April was a busy month for me.

It’s a good thing I finished draft 1 of the Kosan rewrite when I did, because boy oh boy, did classes get busy. But, I suppose, that’s just how things are when you’re a grad student. I’m not complaining. This is the life I chose.

And it’s not like I haven’t gotten anything done in terms of writing. I’ve started work on the second Procurers book now; I’m about 50,000 words in, but just realized literally yesterday that I need to rework the beginning a bit. Sigh. Just when I was working up to a good pace, too. It’ll all be for the best, though; I’m hoping these rewrites to the early chapters will help me keep the narrative on track as the book progresses. Procurers 2—tentatively titled Bezok’s Wrath—both has to pay off on some things I set up in the first book, while also setting up for certain things I want to happen in book 3 and in the second trilogy (since I envision the Procurers series being two trilogies, with a wider story told between all six books, but each trilogy covering a certain ‘arc’ within that story). It’s a tricky balancing act to pull off, and while I know I won’t get it perfect first try, in order to write I need to at least feel I’m getting close. I have trouble writing something knowing it doesn’t make sense, or knowing it doesn’t fit with what I’ve written before; I need to at least feel like the narrative is cohesive in order to write freely.

With that in mind, I don’t have too many more updates when it comes to Bezok’s Wrath. Just gotta rework that beginning, then start churning through it again; at this point, I’m still hopeful I can finish by the end of June, but if work overflows into the first week or two of July, that’s not the end of the world. The earlier I finish, though, the earlier I can get started on the second part of Blueblood, and then after that get going on my third attempt at Usi 1. And, amidst all this, find time here and there to write Keepers of Eternity. And then, of course, once the calendar flips to 2026, start working on Kosan II.

That’s getting ahead of myself a bit, though. There is something else I’ve decided to do: I want to start submitting my novel The Ravage to agents and publishers this September. I’ve thought about it for a while, and I’ve decided it’s time to try getting my work out there again. Now, conventional wisdom suggests I should hire a professional editor to look over The Ravage and give me their considered feedback before I try marketing the book. For a few different reasons, though, I’ve decided to skip that step this time: first, I’ve hired two different editors to look at my work now, and although neither of them looked at The Ravage, I feel I can take the various lessons I’ve learned from those experiences and apply them to any of my books going forward; and second, it’s been a long time now since I tried marketing any of my books to agents. I think the last time was when I tried to shop the original draft of Kosan, back in early 2019; I’ve learned a lot since then, and while there’s no doubt more to learn, there’s gotta be a point where I just say screw it, let’s just submit something and see what happens.

I’ve been writing for about 15 years at this point. The last time I submitted a novel to an agent was in 2019. Over one third of my time writing novels, I’ve just been sitting on them, not necessarily without good reason, but sitting on them nonetheless. Part of the reason I want to start submitting a book again this fall is just because it’s been so long. I’ve learned a lot about writing since 2019, it’s true, and I think I’ve improved a lot since then (and especially in the time since getting my first pro editor feedback in 2022…the time I came closest to giving up on writing). But I still haven’t taken any shots. And if you keep in mind the old Wayne Gretzky quote, that’s not a recipe for success.

And so, I’ll also spend time this summer further honing The Ravage, making it shine as much as I can, before I start sending it off. Do I expect anything to happen? At this point, not really. Despite myself, I’ve become quite cynical when it comes to my odds of getting published. All I know is it feel worse right now to not try. Plus, if I get rejected with no response by 40 to 50 agents, that’ll be a sign I need to hire an editor before I try again. It could be a good way to test where I’m at, without having to pay another editor right away.

We’ll see where all that goes. Before I leave, I’ll get into one more goal of mine: being more active on the blog. Not that I’ll be posting every day, or even every week, but I’d like it to be more than once a month, at least during the summer. Along with the occasional Writing Updates, expect to see a Reading Review soon (going over my thoughts on some of the books I’ve read recently), as well as a new recurring feature: some short stories from my mentally unhinged alter ego, Zebulon Cork. So look forward to that.

For today, though, that’s all I’ve got. Have fun, stay safe, keep reading.