The Second Coming Is Near At Hand

 

If you cast your mind back to the beginning of the year, you may recall that personal problems caused me to postpone all my 2018 publishing plans until further notice; the main casualty being the second edition of my debut novel, The Exercise Of Vital Powers, which I had intended to release in time for the first anniversary of the original publication. I also promised to keep you updated on the status of the book if and when the situation changed. Well, that day has arrived, and today is that day.

Update: Getting Back On Track… Sort Of

 

Hey, I’m back. I wish I could say that my life is completely out of the doldrums but it’s not. Nonetheless, I can’t just sit about waiting for things to change for the better. It is the start of a brand new month and time to kick on with the writing gig. So, as of this week I’m resuming work on the second draft of my “untitled sequel” to The Exercise Of Vital Powers. I don’t currently have plans to publish it (or anything else) this year so I feel no pressure to finish writing it ASAP, though I do hope to have it wrapped up this summer then immediately starting work on Book Three.

Update: What 2018 Has In Store (Or Not)

 

To say that life hasn’t always been kind to me would be an understatement. At the risk of sounding like someone suffering from a persecution complex, my life has been tormenting me mercilessly for the past quarter of a century. What kept me going through all the tribulations was convincing myself there was nothing I could do about the crap life throws my way, and that these things happened to test me. Inevitably, this coping mechanism couldn’t continue to work forever. Sadly, I am only human; I can only endure so much before I eventually break, and by the end of last November I had reached my breaking point. I struggled on as best as I could into early December, because I had commitments I needed to honour. But once I’d done so, I had to admit defeat; life had finally got the better of me and I couldn’t cope with things as they were.

What The Future Holds In A Post-SPFBO World

Credit: Laura M. Hughes

 

Greetings folks! This is the post I delayed from yesterday, announcing that the inevitable has finally come to pass; the #SPFBO adventure of my debut fantasy novel The Exercise Of Vital Powers reached its conclusion at the weekend after missing out on an unlikely place in the final, having been pushed into second place by Devil’s Night Dawning by Damien Black.

I Am The Master Of Time (Mis)Management

 

You may recall from the last update on my work in progress that I decided to re-write everything from scratch because I wasn’t happy with the opening chapter. Since then, though I’m much happier about the state of my WIP, I am much less happy about the slow progress of my writing throughout September. While most of the problems that prevented me from getting as much done as I would have liked were (as usual) out of my control, I fully accept that there is one issue that is in my power to affect: time management.

Update: Work In Progress Undergoing Major Surgery

 

It’s been a while since the last update on my current work in progress, principally because it’s been slow going (in more ways than one) these past three weeks or so, resulting in no noteworthy progress to report. However, it’s probably now worth mentioning a very significant development with my WIP (the sequel to The Exercise Of Vital Powers) that occurred at the end of last week which has had a drastic impact upon the direction and progression of the story.

Update: Work In Progress Slowed Down By Bumps In The Road

 

It’s time for another update on my current work in progress. Unsurprisingly, last week was not as productive as the previous week, though surprisingly it wasn’t due to any of the usual suspects negatively impacting my freedom to write. The time I was able to devote my WIP wasn’t significantly less, but I only have a single chapter to show for it. What hindered my progress in the end were two time-consuming bumps in the road: the first was minor, therefore easy to resolve, while the second proved to be a major problem that took much longer for me to figure out.

Update: The Work In Progress Report

 

Last week was a surprisingly productive week for me with regard to my current work in progress. That being the case, I feel it is worth my while to provide an update of where I am, so far; even if only a handful of my (soon-to-be) legion of rabid fanboys and fangirls notice. For those of you now scratching your head wondering what I’m working on, you obviously missed (or didn’t pay attention to) my announcement in late June, in which I mentioned my decision to focus on writing a follow up to my debut novel, The Exercise Of Vital Powers, even though it was originally written as a stand-alone tale. While at this early stage of writing I hesitate to claim that significant progress was made on my “untitled sequel” last week, I certainly feel like I’m finally on a roll now, to the extent where I hope to have the first draft completed a full month sooner than expected.

When Two Works In Progress Became One

 

Since publishing my first novel at the end of April, I haven’t had time to do much in the way of writing; at least not in terms of writing a second novel. Leaving aside the personal circumstances that (as usual) have been constraining my time and ability to focus on my fiction writing, the other factor that had been preventing me from starting any meaningful work on a second book was my indecision concerning what story I want to tell next. I began outlining two stories at the same time until I could make a decision about which of the two I wanted to proceed with. Fortunately, that decision has now been made.

Writing Plans For The Rest Of The Year

 

I may have mentioned that the Kindle edition of my debut novel, The Exercise Of Vital Powers, was released without fanfare a few days ago, and can be purchased now from Amazon’s Kindle Store. I may or not have mentioned I am currently preparing the paperback edition for publication later this summer, while simultaneously laying the groundwork for a slightly more high profile release, in terms of marketing. So now that I have the first book under my belt, I’ve been thinking about my writing goals for the remainder of the year. My ruminations have led me to start tentatively outlining two future novels. At the moment I am undecided about which of the two I want to prioritise, so I will work on them concurrently until I make up my mind.