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Status Report (20 November 2021)

Status Report (20 November 2021)

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The day job has been taking up a lot of my time and energy over the past few weeks – there’s a great stack of work I need to get knocked out at the office before it turns into a ghost town over the holidays. Still, this weekend and the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday are promising plenty of time to get creative work done.

At the moment, I’m working to get a new Human Destiny short story put together. As with “Guanahani,” this story is set on the day when the Khedai Hegemony launches its overt invasion of Earth. In this case, the story is set on Mars, where a small outpost has been struggling to survive in isolation, ever since everything went to pot back on the home world. When the aliens arrive, they give the Martian colonists a fateful choice to make . . .

I’ve also been working on new chapters of The Sunlit Lands. That’s moving too slowly for my taste, but I may have two or three new chapters finished by the end of November.

At the moment, my plan for my patrons is to release those new chapters of The Sunlit Lands and the new short story as a charged release by the end of November. That’s conditional on the new material adding up to at least 12,000-15,000 words. I may also finish polishing up a minor version update of the Human Destiny sourcebook – that will be a free patron reward if I can get to a good milestone with it.

I’ve also been reviewing yet another creative project, something I worked on several years ago and then dropped. Another fantasy novel, in this case, but more strictly historical fantasy. It’s an alternate-timeline setting, in which Classical Greece ends up developing along very different lines than in our history. I find I actually have quite a lot of notes, and a very healthy opening already written for a novel. More about that if I decide to bring it up off the back burner.

I also owe the world at least one book review before the end of the month. A few good candidates in my TBR stack, so that shouldn’t be a problem.

Planning for October 2021

Planning for October 2021

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Well, September didn’t go according to plan on any level, but I did manage to get a few creative tasks done:

  • I produced a new minor update for the main portion of Architect of Worlds, and shared that with my patrons as a free update.
  • I finished revising “In the House of War” and published it through Amazon and a number of other outlets. The workflow for that involved the Draft2Digital service, which worked out rather nicely – I think that will be the default for future fiction releases.
  • I published a book review.

Reviewing all of the open projects, I think I’m most concerned to get some new fiction written. Second Dawn has been hanging fire at six chapters since the Kindle Vella service went live. Even worse, it’s been over a year now since The Curse of Steel was released, and I’m no closer to having the sequel finished than I was in the spring. Time to start cranking out some chapters for one or both of those!

So here’s the plan for the month of October:

  • Top Priority (“this is how I’ll judge whether the month has been successful”):
    • Krava’s Legend: Write a few new chapters of The Sunlit Lands.
    • Scorpius Reach: Write a few new chapters of Second Dawn.
  • Second Priority (“work on this as time permits”):
    • Architect of Worlds: Start work on a section describing the structure of the galaxy and of interstellar space, and providing guidelines on how to make maps for interstellar settings.
    • Architect of Worlds: Start work on a section of special cases and additional worldbuilding material that doesn’t fit into the design sequence.
    • Human Destiny: Write a few thousand more words of the Cortex Prime sourcebook and setting bible.
    • Human Destiny: Write a new short story for eventual collection and publication.
    • Krava’s Legend: More research toward improvements to my release-and-marketing workflow.
  • Back Burner (“work on this only if everything else gets blocked”):
    • Architect of Worlds: Return to improvement and polishing of the Introduction and Design Sequence document, leading to a new minor-version release. This work may involve updating all of the worked examples, and making mathematical notation more consistent.
    • Krava’s Legend: Write the second short story for the “reader magnet” collection.
    • Scorpius Reach: Start work on a third edition of the Game of Empire rules for Traveller.

Ideally, I’ll produce at least six chapters each of The Sunlit Lands and Second Dawn, that can be this month’s charged release for my patrons, and I’ll be able to polish and publish the Second Dawn chapters next month. If any of the Architect of Worlds documents or the Human Destiny setting bible make enough progress, those will turn into free updates. As always, I’ll want to complete one or two book reviews for self-published or indie fiction this month.

Watch this space for status reports, and if any of the above interests you, please consider signing up as a patron using the link in the sidebar.

“In the House of War” Now Available

“In the House of War” Now Available

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My Human Destiny novella, “In the House of War,” is now available from several outlets, notably Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple Books, with more on the way. The cover blurb:

Two hundred years ago, humanity was conquered by the alien Khedai. The aliens brought peace and prosperity, at the cost of human freedom. Some of us embrace the alien empire, others resent it, but no one can escape from it. We are forced to live in a cage the size of the world, watching others travel to the stars while we are confined to the Earth.

Aminata Ndoye is one of the few humans who have ever earned a place as an officer aboard an alien starship. On her first deep-space assignment, she finds herself in the middle of a war, fighting to preserve Khedai sovereignty over the vassal species of their empire. Unfortunately, it may not be the enemy that brings her career to an abrupt and violent end . . .

“In the House of War” is a space-opera novella, about 19,200 words in length.

