Category: New

I’m happy to let everyone know that I started putting words to the page for A Tempest for the Tyrants, the third book in the Aeonlith Chronicles. I really just started as my primary focus is finishing and marketing A Veil for the Vanguard with a secondary focus on book 2, An Abyss for the Ashes.

Speaking of book 2, I’m slowly making my way through the second draft. Once I’m a lot further through, I’m going to start sending chapters to my editor which means I’ll be working on the second draft and editors notes for a third draft at the same time.

I’m hesitant to give out any concrete details about when A Veil for the Vanguard will be released but it’s starting to look like I might be able to release all three of these novels next year if I push it. At least, that is my hope and I can’t wait for everyone to get the chance to read them!

I just made progress on An Abyss for the Ashes! So far I’m 6.8% complete on the Second Draft phase.

An Abyss for the Ashes

Phase:Second Draft

6.8%

I just made progress on A Tempest for the Tyrants! So far I’m 2% complete on the First Draft phase. 9 Weeks remain until the deadline.

Editing has begun on An Abyss for the Ashes! The second draft is coming along at a slower pace than I’d like but it is coming together.

Pages are also coming in from my editor for A Veil for the Vanguard and I’ve spent most of my time this week starting to put the marketing machine together. Hopefully I’ll have more release information soon!

I’ve also just put the first line down for book 3 in the Aeonlith Chronicles which is officially titled A Tempest for the Tyrants. I’m looking forward to putting this one together! I’ll be posting a bit more on the writing journey via Instagram so join me there to follow along!

I just made progress on An Abyss for the Ashes! So far I’m 3.4% complete on the Editing phase.

An Abyss for the Ashes

Phase:Editing

3.4%

The big news this week is I have completed the outline for the third Aeonlith Chronicles book which is now titled A Tempest for the Tyrants! It’s currently sitting at 55 chapters which means it might be something around 90,000 words or so. I’m also sitting on some news for book 1, A Veil for the Vanguard, but I’m not quite ready to release that… but if you look at the image above, you might find something of interest!

Book 2 of the series, An Abyss for the Ashes, is now going through the editing phase. I foresee this one being a bit of a challenge as I got really sloppy near the end of writing the first draft. Lots of smaller plots going on that I would routinely forget about as well as perhaps changing my mind on who to kill off. Ah, life of a writer!

The third short story set in the Aeonlith Chronicles universe is now complete! This one has gone through multiple titles but I’ve settled on The Tied Knots. Previously, I was calling it Pledges and Promises or something along those lines but it never quite fit. I’ve also finished the covers for the two short stories which you can see below:

Finally, I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ve actively started developing a brand new science-fiction series! This one will be a bit interesting as I want to be a lot more rigid in outlining it beforehand. I’m looking at making it a six book series and I’m currently outlining the series. Once that’s done, I’ll go back and outline each book. The reason for this is while I know how the Aeonlith Chronicles ends, how I get to that ending is a bit on the loose side… which means sitting down and outlining the next book take a bit of time. I’m curious to see if outlining everything beforehand means I can write far more quickly.

Here’s this weeks numbers:

I just made progress on An Abyss for the Ashes! So far I’m 1.7% complete on the Editing phase.

An Abyss for the Ashes

Phase:Editing

1.7%

I just completed the Outlining phase of A Tempest for the Tyrants! Now onto First Draft!

I just finished Final Revisions on The Tied Knots! Woohoo!

That’s right, I’m deep into working on Book 3 of the Aeonlith Chronicles! After a few days break last weekend for completing the first draft of Book 2, now officially named An Abyss for the Ashes, I’ve started outlining Book 3. About a third of it is complete and I expect to have it done by next week where I can begin writing the first draft.

Book 3 is currently planned to have 60 chapters so, when complete, it’ll probably be 100,000 words– which is longer than I was planning to have it. However, my workflow typically has me chop chapters out as I write the first draft so we’ll see how that holds.

An Abyss for the Ashes will get some love next week, too, as I’ll start editing it while concurrently writing Book 3. There are a few things I need to line up in the two books so working on them together will present a far smoother way to create the connective tissue.

