The end of the summer has seen a flurry of activity on book V (Vortex) and Standish. Book V is complete, and has been edited once, and has gone through a beta-test. Standish is over the 50% mark, and awaiting completion. I have also recently scrubbed books 1-4 and relaunched them on Amazon. In some respects, they could all use another set of eyes on them, but that will require the hiring of a professional, and at the moment, that’s just not an option.
I’m at a point with the books where I have a substantial amount of product in the field, and probably a more pressing need to start focusing on figuring out how to sell books than just keep writing them, but that is a different kettle of fish, and hopefully some of my advisors can help me with that realm.
Moving forward, the objective is to get Standish online no later than the end of November and then to immediately transition to Book VI, which will probably go with the title Condition Zero. I’ll be targeting 90,000 words for that book, with the option to go longer always available. I have always wanted to keep the novels at a fairly manageable length, but I’m leaving the door open to increase the length of future books.
Looking towards the middle/end of 2018, I’m hoping to bring the original 9 book Earth Saga series to an end. This will hopefully be followed by a standalone book with the working title Reyn, a name that might be familiar to some readers.
Once that is complete, there are several directions I could head. I am interested in examining the Empire prior to the War of Succession, going back who knows how far. There are lots of options on the table.
There are also some developments planned for book VII that might dictate where I head after book IX. I do feel confident that the Earth Saga, with our primary cast, will find a natural conclusion at the end of book IX.
Time will tell where the story goes. Somethings are already certain. Some fates already sealed. The adventure continues.