25 July 2023
Hello, long time since I last wrote here.
"Ghost in the Game" was published in October 2022, reaching a massive 250k words. Sales have been poor at best. Ah, well.
"Retribution's Last Stand" has, after all this time, reached the completion of the first draft at about 86k words -- a far cry from the 40k (or less) novella I first envisioned. Unfortunately, this one will need a lot more editing than most of my other ones, so I'm hoping for a publishing date around the end of September.
And it's time to get back into the Yrden Universe, so I'm starting to gather ideas for Book 8.
15 March 2022
WRECK, a stand-alone novel is now live on Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited for the next three months.
I am now 78,000 words into "Ghost in the Game" -- which is taking years longer than I would have thought. I blame the Yrdens for this.
I have a second novel in production as well, one using the working title "Retribution's Last Stand". I am 66,000 words into that one. It was supposed to be a novella of perhaps 40,000 words, but has grown into novel length. It will likely be a shorter novel; I doubt it will reach 80k ... but who knows?
31 August 2020
Trading For War Book 4 of the Yrden Chronicles is finally live on Amazon (in Kindle Unlimited).
Now 48,000 words into Ghost in the Game.
01 June 2020
Finished first draft of Book 4 of The Yrden Chronicles (tentative title: Trading for War). Publishing date: 31 August 2020 (or earlier, if possible). (Pelgraff will become Book 5).
About 40,000 words into "Ghost in the Game" which seems to be a dystopian/sci-fi/detective/near-future/MMORPG/fantasy novel. How I'm going to describe it is beyond me at the moment.
19 March 2019
Finally finished editing and proofing "One Trade Too Many", book 3 of The Yrden Chronicles, and I've published it on Amazon.25 December 2018
Good News: Not With A Whimper: Preservers, and Not With A Whimper: Survivors just went live on Amazon. I've put all four books into Kindle Unlimited.Editing and proofing the above two took up most of my time this month and I've done very little other than that. I wanted both done by the end of the year, and I succeeded at that.
I'm just a little burned out with the Yrden Universe and have begun something quite different than my usual. I'm 9k into a new novel that has a working title 'Ghosts'. It deals with virtual reality games in the future. More on that later.
Merry Christmas to all.
17 December 2018
The last month and a half have passed with not as much progress as I had hoped. Editing a proofing are a major burden to me. However, I'll have two novels out before the end of the year.Not With A Whimper: Preservers -- finished edits. Waiting for cover. 98k words.
Not With A Whimper: Survivors -- undergoing final proofing. Waiting for cover. 137k words.
One Trade Too Many (Yrden Chronicles Book 3) -- First Draft finished. 78k
Untitled (Yrden Chronicles Book 4) -- 40k written
26 October 2018
October has proven itself a busy month. Thus far I've advanced almost 100k words. That's basically a full novel's worth -- over a full novel's worth in some cases.
As stated last month, I finished the first draft of Not With A Whimper: Preservers. I've just done a first read-through, making sure that it makes sense. It seems to. I had to adjust a few things because of what happened in the other books, but I'm now basically satisfied with the time-line.
So:
Not With A Whimper: Preservers -- now in edits. Now at 94k
Not With A Whimper: Survivors -- finished first draft. It's a long one at 134k; ready for edits
One Trade Too Many (Yrden Chronicles Book 3) -- finished first draft. A shorter one at 78k ready for edits
A Dangerous Species (Yrden Chronicles Final Book) -- now at 94k (It's going to be a very long one.)
Now debating whether to start Wreck, my fantasy/dystopian novel, or Book 4 of Yrden Chronicles.
Historically, whenever I start edits, my writing on new books collapses. I'm either in edit mode or in writing mode. I rarely can alternate. I'm going to give it a try.
30 September 2018
As stated in my blog post today, I'm back writing again. I've written 82k words this month, practically a full novel's worth.First draft of Not With A Whimper: Preservers is finished at 93k words. I'm hoping for a November release.
First draft of Not With A Whimper: Survivors just topped 82k words, and probably another 30k to go. Hoping for a December release.
One Trade Too Many, the next Colleen Yrden book still sits at 30k words. I hope to get back to it as soon as I finish NWAW.
Wreck: This one has continued to haunt me, and I've begun outlining it -- not my usual practice. It may or may not take place in the Yrden Universe, but it will have little to do with the Yrden story if it does. I'm very excited about it.
