I set fewer goals last week so I could focus on two areas. First, I wanted to work on the plot for The Fissure Kings Book 1: Semele’s Lament. The good news is that I did, in fact, work on it. The bad news? I had to trash everything I’d done and start over. Second, I wanted to move Wayland’s Hammer closer to publication. Did I accomplish any of that? Before we discuss, let’s look at the key performance indicators.
Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers
Still no new words written.
No new words. Having to say that is weighing on me. In terms of how long it’s taking, I’m well ahead of how long it took me to plot Wayland’s Hand Book 3: Lines of Operations. But that was because I had to pause to go back and re-proofread Dreams of Deucalion. But overall, I’m not behind where I usually an at this stage.
That said, by early in the week, I thought I was making good progress. I’d gotten about 1/3 of the way through all three arcs. And then I realized I had started in completely the wrong place. The characters knew things they could not possibly know. I wasn’t starting from where Dreams of Deucalion Book 3: Bait and Bleed left off. So I scrapped everything off and started again.
And guess what? Sunday morning, I finished the first draft of the entire plot. Starting in the right place made all the difference.
If this were my previous efforts, I’d probably start writing this week. But I want to dig a little deeper. I think there are some subtleties I can bake into the plot. There’s some additional thematic work I can do. I want to write something that absolutely delights readers. So I’m going to take another week to build sets and flesh out the characters. Every time I invest in building out the world, I realize dividends. It’s like developing software: a small investment of time up front saves tons of time down the road.
The first draft of the plot is complete. It’s quite a relief.
Wayland’s Hammer Progress
I made progress on two fronts this week — one planned, the other coming in early. First, Miblart came through again, this time with the cover for Wayland’s Hammer Book 2: Resistance Movement. They created a scene involving the colony named Sumatra and a fleet of Gallant-class starships flying overhead. They captured the city’s unfinished spires and the sky perfectly!
I also received alpha feedback on Wayland’s Hammer Book 3: Lines of Operation this week. Summer Foovay, the alpha reader, provided insightful feedback that’ll help me improve the manuscript. She also gave me an indication that the plot wasn’t entirely off base! That was a relief, given how much I struggled with the subject matter.
I should get the second and final alpha feedback on Lines of Operation this coming week from Jonah H. from Fiverr. I’ll incorporate both sets of feedback into the manuscript, then ship it off to the beta reader.
If I get the cover for Lines of Operation in May, and if there’s no major suggestions from the beta reader, there’s still a good chance I’ll be able to publish in June. Right now, I’m planning to go into Amazon Kindle Unlimited. Publishing wide is difficult and costly in terms of time and effort, especially for marketing. But it’s still something I want to do long term.
Marketing Dreams of Deucalion
Speaking of marketing, my new Facebook ad is following my latest pattern: it initially showed strong sales, then tanked a week in. Well, “tanked” is too strong. But the ad did not continue its early success.
Like I said before, some writers report decreased ad performance over the last few months. Others report stable performance. I haven’t see anyone saying they’ve seen an increase. What that suggests to me is that the indie writing community doesn’t really understand the characteristics of Facebook’s recent changes. Some are unaffected; some affected quite a lot.
The research I’ve done suggests Facebook’s AI tries to interpret the image and pull out tropes for audience targeting. That means I really need to up my graphics game. Which tempts me to say something like, “Well, I’m screwed.” But I’m trying to provide for my family after I’m gone. I’m nowhere near doing that right now. So, whether I’m screwed or not, I need to figure it out.
More accurately, I need to figure out how to figure it out. Yes, I’m learning from people like David Gaughran. But I have a base of understanding now. I need to be responsible and build on that — myself. That means I need to build the intellectual structures to understand what I’m seeing. Even to know where to look! But I’m not there yet.
Progress Against Last Week’s Goals
Here’s how I did against last week’s goals:
- Finish 75% of the plotting for Semele’s Lament: Done!
- Receive the draft of Resistance Movement’s cover: Done! Also received the final version.
- Create a new ad for Dreams of Deucalion and see if I can crack the current code: Done! In the sense that I created a new ad, I finished it. But I still haven’t perceived the secret, if it is a secret.
Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2026 Week 16
Here’s what I hope to achieve this week:
- Complete a comprehensive review of the draft plot for The Fissure Kings Book 1: Semele’s Lament
- Review ad data for Dreams of Deucalion to determine if I need to retire the existing ad
- Experiment with infusing visual tropes into my ad graphics
- Brush up the Amazon blurbs for Wayland’s Hammer
- Release a newsletter that reveals the cover for Wayland’s Hammer Book 1: Duty of Prisoners
What Do You Think?
If you’re not graphically inclined, besides resources like DepositPhotos, how do you produce graphics for our ads? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!