Category: New

Had a bit of a panic attack this week! Due to my Dropbox account running out of space, my files became a bit corrupted and I thought I lost not only some of my current work, but also parts of my first novel as well! Fortunately, I was able to locate some automatically produced backup files and all my work was retrieved. Phew! So, while some progress was made, it wasn’t as much as I’d like this week because I was dealing with that.

An Abyss for the Ashes is now nearing the quarter mark for the second draft. The better news is that I’m now starting to send pages to my editor! Not sure how I’m going to display the updates for this book from this point since it will probably be going through several different edits at the same time. I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.

Book 3, A Tempest for the Tyrants, is coming along so not much to report other than more words have been written. Nearing the one-third mark for this book by my original estimated word-count… but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s much longer in the end.

Also finished a second draft of a short story called A Dagger in Valtan City. My editor has returned her edits so I’ll hopefully have a chance to go through those next week and do another round of edits. That one is getting close to completion!

Finally, been thinking of writing a prequel novelette for A Veil for the Vanguard. Something that takes place just prior to the start of the novel but I’m not quite sure what the story is yet.

Here’s this week’s numbers:

I just made progress on An Abyss for the Ashes! So far I’m 22% complete on the Second Draft phase.

An Abyss for the Ashes

Phase:Second Draft

22%

I just made progress on A Tempest for the Tyrants! So far I’m 30% complete on the First Draft phase. 6 Days remain until the deadline.

I just made progress on Short Story: A Dagger in Valtan City! So far I’m 100% complete on the Second Draft phase.

Before anything, I want to make sure you know about the Goodreads contest I’m running! I’m giving away five free signed advanced copies of A Veil for the Vanguard! Click here to enter the contest!

Plugging away at the next two instalments of the Aeonlith Chronicles. Both the second draft of An Abyss for the Ashes (book 2) and A Tempest for the Tyrants (book 3) are coming along nicely.

Since I typically underwrite the first draft, Ashes has been getting longer and it has officially crossed the 100,000 word mark. I suspect I’ll add another 10,000 words before all is said and done. For reference, A Veil for the Vanguard is 81,501 words long including the appendix.

Next week, I’ll finish the second draft of my in-universe short story A Dagger in Valtan City and send it off to my editor. With that, I’ll start sending pages of An Abyss for the Ashes as well who will probably start chopping down the words I added.

C’est la vie!

That Sci-Fi Series

I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m currently also planning a science-fiction series as well. Some work has been done on it and I have a working outline for about six novels. Obviously, I’m keeping the story close to my chest right now but I am announcing that it will be a space opera which is a genre that’s really close to my heart. I’ll be keeping everyone up to date on this series from time to time but the Aeonlith Chronicles is still my priority right now.

Here’s the numbers for this week:

I just made progress on An Abyss for the Ashes! So far I’m 19% complete on the Second Draft phase.

An Abyss for the Ashes

Phase:Second Draft

18.6%

I just made progress on A Tempest for the Tyrants! So far I’m 28% complete on the First Draft phase. 0 Days remain until the deadline.

A Veil for the Vanguard finally has an official release date! I finally got my hands on the printed proof and I’m absolutely excited! It turned out even better than I had hoped.

But, of course, I’m not stopping there. Still hammering away at the second draft of An Abyss for the Ashes which is almost 1/6th of the way done. For the third book, A Tempest for the Tyrants, I’ve added over 10,000 more words in the past week so it’s roughly a (theoretical) quarter of the way done.  I say theoretical because the chapters of this book are turning out to be longer than expected. I wouldn’t be shocked if I easily blow past 100,000 words on this one.

Here’s this week’s numbers!

I just made progress on An Abyss for the Ashes! So far I’m 15% complete on the Second Draft phase.

An Abyss for the Ashes

Phase:Second Draft

15.3%

I just made progress on A Tempest for the Tyrants! So far I’m 26% complete on the First Draft phase. 14 Days remain until the deadline.

Big updates this week on the series as a whole!

First up is book 1 – A Veil for the Vanguard. Not saying much about this yet as I wait for Amazon to mail me the proof. Once that’s done, I’ll let you all know more about the release! There will be a contest for advance copies and you’ll know more soon!

Next, book 2 – An Abyss for the Ashes update. The second draft is coming along nicely, but a bit slower than I’d like. The reason for this is…

Book 3 – A Tempest for the Tyrants is zooming along at lightspeed! Well, lightspeed for me, at any rate. I’m doing NaNoWriMo this year and it is going swimmingly! Blasted past 12,000 words on Wednesday and am currently pausing to write this update. I could have been farther along but I got a bit sidetracked. With what?

I completed the first draft of A Dagger in Valtan City which is sitting at 4,007 words. This is a short story I intended to write later– in fact, I was planning to write a different short story first– but I needed to flesh out some previous events that happened… before having to explain said events in Tempest for Tyrants. Most of my short stories are written as a way to explore histories of certain characters and events. The overall plot points typically don’t change, but the details tend to come out different than I imagine. And since I’m a stickler for consistency, I have to write these little side stories to make sure everything sticks together.

All in all, a fantastic week for progress! Here’s the current numbers for all these projects:

I just made progress on An Abyss for the Ashes! So far I’m 12% complete on the Second Draft phase.

An Abyss for the Ashes

Phase:Second Draft

11.9%

I just made progress on A Tempest for the Tyrants! So far I’m 14% complete on the First Draft phase. 21 Days remain until the deadline.

I just made progress on Short Story: A Dagger in Valtan City! So far I’m 100% complete on the First Draft phase.

I can’t believe I’m saying this but my first novel, A Veil for the Vanguard, is finally completed! I don’t mean just written– but the layout and all of the extra stuff like maps and the appendix is finished. In fact, I’ve just ordered a printed proof of the finished novel in paperback which I hope to receive in the next week or two. That means I’m almost ready to announce an official release date… once I take into account all of the marketing.

That’s not the only update I have. Finishing A Veil for the Vanguard has taken up most of my time so I’ve let a few things slide on An Abyss for the Ashes and A Tempest for the Tyrants. To make some progress, I’m trying to get a large chunk of the latter book written by taking part of NaNoWriMo this year. I’m sad to admit that I’ve never actually completed the challenge but hopefully this year will be different. I seriously doubt I’ll have the manuscript completed by the end, considering the length of book I’m shooting for, but I hope to have the lion’s share completed.

Here’s my current progress:

I just finished Proofing! Woohoo!

A Veil for the Vanguard

Phase:Proofing

100%

I just made progress on A Tempest for the Tyrants! So far I’m 5.9% complete on the First Draft phase. 27 Days remain until the deadline.

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:5 months ago

100%

I just finished Proofing! Woohoo!

Short Story: The Warden Killer

Phase:Proofing

Due:4 months ago

100%

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