Good morning, friends and fans!
Welcome to a “Peek Into My Week”! Here’s a look at some of my latest news: January 9, 2023!
Here are some things that happened this past week. This time of year, it’s actually still very, very quiet – but that doesn’t mean nothing is happening! Far from it!
News About Writing & Publishing: This Is The Current State Of Things
Let’s take a look at the current status quo on various ongoing issues affecting my writing or publishing:
- Audiobooks on ACX: I’m still waiting for news that the audiobook for “High Steaks” has been transferred to Peever Publishing, then that process is all done!
- Recording & New Audiobooks: Darla Middlebrook has been refining new chapters recorded for “Life Signs“, the second book in the Panic! series, prior to uploading them to ACX.
- Writing: For the past few weeks I’ve been working on the editing side of a commissioned work for Peever Publishing: “Christina Engela Investigates The Classics: Pirates of the Sea & Sky“. In order for there to be an audiobook, there has to be an eBook or paperback first! Thus far I’ve gathered public domain short stories about pirates and also submissions sent by some authors, and preparing the formatting of the finished article. So far there will be contributions by Matt Bradley Tshirgi and Thomas M. Malafarina and Anya Louw to look forward to! As there’s a need for this book to be a nice long read, I still need a few more short stories to fill it out to 100k words, so I’ve put out a call for submissions. You can send any space pirate short stories you may have to me. This title is the first in an envisaged series and is likely to debut later in January. More to follow.
For the past few days I’ve been working on a story called “Harm’s Way”, a novel I finished the first draft of back in about 1993! Originally I got the idea for the story in 1991 during my matric exam, and scribbled the notes for it on the back of my exam paper – and then jumped into writing the first draft in late 1992, after that hectic first year in the army stole all my time! I finished the first draft the next year, and for some reason it’s lain fallow since then. 
This holiday gave me the excuse I needed to dig it out of my archive and start working on it again, and since the original draft was handwritten in actual notebooks, I had to type the story as I revised it. Needless to say, it’s been 30 years since I wrote it (wow, time flies!) and so there have been some sweeping changes in my own life as well as in my storytelling style! The new version will undoubtedly reflect that, while also reflecting my very best talent! On day 1 I finished at 5455 words. On day 2 I took the wordcount to 9179 words, and by Saturday I ended at 18212 words. I’ll be taking Sunday off, but hopefully I can make this two thousand words a day thing into a regular habit and part of my daily routine! Imagine how much writing I’d get done!
Other Stuff
On Sunday morning, just after I got up, I found a notification from KDP that I’d sold my first book of the year! Whoever it was that bought a copy of Blachart, thank you and I hope you enjoy it!
Submissions are still open! Don’t forget to Send Your Submissions Now: Schtick! Webzine for Sci-fi & Transgressive Fiction!
That’s all for this week!
As always, I’ll keep you posted about any further developments. And remember:
In spite of some of my books having been on Amazon since 2005, not one of them has yet reached 10 reviews, let alone 50! I would really appreciate your help on this! Come on, leave a review – it’s free! 
I wish you all a pleasant week until next time!
