2021 Quarterly Round Up: Jan-Mar

I decided to start a new idea to both 1) keep me motivated this year and 2) keep people informed for what I’ve been writing. So welcome to the 2021 first quarterly round up!

From January to March I wrote a total of 52,234 words on various projects. I completed three short stories, reached the rough 25% mark on a very large project and reached the 50% mark on another.

Firstly, I managed to get three short stories completed for my upcoming anthology Gateway to the Stars, the working title. The first was Islands in Space set against the backdrop of building the first O’Neill cylinder. Set on the Moon in 2104, we’re following the life of one of the workers who is trying to live her life in Armstrong City and get paid to do a dangerous job. Unfortunately for Naomi, her personal relationships suddenly contemplate her work life.

The second story I finished was Claim Jumpers, set in 2136. The crew of the independent ship Starman are on what seems to be a routine claim mining operation. Make money for the company, take your cut and go home. Unfortunately, they come across problems with their dig out in the black…

The third story was Suit. Set in the same century but in 2147, we’re following a small group of soldiers and insurgents during the hot season where hyperthermia will kill any human not wearing a specialized suit to keep them cool during the “hot season” as a continent wide civil war goes on. Fighting rages in Atlanta as insurgents try to get a much needed shipment in, and a luckless unit of soldiers stumbles onto it, forcing each side into a running battle where it’s winner take all.

I’ve got the outlines for three others which will pad out the anthology, currently working on them and hoping to have the whole thing available by the end of the year. Stay tuned for further updates as the year goes by.

I also hit the 50% mark of a 50,000 word goal on a novella called The Virtue of Battle as a working title. Currently I’ve written 28,638 words on the first draft. When two comrades in arms find themselves supporting opposite parties in the aftermath of a violent political dispute, they must ask themselves where their true loyalties lay. This will hopefully have a finished second draft by the end of the summer and a fully published novella around Christmas 2021.

Secondly, I hit the 25% mark on my alternate history novel Wrapped in Flames which will probably not see the light of day well into 2022 or 2023. However, as a monster project of 200,000 words that’s not a a bad thing! The current word count stands at 54,549.

Finally, the big news for this first quarter of 2021 is that my novella Integration was, after nearly three years sitting with Tor, rejected. This is my first rejection letter from a large publishing house and, while not the desired outcome, it was nice to know that the story did pique some interest as it was held for a few years for that very reason. Some might find that discouraging news, but it’s more ammunition to keep me writing!

So here’s the progress so far in 2021, three short stories, and some good movement on major projects. I’ll be thrilled to keep people informed of progress as it goes and please refer back here for more!