Listening to MacOS read Wayland’s Hammer Book 1: Point of Departure back to me has taught me something — a lesson that I’m going to take to heart! In other news, I got bored and switched from my open-ear headphones to my over the ear headphones. In doing so, I might have improved the odds of starting my next series sooner than later. Finally, I’ve had a week to review my ad changes. How’s that going? Before we dive into those questions, let’s take a look at the key performance indicators.
Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers
I’ve updated the counter to show book 16. No progress on actually writing it yet!
I’ve cleared most of the KPIs to prepare for the next book — whatever it might be! In the meantime, I’m tracking progress against the combined proofreading application/read-aloud pass for Wayland’s Hammer Book 1: Point of Departure. My process is:
- Review my proofreader’s finders for a given chapter and apply them to the Scrivener manuscript
- Have MacOS read that same chapter back to me and made copy/line edit adjustments
In a typical two to two and a half hour writing session, I can get through three chapters. This weekend, I pushed the session to about three hours and got five chapters done per session.
I need to run the read-aloud pass because I only started using MacOS that way in Wayland’s Hammer Book 3: Lines of Operation. It helps me find so much that I can’t afford not do it — not if I want to give my readers the best experience possible. And I do.
So, once I finish Point of Departure, I’ll perform a read-aloud pass for Resistance Movement. Then, I’ll dive into planning for the next series.
The Soundtrack of my Life
When I use MacOS to read Point of Departure, I usually use my Soundcore by Anker V30i Open-Ear Headphones (affiliate link). They’re great because I can still easily hear if my son or wife call for me. Their batteries also last a long, long time.
But I’ve discovered something as I’m trying to keep up the pace of at least three chapters per session. I hate line/copy editing my stuff. That’s okay; I don’t like marketing, either, but I do it, and the line/copy editing, because it needs done. But it’s grating. When I’m writing a new book like Lines of Operation, I listen to one chapter, then write a new one. When I write new chapters, I get to listen to music. The longer I’m in edit-only mode, the less music I can listen to.
I decided to take a break this weekend. I fired up my Soundcore by Anker Space Q45 Adaptive Active Noise Cancelling Headphones (also affiliate link). Those headphones are fantastic. I can’t recommend them enough. They can connect via BlueTooth, and if you want the highest fidelity, you can connect them via wire. I cranked up Two Steps From Hell – Impossible (feat. Merethe Soltvedt) and chilled for a half hour.
Two Steps from Hell is one of the groups that most free my imagination.
Or I tried to chill. Half way through the song, I started visualizing scenes from the next series. I think, for example, that the combat maids will make a reappearance. And they’re still pretty pissed off that their CEO got murdered. I caught a glimpse of a scene with a deaf student in the main character’s class and their run-in with a Corporate rep whose ego didn’t understand deafness. I had no idea either set of characters would appear.
This all reminded me of something. If I give myself some time, if I let my mind wander while I listen to inspiring music, I get some of my best ideas. I’m going to give myself the time and space to visit that part of my mind to get ready for Blue Angel Ascension. If I have fun writing it, the readers might well have fun reading it. That’s my hope, anyway!
It might also accelerate the plotting phase, which will likely speed the writing phase. So, bonus!
Ad Performance
So far, my Facebook ad is performing above the previous version. That’s good news! I hope that it persists. I’ve had times before when one week would do great, to be followed by multiple weeks of poor performance. If this ad continues to perform well, it might well be my first profitable month ever.
Which makes my cynical side suggest that next week and subsequent weeks will see a drop off. We’ll see!
On the audiobook from, I’ve only seen rentals through Hoopla. I haven’t seen any Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes & Noble sales. I expected to have seen some by now. That said, I’ve relied on the Facebook ad to drive sales. I’ve never advertised an audiobook before, so I might be missing something. I’m going to look into that. I’m also relying on Author Republic’s reporting. I don’t know if there are delays for some distributors. But I’m going to need to find out.
Progress Against Last Week’s Goals
Here’s how I did against last week’s goals:
- Apply the proofreading results and MacOS’s “Speak selection” against 2/3 of Point of Departure: Exceeded! I actually hit 74%.
- Begin preparing Wayland’s Hammer Book 2: Resistance Movement for alpha reading: Not done! This’ll be next after I finish Point of Departure.
- Monitor the Facebook ad for The Sword of Sirius Book 1: Red Flag Warning: Ongoing! The ad is performing well for the ebook.
- Begin kicking around ideas for the next books: Ongoing! Actually kicked it off when I listened to Two Steps from Hell.
Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2026 Week 6
Here’s what I hope to achieve this week:
- Finish the read-aloud/proofreading application phase for Point of Departure
- Begin preparing Wayland’s Hammer Book 2: Resistance Movement for alpha reading
- Monitor the Facebook ad for The Sword of Sirius Book 1: Red Flag Warning
- Evaluate options for ebook-specific marketing for Red Flag Warning
- Continue kicking around ideas for the next books
What Do You Think?
Do you listen to music to nurture your creativity? If so, what artists work best for you? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!
