My regular update on my novel writing progress, including insight into living and working as an indie author with a full-time job and Crohn’s disease.
my_writing_week
As this week began, I was still feeling the effects of my slight Crohn’s flare up, caused by stress from the busiest period of the year at my day job.
I didn’t help myself on Sunday either, testing out something different to eat, and it was my worst day health-wise for a while. Still, I completed a couple of writing sessions. The first was to add another chapter from The Spike Volume 1 to the series bible. The second was meant to be final editing of my Dracula review, but I wasn’t happy with it so I put the first draft aside and started again. Annoying, but it happens.
On Monday, I added another chapter to the series bible, then had an idea for my cover designs for books 1.1 and 1.2 that I had to research. I don’t think I’ll use it now but, as Nick Cave once said:
To act on a bad idea is better than to not act at all, because the worth of an idea never becomes apparent until you do it.
Tuesday was day 1 of 3 in the office for my day job this week, and by the afternoon, things began to calm down slightly. It will still be busy for the next 4 weeks, but the worst part is over.
I added another chapter to the series bible, and worked some more on the Dracula review.
By Wednesday, I was feeling drained and was ready for the week to end, and there were several day job frustrations that meant I wasn’t in the best of moods for writing. Still, I got the Dracula review to a decent place; the second draft is a definite improvement and should be online next week.
On Thursday, as has become a regular habit, I began to pull this WWW together during my lunch hour; then after the day job, I added a further chapter to the series bible.
In the evening, I finished playing Mafia: Definitive Edition. It’s got a reputation for having a good story, and I did quite enjoy it, despite it being predictable. Back when it was first released, in 2002, a “good story” in a video game was a lower bar than it is today. Thank goodness for progress.
I was knackered on Friday, so I decided to allow myself a restful weekend. That doesn’t mean stopping completely though. I added one more chapter to the series bible in the evening, and am nearing the end of part 1. I’m expecting part 2 to be a little quicker as there are several chapters where the two stories cross over; most of the important bits will have been noted already, although there may be some new perspectives to add.
That brings us up to today, which has been very lazy. Still, this is my 393rd consecutive day working on my writing, so there’ll be another milestone to celebrate next weekend. Hopefully, after a couple of days recharging, I’ll be more productive in the days to come.
Reading this week: “Leviathan Wakes” (The Expanse #1) by James S A Corey
Watching this week: Bosch: Legacy season 3
Playing this week: NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139
status_report
I’ve almost completed a new cover design for a second edition of The Spike Volume 1, but I waver back and forth over how much I like it.
I’m working on covers for the two individual parts, 1.1_Application Infiltration and 1.2_Laying Down The Law, which are going to be published separately for the first time. I want both to have a similar style and layout, and I have an idea I like for each. They’re progressing, slowly, but slow progress is still progress.
Draft 2 of The Spike Volume 2 is complete! It contains three separate books from the perspectives of seven characters.
Revision will begin soon.
The aim is to have Volume 2 finished by the end of 2025 for publication early 2026, although this is beginning to look ambitious.
Early brainstorming has been done for The Spike Volume 3. I know how it must begin; I have an ending that I think will be great; and I have a long list of ideas to get from one to the other that needs to be whittled down and put in an order. I’m not intending to do much more work on this until revision is complete on Volume 2.
There are a couple of other projects in the works that I’m not ready to share yet – they’ll be announced here first.
connecting_links
The Spike is set in our world, incorporating real events; the links below are relevant to the themes and overarching storyline, and may or may not provide clues to the direction of the series.
I do not necessarily agree with or endorse any of the views within.
A Scientist Says Humans Will Reach the Singularity Within 20 Years
AI agents get office tasks wrong around 70% of the time, and a lot of them aren’t AI at all
New solar cells produce electricity indoors
Denmark to tackle deepfakes by giving people copyright to their own features
Millions of websites to get ‘game-changing’ AI bot blocker
weekly_inspiration
Every week I share something that’s inspired my creativity.
This week, I’ve mostly been listening to the original soundtrack for “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33”. In fact, it’s on in the background whilst I’m writing this.
The game as a whole was inspiring, but the soundtrack is amazing by itself. Over 8 hours of music: some of it epic, some of it heartbreaking. The composer, Lorien Testard, had never worked professionally on a game before, and now he has an album that reached number one in the classical music charts.
Here’s a taster with the official music video for five of the gentler tracks, all of them fantastic.
(I will no doubt be including other tracks in future as there are so many bangers.)
What’s inspired you this week? Please share in the comments.
See you next week.
Arrowmaker Books 