Progress Report 2025 Week 28

I think “Real Life Family Events” (RLFEs) are more or less assumed at this stage. So, I won’t dwell on them beyond reporting their impact. And there was impact this week. Also, I fought through Yet Another Existential Crisis. Does YAEC work as an acronym? Finally, there’s some news on the Dreams of Deucalion front. Before we get into any of that, let’s look at the key performance indicators.

Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers

One of the RLFEs happened on Friday, which is not typically a writing day. So I was a a little surprised when I calculated my output and found it was almost 9,000 words.

Aside from RLFEs, this week saw an increase in back-plotting. At least, that’s what I’m calling the process of going back into previous chapters or even previous books (in this case, Wayland’s Hammer Book 1: Conventional Forces) to insert foreshadowing. I also had to cast some more characters to make Owen Payne’s arc seem more menacing. It’ll highlight his way-out-of-the-box thinking.

I spent most of this week on Owen Payne and Gerhard Wimmer. Both arcs are heading into details I didn’t foresee. It’s “in a good way.” The changes should make the events a lot more interesting. Well, to me, at least. I hope readers like it.

Yet Another Existential Crisis

A week of RLFEs left me exhausted to the point where I began questioning if I still really want to publish my books. My sales numbers are better than I had feared, but not as good as I had hoped. The effort to work with marketing, and with reviews, and with ratings is tiring. As I try to write, the stories are flowing, and there’s no doubt I’ll keep writing. The question is whether I’ll keep publishing.

The Facebook group 20BooksTo50K is full of good advice. One of the suggestions I see often is to never compare yourself to other writers. That’s good advice. Everyone’s circumstance is different. Every writer’s path to publication is personal. What’s the old joke? “My overnight success took twenty-five years?” That’s true.

You might expect me to insert a “but” here. I won’t. I just wanted to mention that I listened to the wisdom of cooler heads, and I’m going to continue to hurl prose into the world. Circumstance can always change. But for now, I intend to keep writing and publishing these scribblings of mine.

For the record: I think YAEC might work — it has the right sound!

Dreams of Deucalion Update

I published The Sword of Sirius in September 2024. It’s edging painfully close to a year since that time. How’re things going with Dreams of Deucalion?

I am happy to report that I’ve uploaded the ebook and paperback versions of Dreams of Deucalion Book 1: Special Recon, Book 2: Flanking Maneuver, and Book 3: Bait and Bleed to Amazon. As of yesterday, I am awaiting delivery of the paperback proofs now.

I intend to run a soft launch. Yes, not investing the time and effort to run an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) program so that I launch with reviews will cost me, at least in the short term. Yes, not investing the time and effort in a social media campaign to drum up pre-orders will not impress the Amazon algorithms.

I’m at peace with the decision to soft launch. I just do have the time or the energy to do otherwise. If I try, something else major will falter, and the list of “major” to chose from is my family and my primary career. Neither are negotiable.

I honestly think these are my best books to date. I hope readers agree!

Should I trade a lot of writing time to prepare a campaign? No. Writing leaves me physically and mentally tired, but it keeps my soul alive. If I skimp on that, bad things happen inside my skull. So I’m not giving that up, either.

I’ll use David Gaughran’s techniques to stack promotions horizontally. I’ll pick the date I announce to my newsletter once I get the promotions scheduled. I hope that my newsletter readers jump on the book early and spread the word. Maybe leave a few reviews. I’ll let you know here, too. You’ll be second to know — just days after I announce to my newsletter.

I’m still playing the long game. These three books with be numbers 10, 11, and 12. I should begin to see better Return on Investment (ROI) for ads, especially if I begin trying to market The Sword of Sirius together with Dreams of Deucalion. I’m looking forward (kind of!) to learning more about marketing!

Progress against Last Week’s Goals

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

1. Write Owen Payne’s pinch 1 part III: Done!
2. Write Gerhard wimmer’s midpoint part II: Done! Well, done-ish. This part of the story is doing its own thing, so I’m not sure how to track it with any precision.
3. Write Moritz Lehner’s midpoint part III: Not started. Switched with Payne’s midpoint.
4. Write Lehner’s pinch 2: Not started. Delayed by RLFEs.
5. Complete read-aloud passes for all three Dreams of Deucalion books: Done!
6. Prepare the ebook and print editions for Dreams of Deucalion Book 1: Special Recon: Started! I’ll review the paperback proof as soon as I get it.
7. Prepare the ebook and print editions for Dreams of Deucalion Book 2: Flanking Maneuver: Started! I’ll review the paperback proof as soon as I get it.

I also prepared the ebook and print editions for Dreams of Deucalion Book 3: Bait and Bleed!

Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2025 Week 28

Here’s what I hope to accomplish this week:

1. Continue Gerhard Wimmer’s arc. Advance him through pinch 2 into his plot turn 2. He’s doing his own thing, so I’m not sure what form it’ll take.
2. Write Moritz Lehner’s Midpoint Part III.
3. Write Lehner’s Pinch 2.
4. Writer Owen Payne’s pinch 2.
5. Review the paperback proofs for all three books in Dreams of Deucalion.
6. Begin scheduling the Dreams of Deucalion launch promotions.

What Do You Think?

Who do you rely on for emotional and spiritual support? People local to you or across the internet? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!