Writing Progress Report – Second Quarter 2026

Progress Report – Second Quarter 2026

How was second quarter 2026 for writing? So, I spent second quarter 2026 working on The Invisible Gang and keeping my head above water with everything else going on. So, I did some writing while juggling, well, the rest of my life.

This included getting a new job! The biggest issue with keeping up with writing and blogging and everything else is that I literally have a one-hour commute each way.

Yep, sports fans, I put just under 100 miles on my car every single day. The schedule started out as hybrid (week in, week out) with full-time onsite at the start of September and afterwards.

Welcome to the 60 hour week.

Also, I did some specific work on this website. I created some QR codes and a second call to action for posts which are less about writing and more about the business of same.

In addition, before I started working, I spent time cleaning up older posts. You will see them again at some point. And thank you for that, past self, because otherwise this blog would be kinda sparse.

Second Quarter 2026 Posted Works

First of all, I worked on finishing The Invisible Gang, as I had been working on it since November. However, my father’s death in the first quarter would sometimes make it hard to concentrate.

The long work days have not helped. But I’ve also been able to pull out a bunch of aftermath-style exposition and turn it into scenes. Still, that adds to word count.

And so, this story drags on, even though there were days when I wrote nothing or nearly nothing. All of this is completely to be expected under these circumstances, and I am not concerned by any of it, at all.

One big positive is that I found a way to link The Invisible Gang with The Duck in the Seat Cushion! So, that has become a fun way to keep other characters at top of mind.

Then on Wattpad I posted nowhere, although I did take note of stats.

Milestones

Also, I have written over 4.12 million words (fan fiction and wholly original fiction combined, with about 2.33 million words in original writing!). So right now, my stats on Wattpad for wholly original works are as follows:

† Dinosaurs – 46 reads, 11 comments
• How to NaNoWriMo – ended up with 26,183 reads, 340 comments (pulled from Wattpad due to their severing their association with NaNoWriMo)
† My Favorite Things (like kibble) – 1,010 reads, 133 comments
• Revved Up – 59,573 reads, 531 comments

† Side By Side – 32 reads, 2 comments
• Social Media Guide for Wattpad – 17,240 reads, 592 comments
† The Canadian Caper – 546 reads, 37 comments
• The Dish – 262 reads, 24 comments
† There is a Road – 197 reads, 28 comments

Published Works as of Second Quarter 2026

Also, I am amassing quite the collection of published works! So, here is everything that has found a home so far.

Untrustworthy, which is my first published novel. So, yay!

A True Believer in Skepticism, published in Mythic Magazine.

Almost Shipwrecked, a story in the January 2019 edition of Empyreome, a site which unfortunately is no more. In addition, this story is now a section within a longer story completed in 2025—

Canaries, a short story in the March 29, 2019, edition of Theme of Absence.

Complications, a story in the Queer Sci Fi Discovery anthology. So, this is an anthology where the proceeds went to supporting the QSF website.

Cynthia and Wilder Bloom, stories in the Longest Night Watch II anthology.

Props, a story in the Longest Night Watch I anthology. So this is an anthology where the proceeds go to Alzheimer’s research.

Surprises, a story in Book One of the 42 and Beyond Anthology set.

More Published Works

The Boy in the Band, a story in the Pride Park anthology. So, this is an anthology where the proceeds go to the Trevor Project.

The Interview, the featured story in the December 14, 2018 edition of Theme of Absence. So they even interviewed me!

The Last Patient, a story in the Stardust, Always anthology. This was an anthology where the proceeds go to cancer research.

The Resurrection of Ditte, a story in the Unrealpolitik anthology.

This is My Child, a short story published in the April 8, 2019 edition of Asymmetry Fiction, another site which is no more.

Three Minutes Back in Time, a short story published in Mythic Magazine.

Killing Us Softly, a short story published in Corner Bar Magazine.

Darkness into Light, a short story published in Corner Bar Magazine.

Plus Lizzie Borden is Vital to the Timeline was published in 2025. You can buy it at Amazon.

