I’m closing in on the end of a major ghost writing commission while working on Dead Dwarves Don’t Die every day. The first draft is progressing apace, and I’m looking forward to getting stuck into the revisions, which is where the real writing takes place.
I’m also dedicating one day a week to Sorcerers’ Isle book 2 (and I’m re-reading book 1 whenever I have a spare moment). I’m surprised by how much I like The Codex of Her Scars, having not given it much thought over the past few years. Book 2 has been nagging at me for some time, and now I’m really keen to work on it.
I also work on City of Tombs one day a week. The first draft is up to 52000 words. Most of the extant scenes have been through multiple revisions already. I’m enjoying taking it slowly with this book, and all the attention to detail.
Last, concerning writing, I’ve commissioned cover art from Patrick Stacey for Annals of the Nameless Dwarf book 9, which I’ll be starting in the next month or so. I already have a very detailed outline, which follows up with some loose ends from Last of the Exalted, concerning Nyra, Caelin, Nils, and a certain dwarf woman we caught a glimpse of in the final scene. And yes, Nameless will be front and center!
When I’m not writing, I’m either training in the gym or working outside on our acre of land. We’ve been gradually clearing away decades worth of dead fall, in part to cut down the number of deer fly we have this summer, but mostly in preparation for putting up more fencing. After that, we’ll be putting in raised beds and starting to grow.
This week, it’s been mostly raking up pine needles and burning them off. Oddly, for this time of year, we’ve found four species of mushrooms. Not trusting my attempts at identification, I’ve not eaten any of them. Instead, we’ve started to grow mushrooms indoors from box kits. Within a week we should be able to cook them.
The house renovation continues slowly. Next up is a well and a solar powered pump. We need to replace bedroom windows with windows that seal and are mold resistant! We still have roof repairs to do, chimneys to clean, HVAC to replace, painting to do…. And, zoning permitting, we pan to introduce some animals once the fencing is done (donkey, chickens, maybe a couple of pigs).
