An indie author’s regular spoiler-free update on his writing, editing, cover design, marketing, publishing, website maintenance, and blogging. Issue 88.
This week in one word: consistency.
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Previously on WWW…
In the coming week, I’ll continue with at least one of the three cover designs I have in progress. I want to finish edits on The Spike Volume 0 and continue revising The Spike Volume 2, but might only work on one of them.
This is the third week in a row that the vast majority of my writing time has been spent on the three cover designs I’m working on, and I’ve finally completed one of them!
On last week’s WWW, I wrote that I was fiddling with the placement and proportion of the elements for a cover for The Spike 1.2_Laying_Down_The_Law. This week, I nailed those down, and added all of the extra bits: on the front page, I added a logline; I put the titles on the spine; and on the back page, I added a blurb, a character quotation, a note about my website, a declaration that no AI was used, and a white box for the barcode.
I’m pretty happy with how it looks. I’ll put it aside for at least a couple of weeks now, then come back to it and probably make some tweaks.
In the meantime, I have two more covers to work on.
On The Spike 1.1_Application_Infiltration cover, I have all the elements in place, the last task is to add some detail on the front page. I wasn’t entirely sure how to do this because my original idea didn’t look as good on screen as it had in my mind, so I put it aside whilst I worked on the cover for 1.2. This week, I came up with a new idea which I need to try out.
For The Spike Volume 1 (a compilation of 1.1 and 1.2), I have two variations on a theme that I was working on simultaneously. I’ve picked the one I want to concentrate on now, and have an idea how to make it look better: it incorporates a row of buildings that I’d created, but I’m going to search for reference images I can use to make them look more realistic.
I continued revising The Spike Volume 2, but didn’t get far: I finished the chapter I was halfway through; and began but didn’t finish the next.
I didn’t even look at the editing I need to do on two of the short stories for The Spike Volume 0.
At least one of these needs more attention next week.
On Monday, I watched the series finale of The Leftovers. The show as a whole took a turn towards the weird and commented on religion much more than I expected, but I enjoyed it.
Yesterday, I finished reading Kill Switch (Kill Chain #2) by William Hertling, and today I wrote my review, which is scheduled to go live on Monday. Again, I enjoyed it, but it’s not as good as the first book in the series.
That was the 18th book I’ve read in 2026, which was my target for the whole year. It’s satisfying to smash it; now I’d like to push past my total from last year, which was 23.
My creativity vs consumption aim for this week was to hit at least 50% for the third week in a row, a level of consistency I haven’t previously managed. And this week I reached 50% again!
Two weeks is good, but it never feels like the beginning of a streak until I’ve reached three. I’d very much like to keep this going and continue meeting or exceeding an even 50/50 split for as long as possible.
There’s still so much to do, with eight(!) books all at various stages of completion. I need to dedicate time to get them done so I can start on Volume 3…
In the week ahead, my review of Kill Switch by William Hertling is scheduled for Monday. I’ll return to working on the two cover designs I have in progress, but I want to focus more on the edits to The Spike Volume 0 and/or the revisions to The Spike Volume 2.
Reading this week: Contrapposto by Dave Eggers and Kill Switch by William Hertling and The Poet Empress by Shen Tao
Watching this week: The Leftovers season 3
Playing this week: Black Book
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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’m working on a new cover design for a second edition of The Spike Volume 1, with two different versions being developed in tandem whilst I decide which colour layout I prefer.
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.
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.
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Every week I share something that’s inspired my creativity.
This week, I heard one of the tracks from the soundtrack for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and was blown away.
For Dunkirk, Nolan asked Hans Zimmer to use the Shepard scale, which is a technique to make it sound like the pitch is rising constantly. This added a lot of tension and suspense.
On The Odyssey track Troy, below, Ludwig Göransson incorporated the same trick, but also used a “reset rhythm” to make it sound like it’s forever speeding up. I always appreciate works like this that not only sound great, but are also like nothing else I’ve ever heard. It’s clever stuff.
What’s inspired you this week? Please share in the comments.
See you next week.
