Gather round, Adventurers.
So… how was June?
I’ll start with the personal news. I’m really excited to announce that I recently finished my first draft of a novel I’m planning to release next year. I absolutely flew through the draft, doing 86,000 words in the space of like 16-20 days. It started as a side project to distract me from the slog of editing a different novel, but I honestly couldn’t stop writing. Before long, it became my sole focus, and not only did I write the first one, but I have mapped out the entire series so I know exactly what’s coming. Hopefully this all means it’s good, but I guess the proof will be in the pudding when I offer it to readers to sample.
I’ll give more details about it later, but for now all I’ll say is it’s a mix between Dungeon Crawler Carl, The Hunger Games, and Hitchhiker’s Guide, with the tone of early Pratchett.
Before anyone says it: yes, I realise those are all phenomenal works, and I’m not suggesting mine is up alongside them. They’re just the easiest examples to give.
I’m now slogging my way through an edit, and I’ll likely be seeking alpha readers soon. If anyone reading this is interested, feel free to reach out to me at [email protected], and I’ll add you to the list.
I’m also in discussions with an artist about doing the artwork and some promotional images, and I’m hoping to lock them down soon. I’m genuinely excited about what they could bring to it, so fingers crossed they say yes. If they do, I shall send an update giving them credit (assuming they don’t mind me announcing this).
Between this and my fantasy story, which is already in its second edit, I’m feeling in a strong position heading into next year’s launch. Ideally I’d like to have sequels to both ready by then as well, but we’ll see how much I manage in the second half of the year. My current writing process feels good, but balancing alongside my full-time job as well as being a parent, that can easily all change with the flip of a coin. I guess I need to make the most of it while the forecast is good.
Speaking of forecasts… that last heatwave was a bit much, wasn’t it? If you’re not in the UK, you probably don’t know what I’m talking about, but to those who are, oooooof I could not function. I hope you all survived with more dignity than I did.
So, what else has happened since I last reached out? It’s been one of those odd blocks of time where I feel like very little has happened, yet somehow I’ve also been insanely busy. We had a weekend away as a family, which always adds its own flavour of stress, and of course the World Cup is on, so I’ve been watching football late into the evenings. Well, some. I’m only watching England games. Not because I dislike other countries or their style of football. On the contrary, most teams play more attractive, exciting football than England do. I’m staging a small, entirely pointless protest by not giving my viewership to the rest of the tournament. Yes, I know it won’t achieve much, but if everyone in the world only watched their own country, global viewership would plummet, and it’d send quite the message to FIFA, wouldn’t it? Corrupt bastards. You have to hit them where it hurts most, their wallets. If the global viewership took a significant tumble, then future sponsorship deals and television deals would also be lessened. I know I am alone in this protest, but that’s what I’m doing.
In terms of nerdy media I’ve ingested: I finally got round to finishing the latest series of Invincible. As expected, I thought it was phenomenal. I find it genuinely incredible the depths an animated series can hit within the superhero genre, where so many films and shows have failed before. They covered some pretty hard-hitting themes across the season, the fight sequences were brilliant as per usual, and the last few minutes were genuinely captivating. I can’t wait for season five.
I also finished The Boys. I enjoyed the ending overall, but I won’t lie: the last season felt like a slog. It didn’t grip me the way earlier seasons did. I miss the days of seeing the heroes cowering in a building because Homelander was flying overhead and might hear them. Now they’re having a gunfight in the basement while he’s upstairs, or straight-up confronting him without a care in the world. It just doesn’t hit the same. I understand he has become delusional and therefore more comical, but he also lacks the fear he should bring (with one scene in the latest season being an exception). They also spent most of the season chasing solution A, only to pivot to solution B with what felt like ten minutes left. I think that should’ve been flipped, with more time spent living in the fallout of the pivot rather than rushing through it.
I am about to delve into the newest season of Vox Machina, which I am very excited about, so I am sure I will let you know my thoughts when I finish that. Side note: the cast of Critical Role are coming to London at the end of the year, and I need to try and see if I can see them. There might be another trip to Comic Con on the cards.
So there is my latest update. I hope to have more details coming in the next one regarding how this project is coming along, as well as more details for those who might wish to sign up as alpha readers (or beta, if that’s your preference). In the meantime, I’m in a good flow with my writing, and that’s the place I want to be. I may as well make the most of it while I can, as I’m sure more troubling days lie ahead.
Thank you for gathering, Adventurers. I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief delve into my world, and I wish the best for your next adventure.
Until next time.
JTK