An indie author’s regular spoiler-free update on his writing, editing, cover design, marketing, publishing, website maintenance, and blogging. Issue 71.
This week in one word: anticipation.
my_writing_week
Previously on WWW…
I intend to ramp up my writing again over the coming week. I need to get back working on my two main tasks: revising The Spike Volume 2; and the cover design for The Spike Volume 1 second edition.
It’s been difficult to know where my head cold ended and my hay fever began (or continued), but this week has certainly been more productive than last week.
I spent a little time on the cover design for The Spike Volume 1 second edition. I’m still trying to get the scale of everything right. Each time I make a change, it feels pretty good, but when I come back to it, it doesn’t, so I’m deliberately leaving at least a couple of days between every alteration, at least at this stage. Once I’ve got all the blocks in the right places and at the right sizes, I can begin on the details, which won’t need the pauses.
The vast majority of my writing time this week was spent revising part 2 of The Spike Volume 2. I wrote most of the previous draft of this part during NaNOWriMo 2024, a challenge to write 50,000 words during November. I completed the challenge, and to do so, I needed to shelve my previous habit of editing my writing as I went along – I would often write and rewrite (and rewrite and rewrite) a paragraph several times, which creates a better draft but takes far longer.
I’m now revising the less-polished draft so there is quite a bit of rewriting to do. I’ve made decent progress though, revising eleven chapters this week. There are fifty-three more to do in this part; maths says it should be possible to finish within 5 weeks at that rate, but I’m not going to hold myself to it. I’ve learnt my lesson with setting targets.
Having paused my creativity vs consumption records whilst I was ill, I did resume them this week, but without putting any pressure on to get straight back to my usual aim of at least a 50/50 split.
I began a week off from my day job on Friday evening. I normally dedicate most of my Saturdays to writing but gave myself a break today, knowing that I’ll spend most of my holiday writing.
With those excuses on record, my percentage for this week was down at 38%.
If I can get back into the 50s for my week off, that should be some really good progress.
Over the next seven days, I’ll finish reading The Well of Ascension (Mistborn Saga #2) by Brandon Sanderson so will post a review. I’ll continue revising The Spike Volume 2 and designing the cover for The Spike Volume 1 second edition.
I’ve remembered I have four more short stories to add to The Spike Series Bible, and they should hold some detail that will filter through to parts 2 and 3 of The Spike Volume 2, so I need to get going on that too.
Away from writing, I’m going to make my usual holiday pilgrimage to my local bookshop, and I’d like to finish Red Dead Redemption 2 because I’ve been playing it too damn long.
Reading this week: The Well of Ascension (Mistborn Saga #2) by Brandon Sanderson and Bat Eater by Kylie Lee Baker
Watching this week: Ludwig season 1
Playing this week: Red Dead Redemption 2
status_report
In addition to the three short stories available to read for free here, there are three more yet to be published that make up The Spike Volume 0. The new three are in the final stages, and will be available some time before Volume 2 is published.
I’ve resumed work on a new cover design for a second edition of The Spike Volume 1.
I’m also 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.
Draft 3 is under way for The Spike Volume 2!
Volume 2 is my biggest and most complex project to date, containing three separate books from the perspectives of seven characters.
The aim is to publish Volume 2 in 2026.
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 (that keeps growing) 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.
I have other project ideas that are on the backburner:
Project Lawless is a non-fiction book.
Project Fang is a fiction book that I’m still trying to work out a way to incorporate into The Spike.
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.
Meta pulls Facebook ads recruiting for social media addiction lawsuits
Today I learned what a social media bot farm looks like — and it made me delete my Reddit account
Your brain for sale? The new frontier of neural data
AI ‘mirages’ mean tools used to analyze medical scans could fabricate their findings
weekly_inspiration
Every week I share something that’s inspired my creativity.
This week, I began reading Bat Eater by Kylie Lee Baker; I’m about a quarter of the way through and am enjoying it so far. The description is really evocative, and the main character’s struggles with obsessive compulsive disorder are dealt with really well – they aren’t just a quirk, they’re fundamental to the character and impact the story.
One of the characters in The Spike Volume 2 part 2 that I’m revising at the moment has an affliction that’s different to OCD, but like OCD, it manifests physically and mentally, and one of my focuses is to weave the symptoms into the story more effectively. It’s interesting to read how another author has done it, despite the differences.
What’s inspired you this week? Please share in the comments.
See you next week.
Arrowmaker Books 