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🆕01/03/26

I'm sitting at 225 edited on Star Treasure now. I'm playing with the idea of taking a break to write a short story. I'm approaching a year's worth of straight editing, not including the break I took to draft "Taming Beasts," and I'm ready for a breather. My dillemma is that every day I don't edit pushes the finish date another day.

21/02/26

I managed to knock out an additional 20ish pages of Star Treasure last Sunday to bring me to 203. I've only polished 5 today, so I intend to hit it again tomorrow.

I mostly focused on more simsubs of "Paradise Burned." Simsubs is fun to say. Simsub simsub simsub. Three submissions for it this time, with one being an anthology (I've had good luck with those in the past). More info over on Published.

14/02/26

New logo! So, I was talking with a friend at work about her business venture and she revealed she had played around with AI images to create a professional-looking logo. I thought, "Oh Damn! How was that not my next logical step after asking AI to conjure Brekabup?" So, after a little monkeying around, I got a cool book cover-like logo and a little widget. I made my first widget from scratch, and although I still like it, an image of an actual hallway suits me much better than two letters over a sunrise on the ocean. None of this helped my polishing goals, of course. Logos are live now!

Polished 12 pages of Star Treasure today. The first chapter read really ugly at first, but sounds better now. There's some good writing in there, though. 182 of 433.

07/02/26

I got 20 pages polished for Star Treasure, so I'm rather pleased with that even though I should be doing more. It's still better than last week!

I polished a passage that tidied up a description of an alien race and thought to myself: this sounds much better than before; I bet AI images can make this. I tried to make an image of this alien race before and AI didn't get it. But it did this time! I just needed to be more vivid. This tells me my edits are going in the right direction if I can explain to AI to create something like that for me. (So damn cool to see those aliens realized.) I almost caught myself in my own trap by doing this, though. There are a few more aliens I would like to see, but managed to convince myself to get back to work...

31/01/26

I played around with book reviews on Goodreads for probably longer than I should have today, so only managed 10 pages of Star Treasure edits. I'll do some more tomorrow, I think. Check out the new review, though. I'm partial to the On Writing Well review (obviously I've got to make that one sound pretty).

24/01/26

I am officially at the 1/3 mark of my Star Treasure polish. It is not going as quickly as I wanted. I seem to only be able to tweak about 15 pages before tapping out. Maybe I will put in an extra day during the Family Day holiday in February so I can get it licked before April.

Writers of the Future hasn't sent me a Dear Clint letter yet, so here's hoping I've made it to a higher judging category.

I expect to hear back from one, if not both, of the magazines reading "Paradise Burned" next week. I'm quite proud of that one, but there are aspects of it that may not be publishable in today's world. I won't change it, though, so it might end up on WattPad.

17/01/26

I wanted to do 30 pages of polishing on Star Treasure, but I just couldn't manage and tapped out at 17. I gave myself a goal of 30 pages per week so I could get this done by April, but geez these edits are taking a long time. I might burn through another chapter or two on Sunday.

I pulled "Paradise Burned" from a magazine that was ghosting me. Rude. I'm not even sure if this magazine is still running at this point. Their latest issue was winter of '24, so maybe they are toast. "Paradise Burned" is still under consideration at a few other mags and I will hear back from them hopefully within the next 20 days.

10/01/26

Potential oopsie! I received a letter from Writers of the Future contest in December telling me the winners were announced for 4th quarter. I searched for my name, didn't find it, so resent my story to a magazine. Problem is ... I entered the 1st quarter (in October, which may have led to my confusion). WoF does not allow simultaneous submissions and won't give me a response until April. The first mag I sent to should get back to me by next weekend, while the other mag won't give me a response for 4-6 months, which is no big deal because I can withdraw from them. But, if by some miracle, the first magazine wants it and WoF wants it ... well, now, aren't I the optimist?

A good 30 page edit of Star Treasure brought me to page 99 of 426. I'm quite happy that the word count hasn't changed all that much even though there are plenty of adjustments happening.

03/01/26

I managed to knock out 20 pages of polishing for Star Treasure today. I even did a chapter yesterday. I'd really like to accelerate this time table so I can start writing again. If I take a break from editing, that just pushes the finish date farther and farther away. Which also pushes my submission date farther and farther away. I read somewhere that the beginning of the year is when people are most likely looking for new novels. I miss the good ol' days of just sitting on a completed novel.

I'm also getting into the simsub spirit by sending "Taming Beasts" out to someone else before getting a response from the last place. I don't think it should blow up in my face, but you never know. It's a new age we live in. I am no longer shackled by the post office. Should be fine.

🔗Progress Report Archive

"Get the Message" - SF

A new form of radio is created, and there's already a message being received ... from the dark side of the moon.

"Not In My Neighbourhood" - Crime

An ex-junkie gets his life back together and buys his first home in a trailer park, only to find his old dealer is his new neighbour.

"Splitting Hairs" - SF

The first discovered alien race seems to have less intelligence than rats. When one of them is murdered, though, questions arise as these demure creatures start to retaliate.

"Tides of Deception" - Spy 

In the 1980s, a large Russian urgently buys passage across Lake Michigan into the US. But is he exactly what he seems?

"Replacing Men" - SF

Phoenix Corp and Lazarus Inc have been competing in the human cloning business for decades. To win the war, Phoenix decides to resurrect a tyrant as a publicity stunt.

"Death on Fire Mountain" - Horror

In the far future, most humans have evolved into werewolf-like creatures. When one of the last normals gets bitten, an old hermit reveals the secret to staying human is on Fire Mountain. However, werewolves are the last of your worries on Fire Mountain.

"Crunching Numbers" - SF

In the near future, the world is picked clean of resources. The World Government has commissioned an agency dedicated to relieving over-population by killing those who hide in the dark corners of society--a hundred years in the past.

"IceFire" - Fantasy

White winter dragons patrol an ice world where humans hide in warm town-pockets. When the heat runs out, the humans must venture onto the ice.

"The Eespote Gate" - SF

A man makes his way through a devastated Earth to find a gateway left by the destroyers of the world. What is the real purpose of the gate and will it help the human race restart?

Links To Full Stories On Completed.

Ganesha - SF

Ganesha, a lost generational ship, encounters an FTL ship from Earth's war-torn future. The culture shock of the future brings great change, and great terror.

Star Trek: Beta - SF

In the years between TOS and TNG, the Enterprise-C is tasked with peacekeeping between the Klingon and Romulan borders. We've seen Gamma (DS9), Delta (VOY), and Alpha Quadrant (ENT, TOS, TNG) lifeforms, but who, or what inhabits the Beta Quadrant, beyond those two warring empires?

The Questor Files - SF / Drama

Using a woman as the robotic lead, this series would take Gene Roddenberry's 1974 TV pilot and make it the connective tissue between all his creations. The premise is an android was left to help guide the human species into benevolence, without revealing that she's assisting.

Wronging Rites - Western

A young man, whose parents were murdered by lawmen, is taken under the wing of a good lawman, and can't decided if he's on the good side or the bad side of the law.

Second Chance - SF / Drama

A wealthy man wakes up 5 years in his own past and is given the opportunity to correct his previous mistakes, but will his decisions lead to the demise of his fortune? 

*Semi-Finalist in "The People's Pilot" Contest*

Beyond the Frontier - SF

The last hope of an almost extinct human race is a political stunt involving a starship with an experimental engine and a crew of military misfits who are destined to fail.

More Information Regarding My TV Series On About.