An indie author’s regular spoiler-free update on his writing, editing, cover design, marketing, publishing, website maintenance, and blogging. Issue 81.
This week in one word: doubled.
my_writing_week
Previously on WWW…
My priorities for the week ahead are simple: 1) cover design for The Spike Volume 1 second edition; 2) revise part 3 of The Spike Volume 2.
I’m close to finishing both of the books I’m reading, so there’ll likely be a review of one or both in the coming week too. As long as they stick their respective landings, both should be positive.
It was back to reality this week after my holiday. I was not pleased to be back.
At my day job, the company I work for moved office whilst I was away, and in the new place, everyone is sat on one level and closer together. It’s noticeably noisier.
As a level 99 introvert, I’m not a fan.
In the old office, on the three days per week I had to be there, I used to stay late to work on my writing, the idea being that it’s easier to maintain a focussed brain than to refocus after driving home, getting something to eat, cleaning up, etc. But I don’t think I’ll be staying late in future, so it’ll be a test of my motivation to see how much writing I do in the evenings going forward.
This week, I did finish both of the novels I’d been reading, and I posted my review of Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid on Thursday. It’s good at what it does, I just wish it had done it a little differently.
I’ve nearly finished writing my review of Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro and it will go live next week.
My target was to read at least 18 books this year and I’ve already finished 13. When I set my goal, I didn’t think I’d read as many as last year’s 23, but I’m on pace to pass that, which is pleasing.
I continued work on the cover design for The Spike Volume 1 second edition. I had the idea of switching the colours around: I tested it, but I think I’ll stick with what I had originally.
I’ve never been completely happy with the subtitle on the front page, so I’ve been working on other options for that as well.
I revised the first six chapters of The Spike Volume 2 part 3 this week, which was an alright start. There were no major changes to make, but chapter 8 will need a heavy rewrite to incorporate a character trait I put into short story The Spike 0.5 and then promptly forgot about when drafting Volume 2.
My next blogpost (season 2 episode 8) needs one more readthrough before I post it – it will probably go live either late next week or the week after.
I did some work on my next blogpost, season 2 episode 9, which will be posted ahead of a particular upcoming event in mid-July. It’s nearly finished.
I’ll then need to work out what to write about next…
I resumed recording my creativity vs consumption stats this week and finished up with 34% of my free time spent writing. That’s some way down on my previous best of 52%, but I did double the number of hours from each of the past four weeks. I think gradual improvement is better than trying to do too much too soon.
Given the next couple of months are the busiest of the year at my day job, and the stress has spiked my Crohn’s disease the last two times around, I’m going to be easy on myself and not push to reach a particular target.
My priorities for next week are: 1) post my review of Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro; 2) design the cover for The Spike Volume 1 second edition; 3) revise part 3 of The Spike Volume 2.
Reading this week: Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid and Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro and The Everlasting by Alix E Harrow
Watching this week: The Leftovers season 1
Playing this week: n/a
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 finish 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.
Fully autonomous drones have killed human soldiers for the first time
Under-16s will be banned from social media from early 2027
German court holds Google liable for fake AI answers
Public invited to have their say on self-driving vehicle safety
Brain-inspired chip runs near absolute zero and could transform quantum computing
weekly_inspiration
Every week I share something that’s inspired my creativity.
This week, I finished reading Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I enjoyed it, and it’s objectively very good at what it’s trying to do.
But.
There are a few things I wish it had done differently, purely for my own preference. I really liked the concept, and the story was told well, I just would have preferred if it had been told in a style that was less “commercial romance novel”.
To be clear, this isn’t a criticism. It is a commercial romance novel, and that’s fine.
If you want to know more, I posted my review on Thursday.
What’s inspired you this week? Please share in the comments.
See you next week.
Arrowmaker Books 