Yesterday, (February 20th, as I write this) I crossed the mark of having written 100,000 words so far for the year. That’s around 2000 words a day, which is higher than I’m used to. I did have some extra time available to me, which gave me some days of over 3000 words, but most days have been in the 1600 to 1700 word range.

Small potatoes compared to some, but more than many other writers. I feel that I don’t often write about my writing process here – mostly this is aimed at readers, rather than writers. For a year or so, I wrote a weekly column for Harvey Stanbrough‘s Pro Writers Writing project – where a group of us discussed the process. I learned a lot, both from the other writers, and from thinking about my own rhythms and patterns. The site has gone now (over the period, we lost contributors – which I get; it was tough work coming up with a new topic every week), but I’ve saved all the posts, which may, or may not, depending on time and inclination, appear as a book here.

Still, how did I get to 100, 000 words? How did I write 2000 words of fiction, on average, each day. It comes back to Heinlein’s rules. Rule One: You must write. So I wrote. I made sure to write every day. I took moments when I could, to write. Before leaving for my day job. During my tea breaks and lunch break. After work. Weekends. Sometimes I get to squeeze out 100 words in a sliver of time, sometimes I would get longer blocks – a couple of hours.

Part of it is about not waiting for the muse. It’s about just writing. Bum in chair. Fingers on keyboard. Writing. Cycling or churning. Getting the words down.

I’ve also published two novels so far – Desert Creepers and Raphael Marooned – with a third coming next month – The Chimneys in Atterton (Morgengeld Book III). I’ll post about that sometime soon. The point is, no sense in writing without putting it out there (Heinlein’s Rule Four: You must put your work in the market).

Desert Creepers is the fourth in my Captain Arlon Stoddard series, kind of trying to be a little like Gregory Kern’s old F.A.T.E. books, but with a modern beat (SF in the 2020s is a very different thing to in the 1970s). The fifth book should be out later this year – Core Runners, with the sixth – Underworld Climbers – either much later this year, or early next. I need to fix the cover of Desert Creepers – not quite happy with that layout and the font size and color. Still, thanks to those who’ve bought it already (and Raphael Marooned) – I do appreciate it.

My story (a novelette as it turns out) “Problem Landing” appears in the March/April issue of Analog Science Ficion & Fact. Another Mars story, this one takes its inspiration from the current activities of companies like SpaceX.

This is the more practical end of my science fiction – all possible and probable extensions of current technologies. Nice to have cover art by Maurizio Manzieri – for Meg Pontecorvo’s novelette “Flash Mob”.  I love Maurizio’s art – he’s always able to capture the essence of a story so evovatively.

Sometime soon there’s a Q&A with me appearing on the Analog blog, with some background on the story. I’ll post a link when that’s up.

Quick post, I hope. I’m not here much, but I got a delivery a few days ago. All of my indie published books from last year.

Why, in January 2021, am I only just receiving those? Well, Covid, a little bit, also, shipping, a lot – the shipping charge getting one book sent over at a time more than doubles the cost of the book, getting thirteen at once is quite a bit less than double (but still pricey). Also, New Zealand’s National Library’s legal deposit rules changed – no longer do I have to supply, in a timely manner, a print copy if the book is also available as an ebook.

This is what was in the box. Some standalone short stories, some short novels, some series novels, and a few collections. (and, yes, Mum, I got extra copies of those two you’d asked for ☺).

If I was being smart and patient, I would list links to all of them here, you know, ‘cos I should be good at marketing. Well, if you look at this link to Amazon, you’ll find my books there, in print and as ebooks too.

Thirteen books. This year I’m taking it easy. Only going for twelve. Some more from the series, some more standalones, and a whole new series coming.

Thanks for reading.