Progress Updates

On this page, you'll find the latest progress updates for my ongoing projects. I'm not going to be updating this on a daily basis - but I'll try to keep things up to date at least once every month or so.

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A summary on my method of writing: I write over a number of drafts. When I write the first draft of a book, I don't usually have a chapter-by-chapter plan in my head. I know who the characters are, where they're going to end up by the end of the book, and broadly speaking what's going to happen - but a big part of the drafting process is exploring the story to find out what's to come. For this reason, if a project is on its first draft, the estimated page count is just that: an estimate. I'm guessing at how long I think the story will take to tell, but I don't know for sure. I could be way off! I've also been known to fall out of love with stories even as late as 40k words in, so while any project listed here is something I fully intend to finish, it's not a guarantee that it will ever be completed. (Equally, I don't delete my work; any project that gets shelved could conceivably be resurrected in the future!)

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There are several more drafts that follow - for simplicity's sake, on my progress updates I will limit it to four drafts (the aforementioned first draft; a second draft in which I restructure things based on the direction I took in the first draft; a third draft devoted to consistency of voice, character, plot, etc.; and a final, refining draft which includes cutting the manuscript down to size as necessary.)

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It's also worth bearing in mind that I am currently a self-published author, but I do still write with the intention of ultimately gaining representation and being traditionally published. What does that mean? Well, subsequent volumes of "The Books of Lightness" will be published when they're done - I've committed to keeping that series self-published, so there's no need to delay new entries - but other books won't necessarily get their release date set upon finishing. There'll be a lengthy query process as I attempt to shop it to agents and publishers, and if and when I'm successful there I'll no longer have control over the release date. But this is my promise: any book which reaches the Second Draft stage will eventually see the light of day. If traditional publishing proves unviable for a book, I will self-publish it - you're not being sold on empty promises here.