Progress Report 2025 Week 27

I’m beginning to think each of my series, from Evolution’s Hand to The Sword of Sirius, and now to Dreams of Deucalion, are little fires. Each of which has many irons. It’s getting to be quite a challenge! It’s month end, which means I need to evaluate my ads and ask important questions — like, did the BookBub Featured Deal pay for itself? And finally, how much progress did I make writing Wayland’s Hammer? We’ll take a look at these questions after we take a look at the key performance indicators.

Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers

Once again, production fell below 10,000 words for the week. What’s my excuse this time?

The Real Life Family Events (RLFEs) visited again this week. My recovery time isn’t improving, which is a concern. Not only that, but it’s taking me longer to recover. However, I’m still alive and I’m still supporting my family. That counts for a lot.

Not only did I have to contend with RLFEs, but the character Moritz Lehner fought me this week. His character up and told me I didn’t know what I was doing. He told me I was messing up his arc! Now, in his defense, he was right. But I didn’t think he was right on Wednesday night when he dropped it on me. I could only write half a chapter that night before I had to let what he said stew.

Turned out the effort was worthwhile. I now think I have a better handle on Lehner’s arc, and I have a clearer vision of how Wayland’s Hammer Book 3: Lines of Operation will end. That’ll help me focus foreshadowing and craft the pacing for both books 2 and 3.

I hope that this week, I’ll be able to make more progress on book 2. I’m ready to start the next book! The next series, too. Writing about Nazis is draining!

So Many Fires, So Many Irons, and So Little Time

There’s an old saying, “Too many irons in the fire.” You know what it means (and if you don’t, I provided a helpful link to Idioms On Line — it’s a good description, too!). In my case, I’m starting to feel like each series is its own fire, and each fire is accumulating far too many irons. Check this out:

• Evolution’s Hand
  • Executive Action: I’m reviewing the Virtual Voice version. As I’m doing so, I’m making corrections to the original manuscript. This is a huge time investment. That said, I find the Virtual Voice interface to help me get the most work done in the least amount of time. So, kudos to Amazon for what they’ve done with it.
  • Dying Breath: Next in line for the Virtual Voice treatment.
  • Collection 1: Earthbound: Under consideration for another marketing push.
• The Sword of Sirius
  • Red Flag Warning: I just received the rough draft of the audio narration. It’s twelve and a half hours long, and it’s in WAV format. I need to learn how to prepare that for ACX. The last time I looked into it (a couple of years ago), it seemed daunting. I’m not even sure what software to use yet. I’m most familiar with GarageBand, but when I tried to import the WAV file, it could only read the first 17 minutes. Apple Music, though, could see all of it. I’m thinking about Adobe Audition, since I already subscribe to the Adobe Creative Suite.
  • Collapse Zone: This is the next book in line for audio treatment.
  • Series: I need to decide if I want to continue advertising this series or focus on the release of Dreams of Deucalion.
• Dreams of Deucalion
  • Special Recon: Almost ready for publication. Needs a final read-aloud for the opening (and perhaps more) chapters. Do I give it a Virtual Voice edition? Explore other options? The narrator who recorded The Sword of Sirius sounded perfect for that series because two thirds of the main characters were women. For Dreams of Deucalion, there are no female leads. I need to give this some thought.
  • Flanking Maneuver: Also almost ready for publication. Needs a final read-aloud for the opening (and perhaps more) chapters. Same question about Virtual Voice.
  • Bait and Bleed: Also almost ready for publication. Needs a final read-aloud for the opening (and perhaps more) chapters. Same question about Virtual Voice.
• Wayland’s Hammer
  • Conventional Forces: Almost due for its third draft, which I’ll starting working on right after I finish the first/second draft of Resistance Movement.
  • Resistance Movement: I need to finish the first/second draft. Lehner’s fighting me, and I expect Gerhard Wimmer might join him. But it’s still moving forward.
  • Lines of Operation: I need to plot, then write, this book.

