OK, so…it’s been a while, hasn’t it?

Yeah, I know, I’ve been slacking on the writing updates lately. When I started this blog, I was determined to keep posting every week, and for the first little while I was good on that front. Lately, though – really since the summer got going – that’s gotten harder and harder. Things have been busy for me. And it’s been really hard to even find the motivation to work on my books after long days of working under the hot sun, let alone keep up with the blog.

But, I suppose, I need to post here with at least some consistency. So, let’s see…how’s progress been since I last wrote?

Well, to be frank, not great. I mean, it could be worse, and I’ve slowly but surely been ramping up my words per week totals…but still. This summer has been a slog.

My main focus, as it’s been since the summer got going, has been Usi Book 1. And there’ve been a lot of fits and starts. Even on nights when I have the energy and motivation to write more than a handful of words, I often find myself getting stuck, pausing and wondering would this character really do this, or does it make sense that this is happening in this part of the story, or do I even really need this character? This scene? This location? Am I describing these people, these places well enough? Am I doing enough to make everything believable? Does my world feel real enough? And then this flood of questions will immobilize me, demoralize me, and I’ll end up closing my Word doc with just a few hundred words written and switching over to Civilization 6 or old How I Met Your Mother episodes.

As you can maybe tell from the deluge of self-doubt up above – and trust me, that was just a sample – I think part of my problem is I’ve been getting in my own way. I’ve lost sight of two of the most important rules of writing: the first being to just sit your butt down and write, and the second being to finish what you write. Making everything better can happen later: that’s what editing is for. Even Stephen King still has editors; and more than that, he admits in his acknowledgement pages, even after all these years of experience and all the bestsellers he’s put out, that he relies heavily on them.

And, I mean, if Stephen King can’t write an airtight first draft, well, what hope do I have?

Thus, lately, I’ve been trying to get out of my own head a bit. I think part of the reason I got in my own head in the first place is the fact I’m trying to write an epic fantasy. Epic fantasies, as many of you will know, are long, intricate projects. And this is the first time I’ve tackled something so sprawling, so ambitious. The Kosan books are sprawling, to be sure, but they’re a bit lighter, a bit faster-paced than the Usi books are going to be. The first Kosan book, for instance, ended up being around 110,000 words (or at least, that’s about how long the current draft is; the rewrite could end up being a different length). Nightmares Inc. is about the same length. The Ravage is only about 73,000 words (although I’ll need to lengthen it a bit; modern publishers rarely take anything below 80,000). Usi Book 1, though…when I’m done with this monster, it could easily end up cresting 200,000 words. That’s pretty par for the course with epic fantasy – if I remember right, I think it’d put Usi 1 right around the length of A Game of Thrones – but it’s still daunting.

Another part of it might be the deadline I’ve got for myself. I’ve been saying for a while that I wanted to have the first draft of Usi 1 done by the end of June, but…well, writing what could end up being 150,000 more words of material by the end of June is…well, that’s just not feasible at this point. If Usi 1 really does end up being 200,000 words, I’d have to average about five and a half thousand per day to get it done by the end of this month. If I start being way more productive than I’ve been, I could maybe get that done by the end of July…but probably not by the end of June.

So my goal of four novels in a year looks a little shakier. I could do some sporadic work on Blueblood, perhaps, to make up the difference – or I could finally finish the first draft of Procurers 1, which would count as maybe 1/3 of a novel – but we’ll see.

Anyway, I think I’ve gone on long enough for tonight. I’d like to try and post more consistently again, although with work being what it is, those posts will probably come on Saturday or Sunday, rather than Friday. My next update will probably centre more around my plans for The Ravage, and the progress I’ve made editing that; at some point, too, I’ll do another series of mini book reviews. Oh, and maybe one or two posts about the writer’s life in general: little peeks into the industry (or what little I’ve experienced of it) for those who might not know much about it and be curious. I haven’t done one of those in a little while. OK, I think now truly is the time to say goodnight. Until next time, have fun, stay safe and keep reading.