So close to done (so I took a break to have some fun)

I'm excited to say that Book 17 of Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds is currently over 43K words and just two short scenes from being finished. If all goes well, I might achieve that by tomorrow.

I had a great writing streak Friday and Saturday with over 4K words getting written on this project. With all that momentum, one's creativity can get a bit drained and need a moment to refresh.

And since the weather ended up being so beautiful, I went out to play with my boy. I haven't posted horse pics in a while, but I still have Buddy. He's been at a boarding facility closer to where I live than my parents, but it's been exactly what he needed. I get out to him regularly, although not as often as I'd like.

This past weekend, there was an event at the facility, so I waited until today. I could have gone yesterday, but I was really on a roll with the writing and with the event, I figured one more day would be worth the wait. I ended up arriving after most of those who had hauled in for the event had left. The outdoor arena was open, so I was able to do whatever I wanted. (While there, I found a horseshoe with nails still in it and took it out so no one steps on it. One of the horses at the event threw a shoe.)

And I remembered to get some pictures after we rode. Buddy is ten years old now, and fat on a good pasture. The drought of the last two years is over and clearly he gets plenty to eat. I could work him harder, but I'm not as young as I used to be.

Watch for an announcement on the completion of the first draft of Book 17 soon. Once that's done, I'll give it a read through and then start editing Book 15, which I hope to publish by the beginning of September.

almost there

I'm getting close to finishing Book 17 of Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds. I suspect it will need a lot of editing but at least I'll soon have a first draft done. I'm aiming to finish by July 31 so I can move on to editing Book 15 to publish that around end of August/early September.

Right now, the first draft of the book tentatively titled HOME is around 37,000 words, and I expect it to wrap up by 42K words. I'm not far from that, but it's also just an estimate based on the events that I still need to write out and how much I expect it will add to the length. You'll notice it's back to the shorter length that I had originally for the books in this series. The books were growing longer and longer, so I'm glad to get back to shorter. I write what the story dictates, and this didn't want to be as long as those last several books. The length can change in rewrites, but usually not too dramatically--within a few thousand words either way.

So far, the shortest book in the series is the first, A NEW BEGINNING, and the story alone came in just under the minimum SFWA novel length (not counting my forward and all the other stuff that isn't story), which is 40,000 words.

As you can see, I am working to finish. I don't use AI or ghostwriters. Everything in my books comes from me. I write for the enjoyment of writing the story I need to tell, and sometimes life gets in the way or the creativity is disrupted. It's not about the churn but about the adventure and the challenge. I hope you enjoy the results.

Thanks for reading!

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COMING SOON:

Writing Status

Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds Book 17 is moving along, and my goal is to finish by the end of this month, but we'll see what life throws at me.

It's been strange to go back to revisit old characters. Along with Raea and Elis (Starfire Angels: Dark Angel Chronicles), I've also dived into the lives of Valdas (Dark Angel Chronicles & Revelations) and Leksel (Dark Angel Chronicles & Revelations). An update on them came about as a natural part of the events of the story.

I mentioned some time ago that I couldn't wait to get L'Ni and Leksel together. Well, it's been interesting. They're far more alike than I expected, yet different in many ways.

And I was a bit surprised by Valdas yet not. I guess I had things in the back of my mind for certain events in her life and also events in Leksel's life that would happen in the nearly eleven years (plot timeline) between Nemesis and this book. They've changed, but at the end of Nemesis, they were already much different from where they started. In that light, not much has changed except personal events in each of their lives and the choices that put them where they are to be involved with Nya's mission. It should be interesting for those who have stuck with the series. I've tried to fill in gaps for those who haven't so events and decisions make sense, just like I would for any book.

I won't give anything away, but I can say their present circumstances may not be what some expet. I have had to go back to the original Starfire Angels series (Dark Angel Chronicles) and the first expansion of it (Revelations) to check facts. In doing so, I see all the more that I need to refresh Revelations with new covers and maybe another editing pass. (I found a typo of the kind that spellcheck wouldn't catch.) So, there's another project to take on, probably prior to publishing this book when the time comes.

For now, I can also say that Book 17 is just a hairsbreadth from 30,000 words. I expect this to finish around the 40K word mark by the end of the first draft. The last few books have been creeping over 50K, so it's good to get back to my original length goal for these books.

That's all I have for now, but it's enough. I can't believe I've been writing the Starfire Angels series for fifteen years! (And it started with an idea for a YA science fiction that seemed to be an urban fantasy type story based on an old novella with changes inspired by an anime series I liked.)

Thanks for reading!