Where Are We? - November 2023

Writing

We’re in this awkward limbo period where I’m doing more launch prep than actual writing, but that’s fine. Proof copies arrived for me to scrutinise and we're focusing on interior formatting and cover alignment (for both the paperback and hardback releases) to make sure they look as professional as possible. Ideally, this process will get easier the more books I release but this first one is basically the trial (by fire) and we need to get it right.

That said, I did complete the outline for the third Hateful Tale. Far too early to give details on this as it'll be amended, fleshed out and revised multiple times during the writing process, but having a chaptered script to work from makes the whole process much more manageable.

I wasn’t prepared to do NaNoWriMo this year (National Novel Writing Month). Maybe next year I’ll prep to write 50,000 words in a month and complete one of the few side stories I've lined up but that's for another time. Hats off to any that completed it.

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Life

Baldur’s Gate 3 has spoiled me and I’m still in search of something to fill the void that it left. It may well just earn a second play-through.

We finished reading Private Dancer by Steven Leather which was a very solid recommendation that I thoroughly enjoyed. I decided to read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon which I should have done years ago. The main character’s neurodivergent perspective is enlightening.

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Question of the Month?

Why did you choose a woman as the main character of Blood Reign?

The fast (and correct) answer is because that was the character I played in my World of Warcraft days.

A longer one might include social influence from an emotionally present mother and sister, female friends in primary school and high school, and a majority of women as colleagues in work environments.

A cynical answer could be that modern Hollywood often writes powerful women poorly so I’d try my hand at doing it better.

An honest one? Preference.