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| Image by John Kristensen from Pixabay |
It’s been another productive f.ortnight in the pond. There’s a particular kind of satisfaction that comes from being "ahead of the curve" on a project; it opens up breathing room you didn't know you needed, and allows other ideas to start getting the attention they deserve.
ONC Round One: Submitted!
The biggest news this week is that Memory Letters has officially been submitted for Round 1 of the Open Novella Contest.
I’ve kept up a steady pace with this story and I’m currently sitting at over 13,500 words. This is fantastic because I've just started Chapter 7 and I'm already over the milestone for the March deadline. Having that word count "in the bank" made the submission process much less stressful than in previous years. Jane’s journey into the truth behind her husband’s life is getting more intense by the page, and I’m really enjoying the process of writing this UK-based techno-thriller. I'm learning a lot too because I'm having to research cybernetic security and spies. It's all fun!
February Reflections
Now that we’ve moved into March, I’ve also been looking back at the launch of The Concorda Files. It has been a whole month now since release and I am so incredibly proud of this book's success so far. I’ve sold a few copies throughout February, and I’m genuinely, genuinely grateful to everyone who has picked up a copy or shared it. Seeing a project move from a contest shortlist to a published reality is a feeling that never quite gets old.
If you've read The Concorda Files, I'd really love to hear your thoughts and would be really grateful for a review either on Amazon or on Goodreads.
The Next Frontier: A New Trilogy?
With Memory Letters moving so quickly, I’ve found some spare time to start outlining a totally new project. I've been binge reading & listening to a ton of Humanity First (HFY) stories.... yeah, the F here is not usually for the word "first", but I like to use swearing sparingly.
So many of these stories are perfect for the daily commute! And I've been inspired to have a go myself. The idea was a short story at first, but the scope is growing! What started as a single idea is now looking like it might need to be split over three books. There’s something so compelling about writing humans as the outliers in a wider galaxy, and I’m having a lot of fun mapping out this broader universe.
Breathing Room
Also, the extra time I've generated has also allowed me to "check in" on my other projects. I’ve been able to dive back into Sanctorum’s Veil a little to edit some of the existing chapters. It’s a nice change of pace to switch from the high-speed drafting of the ONC to the more deliberate, careful work of polishing a WIP.
Back to the Tabletop
Finally, I’ve been flexing my world-building muscles in a very different way by creating a new D&D campaign called The Corrupted Bloom. I'm actually running a campaign with four of my friends based on the ideas, and their interactions have helped me shape what I'm writing. Hopefully, I'll be able to release this for others to play too.
There’s a lot of crossover between campaign design and novel writing—both require that sense of "what’s around the next corner?"—and it’s been a great way to unwind after running after my ideas for everything else I'm doing.
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