Howdy folks, how are we all doing this morning?

Yesterday I worked for about two hours and edited 6471 words, adding 180 words to Penal Earth 2. This draft is zipping along at a nice pace when I get sat down and stuck in. I think I will be chasing the prologue to this story. I’m going to keep the same characters and their path but I had what feel is a stronger approach pop into mind as I was laying in bed this morning. So I grabbed the nearest notebook (yes, there’s absolutely like four notebooks within an inch of my bed) and wrote the scene again.

While I was sitting in my car while one of my parents was in town yesterday I scribbled down some notes for Penal Earth 3. I have a decent idea of where I want to take this third book, but I’ve not really thrashed it out. When I think about how book one changed from its original concept, the same with book two and I’m sure it’ll be the same with book three. I’m looking forward to that journey.

That’s a ways off yet though. In the meantime I’ll be getting Penal Earth 2 wrapped and to my beta reader, Black Blood is in the same process; and then I’ve got a mech story that’s screaming at me from the other room….

I do just want to make a quick comment about NaNoWriMo closing its doors. From the statement I saw it said it was a financial decision. That’s a bit of a cop out in my opinion. There was grooming allegations which weren’t handled in a suitable way. The person put in charge after those just seemed to want to throw their weight around, acting like they could do what they wanted. Municipal Liaisons were essentially told they had to sign an agreement which would make them liable to what happened in their regional forums, and what I think was likely the last nail in the coffin, endorsing AI for writing. I know I don’t know the whole story, I bailed as an ML before the shit really hit the fan for personal reasons. But it breaks my heart having seen an organisation which brought so many people together collapse as spectacularly as it has done. But I wrote some good fiction during NaNo, and I made some amazing friendships. RIP NaNoWriMo.