A Dangerous Species will be the final book in the Colleen Yrden story. I'm not sure why I started writing it, because I have about 5 other books in that story line to complete first. I have over 70k written in it, and it looks like it will be a long one -- perhaps even 200k.
And, I have begun outlining and contemplating a fantasy-reality-sci-fi-dystopian novel. Not sure if D.A. will write it. Gonna be complicated.
Anyway, that's the news for the moment. I'm back writing, and about time.
27 April 2017
Just published "Not With A Whimper: Destroyers" It is live on Amazon. It took longer than expected; my proofer couldn't get around to it, so I went over it a few extra times myself and put it up. I had promised that it would be live before the end of April.Now, perhaps, I can give some other book the attention it needs. As I've mentioned, I find it difficult to both edit and write. Now I'm done editing/proofing, perhaps I can write again.
Books waiting for attention:
Not With A Whimper: Preservers
Not With A Whimper: Survivors
Wreck
One Trade Too Many
A Dangerous Species
All the above in progress, with between 10k and 80k words written in each
26 March 2017
Just finished my edits and proofing of "Not With A Whimper: Destroyers". Book now 66k words. I've sent it off to my proofer to go over. Once that is done -- probably within a couple of weeks -- I'll publish it.Very glad to get it out of the way. I don't seem to be able to jump back and forth between my creative mind and my analytical mind. The creative part I use for writing, the critical, analytical part comes to the forefront in editing and proofing. So, while I'm editing and proofing, I'm not writing. Thus, I've accomplished nothing in my other books since my last post.
11 March 2017
I've known for some months that my day job was coming to an end, and that time is almost upon me -- now only weeks away. Which kinda added a little stress to life, and my writing suffered due to it.Nonetheless, I've just completed the preliminary edits of "Not With A Whimper: Destroyers." I had to rework it because one of the two threads didn't really come off the way I wanted it to. The book also gained about 10% in pages -- which I'm pleased with. I don't particularly like to write short books. This one is still short, about 64k words, but a little better than "NWAW: Producers" in that respect.
I'm hoping to get it out by the end of March, but the way things are going, it may take longer than that. It will definitely be out before the end of April.
I continue to work on Book 3 of the Yrden Chronicles. "One Trade Too Many" is close to 30k. Now that I've mostly finished with "Destroyers", which has caused me many problems, I can get into something else.
Speaking of something else, I have begun work on something I've been thinking about for a couple of years now. It looks like a stand-alone novel. I've done a fair bit of work on it recently, know where it begins and where its going, but am not entirely sure how it will get there. "Wreck" has about 4k done on it, and I have hopes for it, but it's a difficult concept, and I'm not sure I can pull it off. It will stretch me. That's good ... I guess.
17 December 2016
Been having a difficult time writing lately. However, have just published one book of the "Not With A Whimper" series: Not With A Whimper: Producers. These books can all be read as stand-alone, though the characters in each may interact with those of the other books.16 June 2016
Well, a month has gone by since I posted last, and published "Trading For A Dream". Since then I've been working on the next book in the series and the last book in the series -- they aren't the same book, so those of you who like Colleen will have more time to spend with her over the next couple of years.
As well as that, I've taken myself in hand and gotten to work on Not With a Whimper. I pulled it apart and it will comprise of 3 or 4 novels occurring concurrently -- which is a huge hassle that I wouldn't have believed had I not had to work with it. But at least I can work with it now. I've now finished Not With A Whimper: Producers (book 1) and sent it off to get a final proofing done. I've just finished the first draft of Not With A Whimper: Destroyers. Producers was easy. It consisted of a single storyline. Destroyers combines two main threads and I had to get the timing right to fit it in with Producers. I hope I have it basically set up now. Both those books are on the shorter side, and will have about 60 thousand words each. (For comparative purposes, Courtesan had 70k, and is my shortest full-length novel.) Not With A Whimper: Preservers isn't very far along -- about 11k. And the main storyline will take place in Not With A Whimper: Survivors, which will draw all the others together and provide an ending of the Jaswinder story. I've written about 42k in Survivors. I don't think I'm 1/2 way there yet. So, the NWAW books (all together) are at about 170k right now, which is a big step up from my last report of 18 months ago. Unfortunately, because I have to have these books sync together, and there will be places where they cross over (where characters from one book meet characters from another book), I probably should wait until all are complete -- at least to first draft status -- before publishing any of them.
