Readers, I have good news: Yesterday, I finished Part Three (out of four total) of Starforge. Finishing out a colossal 56,000 words across three chapters, I laid down the final words of that portion of the draft, and started the section heading for “Interlude 3.”

Which means … Okay, will it actually means a bunch of things. First of all, it means that Starforge‘s draft progress on the “Current Projects” tab is now at 80%, and the total wordcount at 377,000. Now 50k more than Colony, but still almost 79k less than Jungle (which was an absolute unit of a story, and yet at the same time flew by for many).

Second, it means that I need a small break. Today I’ll work on Interlude 3 a little bit, but since I’ve almost hit my monthly quota (I’m just a few hundred words away) I don’t feel the need to stress out about it.

Which is good. The last few months have been very stressful, and Starforge is part of that. Though in fairness, I started working on it officially last July off-and-on between editing on Axtara, and then fully in October. which mean much of its 377,000 word current length has been written in just seven-months. On par for the same speed with Colony, I might note (which was written in six, but was also 50k shorter).

The end is coming, readers. All that’s left is that last 20%. And with that, let’s talk about some other news since we’re all here anyway!

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So what else there is to talk about is going to be in no discernable order, just whatever comes to mind first here. So I’m going to talk about sales for a bit.

Short version? They’ve plummeted. Hard. I’m not quite sure what hit them so sideways, though I do think shutting down a chunk of my Amazon advertising had a bit to do with it. Currently I’m looking at restructuring and rebuilding a portion of that (though it’s tricky because I don’t want to completely rebuild the ads from scratch, but Amazon’s system seems to want me to).

But yeah, sales are down hard. Off a cliff. Which isn’t great when I’m gearing up to get Starforge out this year. I’ll be retooling the Amazon advertising in the next week, so maybe that’ll pick things back up again, but for now, it’s a puzzle.

Well, sort of. Spring is kicking off for many people. Maybe that has something to do with it. And the momentary dearth of Amazon ads surely isn’t helping. And I’ll admit, I actually did that on purpose to see if they were still worth running. The change in my KU reads alone says “yes, but retool.”

So I’m not as worried as I normally would be. I’ve got some faith that things will turn around.

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So what else is there to talk about? Well, how about a live Being a Better Writer Q&A? Yes, that’s right, I’ll be doing another one of those soon! However, here’s where I want feedback from you readers on things: when?

Obviously it won’t be this coming Monday, tempted as I am to dive in. What I want to hear from you, readers, is when a live Q&A would be best for you to listen and interact with (as it will be a Q&A) as well as whether or not you think it should be recorded. What days? What times?

Now, as to this last one, realize I have zero equipment or software for a recording/replay setup. It’s a question, however, to gauge interest. Being a Better Writer will stay primarily text, but I do like interacting with fans and answering writing questions live.

So, live BaBW Q&A incoming, what time and days work best for people to participate?

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And well, that’s pretty much it as far as news goes. Starforge has seen a major milestone, I’m retooling my advertising game, and there’s another live BaBW Q&A coming! Outside of that? Well …

Actually, I can think of one other thing. Did you know Unusual Things has a facebook page? Yes, it does. It isn’t much, it’s quite literally another form of RSS feed for the site, but hey, it does get a lot of new readers. And if you’re on Facebook, well, liking the page and following it will help push its metrics a bit, plus give you updates each time there’s a new post (and be an easy way to share those posts with people using Facebook’s tools). So if you’re on that ecosystem, give it a look!

Anyway, that’s all for now. Max out, and enjoy your weekend’s readers! I’ll be back Monday with another installment of Being a Better Writer!

Oh, and Patreon Supporters check Patreon tomorrow Saturday (the days all get blended)! Part 3 of A Trial for a Dragon will be up!