Chapter release delayed. Solstice scheduling announcement. (Patreon)

(Book 11, The Titan of Baleros, comes out on November 14th!)

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Recap of my break. Most of it was resting or doing management stuff and not writing. Near the end of my longer break, I took time to plan out the Solstice from start to finish. Not perfectly; I don’t write out every scene, but my notes were chronological, and I layed out each major ‘event’ even if I don’t stick to the strict chapter format.

I slept decently well near the start of my writing. I relaxed my mind and stopped writing and got a bit of rest back. Was it perfect? No, but this is all due diligence for a writer preparing for an important writing moment. I even went to the doctor for a checkup and got a tetanus shot!

…The tetanus shot was a mistake. My arm hurt the entire first chapter, and while it’s mostly gone away today, that was not fun to write 6+ hours each day with. Anyways, that’s my recap of the break. I was ready to write the Solstice. Nervous, but I had a plan. How did it go?

As of today, I’ve been editing about an hour, and the chapter is sitting at 33,000 words. I have a list of edits to make after writing on-stream, but I am sure I’d be able to finish the chapter and put it out to my satisfaction more or less by tonight.

However, as the title indicates, I will not be doing this. I realize I promised a chapter back on the 11th. And I can deliver--but it seems to me the best thing for me to do would be to delay posting a chapter until I have backlog of at least 1-3.

I know that’s a lot to ask, but if I write ahead and realize I’ve underdeveloped a scene or moment, I cannot normally go back and fix them. Having a backlog means I can get into the Solstice and make sure everything is even better than my usual standards.

So. I may delay releasing any chapters until next Saturday, even. Perhaps longer if I run into some critical errors.

I have done this for previous volume ends, and my commitment is to the best story possible. I realize this is a long time to wait, and I do, sometimes, value feedback, so I will keep up the streams of chapters on my channel if I write live.

That way I can have a core of people who are willing to watch along with me and provide me with reactions on how I’m doing. I don’t encourage you to read via the streams. I’m just letting you know that to avoid confusion.

It’s been a long wait, but the worst thing to do would be to fail in delivering the Solstice well. This is my update, and I will perhaps post short notes after finishing a chapter even if I don’t release one.

Frankly and honestly--I regard this first one back as acceptable. I didn’t get the sense it was amazing, but it hit every note I wanted (with the edits I am about to do), and I don’t feel like I’ve tripped yet. I will let you know as I head into the next chapters. Thank you for your patience.

--pirateaba