Today, I finished my revisions for Sunlord. When I think about the fact that it has been almost four years since I released Fireweaver, this feels good.

Now I will turn my attention to proofreading all three books in the trilogy. I made some updates to improve Sunweaver and Fireweaver, and I plan on creating revised editions to coincide with the release of Sunlord.

Initially, I thought I could finish by the end of February. It’s still possible, but it’s more likely that I’ll publish Sunlord next month (March).

After that, I think I’ll go back to my cover artist to work on artwork for a Sunweaver boxset. That looks to be my next release, likely in the April timeframe. That would give me a bit more time to make sure the first book of my next trilogy, The God War’s Chosen, is in the best shape possible before releasing it.

I’m also strongly considering editing//revising all three books before publishing any of them. We’ll see. I’m still trying to figure out the right rhythm for everything. It’s good that I’m making more progress toward releasing books, but I don’t want to burn out.

With every new year, I reevaluate what I want out of my writing career. The last four years have been an exceptionally challenging time for me as far as getting books published. I’m rather ashamed to admit that I released Fireweaver, the second book in my Sunweaver trilogy, almost four years ago, in April of 2019.

That was shortly after my father’s death. For the rest of that year, I struggled with depression and financial worries. Thankfully, I got a good job in 2020, but then the pandemic hit, and that was a weird time for all of us. It still is for many people even today.

I’ve written and edited on and off over these last three plus years. Last year, I created the Enhanced Editions of all my Empire of Chains books. It wasn’t as good as publishing new material, but it felt like something I needed to do to give my readers the best experience possible. That, unfortunately, put the last book of my Sunweaver trilogy on hold.

It’s not that I haven’t been productive. I have a pretty large collection of finished first drafts that I need to edit into shape. Even if I haven’t been writing as consistently as I’d like, I’ve still been fairly productive on that front.

That brings me to Sunlord, the final book of the Sunweaver trilogy. I’m pleased to say that I’m hard at work editing it right now, and I’m aiming to finish it and release it toward the end of this month (February).

My goal this year is to put more focus on editing and getting books out there. I’ve formed a rough outline for what I want to happen in terms of releases this year.

February: Sunlord (Sunweaver, Book 3)

April: Watersong (The God War’s Chosen, Book 1

June: Godchild (The God War’s Chosen, Book 2)

August: Endlord (The God War’s Chosen, Book 3)

October: Essence Blade (Essence Warrior, Book 1)

December: Essence Tower (Essence Warrior, Book 2)

Is this an ambitious plan? Absolutely. Do I think I can do it? We’ll see. These books are all fully drafted at this point, and the editing process becomes smoother with every book I write. It also helps that most of these books are shorter than my World in Chains books.

Beyond that, I can outline a very tentative plan going into 2024.

February 2024: Essence Fortress (Essence Warrior, Book 3)

April 2024: Tome of the Ancients (The Erezhki Cycle, Book 1). This will be set in the distant past in the same world as my World in Chains series.

June 2024: Key of the Ancients (The Erezhki Cycle, Book 2).

August 2024: Light of the Ancients (The Erezhki Cycle, Book 3)

Beyond that, things get a bit murkier because I’ve adopted a new writing strategy that has increased my writing productivity. However, it makes it take longer to draft any individual book or series. I write multiple books at once. That way, if I get stuck in one book, I can switch to another and avoid having those days when I write zero words.

Based on my current progress, my next completed series is likely to be one of the following:

1. The Great War series. This refers to a conflict mentioned in my World in Chains series.
2. The Itari Cycle: This is even farther in the past of the World in Chains world.
3. The Sundered World. This is in the distant past of the Essence Warrior world, and it’s my intended first series in the entire timeline for all my worlds that share this particular universe.

The following two series could also be the next, but I’m not as far along in them.

1. The Last Sacrifice. This is set in the past of the same world as The God War’s Chosen.
2. Sun and Fire. This is set in the past of the same world as Sunweaver.

As of now, I’m not sure how long any of these series are going to be. I’m hopeful that I can finish one of them in time to continue the same release schedule I’m trying to meet.

So we’d be looking at October of 2024 to release the first book of the next series. Again, this is very ambitious, especially for someone who has gone more than four years since releasing anything.

But thankfully I’m at a point in life where I feel capable of giving my writing career the focus it needs. I’ve reached a stable place with figuring out how to work around my career in engineering. I’ve overcome the depression over my father’s death, as well as the strangeness of the height of the pandemic. Overall, I feel like I’m in a generally good place now, and I haven’t always been able to say that.

In the coming days, I’d like to reveal a bit more about the fantasy universe I’ve created. Again, it’s ambitious. I won’t deny that Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere has been a huge influence on me. I will never claim to be Brandon Sanderson. There is only one Brandon Sanderson, and he is extremely talented. But I do love the idea of having a shared world. Those who have read Fireweaver have probably seen some of the connections between worlds, and that’s just the beginning.

Thanks for reading and thanks for your patience as I’ve worked through a lot of roadblocks over the last few years.