This is a new direction in self-publishing for me. Until now, I’ve published exclusively through Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited. For a number of reasons, that’s been less than satisfactory, so this novella was published using the Draft2Digital service for layout, ebook conversion, and publication. Doing it this way means I can’t claim the higher royalties and some of the promotion techniques available via Kindle Unlimited . . . but there are some advantages in return. We’ll see how it goes.

For now, here are the requisite links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09H58KT86

Everywhere Else: https://books2read.com/u/4Dxz8r

“In the House of War” is only available as an ebook for now, but I have some hope that by working with Draft2Digital, I’ll be able to start releasing audiobooks and paperbacks before long.

My patrons saw a final draft of “In the House of War” in August, and as of today my patrons at the $2 level and up have received free copies of the ebook files.

Status Report (19 September 2021)

Status Report (19 September 2021)

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Very little about this month has been going according to plan, least of all finding the time to get some solid creative work in. Still, the shape of what’s left of September is starting to become clear. So here’s the (more informal than usual) task list for the next couple of weeks:

  • Architect of Worlds: Produce a new minor-version release of the main body of the book, the Introduction and design sequence. I’ve already made a number of minor changes. I have in mind a extensive modification that should simplify and clarify a big section of the current design sequence. This should end up with a free update for my patrons by the end of September – a version 0.7 alpha release for that document.
  • Human Destiny: I plan to release “In the House of War” as a new self-published novella by the end of this month. That’s dependent on me being able to come up with a decent cover image and get the ebook formatted on time, of course, but I think that’s within reach. My patrons at the $2 level and above will be getting a free copy of the PDF, and hopefully a Kindle-compatible ebook as well.
  • Book Reviews: I still need to complete a self-published book for review for September. I have a couple of promising candidates here.

The critical fact is that there will be no charged release for my patrons for September. Hopefully October will be a bit more conducive to new work.

A side note: I’ve adjusted my social-media strategy a bit. I no longer maintain a “business page” on Facebook as a place for posts from this blog to appear. Instead, I’ll be simply posting links to new blog posts from my personal FB page. An extra step, but to be honest, the business page wasn’t getting picked up by very many people. So if you follow me on Facebook you’ll probably have a better chance of seeing these posts.

Status Report (31 August 2021)

Status Report (31 August 2021)

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Quick update this evening, since this is the last day of the month and I’m still hanging fire on a couple of tasks.

Most of the delay is that I just acquired a new desktop computer a week or so ago, and I’ve slowly been adjusting my work-flows and creative routine to fit. The new machine is much more powerful than the laptop I’ve been using for the last few years. It’s probably going to become my primary machine for graphic design, art, and cartography (as well as my main gaming machine). Meanwhile, my laptop will probably continue to be my primary writing platform. Transferring files and tasks over, and adjusting to the split between the two devices, has been taking up more time than I expected.

I did manage to polish up a novella and release that to my patrons earlier this month. At the moment I’m working on a book review and putting together a new incremental release for the Human Destiny setting bible and sourcebook. Unfortunately those two items are close-but-not-quite-finished and I don’t think I’ll have either of them out before midnight tonight.

I’ll post a more extensive planning message for September later this week, but the immediate plan is to get that indie novel read and reviewed ASAP, after which the Human Destiny update will come as soon as I can put all the pieces of that in some semblance of order. Possibly this weekend for that. Then I’ll be able to get started on new tasks for September.

Progress on the “Human Destiny” Setting

Progress on the “Human Destiny” Setting

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It looks as if the project on which I am least blocked this month is the Human Destiny setting, my more-or-less-hard-SF universe, in which humans are living as a (very minor and subordinate) part of a vast and sophisticated interstellar civilization.

I started out this month just planning to add a few thousand words to the Human Destiny setting bible and Cortex Prime sourcebook, while I spent most of my time working on other items. Still, the more I went digging into my reserve files, the more Human Destiny material I realized I already had. This weekend, I’ve been collecting content from about a dozen separate documents, all generated over the past six years or so. All it needs is some organization and polishing.

The last partial draft of the setting bible that I released to my patrons (version 0.2, in January) was about 18,000 words. As of today I’m up to about 25,000 words, and I suspect I’ll end up with quite a bit more by the end of the month. The result will remain nowhere near finished, but that’s still a fair chunk of new material.

Meanwhile, I’ve resurrected a Human Destiny novella that I originally wrote back in 2015, and I’m polishing that up for release. Depending on how the edit goes, that should be something like 20,000 to 22,000 words of new fiction that my patrons haven’t seen before. The title of that story is In the House of War, and it’s the tale of my heroine Aminata Ndoye’s first deep-space assignment.

Looks as if this is going to be the release plan for August: version 0.3 of the Human Destiny setting bible as a free update for my patrons, and In the House of War as a charged release. Probably close to 30,000 words of new material in all. I’m thinking I may then prepare the novella for self-publication, using some of the new processes I’ve been researching, so my patrons at the $2 level and above will get that for free once it’s released. Most likely next month.

I really need to get some more work done on other projects, but this is what seems to be moving at the moment, so I’m going to run with it.

Planning for August 2021

Planning for August 2021

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Okay, July was something of a wash.

