And I stuffed up the book title on Amazon – DOH!

Quick fix in progress!

Book 3 is nearly done – finger crossed – maybe out by Thursday – certainly before the weekend

Revised, “more painty’ looking cover…. Book 3 next week or early the week after all being well

I’ve had a short story accepted for an Australian alternate history anthology – which I will be revising for them as a priority. Book 3 is still on track although I am looking at late this month now.

I have made some progress with book 5 as well. Which is a relief because it has been sitting with nothing happening for months as I had mental block with the story line progression – basically the 2nd half the book  had no story line.

I have an idea now…. I won;t say anymore as book 5 won;t published till some time next year but my story line climax now includes a paraphrased scene ….

for those of you who have some historical knowledge or even movie knowledge  I will leave you with this line….. soldiers of the 5th

Here is the cover for book 3 –

getting closer to publishing…..

All right people. In the light of the sales level of my books currently, which is generating an income that has passed the equivalent of 30% of my pre-Covid income, I have decided to re-arrange my work habits. Starting today (Monday 3rd) I am going to do my normal edit of a few Word size pages of the next book to be published and then instead of driving for Uber and writing around that I am going to sit and write at least a 1,000 words each day of new stuff. Then start driving with a smaller daily driving income target.

Three points from this.

One. It will only hold for as long as my book sales continue at the current level or higher

Two. What I write will still be determined by where the muse takes me so won’t always be the next book I may be planning to publish or even in that series

Three. A 1,000 words is not a lot compared to many authors. I think Chris Nuttall probably writes somewhere between 3k & 5k words a day when he is writing which is a vastly greater number of words than what I will be doing. Of course other authors like Bujold only ever write when they feel the urge so their production is either  very full on or completely switched off if you follow me.

Anyway. I will try and concentrate on Book 5 of Arturo’s story which is currently less than half written as that is the last planned book about the new Roman Republic. Although the Romans will pop up elsewhere at some point… as will Arturo…..

And on that tease I will go back to writing…..

Still editing a bit every morning before work. Somewhere between 70 & 80% done with Book 3’s 2nd edit….

I hope to get the cover finished this week but I make no promises!

Actually had a low week writing last week (binge watching a TV show… naughty naughty) but did make some progress.

Still have writers block on the 2nd half of Book 5 but hopefully something will spark up in the next couple of months!

read the latest Schooled in Magic book, Oathkeeper, over the last week or so when too tired to write or whatever when not working – good as always. I do like Chris Nuttall’s SiM series.

Back to work….

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I am past halfway in my edit of Book 3 and I have made some progress on the cover – I hope. So things are progressing. I am struggling with inspiration for book 5 – I have the first third, a bit in the middle and a bit near the end but the writing muse refuses to illuminate the missing areas…. I think this is what is called writers block.

I have lots of ideas for other stories, as always. Working 40-45 hours a week as an Uber driver makes it hard to find time to write a great amount each week – not because I don;t have enough free time but because I don’t have enough free time when I’m not mentally drained.

My current plan is that Book 3 will be followed by the first of my contemporary Wizard stories. “A Sorcerer Arrives” when Jason the Ancient History PHD student meets Urasmian the Sorcerer from an alternate Earth. At it’s heart it a story about a young man who gains great power and then has to deal with having great power.

I have found I made a mistake in my Space Opera story that was 3/4 finished and I now have to re-write the last 1/3 of what I’d written. Joy.

Anyway shouldn’t be too long before I have more to report.

I have started the 2nd edit on book 3 – As I may have mentioned before I find editing very tiring so I try an not attempt to do too much of it at any one time. Looking for strange word usage errors, occasional spelling errors that have slipped through, convoluted sentence structures, sentences where my brain was moving faster than my fingers were typing and so forth is something best done in small doses.  I start each day with a small session of editing while my mind is still fresh.

I am still struggling with book five – it’s only about half written and I have a lack of ideas happening about getting the story from points b or C through to the finish. Sigh Apparently an occupational hazard to have stories stall.

I have submitted a small short story for an Australian alternate history anthology – have had no word yet on whether my story made the cut – still it was satisfying that I was able to come up with an idea on short notice. If the story misses the cut I may include that version of the Earth in one of my Multidimensional Wizard books. Actually that makes a lot of sense to re-use all the backstory I did… hmmm

Right – back to editing… sigh

Finally got it all together….