Here’s a bonus! I finished up a third short story which has been renamed Aeonlith Chronicles: Promises & Pledges. This one is far less action oriented but fills in some gaps from A Veil for the Vanguard as well as creates some backstory for Book 3. This short story will be exclusively available to email list subscribers. More info on that when I have it!

I just made progress on Aeonlith Chronicles Book 3! So far I’m 35% complete on the Outlining phase.

First, the big news! The first draft of book 2 in the Aeonlith Chronicles is complete! I literally just wrapped it up a few minutes ago and now it is time to go have a some gin to celebrate! There is, of course, quite a lot of work to do on it in the editing process but, for now, I’ll just wallow in the glow that I made it to the end– it felt like it would NEVER end!

For those of you who keep track of numbers, the draft clocks in at 99,883 words. So it’s just 117 words shy of being a hundred-thousand word book. However, I typically underwrite my first drafts and this one needs a few subplot elements added in so I wouldn’t be surprised if this book ends up between 110,000 and 120,000 words… if not longer.

On the short story front, The Warden Killer (clocking in at 4,631 words) has been completed and joins my other Aeonlith short story The Wizard and Warrior (3,029 words) in the completed pile. I completed the second draft on a third short story, Pledges and Contracts (currently 3,153 words), and have received notes from my editor. With luck, I’ll wrap that up in the next week or two.

So what’s next? Well, I’ll be leaving Aeonlith Chronicles book 2 alone for a bit while I outline book 3. I hope to start writing the third book soon and will probably end up editing book 2 at the same time. Book 1, A Veil for the Vanguard, is going through the proof phase and will be ready very, very soon! I can’t wait to start sharing with everyone what I’ve been working on!

I just completed the Writing phase of Aeonlith Chronicles Book 2! Now onto Editing!

Aeonlith Chronicles Book 2

Phase:Writing

Due:3 months ago

100%

I just finished Proofing! Woohoo!

Short Story: The Warden Killer

Phase:Proofing

Due:2 months ago

100%

I just completed the Second Draft phase of Short Story: Pledges and Contracts! Now onto Editor’s Draft!

I’m back with a new update and I’ll be covering a lot of ground! First of all, I haven’t really been tracking them through the blog at all but there are several short stories in the Aeonlith Chronicles being written. I’m happy to announce that the first one, called The Wizard and Warrior, has been completed! A second short story called The Warden Killer is almost done and just needs a final proof. Meanwhile, I’ve written a third short story with the working title of Pledges and Contracts but that name could change.

On the novel front, I’m excited to report that the first novel is almost complete! Just a final proofreading revision and it’s good to go. Book 2 is nearing the end with only four chapters to go in the first draft but progress has slowed down a bit since I’m focused on finishing book 1.

I’ve also added a new addition to the progress tracker and have updated here: I’m excited to announce work on book 3 of the Aeonlith Chronicles is underway! It’s not even in the outlining phase yet since I do a structural write-up first of basic scenes and chapters but work has begun. I suspect updates on book 3 will probably be sparse for the near future as focus shifts from book 1 to book 2, but it’s nice to add the third to the roster.

Something that isn’t on here is that there are two new book series my mind is trying to wrap itself around. A science-fiction series and a fantasy series, both of which I suspect will be four to six books long. These are low priority but I’ve started poking at them here and there, so I might start doing some serious work on them in the near future. However, that probably won’t be until Aeonlith Chronicles book 3 is well underway, if not book 4, so we’ll see how that shapes up in the upcoming year.

All in all, a pretty packed update this week!

Progress Updates:

I just made progress on A Veil for the Vanguard! So far I’m 50% complete on the Proofing phase.

A Veil for the Vanguard

Phase:Proofing

50%

I just made progress on Aeonlith Chronicles Book 2! So far I’m 92% complete on the Writing phase. 4 Weeks remain until the deadline.

Aeonlith Saga Book 2

Phase:Writing

Due:3 months ago

92.1%

I just made progress on Aeonlith Chronicles Book 3! So far I’m 60% complete on the Structuring phase.

I completed The Wizard and Warrior short story!