That’s why I mean by many irons in many fires! Since I have a full time job that pays the bills, it gets my top priority. My second priority is my family. That leaves writing as my third priority. I’m going pay close attention to how I allocate my time so I can get my books in front of as many targeted readers as possible. I’m also going to try to avoid burnout.

I really want to get these in front of readers soon!

That means I need to give myself time to learn the intricacies of producing an audiobook. It won’t help if I rush it and get frustrated. Or worse: disappoint my readers! The narrator, Summer Foovay, has done a great job with the recording, and I want to prepare it correctly.

The highest priority right now has to be publishing Dreams of Deucalion. Next is writing Wayland’s Hammer. I think The Sword of Sirius comes next with its audio books. Sorry, Evolution’s Hand. There’re only so many hours in a day!

It’s Ad Rotation Time!

Since I’m trying to manage my time, I only review my ads in any detail at the end of the month. Advice varies on how often is best. I’ve seen credible suggestions that once a week works; I’ve seen others say twice a month. I think a month is too long, but my ad spend is so low that I’m not putting much at risk.

Well, except for missed opportunities to sell my books!

The BookBub Featured Deal lived up to its reputation. It sold more copies in a day that I’ve ever sold in a month. It made The Sword of Sirius Book 1: Red Flag Warning my best selling book, and it propelled the ebook as high as #17 in “Hard Science Fiction (Kindle Store).” My previous best was #67.

I will be glad when I finish writing Resistance Movement! I think Lines of Operation will be a lot more fun.

That said, it hasn’t broken even yet, and it’s my fault. I don’t have a strong enough hook from Red Flag Warning to Collapse Zone, and I know this because the book 1 to book 2 read-through rate is about forty percent. The rate for book two to three? Around ninety-five to one hundred percent. So, yeah, I dropped the ball there.

My goal had been to give my readers the most fulfilling experience. I didn’t want to leave them hanging at the end of book 1. I think they’d have a more fulfilling experience if they’d read all three! So, lesson learned.

If I had just sold a few dozen more copies of books 2 and 3, I would have broken even. It was that close. Though to be honest, I’m not sure how long the tail is. Some of the readers of book 1 might still find their way to book 2 and from there to book 3. I would very much like to see that happen.

Progress against Last Week’s Goals

Here’s how I did against last week’s goals:

1. Write Gerhard Wimmer’s midpoint. Done-ish! As with many other chapters, this grew. It’ll be at lease one more chapter.
2. Write Moritz Lehner’s midpoint. Done-ish! Same notation as for Gerhard Wimmer.
3. Write part III of Owen Payne’s pinch 1. Not done! Between RLFEs and Lehner’s chapters multiplying, I didn’t get to this.
4. Write Payne’s midpoint. Not done! Same notation as Payne’s pinch 1.
5. Continue working on the AI-narrated draft of Evolution’s Hand Book 1: Executive Action: Work Continues
6. Use Vellum to generate Special Recon’s files (ebook and paperback). Not started! I’ve been working on the read-aloud passes.
7. Finish the ElevenLabs read-aloud pass for Flanking Maneuver. Done!
8. Receive the proofreader’s feedback on Bait and Bleed Done! I also finished incorporating that feedback into the manuscript.

Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2025 Week 27

Here’s what I hope to accomplish this week:

1. Write Owen Payne’s pinch 1 part III
2. Write Gerhard wimmer’s midpoint part II
3. Write Moritz Lehner’s midpoint part III
4. Write Lehner’s pinch 2
5. Complete read-aloud passes for all three Dreams of Deucalion books
6. Prepare the ebook and print editions for Dreams of Deucalion Book 1: Special Recon
7. Prepare the ebook and print editions for Dreams of Deucalion Book 2: Flanking Maneuver

What Do You Think?

How do you prioritize your work? Do new titles get priority? Or does mining your back catalog? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!