I’ve invested a lot of time fleshing out the characters and situations that’ll drive the plot for The Fissure Kings Book 1: Semele’s Lament. Even as I worked, I felt some hesitancy in the back of my mind, but I tried to push through it. Then I read a manga that was the basis for an anime series that I loved — and I crashed out. But that doesn’t mean what it sounds like. I’ve kicked off my May advertising campaign, and it incorporates what I think I learned from my most recent ads. Do I have any good news to share? Finally, how close am I to publishing Wayland’s Hammer? Before we dive in, let’s take a look at the key performance indicators.
Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers
I’m beginning to develop a negative psychological association with zero.
Plotting for The Fissure Kings
I researched the sites and secondary characters I needed for Leah Flores’ starting point. To get the environment right, I had to research the impact of nuclear blast, certain kinds of ventilators, and build out members of a high school senior deaf school class. I had thought that’s all I needed to get started. I thought I was ready to write the first chapter.
But I wasn’t confident. I tried to tell myself I was, but honestly? I wasn’t. Now, here’s the problem: in every stage of writing, I’m never confident. So, I’ve tried to compensate by pushing through.
I’m the poster child for imposter syndrome.
Last year, I watched the anime series My Dress Up Darling Season 2. If you’re interested, you can read my reviews here. One of the main characters is named Wakana Gojou, and he makes cosplay costumes for Marin Kitagawa. The thing is, he thinks he sucks. He’s convinced he doesn’t know what he’s doing. No one is harder on himself than he is.
The end of the second season covered the material up until around manga volume eleven (affiliate link). I wanted to know what came next, so I bought the next volumes. I read volume twelve (affiliate link) and had to stop at a certain scene. Wakana faced the biggest challenge he’d ever encountered. He hit a problem he couldn’t solve. And in the darkness that follows the acknowledgement of creativity’s void, he thought, “I’m so pathetic, it’s astonishing.”
That moment, where he faced his inability, spoke to me. If I’m honest, if I dropped my pretense of faux confidence, that’s where I live. I knew there was something missing from Semele’s Lament. Even as I tried to convince myself all was well, I knew Trent Raven’s arc was thin. I knew Lincoln Taylor’s arc lacked any emotional depth. I new that I was so pathetic, it was frankly astonishing.
Moving forward under those circumstances would be a mistake.
Wisdom from a Cosplay Costume Designer
So I read on. Wakana got stuck in a logical loop and couldn’t get out. Finally, angry with himself, he thought, “I need to accept that I’m pathetic and think about what I’m going to do.”
I’d had tried to convince myself that I wasn’t pathetic. But there’s a problem. I’m most creative when I’m honest with myself. And from my perspective, I’m pathetic. That’s not a plea for sympathy. It’s not me being down on myself. Rather, it’s my honest assessment of my skills. It’s a state where I admit I don’t know what I’m doing, so I have to work harder. I have to fight to be creative. I have to listen to that little voice that whispers, “Dude, this character arc sucks.”
This volume packed quite an emotional punch.
So this week, I threw myself into developing the situation around Raven; the situation around Taylor. I also deepened the environment for Flores. I’m not quite done. I have a little more work to do on the Special Operations Anywhere Response (SOAR) team that’ll interact with Taylor. But while I still know I’m pathetic, that little voice is silent. It’s probably sulking because I took its fun away, but it’s silent. That means I’m almost ready to start writing.
Is this an example of me thinking poorly of myself? I don’t think so. I’m over sixty years old, and I’ve never had confidence. Trying to develop it now is a waste of time. I’ve decided to stop pretending that I’m a calm, mature, capable writer. I might be; but that’s not my call to make. I think it was Harlan Ellison who said that we need to dump our guts on the page. So pathetic or not, that’s what I’m going to do. No pretending; no putting on airs. We’ll see where this goes.
May Marketing Early Results
Facebook has changed their interface. Again. I’d love to complain that it’s harder, and it is. But that’s not the point. This is the hand we’ve been dealt, so it’s hand I’ll play. But if you’re interested, they made it a bit harder to tweak the ad creative.
I ended April with lower than hoped for numbers. I could just as honestly say I ended April on higher than feared numbers. That’s the story of my writing career. No matter what I do, I can’t get the numbers higher. Every tweak I make seems promising, but then it drops off.
To be fair, many writers report increased difficulty because of things like AI-generated books flooding the market. We’re not competing with aI on quality, but thousands of AI-generated books flooding the market puts downward pressure on discoverability. I wasn’t good at that game before, and I’m paying the price.
Last month, I ran a Facebook ad in the United Kingdom. This month, it’s in Canada. I also added a banner that says, “ebook and paperback” based on a suggestion in the Facebook group 20BooksTo50K. Facebook’s Advantage+ system attempts to interpret the image to get audience targeting clues, so maybe that’ll help. We’ll see.
Progress Against Last Week’s Goals
Here’s how I did against last week’s goals:
- Finalize the plot for The Fissure Kings Book 1: Semele’s Lament: Not done! But I think I’m in a lot better position that I was.
- Write the first chapter for Semele’s Lament: Not done!
- Review ad performance for the week and make adjustments as needed: Done! And ongoing.
- Review the approach I’ve taken to newsletters and look for ways to amp it up: Not Done!
Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2026 Week 18
- Finalize the plot for The Fissure Kings Book 1: Semele’s Lament
- Write the first three chapters for Semele’s Lament
- Incorporate alpha reader feedback into Wayland’s Hammer Book 3: Lines of Operation
- Bid the cover for Wayland’s Hammer Book 3: Lines of Operation
- Make a decision regarding whether I’ll push forward with the last two audiobooks for The Sword of Sirius
- Review ad performance for the week and make adjustments as needed
- Review the approach I’ve taken to newsletters and look for ways to amp it up
What Do You Think?
How do you know when you’re ready to start writing? Does the experience change from book to book? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!
