Update!

Update!

Hello, hello! It’s been quite a while since I’ve done an update. First, I hope everyone is staying happy and healthy during these interesting times.

There’s a few followers who know that I haven’t been writing recently. I think the last real writing session I had was in February or March. It’s been quite a bummer, really. But it happens and I knew eventually I’d move past the lull. I had all of Book 3 (Ravaged) outlined and ready to write, but stopped around 10% (12,500 words). Since then, I’ve been trying to motivate myself to get back to it.

A lot of people talk about going where the interest is. Essentially, you need to write what you want to write. And, to a degree, I have always agreed with that. But, even still, I set myself on the path of finishing Ravaged before starting my next work, which is a spin-off novel following Chakal (taking place directly after Madness, in tangent with Ravaged). For the last year, that spin-off has been the largest interest. I love writing Chakal. He’s actually my favorite character to write (sorry, Fangdarr), and the story that I’ve had planned for him is much different than the rest of the novels.

So, despite really, really wanting to write Chakal’s novel (I really need a working title…), I put it on hold to try to knock out Ravaged. Unfortunately, that just resulted in me losing steam on writing entirely. Now, after many failed attempts to kickstart my writing progress for Ravaged again and again, I’ve decided to just take the plunge and sink my teeth into Chakal.

Yesterday, I wrote up the outline and plotted out the entire novel. I always love this step, because over the course of an hour or so, I basically design the entire book. Other than tweaks along the way, I now know the course of the story and what will happen in a short summary. There’s always plot holes that get discovered during the outlining phase that get accounted for, new ideas that come from those adaptations, and much more. But by the end I’ve got a condensed version of the book I plan to write. And it really does wonders for keeping the interest high, because the book is already laid out, I now just need to write it.

Now, full disclosure: The same high interest occurred with Ravaged when I outlined, and it only carried me so far. But, I’m optimistic with Chakal’s novel, even so much so that I think once I finish writing it I can shift back over to Ravaged with a revitalized writing routine.

That’s the hope, anyway.

Anyway, as of this morning, Chapter 1 was knocked out and I’m eager to knock out Chapter 2 later today, probably. It really does make a world of difference when you’re really invested in the story you’re writing. Don’t get me wrong, I want to write Ravaged. It’s an intense plot with a lot of interesting and new dynamics. But right now – and for the last year – I just want my psychopathic, edgy assassin. Because he’s so damn fun to write.

I will likely be releasing the Prologue for Chakal’s novel soon. It’s done (first draft only, so there’s bound to be mistakes and some tweaks may be made, of course) and I actually really like it. Though this novel is planned to stand on its own and new readers won’t need to read Honor or Ravaged to understand it, it does provide a lot of the answers to questions that were introduced in the other books about Chakal.

So, keep an eye out. There’s honestly a good chance I’ll end up releasing it today or tomorrow, as I’m too excited and naturally impatient.

Also, I really need to start thinking of a working title. Like, for real. This time I won’t be limiting myself to a single word, which pretty much opens me up to limitless possibilities.

Decisions, decisions.

Oh well, all part of the process! Until next time!