Writing/Editing Update: February Edition

As mentioned in my October post, my stepfather passed away that month; now an uncle of mine passed away the last week of February. As you might imagine, my family hasn't really adjusted to the first loss, and now we've been hit by this second death. So once again, I'm traveling back and forth—it's a …

Writing/Editing Update: January Edition

Steampunk Novel. No typing on this while I was buried under deadlines, but it's been kept on a nice simmer on a back burner. Thinking so much about character arcs and how as I started the manuscript the lead characters were a bit too nice; they need some rough edges that will get polished by …

Writing/Editing Update: December Edition

Happy New Year and all that. Steampunk Novel. I did a little typing on this while staying at my mom's house, just a few hundred words or so, but it felt good to spend even a little time on it. I plan on digging back in this year to finally complete a draft.  Shared-World Novella and The Satellite Dish. …

Writing/Editing Update: November Edition

Steampunk Novel. This was supposed to be the year I finished the first draft of my long-suffering novel. After a slow period in late fall, I was starting to worry about making that self-imposed deadline. But with the various obligations thrust upon us after my stepfather's passing, I decided I had to give myself a …

Writing/Editing Update: October Edition

Late in October, around the time I would normally be putting this belated post together, my stepfather passed away suddenly after a fall. I don't post a lot of such personal stuff, but this sad turn of events had a large impact on my professional life as well. There would be no way to write …

Writing/Editing Update: September Edition

Steampunk Novel. Yikes. After blasting back into the novel throughout August after the nothing burger of July, September turned out to be another dead-end month as I scrabbled to meet freelance deadlines. More on that below. Shared-World Novella. Nothing new to report. The Satellite Dish. Nothing new to report. Ko-Fi. A quick review of the 2014 legal …

Writing/Editing Update: August Edition

Steampunk Novel. As previously posted, July was basically a bust on this as I labored mightily on four freelance gigs. Determined to turn things around, I instituted a modest 500 words per day minimum beginning August 1. This has turned out to be a great approach for me, and as of today I have added 13,385 …

Writing/Editing Update: July Edition

Steampunk Novel. Yikes. Although the date on the file indicates it was modified during July, I can't recall what that might have been. Surely it was nothing significant. It was an overloaded freelance month, as you'll see below. Shared-World Novella. No updates yet from the editor. The Satellite Dish. Still haven't discussed it with the beta reader, …

Writing/Editing Update: June Edition

Steampunk Novel. Unfortunately it's been a slow month on the novel (more on that below under Work for Hire). Only a thousand words added to the total, but, to put a positive spin on it, that doesn't accurately reflect the amount of work done. I'm still not going back and revising fiddly things in previous chapters, …

My Epic Trek Comic Book Read #5

Gold Key issue 5 (September 1969), “The Ghost Planet,” serves up equal helpings of a classic Star Trek moral quandary and prime Gold Key nonsense. In "Galaxy Zelta" the Enterprise comes across some Saturn-like rings which may conceal a planet at the center. They cross through a turbulent "two lunar miles" of the rainbow-colored rings …