WIP Corner

In addition, my current WIPs are as follows:

The Obolonk Murders Trilogy – so this one is all about a tripartite society. But who is killing the aliens?

The Enigman Cave – can we find life on another planet and not screw it up? You know, like we do everything else?

The Real Hub of the Universe Trilogy – so the aliens who live among us in the 1870s and 1880s are at war. But why is that?

Mettle – so it is all about how society goes to hell in a hand basket when the metals of the periodic table start to disappear. But then what?

Time Addicts – No One is Safe – so this one is all about what happens in the future when time travel becomes possible via narcotic.

Time Addicts – Nothing is Permanent – this is the second in this trilogy. What happens when time is tampered with and manipulated in all sorts of ways? It is the ultimate in gaslighting, for one thing.

Time Addicts – Everything is Up For Grabs – as the timelines smack together and continue to diverge, it gets harder to tell the “real” timeline from all the newer fake ones. And what if some of the changes are for the better?

The Duck in the Seat Cushion – in the 1960s, MJ Tanner is the only Jewish student in her school in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Navigating antisemitism is one thing. But when her mother abandons the family, MJ’s life gets even more complicated.

The Invisible Gang – a quartet of women of a certain age come together when one of them is diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. And when they figure out that she no longer has health insurance, they decide to find a way to afford her chemotherapy medications.

By robbing banks.

Prep Work

So, currently, my intention, for my 2026 or 2027 November writing, is possibly to write the third trilogy in the Time Addicts/Obolonks universe. But I still need to iron out the plot (yes, I have been working on this particular plot for a few years now)! Or, I may work on the Mettle prequel.

So, I will undoubtedly spend some of this year on that. I have no name for the third trilogy yet.

For 2022 – 2026 NaNoWriMo/30Day50k events, I have decided to create a prequel for each of the 5 main universes.

These are: Real Hub of the Universe, Obolonks, Time Addicts (while the Obolonks and Time Addicts are in the same universe, I just plain want to write two separate prequels!), Untrustworthy, The Enigman Cave, and Mettle.

In 2022, I wrote the prequels for Time Addicts and The Real Hub of the Universe. For 2023, it was the Untrustworthy prequel and Obolonk prequels. And for 2024, it was the Enigman Cave prequel. The Mettle prequel is set for 2026.

So, I anticipate a lot of fun and perhaps a little confusion. But it is all good!

Second Quarter 2026 Queries and Submissions

The older ones are on my Publishing Stats page.

And good lord, all the adulting I have had to do recently is just plain exhausting.

In Progress

As of the second quarter 2026, Alix’s Apocalypse is in the running for publishing.

I have updated the Submissions Grinder and we shall see what happens….

Second Quarter 2026 – Most Popular Posts and Pages

And, if it interests you, here are the five most popular posts and/or pages from this site!

I look at the following metrics:

† Clicks – The Real Hub Universe, Getting Inspiration from TV Shows, Character Sexuality, and Getting Story Ideas.
• Impressions – Why Use a Screen Name?, Set Dressing—Visual Cues in Writing, Dialogue Tags — How to Use them the Right Way, Getting Inspiration from TV Shows, and The Real Hub Universe.
† CTR –  Self-Review – Camp; Self-Review – Time Addicts: No One is Safe; Book Review: Zen in the Art of Writing; and Getting Story Ideas.
• Position (all tied for #1) – Character Review — Sally Bowles/They Say This One Tiles Bathrooms Adequately; Getting Inspiration from Pets; Quinnipiac Assignment 08 – ICM 527 – Communication Tactics; and Self-Review – Brown Eyes are the Law.

In addition, self-reviews of the following newer stories all showed up with stats this quarter:
† Eros vs Thanatos
• Unreliable

Second Quarter 2026 – Productivity Killers

So, it is working and commuting for a good 60 hours per week, adulting like crazy, dealing with grief, getting stuff fixed around here, and what else? And it is looking like second quarter 2026 will not be the end of any of that.

Querying and Publishing Stats
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