Well, this is certainly a thing that has happened.

So folks, you may be wondering “Hey, what’s this? A post?” Yes indeedy. “Am I back?” Well … no. Sands, I’m typing this on a borrowed laptop, via a hastily-built guest account.

What’s going on, you may ask? Well, fishing is one of those markets that’s a bit of a commodity. Ergo, there’s some rapid supply and demand that goes into it. So we were getting all set up to head on out—and I mean that. The gear was loaded, we had out clothes aboard, the whole nine yards save bait, fuel, and ice. We called in to get our ice … and the guy on the other end goes “Oh, I don’t think you want to do that. A big fleet is out right now and the price has dropped. We called around, and he wasn’t kidding.

So we’re at dock. Just killing time waiting for the price to rebound. Which it eventually will, but it’s not likely it will before we head out for the second half of this trip (for shrimp).

The other wrench in this scenario is the travel time home doesn’t really make it worth it to leave and head back home. I’d be there for maybe a week at best before needing to turn right back around.

In other words, I’m stuck here through the five weeks either way.

Now, that isn’t to say I haven’t been busy. Those on the Discord will know that I’ve been working on planning bits and bobs for upcoming novels. Yesterday I spent an agonizing three straight hours doing pure finance and accounting equations for Axtara – Magic and Mayhem. Some of them, amusingly enough, I was 99% positive I’d done before for the first book, but … Even if I had saved those notes, they’re down in Utah at my apartment, not at my parent’s place in Alaska.

Point being, though, I am filling the little notebooks I brought along for brainstorming and worldbuilding purposes with page after page of notes for new novel projects. I’ve gotten a bunch of prep work done for Magic and Mayhem, the second Axtara book which will be my new project as soon as I return home, but I’ve gotten some work done on projects for after that book as well.

Speaking of which, the project that takes my attention after Magic and Mayhem is a bit up in the air. See, I’m planning on letting people vote on it.

Patreon Supporters, specifically. I’ve got several projects in the pipe, all the prepwork being done now, and I plan to let the supporters cast their votes on which one they’d like to see next. Among these is a “sequel” Shadow of an Empire set in Indrim, a brand-new YA Sci-Fi adventure involving space pirates and an amazing power suit, and an homage to The Road to … movies.

And when all that is brainstormed (I’d say more than half of it is), with little else to do writing-wise while I’m stuck at dock, maybe it’s at long last time to give the fanfic folks something new and do that fourth Dusk Guard story, Fires of the Earth.

Oh, there’s one other thing to talk about too. I was going to save this until I was back, but since I’m both accelerated and slowed on projects right now (based on the stage of the project) who would be interested in a paperback edition of Fireteam Freelance? That’s right, the free episodic side-series to the UNSEC Space Trilogy. In addition to everything else I’m working on at the moment (that moment being, in this context, the year), I’d like to see about getting a polished, edited version of Fireteam Freelance: Series One (that is a working title, mind) published in paperback form.

Any takers interested in having Freelance’s adventures on their shelves? I feel like that’s something that could go into Alpha and then Beta while I write Magic and Mayhem. With a proper blitz, I could get that new Jacob Rocke book, Axtara, and Fireteam Freelance all out before the end of the year.

Anyway, that’s the update. Stuck at dock, doing worldbuilding prep. At this rate, I might run out of novels to prep and start having to dig into a few of my ideas that were waiting on a back burner. But I’m sure that won’t bother any of you, readers.

Oh, and one last thing to report before I go: That influx of sudden reviews and ratings has slowed, but the shake-up left its mark. Colony now sits with a comfortable lead in review numbers over all my other works, while One Drink sits in second place and Axtara has been demoted to a distant third, with Jungle right behind it.

However, this isn’t bad news (unless you really were rooting for Axtara to take the #1 spot, in which case go leave your review and help her wing her way up!). More reviews and ratings (while still keeping a very high average across the board) means that all of my works have seen a slight uptick in sales. Will it stick around? Well, I hope so. Books are fickle, and the bank collapse about a month ago sent an instant ripple through my sales, at the very least.

But right now the news on that front seems good. Now, if the price of halibut would just go back up so I could shove off from the dock …

I’ll catch you folks later. Scheduled Being a Better Writer content is still coming, never fear, so see you Monday!