
My last update was at the end of July… and now it’s almost the end of August.
Yeah, I missed my two week update timeline again, but in my defense, I’ve been SUPER busy! Work has been crazy lately and I’ve been in a real groove on Book 2 (as you’ll see below!).
But, before I get into all that…

I’ve been a little lax on the content front lately, only posting up TWO blog posts since my last News update. Sorry!
The first one was a pretty personal post that went deep on the reasons for my writing. It was called Fame, Fortune or Legacy. What do YOUR books mean to YOU?
I followed that up with something far more light-hearted, as I took a slightly comedic look at the world of video gaming. Specifically the complications of owning a car in the world of Grand Theft Auto: Online. Los Santos Life… An Examination (Part 1)
Which brings you up to date!
So, let’s check in and see how everything else it progressing…


Hunters. Is. Done. I mean…look at that graph!!! God, I love a graph!
Okay, not quite done…but the line edit with which I was being ably assisted by Nikki is now done. I have to say…it’s looking REALLY good.
The current edit is called ‘Final Edit – Ver 003 – Final Read Thru.’
The last part of the title refers to the fact that it’s now gone to a bunch of friends and beta-readers for the final read through to see if they spot anything wrong. So, the book is now in the hands of Wifey, Chell, Sarah, Andy and Zoe to read in their own time and give me their thoughts and feedback.
In the meantime, I’ll be also giving it a read through. I’m just giving it a few weeks to concentrate on Book 2 (more below) and give myself a little space from it before I get stuck in. Nikki, too, has said she’ll give it a final once over, but she’s waiting till she’s finished work on her own book (something I’ve said I’ll help with in repayment for her working on mine! Gotta love the #WritingCommunity… we’re a supportive bunch!).


I have been in a GROOVE on Book 2 lately.
There are now 61 chapters which have a complete first draft. There are a further 2 chapters which are almost done – or at least started!
The leaves just 29 planned chapters which are in a ‘yet to be started‘ state.
In my last update on the 29th July, I’d cracked the 100k barrier, sitting at 101,907 words. That word count has now reached 120,915. BOOM! The only issue I’m now having is the prospective total word count. I had figured that it would be around the 160k mark…looks like I missed on that estimate.
I did a little maths…

The 61 chapters that are complete (albeit in draft form!) total 113,938 words.
That’s an average of 1868 words per chapter.
Extrapolating that out to the planned 92 chapters, that’ll come in at 171,840 words. Which is a little heftier than I thought.
Now, to be honest, I’ve been hitting what I think are the bigger chapters first. Some of the others that are still to be done will, I think, be smaller in size. I’m also SURE that the edit process will bring that total down to a more reasonable number.
But, that’s enough maths…what about the story?
Well, it’s been kind of good running the line edit for Hunters alongside the writing of B2E. It’s enabled me to flit between the two and directly link them together in a better way.
Okay, so I’m sure that may not make much sense, so let me explain!
Running slowly through the line edit on Hunters has shown me little nuances in the story that I hadn’t seen before. I know that sounds strange being as I wrote it, but it’s given me a view of these little pieces that cause me to suddenly have these epiphany moments as I write B2E.
Let me give you an example.
While writing B2E, I started to think about the fact that there was a character from Hunters who was quite under-served in the second book in the saga. Now, that’s just the nature of the story, to be honest. My saga flits between countries and characters, following multiple story strands, and it just so happens that his character doesn’t have a huge arc in B2E.
But…could he?
As the line edit proceeded apace, I was reading through a particular chapter that suddenly gave me a tiny epiphany for how I could bring that character into B2E a little more. To do it would require a small insert into Hunters, which I’m still in a position to do. If Hunters had already been released and was out in the wild, I wouldn’t be able to do that.
Which made me think about the process in more detail.
I think it’s important that this is what I do moving forward. I’m finalizing the edit to Hunters as I write B2E and plot T&C (see below!). When Hunters is (hopefully) released, I want B2E in the final edit process as I write T&C and plot DragonSong (or DS as it will henceforth be abbreviated to).
And so on and so forth.
It allows me to have my writing on one book directly influence the book immediately before it. Which in turn should lead to a more nuanced connection.
That’s the hope anyway!

Talking about Book 3, T&C has now very much entered the plotting phase.
The ‘Spreadsheet of Doom™‘ is being populated quite nicely as the premise for the third book in the saga rounds into more detailed shape.
It’s made me realize that each of the books has a different sort of sub-genre, without me really planning it that way.
I’m not sure what my other beta-readers would say, but Hunters (to me at least) read more like a sort of adventure novel, with hints of horror and romance. Blood to Earth, is sort of coming out as a mystery novel with a hint of action…and romance.
Tooth & Claw is shaping up like a kind of war novel…with a hint of horror and, of course…romance.
Now, I haven’t actually written much of it yet, but I’m very much looking forward to tackling it. I think it’ll challenge me to write in a different direction while still attempting to stay true to the characters I’ve established and the story so far.
(As a spoiler… I think Book 4 – DragonSong, will end up being a kind of fantasy/horror cross over. Book 5 – TechMasters, will have a kind of Kaiju vibe. Book 6 – The River, will probably turn back to the more mystery/crime sub-genre, as this is where the mystery throughout the saga will start to pay off. Book 7 – The Broken Circle… I’m not sure yet.)

In other News…
Nothing to see here…move along please.
On a Personal Note…
I told you guys in the last update that I’d bought a bunch of books by people in the writing community. I’ve now finally started reading the first one of them. That one being…

I’ll maybe put up a little review when I’m done (and I’ll definitely put one on Amazon for you, Eaton!). So far, I’m about 10 chapters in (they’re pretty short chapters, so that’s not too far!), but I’m really enjoying it.
It’s really funny in a Douglas Adam’s kind of way. I’ve always loved the Hitchhikers books, so this is playing directly into my wheelhouse thus far! 🙂
I’ll keep you all updated!
Until next time…
Love & Books

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Mitch
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Marie
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