Well, March was fun. Not really. It did yield decent results and I’m not sick so let’s work on the positive.

First, the numbers

March:	84,346
Year:	225,826
WIP (Troy Harbor)	44,931
Streak Words:	463,497
Days in a Row:	170
Average words per day:	2,726

STATUS

Audio:

• Home Run is currently available on Audible. It dropped March 3.
• South Coast is in production at Podium. Jeff Kafer will narrate. No word yet on schedule. I’ve contracted with Podium to produce all three Shaman’s Tales.

Paper:

• The Wizard’s Butler should be available in paper this month.

Ebook:

• The Wizard’s Butler dropped a couple of weeks ago. I haven’t even started thinking about audio for this yet.

WIP:

• Hostage (Book 1 of the Barbarians series) is in second draft. This book will be a while in production because I’m co-writing it and we both need to agree on the draft before we give it to the editor.
• Dark Knight Station: Origins is in second draft stage. It’s a mess and will take some time to get hammered into shape.
• Troy Harbor – the last of the Shaman’s Tales – is the current “new words” project I’m hoping to wrap that up in the next week. I’d like to wrap that series up before I forget too much about the story line.
• Next project will probably be the first of a new Ishmael series.

What am I reading?

I haven’t started it yet, but it’s next on my hit parade.

Glynn Stewart is one of the few writers I buy without sampling first. If you’ve been following his Starship’s Mage series, the next book dropped last month. I’ve got a copy already and should crack it open tomorrow.

Last Words

March brought a lot of changes for a lot of people. My situation here didn’t change that much. The four of us in the household weren’t known for rampaging around town to begin with so the only real changes involve how many trips I make to the grocery store a week.

Maintaining focus. That’s been the real challenge.

Not to say the month didn’t have its high points, starting with the release of The Wizard’s Butler. A few friends and I also got together to run the spring NovelRama event where a bunch of crazy people tried to write 25,000 words in 4 days.

The event proved to be as much fun and exciting as it’s always been. So many people who never thought they could do it proved themselves wrong. Just goes to show what happens if you can put your butt in the chair and stay focused on the task for a few days.

Thanks for all your support. I’m hoping April will be less stressful and that all of you stay sane and healthy.

Safe Voyage.

February came through for me. I kept to my basic plan of 2,000 new words every day and using the rest of the day to work on second drafts, production, etc. I didn’t get as much walking in as I needed to, but there’s next month. Early on, I was still recovering from the January surgery. I got more walks in–and more talks in–near the end of the month.

Statistics:

February:	63,534
For the Year:	141,480
Current WIP:	117,500
Streak Words:	375,614
Days in a Row:	139
Average words per day:	2,702

Status:

Audio:

• Home Run is currently available for pre-order on Audible. It drops March 3.
• South Coast is in production at Podium. No word yet on narrator or schedule. I’ve contracted with Podium to produce all three Shaman’s Tales.

Paper:

• Cape Grace is currently available in a non-refeshable cellulose display edition.

Ebook:

• No new books dropped in February.

WIP:

• The Wizard’s Butler is with the editor and I’m still waiting for the cover art.
• Hostage (Book 1 of the Barbarians series) is in second draft. This book will be a while in production because I’m co-writing it and we both need to agree on the draft before we give it to the editor.
• Dark Knight Station: Origins remains the current first draft, new words project. I should find an end here in the next couple of days. When I do, it’ll slide into the “afternoon” queue.
• Next project might be Troy Harbor – the last of the Shaman’s Tales. I’d like to wrap that series up before I forget too much about the story line.

What Am I Reading?

I neglected to recommend a book in February so let me recommend Carol Van Natta’s Central Galactic Concordance series. I inhaled the first two and forced myself to put down the series and address some of the samples waiting in my TBR pile. Great world building. Interesting characters, but (fair warning) there’s kissing. Which – for the record – I support.

Book 1: Overload Flux

Last Words

Two months into the “2k for 2020” campaign, I’m keeping up with the words. Shifting gears to work on a different book in the afternoon is more hampered by my ability to actually get the 2k in before lunch than my ability to shift my brain to a different story line.

Mid-month I felt the rise of incipient burn-out. I pushed too hard and neglected some of the self-care that I need. I’ve made some adjustments on calendar and expectation. The burn-out seems to be averted for the moment.

I feel good. I’m happy with the work. I’m looking forward to publishing at least one of these WIPs before April and I’m ready to roar into March.

Another successful NaNoWriMo behind me. My goal was 100k or a completed draft by the 20th. I wrote 5k words a day until the 18th when I finished the draft for my half of the Barbarian book that I’m co-writing with my elder child. I also picked up my new habit of writing 2k new words a day and I’m 30k words into my next book – The Wizard’s Butler (h/t to Chris Weible for the title and idea).

Onward to status reports:

Writing:

Cape Grace:
At the editor. Karen was booked solid last month and is still fighting free. I still haven’t seen the new covers yet. Time to rattle his cage again.

Hostage: Barbarian at the Gate – Book 1
Waiting on the second half from my co-writer

The Wizard’s Butler
30k into it and enjoying it more every day.

Next Project:
I have a list of about 60 ideas. My next task is going to be organizing them to see if any of them have legs. Some top contenders at the moment:

1. I need to get back to Ishmael. I don’t know what that story looks like yet.
2. One of the recurring ideas from my newsletter readers was a series of Toe-Hold/CPJCT stories about the stations and life there.
3. Back stories on all the characters in that universe – notably Lois McKendrick, and the Carstairs clan.
4. Tanyth Fairport adventure. I don’t know what that might be yet.
   

Audio:

Suicide Run
Podium sent me the official release date – 24 Dec 2019. It should be available for pre-order soon if it’s not already.

Home Run
Still on the calendar for Feb 2020.

Tanyth Fairport
I contacted the production company and gave them a nudge. Fingers crossed.

What I’m Reading

Newsletter readers get to see my reading list. Seems only fair blog readers should, too. 

Some of you know I read a lot of litRPG. Right now I’m into Desert Runner by Dawn Chapman. Dawn’s one of the comparatively few women writing in this space and I really like her touch with it. I’m about a third of the way through book one and I’m hooked even though it’s a novella length.

You can find the three book set here: https://www.amazon.com/Desert-Sequence-Puatera-Online-1-3-ebook/dp/B079QTHJMY

Looking ahead

My goal is to write 2k new words every day to keep books in the pipeline. I’ve tried it before but 4thewords has been really helpful over the last 48 days (over 150k words) It’s keeping me on track with the gamification. I can satisfy my ADHD by trying new quests and fighting new monsters. I’m not saying I’ll succeed at this goal of over 700k words in 2020 but one day at a time, one month at a time, I’m going to give it a shot.

December’s goals:

1. 62k words. That should see me through The Wizard’s Butler
2. Publish Cape Grace – although much of this is out of my hands at the moment.
3. Line up the next project

Bottom line: I’m ending December with 122k words and a new sense of purpose.

That’s it for now.

Safe voyage.