I have learned several important facts about myself this last month. Most of them revolve the fact that I apparently have lost my ability to gauge how many words a particular story idea will take to manifest. This, in turn, leads to several announcements. They are, in no particular order:
- Do you recall a month ago when I said that it would take a week to finish Dervish, if I hustled? I did not hustle.
- Do you recall me saying that the story would likely be less than 150k words at completion? That also turned out to be a lie. The final draft sits at just over 165k, not counting appendix and other auxiliary items.
- Some of this was out of my control, as I once again found myself sick and in bed for the last several weeks, struggling to find the energy to handle my day job and children, let alone write after all my other work is done. This, unfortunately, is a problem that will persist until such time as a medical professional can determine what, if anything, is wrong with me. Given the difficulty in accessing medical services at the moment, I don’t expect this problem to resolve itself any time soon, so future projects may be delayed as a result.
- Most importantly of all, however, to the point it bears repeating, DERVISH IS DONE. It’s far longer and more complex than I anticipated, but I absolutely love how this book turned out. It has a little bit of everything: aerial battles, high-speed car chases, giant gladatorial battles, and plus lots of crazy new monsters, puzzles, and magic items.
So that’s where everything stands at the moment. I’m intending to take a few more days of rest before I start in on my read-through of the book, and around the end of July it’ll be handed off to beta readers, with a likely publishing date of sometime in the early fall. Not ideal, but considering I’ve been working on this book since last October, when it was split off from Conduit, I guess I should just be glad that this project will be completed at all.
I’m sure some of you are wondering about the state of Bulletproof Witch, what with so much of my focus on Luf and co. recently. Rest assured, book six is my next project, sort of. I do have something new I’ll be launching on Royal Road in the fall as well, but that is already half done as it is, and I should be able to work on Temperance’s story simultaneously. Ideally I’d like to get the first draft done by the end of 2022, with an early 2023 release. Fingers crossed I can actually hold to that, the way life has been lately.
On a side note, it’s been a while since I posted an update on the SPFBO reading project, but I haven’t forgotten it entirely. I’ve managed three more of the books since May, as noted below.
The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble’s Braids by Michael McClung(Review Here)The Weight of a Crown by Tavish Kaeden(De-Listed)City of Burning Shadows by Barbara Webb(Review Here)Sins of a Sovereignty by Simon Watts(De-Listed)What Remains of Heroes by David Benem(DNF)Shattered Sands by WG Saraband(De-Listed)Under a Colder Sun by Greg James(Review Here)Priest by Matthew Colville(Review Here)A Soul for Trouble by Christa McHugh(DNF)Paternus by Dyrk Ashton(Review Here)Fionn by Brian O’Sullivan(Review Here)Larcout by KA Krantz(Review Here)Assassin’s Charge by Claire Frank(Review Here)The Music Box Girl by KA Stewart(Review Here)The Moonlight War by SKS Perry(Review Here)- Outpost by FT McKinstry
- The Shadow Soul by Kaitlyn Davis