While I recognize that most people are not going to be looking for my writing progress reports after I have written them, this page is for the rare birds among you who are.
And, it’s for me, too. Because I like to go back and reconsider where I’ve been in my writing journey.
Why Do I Keep Writing Progress Reports?
I actually started to do this with fan fiction, back in, oh I don’t know, maybe 2015? It was something like that.
And I found that I like to get an idea of where my head was, so long ago. It also serves as a small measure of proof. This is what I was doing, and this is how I was feeling.
And so, without further ado, onto the writing progress reports. Yes, they are thoroughly dominated by NaNo projects. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.
2018
So, I spent the first quarter finishing Mettle, the 2017 NaNo project. And in the second quarter I spent some time editing Mettle and also getting back into the Real Hub groove. Here, I finished up outlining the final book in the Real Hub trilogy in the third quarter. So, the biggest feature of the fourth quarter is NaNoWriMo! I first wrote The Real Hope of the Universe.
2019 Progress Reports
So, the biggest part of the first quarter was finishing and editing The Real Hope of the Universe. And so, for the second quarter, I worked on the outline and plans for No One is Safe.
During the third quarter, I continued to polish the outline and planning for the overall Time Addicts trilogy.
The most interesting feature of the fourth quarter is another NaNo! It’s when I started Time Addicts, with No One is Safe. Also, a good chunk of my time was taken up with finishing No One is Safe.
2020
So, the big project for the first quarter was some preliminary editing of No One is Safe.
Also, during the second quarter, I moved along in the process of creating the connections between No One is Safe and Nothing is Permanent. In fact, this is when the titles came to me! During the third quarter, I worked on outlining and planning Nothing is Permanent.
Now here, the most interesting thing about the fourth quarter is, of course, NaNo! Here, I continued Time Addicts, with Nothing is Permanent. Also in this quarter, I worked on finishing up Nothing is Permanent.
2021 Progress Reports
This was a year when I vowed to write every day during the first three quarters.
First Quarter
This was a prolific time for short story writing.
During the first quarter, I worked on some preliminary editing of Nothing is Permanent. I also wrote the following short stories: Mandy Goes to Aspen, Dominick and Angela, Fatima’s Minnesota Wish, Alix’s Apocalypse, Vive André, Failure, Sarah’s Invention, and Cave Canem and Cave.
In addition, I wrote these short stories: The Great Cleanup, Jealousy, A Tumble in a Tomb, The Field Gleaner, Stellar Stowaway, A Hot Time in the Alien Town, Testing … 1, 2, Forever, Breakout … and Then What?, Mike’s Grades, Interstellar Adoption, and Skating.
I also wrote these short stories: That’s Alien Entertainment!; Nuremberg Redux; Jared’s World Turned Upside Down; Babel 2.0; Back, Front, and Side Pages; The Wine, the Music, and the Injury; Personal Magic; Leave Your Tone at the Message, and I Trade this For My Life.
Second Quarter
During the second quarter, I wrote fewer short stories, but they were longer and not just one-and-done for the most part.
Also during this quarter, I spent time on pulling together how Nothing is Permanent was going to dovetail with Everything is Up For Grabs.
It was also a quarter for short story writing. I wrote: A Show for the Galaxy; Small Acts of Defiance; What Did You Do in the War?; A Chance Encounter in Time; In the Direction of Prejudice; Art Has All Sorts of Effects; The Village’s Death, and its Rebirth; and Camp.
In addition, I wrote: Frozen Fortress, And the Band Played the Apocalypse, Prom Night Was Never Like This, The Myth of the Last Try, Mythic, The Courtship of Jeremy and Mitalisque, Alien Justice, Quartz, Rivalry, Rescued, Brown Eyes are the Law, Color and War, Verity, Out of the Work Camp Frying Pan, You Will Drink Your Coffee and Like It, and Zeugma.
Third Quarter
During the third quarter, my writing wrote checks that sometimes were not fully cashed. That is, this quarter leaves a number of unfinished short stories in its wake. I should take them up again!
So in this quarter, I worked on the final outlining of Everything is Up For Grabs.
For short stories, I wrote The Ides of the Secretarial Pool, Beacon: a Light Shines in Gloucester, A Crime in Time, Courier to the Soviets, and Unexpected Help.
I also wrote Handle, Aenor the Wanted, Never, Peddler, Uninformed, Water, Frozen Assets, and The Future Has No Foundation.
But my unfinished short stories from this quarter are: Building Trust; Guilty of Imperfection; Beauty is Only Earth Deep; Glad All Over the Galaxy; Martin’s Choice; Mina’s Mission; Odessa; Quarrel; Saddle Up, Bank Teller!; Standards; Julie’s Dollar; Caring for Carole; Escape from the Alien Mines; Scavenger Hunt at Lanterman’s Mill; and African Escape.
Fourth Quarter
The fourth quarter‘s most interesting feature is, naturally, NaNoWriMo. I started the final book in the Time Addicts trilogy, Everything is Up For Grabs. And later in this quarter, I worked on finishing Everything is Up For Grabs.
2022
Now, the biggest feature of the first quarter was preliminary editing of Everything is Up For Grabs.
So, the second quarter was dominated by trying to figure out what I was going to do for NaNo. I had had the vague idea of prequels. I spent a lot of this quarter starting to hash out plots, and figuring out what I wanted to cover.
During the third quarter, I continued to plan for NaNo. I even took a small (and utterly nonscientific) survey on Facebook, to try to see which one I should start first. It ended up being the prequel to Time Addicts, The Dust Between Our Stars.
As always, the fourth quarter‘s star feature was NaNo. This is when I wrote a pair of prequels to Time Addicts and The Real Hub of the Universe. So, during December, I finished up the prequel to The Real Hub of the Universe, The East Side of the Universe.
2023 Progress Reports
This was another year when I vowed to write every day during the first three quarters. These are technically short stories in that they are fewer than 40,000 or so words. But they have multiple chapters.
This is also a year when I just ran one word prompts through the alphabet. The only one-and-done was Accent. But I would consider that a warmup more than anything else.
Now, in the first quarter, I spent some time on preliminary editing of The Dust Between Our Stars and The East Side of the Universe. For short stories, I wrote Accent and 1960s Temporal Crimes. I also started Leedie and the Shine.
During the second quarter, I didn’t do too much on NaNo (life was pretty overwhelming, to say the least). But I did finish Leedie and the Shine. And, I started Alien Allies.
In the third quarter, I worked on Alien Allies.
What’s the biggest news from the fourth quarter? Why, it’s NaNoWriMo, as always. Here, I started prequels to The Obolonk Murders and Untrustworthy.
2024 Progress Reports
During 2024, I did my best to write every day. I wrote a number of interesting short and not so short stories. The Duck in the Seat Cushion ended up clocking in at over 103,000 words!
In the first quarter of 2024, I wrote The New Kid and The Walls Came Tumbling Down Again.
For the second quarter of 2024, I wrote What’s an Animal?, Recruitment Time, and A Fairy Tale for Skeptical Adults.
During the third quarter of 2024, I wrote A School for Scavengers and then the monster behemoth The Duck in the Seat Cushion (over 103,000 words!).
I also wrote Lizzie Borden is Vital to the Timeline for RAB. And I wrote Message in an Odd Bottle, which will likely turn into the foundation of the third Obolonk trilogy!
The fourth quarter of 2024 is for a new experiment: 30Day50k. I will be writing the prequels for The Enigman Cave and Mettle.
Takeaways
So, this is perhaps a more technical aspect of writing than many people are interested in. And I get that. But it does provide something of a record.