Last week and the upcoming week have severely testing my energy reserves. Two Real Life Family Events (RLFEs) struck this week — one planned, one spontaneous. I have another planned for this week, and that event will take all day. And that’s on Monday! On top of that, I got a reminder that even very reliable business partners sometimes miss deadlines. Oh, and I have a cover reveal for you! Let’s take a look at the numbers before talking getting into any of that!
Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers
Despite adverse conditions, I managed to push the word count in the right direction!
A RLFE kept my word count on Tuesday to 111 words. Another on Saturday morning reduced the count to 83. And on Sunday morning, I had a metaphorical bill come due — and it was all my fault!
All through Atticus Porter’s Pinch 2, I had loosely referred to two California Republic Space Force Security Force members as “Security Force” or “SF.” That’s not bad; they had to be in Porter’s scenes, but they didn’t do much. Until they did. A later chapter that finishes up Porter’s Pinch 2 needed one of them to speak. Well, I couldn’t just refer to the guy as something like “SF One.” So I had to cast him. That took time.
I had done the same thing for two combat maids. So, I had to fix that, too. Though now I have a new character, Zuri Reed, who has real potential for the next book in the series! Of course, adding names this late meant I had to rewrite their introductions in the previous chapter so it would look natural.
Then I had to flesh out the design of the commercial module in the Fissure Traffic Management Facility, as well as the specifics around the restaurant Porter was in. I don’t know about other writers, but if I can’t visualize a scene where combat takes place, I find I can’t get the tactics right. I’m particular about that! Though whether or not what I write reflects that is another matter!
In any event, those actions held me to 1,535 words on Sunday. I couldn’t even finish the chapter. But, at least I now have a sense I’m back on track.
Cover Reveal: The Sword of Sirius Book 1: Red Flag Warning
I’d like to present to you the cover of The Sword of Sirius Book 1: Red Flag Warning:
Behold an artist’s conception of the spaceship Indiana!
I’m pretty happy with what miblart was able to do with this! The font looks sufficient martial, and I think the composition and artwork are consistent with other books in its genre.
What do you think? If you liked science fiction/military/space fleet fiction, do you think you’d click on this?
The day before miblart was to deliver the cover for The Sword of Sirius Book 3: Firebreak, they sent me a message asking for a couple of extra days. Of course, I says sure. They’re great to work with, and they’ve done solid work for me in the past without incident. Plus, the warned me before it was due. It’s disappointing, but I don’t have the proofread back for Firebreak. So, this isn’t going to change my publication plans.
Progress against Last Week’s Goals
Here’s how I did against last week’s goals:
- Finish Trent Raven’s Pinch 2 Part II: Started! I thought it was going to be two chapters; it’s going to be four! I finished three of them.
- Finish the Helper Plot chapter that’s incorrectly called In the Air (I’ll fix that — when you read the book, you’ll see why the title makes no sense): Done!
- Write Atticus Porter’s Plot Turn 2: Started! This is the chapter I couldn’t finish because I needed to cast four new roles and flesh out the sets.
- Write Jadwiga Janczak’s Plot Turn 2: Not started
- Take delivery of the cover for The Sword of Sirius Part 3: Firebreak: Delayed!
- Investigate why Amazon ads generated zero impressions in July (stretch objective): Ongoing. There’s talk in various Facebook writing/ads groups that Amazon was having issues last month. I’m going to do some more experimenting.
Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2024 Week 33
Here’s what I hope to accomplish this week:
- Complete Atticus Porter’s Plot Turn 2
- Complete Trent Raven’s Pinch 2 (part IV!)
- Complete Jadwiga’s Plot Turn 2
- Start Trent Raven’s Plot Turn 2
- Take delivery of the cover for The Sword of Sirius Part 3: Firebreak
- Continue to investigate why Amazon ads generated zero impressions in July (stretch objective)
What Do You Think?
Do you build time into your release schedules to account for other parties being late — or, worse, to account for other parties disappearing? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!
