Writing Progress Report – Third Quarter 2026

Progress Report –Third Quarter 2026

How was third quarter 2026 for writing? So, I spent pretty much all of third quarter 2026 working and commuting, or so it seemed. At the start of September, the company switched over to full-time in the office.

This effectively doubled the amount of time I spend on the road. Of course, this added to my fatigue and to time that I could not spend writing.

And I was starting to think that 30Day50k would be an impossible dream. It did not help that eleven- and twelve-hour days were becoming routine. But stay tuned, as I do have some news about that at the end of this blog post.

I still did some writing while juggling, well, the rest of my life. So, there was that.

Third Quarter 2026 Posted Works

First of all, I worked on a few new short stories. A lot of these had been drafted on paper and so I spent some time editing them and getting them into electronic form.

I also worked on editing some older stories and finishing some, to tie up loose ends. Although I have done less than I had wanted because the Fidelity Return to Office mandate is harshing my mellow in that area, big time.

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 2.34 million words in original writing!). So right now, my stats on Wattpad for wholly original works are as follows:

† Dinosaurs – 49 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) – 1,020 reads, 133 comments
• Revved Up – 59,602 reads, 531 comments
† Side By Side – 35 reads, 2 comments
• Social Media Guide for Wattpad – 17,276 reads, 592 comments
† The Canadian Caper – 557 reads, 37 comments
• The Dish – 267 reads, 24 comments
† There is a Road – 198 reads, 28 comments

Published Works as of Third 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 2027 or 2028 November writing, is to write the third trilogy in the Time Addicts/Obolonks universe. But I need to iron out the plot! So, I will undoubtedly spend some of this and next year on that. I have no name for this one yet.

For 2022 – 2025 NaNoWriMo/30Day50k events, I created 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 wanted 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 probably 2027 at this rate.

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

But what about 2026? It will be a new story, tentatively called Obsidian Harbor.

Third Quarter 2026 Queries and Submissions

The older ones have moved. You can find them on my Publishing Stats page.

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

In Progress

As of third quarter 2026, Alix’s Apocalypse may still be in the running for publishing. But I am far from optimistic about it.

I have updated the Submissions Grinder and we shall see what happens. But the longer this goes on for, the less likely it becomes that the story will succeed.

Third 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 – Set Dressing was easily the best in this area.
• Impressions – Set Dressing (again!), Dialogue Tags — How to Use them the Right Way, Getting Inspiration from TV Shows, and Why Use a Screen Name? all blew the other posts away in this area.

† CTR – Getting Inspiration from Films, Hot or Cold, Rough or Smooth, Hard or Soft—Tactile Cues in Writing, Self-Review – Alix’s Apocalypse, and The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott, A Book Review all did decently well when it came to clickthru rates.

• Position – Self-Review – Fatima’s Minnesota Wish and Self-Review – The Lost Luggage of Time were #1 for their respective keyword phrases.

In addition, my self-review of the somewhat newer story, The Bleeper, showed up with stats this quarter. But that was mainly in July.

Third Quarter 2026 – Productivity Killers

So, it is all the time I spend on work and commuting, what else? And it is looking like third quarter 2026 will not be the end of that.

I. Am. Tired.

But there is a silver lining. My contract is up in the middle of November.

Querying and Publishing Stats
Previous Progress Report Post
Next Progress Report Post