It’s been a while! I knew going into this, I was going to do a poor job at sending out newsletters regularly, mostly because a writer’s professional life pretty much boils down to one thing: the number of words written per day. Rather than boring you with that statistic on a weekly basis, I decided to wait until there was some more interesting news to share.

Rearviewmirror

With that out of the way…what a year! Slipping into the shoes of a full-time writer was everything I expected, and in more ways than one, everything I did not. Let me explain.

The act of writing, i.e. putting words on a blank page, is one thing. Having those words make sense and be exciting to read is quite the other. Over the course of developing this novel, I found myself more often than not solving problems rather than writing. Fleshing out characters, learning how they think and feel, and how their choices affect those around them. Digging into physics and geology to figure out how flying continents might work, tumbling down the rabbit hole of aerodynamics, piezoelectricity, politics, society, even religion. All of that to answer a simple question for Chapter 1: “How do we get from one place to the other?”

Over time, the groundwork for the story solidified into a great foundation, something we’ll talk about a little later, but for now, I want to share the current state of Book One, as it stands.

Book One

I finished the first draft in early October. I'm currently 25% done with the second draft, which I expect to finish sometime in January 2024. Then things start to get exciting.

I’ve found a good editor I trust that can help me make the most out of the story. I also have a team of beta readers willing to put up with the crappy, rough state the novel is currently in. I have also commissioned Danny Schlitz, a brilliant illustrator, to design the cover art for the book. We should be looking at a juicy cover reveal in late February 2024.

After that, I expect I will start looking for ARC readers. ARC, or Advance Reader Copy, are readers who get their hands on the book free, and before it’s published in exchange for providing a public review on Amazon or other websites. These reviews really help with overall marketing efforts, so if you’re interested, I’ll provide an ARC sign-up form once we’re that far.

Plans for 2024

My big dream is to issue once be able to issue leather-bound editions of my books. A big, fat, beautifully crafted and bound volume, full of lush illustrations and delightful cover art. Something you can place on your shelf and have it look awesome, or gift to someone who cares about these things (or maybe want to punish).

To get there, a few things need to happen. The first goal is to be able to issue paperbacks. These should be available fairly soon after initial release (if not on release date). The next thing is hardback prints, which should have a collector’s feel to them and will probably feature different cover art and sprayed page edges. If these editions turn out to be a success, maybe we can start talking about leather-bounds.

For all of that to work, I need to do a good job of delivering the entire trilogy to readers as soon as I can. I’m currently aiming for the release of Book One in Spring 2024, and I’ll start work on Book Two as soon as ARCs are sent out. Assuming I can do about 300,000 words per year, it’s possible that Book Two will come out sometime in late 2024. At this point, I’m notoriously overoptimistic at predicting these dates, so take that with a grain of salt.

Meanwhile, there might be a short story or two that delves deeper into the world of Edeira. These will be newsletter exclusive, so it’s a good thing you’re subscribed, right?

Legends & Lore

As a reward for reading this far, here’s a little bonus: I intend to release little snippets of lore from the world of Edeira at the end of these newsletters…and some other places. There will be a limited number of these lore snippets, and they will have different rarities. The most common ones will be inside these newsletters, others will be available as rewards for your interaction. Don’t worry, I’ll make it clear when there’s a special snippet to be found. They are meant to be collectible, so if you miss one…who knows if it will ever show up again! 🤷🏼‍♂️

There are different types, and they will be easily distinguishable by the colour of their icons:

Pssst…there are rumours that even rarer forms of lore snippets exist!

If you want to try out your hand at collecting these snippets, there’s a reward waiting for you at the end of this questionnaire. It’s just a few questions about your preferences of me communicating with you.

Whew!

That was a long one. I hope 2023 has been good to you and that you’re excited to spend these next festive days with those closest to you.

Happy Holidays and I’ll see you in 2024!

J.

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

In each newsletter, I’ll highlight some inspiring book recommendations.

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Hands down one of the best reads of 2023 for me. The heist, the characters, the insults, this is a tale for the fantasy connoisseur.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

If you’ve read The Martian, you’re in for a treat. If you haven’t you’re still in for a treat. Tell Rocky I sad hi.

Mythos by Stephen Fry

A hilarious retelling of ancient Greek myths. If you can, get the audiobook.