At 11:52pm on 22 September 2021, I finished Consular Times, Book 3 of the Primogenitor Saga.

I’ve done a quick proof of sections, and my editor still has the second half (minus the final five chapters). What this means is that the story is solid, but there are still minor typos here and there that will disappear somewhen around the first full week of October (probably) as soon as my editor and I finish working through it.

September has been my most productive month since May (thus far), coming in at 75,782 words, and we still have eight days left in the month (counting today). Yesterday (the 22nd), I wrote 7,214 words of new fiction in three hours and fifty-two minutes (3:52).

I have to say that it feels very good to be hitting these numbers again. I want to be more consistent in my production, and I want to average 7,000-ish words per day. It’s something to work toward. As I type this, I’m feeling incredibly energized and want to write more.

So, what is/are my next project/projects?

Yes, I wrote it that way on purpose. My next novel will be The Fall of Skullkeep. Beyond that, I have 1,500-ish words of The Key to Happiness, the second Sam Colton Mystery, and I also want to write Rise of the Huntress, Gabrielle’s origin story from the Primogenitor universe.

If you’re surprised that I have dipped my toe into the mystery pool, Mistaken Identity, the first Sam Colton story, is available to my newsletter subscribers. I will eventually publish it wide in some form. I haven’t decided if that will be individually, in a collection of Sam Colton mysteries, or something else. And… I haven’t made any firm plans as to when I’ll publish them.

The more I think about it, I will probably knock out the short stories (i.e. The Key to Happiness and Rise of the Huntress) while I work through what I already have written on “Skullkeep.” At the time I decided to focus solely on Consular Times, “Skullkeep” wasn’t flowing as well I would’ve liked, and I want to see if I can locate/understand why. 

In the coming months, I will also start my next science-fiction story, but the label ‘Space Opera’ with a little military thrown in for flavor might suit it better. Like Histories of Drakmoor, it’s one of my older story concepts, and I’ve had the idea in my mind for almost as long as I’ve been writing. I think the earliest version of it dates back to around the 2000 – 2003 era. Like Histories of Drakmoor, I’m thinking this series will have ten books, and like the Primogenitor Saga, it may also have a companion series.

Well, the Primogentior Saga doesn’t have a companion series… yet… and it won’t be a series so much as a collection of stand-alone stories that flesh out the world beyond the main novels themselves. Right now, the working title for the ‘series’ is Tales from the Primogenitor Universe. Catchy, right? It’s certainly a mouthful. I’ll see what I can do to pare that down by the time it comes to publish one. I have four items on that ‘to-write’ list at the moment, and both #3 and #4 arose from Consular Times. If you’re curious, I had the idea for the first Primogenitor Tale by the time I finished Smilodon; in fact, my original idea had it being the second short story alongside Lone Wolf, but the more I thought about it, it seemed better suited to at least a novella, if not a full-length novel. The idea for the second Primogenitor Tale came out of Roc.

Yeah… I have far too many story ideas bouncing around in my head. Why far too many? Because I want to write them all… at the same time!  😜

Okay. I think this is enough of a writing update for the nonce.

I’m going to hop over to write more fiction. I’ve let my sleep schedule slip back to Alaska time (kind of), where I’m about four hours out of sync with my time zone. That’s not abnormal for me at all. Over the course of a year, my 8-hour sleep window will ‘walk’ its through the entire 24-hour day several times. This can play merry hell with meeting day-time obligations, but such is life.

I hope the days treat you well, and I’ll be back in the semi-near future with another update.