I didn’t completely fail to meet my objectives. I did get a book review published, I got the first few chapters of Second Dawn posted to Kindle Vella before that platform went live, and I did get started writing more chapters for that. I got a little bit of work done on other projects as well. Still, the month was conspicuously short on major milestones. I was distracted by a couple of minor bouts of illness, and my day job soaked up more of my attention and energy than usual. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Even so, the goal for August is to pick up the pace a bit, and have more material for my patrons and readers, both free updates and enough new work for a charged release. I’m also thinking about a shift in emphasis among my second-tier projects – I’m feeling a bit more inspiration for the Human Destiny setting at the moment, so I think I may do some new work on that.

Here’s the priority list for August.

  • Top Priority (“this is how I’ll judge whether the month has been successful”):
    • Architect of Worlds: Return to improvement and polishing of the Introduction and Design Sequence document, leading to a new minor-version release.
    • Human Destiny: Write a few thousand more words of the Cortex Prime sourcebook and setting bible.
    • Krava’s Legend: Write a few new chapters of The Sunlit Lands.
    • Scorpius Reach: Write, edit, and publish a few new chapters of Second Dawn.
  • Second Priority (“work on this as time permits”):
    • Architect of Worlds: Start work on a section describing the structure of the galaxy and of interstellar space, and providing guidelines on how to make maps for interstellar settings.
    • Architect of Worlds: Start work on a section of special cases and additional worldbuilding material that doesn’t fit into the design sequence.
    • Human Destiny: Write a new short story for eventual collection and publication.
    • Krava’s Legend: More research toward improvements to my release-and-marketing workflow.
  • Back Burner (“work on this only if everything else gets blocked”):
    • Krava’s Legend: Write the second short story for the “reader magnet” collection.
    • Scorpius Reach: Start work on a third edition of the Game of Empire rules for Traveller.

For my patrons, this month’s free releases will probably include a new minor-version release of the Human Destiny sourcebook, and possible a minor-version release of the Architect of Worlds design sequence. This month’s charged release, if there is one, will most likely be composed of new charters from Second Dawn and The Sunlit Lands. As always, I’ll want to complete one or two book reviews for self-published or indie fiction this month.

Watch this space for status reports, and if any of the above interests you, please consider signing up as a patron using the link in the sidebar.

Status Report (28 July 2021)

Status Report (28 July 2021)

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Well, June was really productive, but July is turning out . . . otherwise. Between a couple of bouts of minor illness, and a need to focus hard on some projects for my day job, I just haven’t had the spoons to crank out new creative content at the rate I hoped for. Today’s the fourth day from the end of the month, and it’s looking like I’m not going to hit any of my major objectives for July.

The month hasn’t been a total wash. I got a book review posted early, I successfully got Second Dawn posted to Kindle Vella before that service went live, I’ve gotten a couple of new chapters written for Second Dawn, and I’ve done some small-scale work on Architect of Worlds. Unfortunately, none of it is adding up to something that would justify a major release for my patrons.

So I’m stating now that there will be no charged release for my patrons for July. I might manage a free update for one or two documents before the end of the month, but even that’s not certain. Here’s hoping August will see a bit more progress.

Second Dawn is Live!

Second Dawn is Live!

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Kindle Vella apparently went live earlier today, even earlier than I expected. Which means the first episodes of Second Dawn, my space-opera serialized novel, are available for reading through the Kindle app.

The book’s blurb: “Katerina was an innocent archaeologist, happily at work on a colony world, when pirates attacked her work site. Only the timely intervention of a merchant ship’s crew enabled her to escape. Now she’s fallen into a world of diplomats, mercenaries, and spies, working to solve interstellar mysteries with the fate of empires at stake. Will she be a pawn in the game, or will she become one of the players?”

Here’s a link to the live book: https://www.amazon.com/Second-Dawn/dp/B0995FPP1Y

Which, of course, means it’s even more important for me to get more chapters written ASAP. In the meantime, reads and reviews are welcome.

A Change in Plans

A Change in Plans

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I went to set up the first few chapters of Second Dawn in the Kindle Vella platform last night – successfully, as you can see from the image above. However, in the process I also discovered that Amazon is very close to taking Vella live. I’m seeing hints that it may be up and running for the general audience as early as this week, almost certainly by the end of July.

Well. When I started writing Second Dawn, it was under the assumption that it would be a couple of months before I needed to work on the next section. Apparently that isn’t the case. When Vella does go live, I want to not only have those first six chapters in place, I want to have a few more chapters ready for weekly release.

All of which means that I’m changing the plan for July a bit. My main fiction-writing effort, in what’s left of this month, is going to involve building a backlog of chapters for Second Dawn. Ideally, I’ll have six more chapters ready to go within a couple of weeks.

How that interacts with my other plans for the month, I’m not sure yet. I’m probably not going to be working on Krava’s Legend quite as much as I’d planned on. I do still want to get some work done on Architect of Worlds so I can at least send out a free update of that material for my patrons. I’ll probably also produce a free update of the Scorpius Reach setting bible along the way. We’ll see how the next few days go.