Hello hello! It’s been a hot minute, hasn’t it? Life has gotten hectic since my last monthly update, between the holidays, work, opportunities coming and going, and finally getting The Nameless Song out to betas, but I’m hoping to get back into the swing of things.

Needless to say, 2025 came in rough. That’s a sentiment I’m sure most of my fellow Americans can relate to—though in my case, it’s less to do with politics and more a series of unfortunate personal events happening one after another.

Still, it’s March. The year’s young, and the days are getting lighter. Who knows what’ll crop up down the line, right?

So let’s talk about what we do know for the time being.

Writing Update

If you’ve been subscribed to this newsletter for a while or have been following me on Bsky, then you’ve already seen that The Nameless Song went off to the beta readers last month. As of this writing, two betas have completed their read, and good news, bad news regarding this. The bad news is a lot of the comments I’d received had more to do with the fundamentals of the story than smaller, more fixable details. In other words, in order to address many of the biggest comments, I would have to bulldoze the draft and start over again.

The good news is I’ve thought a lot about it, and ultimately, I’m okay with that. I spent the past few weeks ripping out things that weren’t necessary to the draft, like Eleanor’s POV (don’t worry—she’ll get the next book), the Godcleaver (not my idea in the first place), and even Luka (as much as I love her, Reuben makes more sense), and with what remained, I’d cobbled together a new, stronger outline.

Right now, the beta phase is still underway. Most of the remaining betas have been notified that they’re reading a dead draft, but their comments will help me further tweak the outline and identify pieces of characterization and worldbuilding I’ll need to tighten up on the new, more expanded draft. (Surprisingly, everyone who responded to the notice was super on-board with continuing.) So right now, though I have an outline, I don’t intend on diving into writing draft 5 until the betas get a little closer to done—maybe around mid-April. In the meantime, I’m doing a lot more planning and research. We’ve got new angles, and Mick’s got a few new tricks up his sleeve, so I’ll need more time to prepare for the next draft before it happens.

That and as you likely have also noticed if you’ve been subscribed to this newsletter these past couple of weeks, I’m toying with sketches and shorts. I plan on getting a little more active on this newsletter, to the tune of a weekly tidbit. This might be a new short story, a tiny scene, cut chapters or excerpts, or even a few notes on worldbuilding. So stay tuned if you’re interested in a lot more TNS content.

Finally, publishing. Whatever happened to that “get a manuscript query-worthy within a year”? Well, first off, didn’t happen, but we already knew that when I sent the draft to betas a year after beginning that last draft. (Close, but no cigar, in other words!) Second, my growing disillusionment with . . . motions to the general state of their country . . . has made me think hard about whether or not I want to query at all. It’s still way too early to say—I am rewriting the book from the ground up, after all—but self-publication is now on the table. If I choose that route, you might expect a Kickstarter towards the end of the year. I’ll keep you updated!

Looking Forward

March
I’ve gotten hooked on pitch events recently, but alas, there aren’t too many in March. Rumor has it Pop Up Pit may be dropping on St. Patrick’s Day, and if that’s the case, you can expect a flurry of activity on Bsky then. Otherwise, this month is dedicated to research and planning the next draft (as well as, a little, the book I’ll be tackling after TNS).

April
No new writing events are slated to crop up this month, so for the first half, I’ll be wrapping up the preliminaries on the new draft. Mid-April, we start in earnest. End of April, the beta phase closes.

May
Fast-drafting the next draft continues. Aim is to get the basics down of all new content and go back to fill in the blanks. The next rounds of QuestPit and WIPPit occur on May 7 and 23, respectively; expect tweaked pitches and Bsky activity on both dates.

June
Drafting continues. No new writing events.

As always, thanks for reading! Don’t forget to keep an eye on Bluesky for minor updates between the hefty monthly ones. Otherwise, see you later this month for the continuing flood of TNS content!

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