So … the title says it all. This is an update on things. Nothing big. Mostly Starforge. And why I’ve been quiet this week.

Honestly? I’ve got a little list of non-writing topics I want to throw out some paragraphs on here on the site, but … This week had enough going on, I think.

How bad is it? Well, let me put it this way: Facebook refused to let me run boosts for this week’s Being a Better Writer, because it asked people to go vote.

That’s it. Didn’t say who to vote for. Just to study and vote. And Facebook tagged that as ‘attempting to influence the election’ and refused to let me boost the post.

Yeah … so I figure “Why risk it?” and just didn’t do any more articles this week. I spent my time on Starforge instead.

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Speaking of which, Starforge is coming along! Last night the first draft hit 142,000 words, and while there are still many, many more to come, things are darting along at a decent pace. Starforge is coming!

I still don’t know how I feel about the opening chapters, but for now I’m letting that rest. Early Alpha feedback after the draft is done, or even my pre-Alpha read, may change it … but maybe not. There’s always a chance I was just stressed out of my mind and reading way too into it.

That said, Starforge is still stressful. This is the biggest project I’ve worked on to date. If Colony and Jungle were both bits of an Olympic dive, Starforge is the final impact with the water, and it needs to stick the landing as beautifully as possible.

But I keep powering forward. There’s a lot of cool stuff and moments happening here. The All have awoken, Pisces has made contact, UNSEC is ready for war …

I hope you like the action of the last few books, because you’re going to get a lot of it here.

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Oh hey, there is some other positive news to note: The elections are technically over (election day has passed) and so what happened?

Immediate book sales.

Sure, it’s got some momentum to regain if it wants to get back to where it was. But yeah, elections suck for book sales. The day after election day? Things just spiked right back up. Hopefully as this month continues they roll back on up to where they were these last few months. It’d be a good sign for me!

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Okay, one last bit of news, and then it’s back to Starforge with me. It’s time to talk about Axtara – Banking and Finance.

It’s ready to go. Has been for several weeks now. Save for one minor thing: Cover art.

Yes, I’m still searching. This week I reached out to half-a-dozen artists, trying to find one that was interested. But … none of them are. Everywhere artists are closing their commission queues, declaring that the month of November is off-limits (I wonder why, you blasted election) or stepping away from art as the Covid-19 crisis makes them desperate.

So basically, I’ve got a nice long list of polite refusals for the Axtara cover, and the rest of November to try and find a proper artist for the book that’s still working.

That’s the holdup, everyone. I can’t release Axtara without a cover, tempting as it might be. It’d kill it. Dead in the water. However, with all the chaos right now, from Covid-19 to everything else, getting one is proving … tricky.

I’ll keep you all updated as things progress. Wish me luck!

For now, back to the world of Starforge!