Progress Report 2022 Week 27

This week, sickness struck! It was an epic battle, me against the head cold. In all honesty, it was just a head cold, but it felt way more dramatic than that. Did it knock me completely off my game? Did I hit my goals for Evolution’s Hand Book 3: Primary Target? Did anything happen with Book 2: Dying Breath? Let’s take a look at the numbers first.

Progress Report 2022 Week 27 By the Numbers

Look, a head cold is nothing to sneeze at… Yes, went there.

The cold (yes, I got tested for COVID, and it came back negative — and the 15 minute wait for the test was way more stressful than I thought it’d be) tried to knock me down. It actually succeeded on June 29th, and it still slowed me down on July 2nd. But I used my July 4th day off from my primary job to get in another session of writing, so I got close to my target of 10,000 a week.

And, in the spirit of full disclosure, I might not have written on June 29th, but I did manage to finish building out all four of Earth’s space elevators. So, the cold hit hard, but I didn’t just roll over! And yes, I’m trying to use dramatic language to describe how I dealt with what was, essentially, the sniffles.

Also, Primary Target’s mid-points turned out to be a lot more intertwined than Dying Breath or Book 1: Executive Action. I had to go back and forth through Dek Conrad’s, Atticus Porter’s, and Matsushita Sachi’s chapters to make sure everything aligned. Now that they’ve rebounded off each other like pool balls, I think the back half of the book should come more easily. At least, I hope so!

Another Cover Reveal Soon?

I contracted again with Jesh Art Studio to create the cover for Dying Breath. I got it back last week, and I have to say, I like it even more than I liked the cover for Executive Action — and I liked it quite a lot! Since I’m targeting mid-December to launch Dying Breath, I think I’ll wait until early November to reveal the cover to the world. You’ll see it here first, and I’ll share it with the newsletter second.

I don’t know how Jesh Art Studio did it, but they changed the color scheme and still kept the look and feel so close to the first book that even at a casual glance, you can tell the books are in the same series. The new cover is more dramatic, which is befitting what happens in book 2. I can’t wait to get it in front of you!

I’m also working on the arc for the next three books. I should have titles to share with you soon!

Progress Last Week

As you can see from the infographic, I’m up to chapter forty-seven, which is four more than I had last week. My goals for this week included finishing the midpoints for Atticus Porter and Ira Malhotra, as well as starting the midpoint for Jack Booth. Just as I found last week, because of how intertwined some of these chapters were, I had to shuffle order again. This week, I:

Extended Matsushita’s midpoint, which I had thought was finished
Got 2/3 of the way through Porter’s midpoint
Both 1/2 way through Booth’s midpoint
Finished Matsushita’s pinch 2 (the jaws of defeat) — and I hope she forgives me for the position I’ve placed her in

So I didn’t exactly hit the goals I’d set, but the novel is moving forward.

Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2022 Week 27

My goals for this week are:

Finish Atticus Porter’s midpoint (this time for sure!)
Finish Jack Booth’s midpoint
Start Ira Malhotra’s midpoint

What Do You Think?

Do you have a firm process for planning cover or title reveals? How do you work them into your marketing campaigns? I’d love to hear about your experience! Feel free to share in the comments!