
Now, if you haven’t signed up for my newsletter yet, here’s your big chance!
Once a month, always on the 13th, you’ll get writing news (like this post), special book offers, a coupon for my own book store, and maybe most importantly, the Ember Tale.
Ember is my little dragon familiar, and each month, I share a cute, sweet adventure we have together. They are not available anywhere else.
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