More often these days, I find myself fatigued by writing communities. Feeling that more w/ Bluesky. There's just...so much going on. And while I appreciate the idea of connecting with potential readers, I see so little proof the effort is worth it.

It sounds counterproductive, I know, but sometimes I find it difficult to relate to or enjoy being around other authors. Some of those in the Mastodon writing hashtags I follow, at least. Alienated comes to mind...

One of the frustrating things about marketing is that you can't tell if it's working or not. Well, in my case I suppose it just doesn't work...not on social media, anyway.

Hm...no sales from Google Books at all this year. I know I sold a few last year, at least.

I'm probably not going to be using this as much, now that Ghost has joined the social web. I'll post more from my non-author account.

I've been working on a side project for a pen name, and am pleased to see I've written over 15k in less than a month! I've achieved this by writing roughly 800 words a day. Won't be done until sometime next month, but that's okay.

Feels weird not having any edits to do this morning. Still, I'll give this WIP some space and focus on other things...like wrapping up the formatting for Voracity.

Phew...done with my first round of edits for this WIP! Gonna give it some space before doing a deeper dive w/ PWA. Actually, I should finish formatting Voracity, while the cover is being made lmao

Fixed an issue with the formatting of Voracity. Still gotta tie up a few loose ends, including writing an afterword and (maybe) a dramatis personae.

I was trying to convert my paperback covers into hardcovers, but it's...an impossible task on my own. Gonna scrap the idea and approach it in the future, when/if I decide to redo my covers. But only after all books are out (ideally) and/or I find a good artist to stick with from there on out.

Might be best to start with the third book, idk...

Oh wow--just sold my first paperback through my shop! What an excellent start to my day and month.

My business expenses this year have been...quite hefty. And that doesn't include book covers. But these are necessary and will be paid back in time.

I actually had a bigger backlog of chapters than I thought. Like, enough to cover me until May! This gives me more time to focus on editing and revising book 2 of my Early Adopter series.

And a blurb!! Ack. Might commission one from Ginger, once I have the funds.

After a few setbacks, I am (mostly) done with the formatting for Voracity. There are just a few tweaks I need to make, and maybe include a Dramatis personæ. Either way, I still need a cover.

Small win of the day: correctly spelling rafflesia on my first try.

Holy cow--I got my first Kobo Plus reads! And on book 2 of my LTH series, no less.

I actually don't know if I'll do any formatting this morning. I've got several irons in the fire rn.

Hahaha...I found the issue. Atticus was spawning an extra (blank) chapter. The chapter I thought was missing was there all along! What a day...

Just got a corrected file from Scrivener...may torture myself by starting all over again, to catch anything else that might've been missed. Actually, yeah. I'll do that.

Formatting this book is...kinda annoying so far? Mostly thanks to Scrivener omitting a chapter during the compiling stage. So weird...I've also got some spacing issues to look out for.

Thinking about adapting a new penname, tho it would really be two initials + Eggler. I'd use it for future books and series, to distance it from romance titles. Might debut it with Voracity, we'll see.

I think these edits are finally done! Now I can move on to the fun part: formatting!

Huh. I really feel comfortable with my edits so far, but I still want to comb over a few chapters later. Maybe tmr I'll do a big sweep to catch those last few errors.

The final edit will come when I'm formatting and order a physical copy to markup.

Well, that was informative.

"Due to internal changes in processing time on the Amazon Retail side orders now can take up to a month to process. We at KDP are unable to change this from our side as we do not manage the retail site."

There was a bit more, but this statement says a lot.

Amazon support is...eerily chipper. "I hope you are having a lovely day! It is so great to meet you!"

Ma'am, the fact that I am reaching out to y'all means I am not having a good time. And two of the responses she sent me just now were literally c/p...I hope I'm talking to a real person and not a bot.

My royalties are way off, so I hope she can help.

Oof...got my first rating for this book, and it's a 2 star...bummer. And this is why I don't read reviews.

I really am almost done with these edits. Just combing through the text for minor things. It'll be awhile before I have a cover, anyway.

Currently wondering if I should make my epilogue a slightly earlier chapter...

Browsing .

This might be what I need to make maps for my Last Train Home series! I'd include these with the hardback and maybe print editions, idk.

I'm gonna try and switch hosts for my site, so that I can use subdomains w/o paying the large sum of a higher plan. Would be a better option overall for hosting my web serial.

Last month was great for sales, this month, not so much. Sitting on zero at the moment, but there's still time to turn things around.

I'm decidedly opposed to pimping my books on social media, because it's stressful, exhausting, and has minimal effect on sales. Besides, there are other ways that delivery better results (for me).

I really wish people offered ideas, rather than spout platitudes. Yes, I know I should talk about my books, but I don't know how. Talking about my books does little to move the needle, alas.