The Wizard and Warrior

Phase:Proofreading

100%

I just made progress on The Warden Killer! So far I’m 50% complete on the Proofing phase. 7 Days remain until the deadline.

The Warden Killer

Phase:Proofing

Due:2 months ago

50%

I just made progress on Pledges and Contracts! So far I’m 9.5% complete on the Second Draft phase.

I just made progress on Aeonlith Saga Book 2! So far I’m 90% complete on the Writing phase. 11 Days remain until the deadline.

Aeonlith Saga Book 2

Phase:Writing

Due:3 months ago

89.7%

I usually make these updates on Fridays but as I’m off on a road trip for the next eleven days, I decided to make an early update. I know this says I’m 90% complete the book but I originally estimated this book would be 90,000 words– and I’ve blown past that already. That means, I’ve reached my goal but the goal has become a moving target.

My best estimate based on average chapter length is that this will be something like 102,000 words… which is a bit problematic since I tend to underwrite my first draft. That means book 2 of the Aeonlith Chronicles will be much longer than 100,000 words– how much longer, I haven’t the foggiest idea.

Currently, I’m six chapters away from completing this book so it’s getting down to the wire! Since I’m deep into the climax, these chapters typically run the shortest so there is actually still a chance I won’t hit 100k with this first draft.

I just made progress on Aeonlith Saga Book 2! So far I’m 94% complete on the Writing phase. 6 Days remain until the deadline.

Aeonlith Saga Book 2

Phase:Writing

Due:3 months ago

93.7%

Still not done book 2, but we’re in the endgame now! I doubt I’ll be able to make my goal of finishing before the end of July, unfortunately, but it’s almost there. Only 11 more chapters to go and my climax chapters tend to be shorter so hopefully I’ll blast through them quickly!

Other things of note: my editor has returned the edited pages of book 1 so I just need to do a pass of that before sending them off to my beta readers. I’ve also got back edited pages of the short stories as well so a pass of those will need to get done soon too.

Things aren’t going as quickly as I like but they are progressing. Bit of a mixed good news/bad news bag this week.

I just made progress on Aeonlith Chronicles Book 2! So far I’m 86% complete on the Writing phase. 0 Days remain until the deadline.

Aeonlith Saga Book 2

Phase:Writing

Due:3 months ago

86.4%

I’ve actually completed an entire pass on the first draft! Last weekend I rented an Airbnb and dictated the entire second Aeonlith novel to its conclusion… so why the 86% completion? It has to do with editing the text that the transcription software produces. Frankly, it isn’t great and I tend to gloss over loads of things when dictating that need to be written in. Still, the math holds out that doing it this way is twice as fast as sitting down to write.

Editing wise, I’ve completed over 8,300 words this week since Monday which includes some of my longest chapters yet. That means, conservatively, the first draft should be completed before the end of the month. I am planning on doing quite a bit of editing on Saturday so hopefully that will allow me to finish it before July 31st.

In other news, A Veil for the Vanguard (Book 1) is nearing the end of the editing process. Fourteen chapters remain for a final pass before being sent off to my beta readers. Book 3 is behind on being plotted out but since my goals are to have book 1 and 2 finished, that one isn’t a priority.

I just made progress on Aeonlith Saga Book 2! So far I’m 77% complete on the Writing phase. 7 Days remain until the deadline.

Aeonlith Saga Book 2

Phase:Writing

Due:3 months ago

77.2%

I’m still pretty far from completing the first draft of the book but tonight begins my stay at an Airbnb where I’m going to hunker down and write a ton of words! Probably won’t have the draft finished but I’ll be close to being done.

So what’s with the slow down this week? Well, there is a bit of burn out happening in regards to writing but I still wanted to work on the series as a whole. With that in mind, I decided to begin work on a Wiki which includes some well crafted drawings— and so I taught myself digital illustration this week. On the right is a sneak peak at what the protagonist of the Aeonlith Chronicles looks like. Took me a few hours to paint the portrait but it was totally worth it.

Part of the reason for the Wiki is that there are a lot of things to keep track of for the series. I found myself having to go back looking for certain descriptions and small facts I was bringing up again. I also found that I had changed the eye color of a few characters so the visual image will definitely help keep everything consistent.