Project Updates: From Old to New to Some Marketing, Too!

As I’ve gotten back into the swing of things, I’ve made more progress than I expected on my different writing projects! The past few weeks have been a bit of a blur, especially as much of my work has been “behind the scenes,” but I wanted to showcase a bit of my efforts this week before PaWriCo Bootcamp comes to an end.

The Unwanted Sacrifice

First is my wonderful accidental project from last year, The Unwanted Sacrifice. Though I wrote the first draft in about two months in 2024, I struggled to get my thoughts organized in a proper second draft since. Oftentimes, I would get a few thousand words into a second draft, and then abandon it completely.

Not a good method when I wanted to get eyes on the project before the end of the year, right?

Well, I’m happy to say that PaWriCo Bootcamp has helped me along. I’ve got over 16,000 words on the second draft, and for the first time, I think I’ll be able to actually finish it.

Does that mean I’ll put out an alpha reader call as soon as this draft is done? Probably not. But, if I can finish this draft before the end of September, I surely could at least hand it off to readers before the calendar turns over.

Zire WIP

Though The Unwanted Sacrifice is on the move, I must admit that I have gotten distracted by a new project. As described in my oh-so-hopeful blog (did I really think I could just drop 50k words right out of college?), I’m now dabbling in a few science fiction wips, including my currently-untitled project that I simply refer to by using the main character’s name.

Though Zire WIP is very different from my previous projects for reasons just beyond the genre, it’s been so much fun to dabble in and write random scenes for. The characters are already so vivid in my mind, and I have some very fun ideas for the different worlds the crew pass or visit on their ill-fated journey. Similar to the first draft of The Unwanted Sacrifice, I have not yet written down a full plot, but I likely won’t blast through the project in two months.

I’ve got more important things to work on.

Unfortunately, Zire WIP must be put to the side, at least until I’m close to completing the second draft of The Unwanted Sacrifice. Otherwise, I fear I may never actually finish the draft, and I need to finish something this year. Don’t be surprised to hear at least a little more about this project, though, as I need to yell about my worldbuilding at some point.

GSR’s Sequel (eventually)

Work on the sequel to Ghosts of the Steel Road has been slow, but I don’t want you to think I’ve forgotten about it. I keep going back to the outline for this sequel, but there’s still a few points I’m stuck on before I feel comfortable with the plot and where it heads.

As a bit of a spoiler, I will reveal one thing: the POV character is going to be Caspian, not Melandra. Maybe this switch is a little ambitious for my first ever sequel, but the story has the need to see Caspian’s side of things, as Melandra isn’t quite in the loop in the plot as it currently stands. Much of that is Caspian’s fault, of course, but it means the story would be pretty boring if I kept it from Melandra’s POV.

When can you expect more about the sequel? Right now, I’m not so sure, as I’m majorly focused on The Unwanted Sacrifice and simply establishing a balance between my full-time job, my writing, my gaming, and my need to be a human being. More on that second part in a later blog, but my plate is definitely quite full, and for now, this sequel must be one of the put-aside-but-not-forgotten children.

Marketing and Content Creation Projects

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that one part of author life I really struggle with is marketing. Despite all of my best efforts, I cannot manage to keep a good social media or even blogging schedule.

And yet, somehow, I’ve managed to end up in the marketing department at my job.

Therefore, I’m making more of an effort than ever before to get my marketing in tip-top shape. I’ve got a content calendar. I’ve got Coursera courses under my belt. I’ve got a long, long list of blog ideas.

I’ve also now got an entire gaming YouTube channel and Twitch channel to deal with, but hey, baby steps, right?

I’ll talk more about the gaming content in the future, but for now, all you need to know is that I’m putting in a lot of work right now in hopes my content will be easier in the future. I truly enjoy what I’m doing on both the writing and gaming side, and I want to share that enjoyment with other people, which means marketing!

It won’t be easy to get myself to be at the level of some of my writing buddies, including Etta and Rain, but I hope a renewed focus on marketing will one day get me there.

Though I’ve still got one more week of PaWriCo Bootcamp left (and my success is yet to be seen), I’m happy to say that at least progress on something has happened. My projects are many and diverse, and I still need to finish organizing them all, but it’ll be fun to give some occasional updates as I get to some important milestones in everything!