One Trade Too Many (book 3 of the Colleen Yrden series) has about 22k written in it.
A Dangerous Species (the last book of the series) about 78k. It's going to be a long one, and I may have to break it up into two books, 'cause I'm not near 1/2 way through it.
So, I'm still writing, though at times I get bogged down.
16 May 2016
"Trading For A Dream", the second book in the Yrden Chronicles is now live on Amazon.
Newly married and just
getting used to her position in a space-based trading family, Colleen Yrden
looks forward to her honeymoon on Liberty Station before she and husband, Clay,
join their new ship and start their new life. Her plans don’t include getting
on the wrong side of the station’s crime boss, but an inadvertent good deed
puts her in his crosshairs. She should take Clay's advice to distance herself
from the man she helped, but something about him resonates with her and, for
better or for worse, she cannot.
Adrian Telford has the
reputation of a man you don’t want to get annoyed at you. A hired killer who
has killed once too often, Telford wants to leave the life, but his boss has
other plans that don’t include letting Telford go. A kindness given by a woman
who sees the man and not the reputation has Telford dreaming of a different
life – but the woman already has a husband. He should walk away, but he owes; paying
off the debt might cost his very life.
06 Dec 2014
"Not With A Whimper" has gotten the best of me. I find I cannot write it in its present form and still come up with something I'm happy with. I'm following too many different threads, giving none of them the attention they deserve. It has become ungainly, without a unifying tone. Though I handled about the same number of threads in Ghost Fleet, this one doesn't hold together in the same way.
I may still come back and try to fix it the way it is, but for now I'm going at it a different way: I'm editing out threads to make their own larger works. Thus, instead of having one huge, overarching novel, I'll have three or four. Each will be a 'stand-alone', but with references to the same overall series of events, and with some interaction between the different lines. They'll all be part of the "Not With A Whimper" series, but rather than have them told in serial fashion, one taking place after the other, they'll operate concurrently within the timeline.
Not sure how that will work, but it gives me a view to a way forward, which has eluded me these past several weeks.
28 Oct 2014
Not With A Whimper: 96k
07 Oct 2014
A Throne At Stake has been re-edited for paperback and is now available at Amazon or CreateSpace.
I spent several hours going through the scenes I've written for "Not With A Whimper", discovering time discrepancies -- where one character's timeline between scenes might last a week, two or three weeks' worth of event happen. I've cleared that all up. Now, I hope I'm done with editing for a while. Back to putting down new words.
22 Sep 2014
"Trading For The Stars" is now up and live on Amazon.
Trading For The Stars -- Amazon
The trade paperback should be available there within the next day or three. It's already live at CreateSpace.com:
Trading for the Stars -- CreateSpace
12 Sep 2014
Had a hard few weeks. My cat Joey died, and that threw me. My day job work got busy, too. I've not felt much like writing.
So:
"Trading For The Stars" -- doing a final proofing. Need to format it and work up a cover. Should be ready to publish by the end of September. I'm hoping to have the paperback out at the same time, but am not sure I'll make it -- that's why it's called 'hoping'.
"Not With A Whimper" -- 91k.
20 Aug 2014
Visitors and writing don't mix, either. However:
"Trading for the Stars" -- made another editing pass. I think it reads and holds together fairly well.
"Not With A Whimper" -- up to 89k
Nothing else touched this past week.
13 Aug 2014
Proofing and writing don't go well together, so my writing has suffered of late. I'm busy looking over the physical copy of "A Throne At Stake", and formatting "The Steadfasting" for paperback. Writing goes slowly, though I've finished another couple of scenes for "Not With A Whimper".
"Trading for the Stars" still lying fallow. It helps to give yourself some distance, to be able to go back and look at it with 'fresh eyes.'
"Not With A Whimper" -- 86k
"Bridge At Farnholm's Gap -- still 17k
Asteroid Mining" (working title) -- 3k
29 July 2014
Well, my proofing, and editing have gone well over the last 20 days, but not so the writing. Pelgraff is now for sale in paperback, and a proof copy of "A Throne At Stake" should be with me shortly. I've written very little new, though I've started yet another book -- it depends upon which computer I'm working as to which book I'll work on. "Not With A Whimper" gets preference when on my desktop; "The Bridge at Farnholm's Gap" on my netbook, and now a new one in the Pelgraff Universe on a tablet. I don't like writing on the tablet at all, but it's a book I want to write, and I thought that as long as I have the thing, I'll use it.
