Hi, everyone,
It’s been a while.
In August of 2019, I wrote about where my writing was headed. At the time, the third book in the Chronicles of Sarco had been out for nearly a year, and I was hard at work on other projects.
That was two years ago, and it was the last time I posted about my writing.
Until today.
I’ve been busy. In the nonfiction space, my wife and I manage a couple of blogs. One of them, a site devoted to the grocery store Aldi, has grown significantly, and just celebrated its five-year anniversary. The other, a site devoted to general advice, has been less busy, but we still write for it occasionally.
Most of you, though, are more interested in the fiction side. And on that front I can share some updates.
I’m currently at work on two projects. One of them is under the working series title Time’s Narrows. It’s a planned 3-4 science fiction series set on an alien world. I initially began working on it back in 2017, when things were still in motion on my Sarco trilogy. I finished the rough draft of the first book in spring of 2019, and sent the manuscript out to beta readers that fall. While they read it, I also made significant headway into a second book.
By early December of 2019, it became clear that the first book had challenges. Not only was it really long — 137,000 words — but it still had some rough edges to work out, both stylistically and in terms of plot and character arcs. I also realized that I wasn’t sure, at that time, how to tackle those challenges. So I decided to shelve it, in hopes of clearing my head.
In the meantime, I set out on a second writing project. This one is under the working series title The Angellan Odyssey. It’s a planned space adventure trilogy — with the possibility to write more — about a ship trapped far from home. I first started plotting it in mid-December of 2019, and finished the first draft of the first book in May of 2020. After various revisions, I sent it out to beta readers earlier this year, and have since received feedback to help me revise more. At 97,000 words, it’s in a more manageable spot than the first Time’s Narrows novel, and I’m close to moving on to next steps with it.
I plan on having more to share about the first Angellan Odyssey novel soon, hopefully later this year. Time’s Narrows will be down the road, but I’ve got ideas on how to move forward on it, too. One thing at a time, though.
Thanks for reading.
Cheers!
Josh