Alright, so what’s been going on this week? Well…not a whole heck of a lot, to tell the truth. This past week was one of the least productive writing weeks I’ve had in a while: I still wrote every day, but on a few of those days I wrote little more than a token sentence or two.

One of the biggest reasons why: I ran into a bit of a rough patch in Usi Book 1. Yes, already: the plot hasn’t even really kicked into high gear yet, and I’m already hacking through the foliage, so to speak. It’s not all doom and gloom, though: over the past few days I think I’ve come up with a solution that’ll at least let me get past the third chapter of the first draft. I get the feeling I may have to come back to these chapters later on – or maybe even cut them – but that’s a problem for future drafts. The first draft is just about getting something down on paper, and by gum, that’s what I intend to do.

Part of the problem, too, is that the world of Zuza and the Chronicles of Usi is a significantly larger one than the world in any of my other books, with the possible exception of Kosan. There’s a lot to keep track of: complex political power balances, intricate magic systems, and so on. Thus, part of the problem in these opening chapters is making sure I don’t try to dump too much exposition onto the reader too early. Some little glimpses into the world are good; these can draw the reader in more, maybe get them interested not only in your main character’s predicament but also in the history and lore of the world around them. Too much, though, and you risk drawing attention away from that main character’s predicament, which is really what should be front and centre, especially at the beginning of book 1. Finding that balance will be critical throughout the writing process.

Now, I may not have made that much progress in Usi book 1, or in the Kosan rewrite, but there is one other thing I did: as I set Usi book 1 aside for a short while, I turned my attention to finishing another short story. See, I came across another anthology open for short story submissions, this one about robots: unlike the Dragonesque anthology, though, where the story I wrote quickly ballooned into a novel, I actually managed to keep this one underneath the 5000-word limit (although just barely).

This, of course, means I have a new short story in my arsenal. I plan to edit the story – titled Find and Exterminate – over the weekend, then submit it to the anthology editors on Monday. From there, I’ll hope for the best, but even if they don’t accept the story, hey: I’ve got another sci-fi short story to send around to magazines.

And I might have a few more before too long. I’m not sure if I’ll actually finish them, but I’ve had a few more short story ideas in the wake of writing Find and Exterminate: if I can get my stable of short stories up to 5 or 6, or even as many as 7 or 8, I can have a lot more of them sent out at once, meaning I won’t have to wait nearly as long between replies. And, hopefully, eventually, one of those replies will be a yes. I guess we’ll have to see – it’s been 7 years already since my first and only yes – but fingers crossed, I guess.

Until then, there’s not much else to do but keep plugging away. Not much else to say this week. Until next time, have fun, stay safe and keep reading.