So, for those keeping track:
"Trading for the Stars" (working title "Colleen") -- did a preliminary edit.
"Not With A Whimper" (Courtesan sequel) -- 84k
"The Bridge at Farnholm's Gap -- 17k
"Asteroid Mining" (working title) -- 1k.
"Pelgraff" -- now available in paperback
"A Throne At Stake" -- proof copy of the paperback coming my way.
"The Steadfasting" -- edited and formatted for paperback. Needs new cover.
09 July 2014
My proofer finally got back to me, and I have made corrections and at last published "A Throne At Stake" which pleases me no end. I'm very satisfied with the work, and hope my readers will be as well. It takes place in the Steadfasting world and uses a lot of somewhat archaic syntax. Look at the sample first in case that's something you just can't stand.Throne ended up at 110k, my longest book to date.
The editing really got to me, and my word production is severely down.
"Colleen" continues to lie fallow.
Not With A Whimper now at 83k and progressing very slowly.
The Bridge at Farnholm's Gap -- another Steadfasting world book now at 17k
19 June 2014
I have sent "A Throne At Stake" (working title BATF) to my proofer. I still may make my end-of-month target for publishing it. With it out of the way for the moment, I can turn back to writing. You might be surprised at the amount of time and effort that goes into editing and proofing one's work. But, 'tis done.
I'm allowing "Colleen" to lie fallow for the moment -- I don't want to start editing it yet. I need some distance, and I need to step up my writing which has flagged during the editing of A Throne At Stake.
NWAW now stands at 78k.
The Bridge At Farnholm's Gap at 10k
* * *
12 June 2014
Progress and back-sliding. A computer glitch deleted my copy of BATF. I had backed up a copy, but only two weeks previous, so two week's worth of edits had just gone by the board. Fortunately, I had been a slacker during those two weeks, concentrating more on writing than on editing. I went back and re-edited that portion, and have progressed to 65%. However, I'm more in editing mode right now, so anticipate completing this editing round within the next seven days. Then I read it aloud, then send it off to my proofer.
I have now truly finished the first draft of "Colleen" at 95k words.
NWAW has progressed to 75k.
And, The Bridge at Farnholm's gap now stands at 9k.
* * *
04 Jun 2014
Hello again. Progress continues. I'm almost 50% of the way through the line-edit of BATF. After that, I'll read it aloud to make sure it sounds right, then off to someone who will proof it.
Last week, I congratulated myself on having finished the first draft of Colleen at 86k words. This week, I must report that Colleen took me by the ear and told me I had not finished it. Now, at 92k words, it comes near to a finish. I hope she'll agree. She's getting about as bad as Jaswinder.
NWAW saw another scene added to it. It stands at 72k now.
And I've started a companion piece to BATF: The Bridge at Farnholm's Gap, taking place in the Steadfasting Universe and telling the tale of Karsten and Arialla's son. Now 3k into that.
Next week, I'll post an excerpt of NWAW -- the first chapter as it now stands.
D.A.
* * *
28 May 2014
Well, editing BATF (the working title of my Fantasy book set in the Steadfasting world) goes slowly. But there's a reason for that:
I just (this morning -- early, early morning) finished my first draft of the first book of the Colleen saga (also as yet unnamed). It now stands at 86 k words, which means I wrote 16 thousand words in it over the last week. (For those of you who need something more visual, 1000 words represents approximately 3 pages in a Trade Paperback -- so that's 48 pages.
After a long drought, I find that writing daily is exciting -- whereas editing is anything but -- and I don't want to stop in case the drought returns. I still intend publishing BATF by the end of June -- just don't hold me to that date.
* * *
21 May 2014
Now 1/3 through line-editing my as-yet-untitled Fantasy book (working title BATF). After that, a final read-through (aloud), and then off to my proofer.
Now 60k words into the Colleen saga, set in the Courtesan & Pelgraff universe. NWAW, the Courtesan sequel languishes at 67k words. I add to it from time to time, but I find its complexity and multitude of threads makes it difficult.
* * *
14 May 2014
I am in the middle of editing a as-yet-untitled book which takes place in the Steadfasting world. Hoping to publish it in June.
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