Progress Report!

Hail, Fellow Creatures!

Casco and I are coming at you from Elsewhere with another round of progress updates. As of writing this, I’ve just crossed 120k words on Book 4, and I’ve finished my first round of edits on Book 2.

 

Two big milestones!

 

While it’s not release time for either, it *is* a step in the right direction—and one that’s getting me closer and closer to the finish line.

 

At this point, I think I’ve still got another 10–20k words to go to finish off Book 4, which means I’m hopeful Draft 1 will be done sometime in February.

 

Likewise, I want to take another pass at Book 2 and polish it up properly before starting to edit Book 3.

 

I’ve gotta be honest—Book 3 is in slightly rougher shape than Books 1 and 2, so I know that first pass is going to take longer to get through than the others. But that’s alright. I’ve got a direction I want to take it and a baseline understanding of what I want to do. Now it’s all about the execution.

 

And as I’ve said before, as soon as Book 3 is in a good place… it’s time to start talking release.

 

When will that be? I’m not sure yet. My gut says sometime in spring, but we’ll have to see what the next few months hold.

 

There are still plenty of things competing against this timeline, but I’m really hopeful that Casco won’t require *so many* pets that it gets in the way of me trying to achieve this.

 

He does really love his pets, though.

And how can I say no to this face?

 

 

 

 

Other than cranking away at the Scarred World, I’ve been trying to make progress on side projects and Art Quest.

 

Both are eking along, but they’re still headed in the right direction.

 

I’m about 24k words into this side project, which I’m hopeful I can share more of soon. As for Art Quest, I’ve hit a bit of a slowdown on Lesson 4 of *Drawabox*, but I’m still getting my bugs onto the page where I can.

 

As I think I’ve said before—either here on the blog or in the newsletter—I have a dream of someday spending most of my mornings writing and my afternoons working on art, with the goal of eventually being able to both write and illustrate my own fiction.

 

I’m hopeful I’ll get there one day. For now, I’m happy continuing to do art on the margins.

 

Otherwise, the newsletter has been active! Messages from Elsewhere, as I like to call it, has been a lively space, and I appreciate you all following along on the journey—and reaching out when you feel so inclined.

 

I do my best to respond to every message I get, so if you’ve written in the past and I haven’t replied, it most likely landed in spam (which I try to check regularly as well).

 

If that ever happens, please try again—Casco and I would love to hear from you!

 

Lastly, Massachusetts—and New England in general—is in a renewed state of frenzy as the Patriots are back in the Super Bowl. I know, I know—we’re overly spoiled, and many still hate the Pats from the Tom Brady era. But this is a new team with a new identity, and they’re exciting to root for.

 

I think the odds are against us versus the Seahawks… but one can hope!

 

That’s all Casco and I have for now. If you haven’t already, sign up for the newsletter and you’ll get even more updates on the journey.

 

Until next time,

Stay swell,

—Jeff