There's still this one chapter I wanted to read over, but I'm basically done with edits now. I still plan on doing some final clean ups for anything I missed, and I may send a copy to my ereader for additional markup. Would be cheaper and easier than ordering a print copy...

Bah. I'd love to write before work, but not at this very moment. I'll write a bit during my breaks I guess.

Wow...just two last things on my to-do list for my book.

Nice - I am almost done with these edits! Only 4 things left on my to do list, and 2 of those are rather trivial. The major things are checking the pacing of one chapter, and editing the new prologue.

Okay! I scanned a chapter for inconsistencies and it came out clean! For now anyway, haha.

Tightening up my notes this morning, to make edits smoother. I think I'll tackle plot inconsistencies leftover from a previous revision this morning.

Debating on how soon to start these final(?) edits for Voracity. In theory, it should be less time consuming and only take a week at most. But it's so hard getting started...

Woot! Got a lot of editing done this morning, both for Voracity and Last Train Home. Soon, I'll be queuing chapters for release. I've also been meaning to share the first chapter of Voracity by the end of the year.

Oh right...I should probs start an outline for my Last Train Home series. Especially now that I've gotten this far.

Hm. If I edit a chapter of Voracity a day, I'll be done by the 30th. And I just touched up chapter 12 today. This also depends on how long the chapters are. Most are well over 3k, but there are a few shorter ones in the mix, esp near the end. My word goal is 3226 a day.

This first round of revisions and edits for Voracity are done! Gonna take a break to work on my portal fantasy series, and come back for pure edits in a month or so. After 20 years of puttering around, this book is almost ready to launch!

Gonna focus on writing and editing today, and maybe do some light laundry later. Will need all the distractions I can get today, after the devastating election results.

I'm slightly worried that I may have made the text too large in this book, as that contributed to the page count, but it's fixable. Will wait to see the proofs before I get too worked up over it. Plus, people like who rely on glasses will appreciate it, I'm sure.

Got a good bit of editing and revising done today. I went back and tidied up some previous chapters, though there are still a few things here and there that I want to touch up. Those can be done when I do some final edits.

In revising Voracity, I've steadily whittled my word count down. Not by much at the moment, but I might have less than when I started.

Or more.

Wow...today's edits are going to be hefty. Almost 2k.

Phew...the book is now publishing across several sites now. One less thing to worry about.

Oh right...I wanted to do an Afterword to explain my inspiration and newfound appreciation of spiders.

After giving it some thought, I'll publish this book tmr. I think I've touched up everything that needed to be addressed. I still wanna give myself some additional time, in case anything else springs up in the next 24 hours.

Feels good to almost have this book ship stable...it's been a long time coming.

I had a very productive morning, in that I have a cover and a killer new blurb for a finished serial. Technically I bought the cover yesterday, but details.

Whew...I think I'm done tweaking this print book. Still wanna get an updated print copy to make sure everything is on the up and up, and then I'll officially publish it

Ohh...I think I'll drop Pacemaker Planner in favor of a nice spreadsheet. I've got my eye on an Etsy designer.

Alright, I just have one last thing to fix for The Threads That Weave, and then the edits are done.

I checked my notes, and I was, in fact, mistaken. I still have to edit a few things, but it's nothing that can't be done in a day. I'll either address it today or Wednesday. Gotta focus on homework first.

Huh. I think this one book I previously edited just needs to be formatted, in addition to a cover and blurb. Next goal, maybe?

It needed some tinkering, but I have mastered Atticus' text message feature!

Gotta figure out how I want to format text messages in this book...the options Atticus have don't really work for me.

Finally done with the editing and revision process, and have began...formatting. I am so pumped!

Oh shoot. I forgot I still need to write a blurb for another book and find a good cover for it. I was hoping to publish it by Halloween, but now I'm not so sure.

Wow...I'm mostly done w/ my edits and revisions! At the moment, I want to add a new section to the final chapter, and touch up another. Gonna switch gears to homework now, as I have a hot date w/ the wife later.

Switching from homework to editing, as I need a break from the tedium of discussion questions. At least the upcoming week will be more interesting. It's all about codeswitching, baby!

Woot! I wrote the last sentence for the main half of this novel. Still gotta tidy up the side stories, but that's a minor thing and can be resolved in a day. The book is scheduled for early November, but I want to have it done long before then.

Less than 10 chapters to revise! My, how the time flies...I should be done sometime next week, but I still have to touch up a few scenes. Here's hoping I'll be on the formatting process before the end of the month.

Revisions are going well so far, but I'm far from my desired total word count. Granted, I'm only halfway through so far. There's still plenty of time for turnaround.

Currently fighting the urge to do more revisions. I don't want to risk burnout, after all...

Woot! Revised 4 chapters today, rather than my planned 2. They were relatively clean so needed little touching up.

Really glad to see they have an official statement on this - .

Woo! I added at least 1k to this chapter during revisions. That's a bigger milestone than other chapters so far. I'm lowly inching my way towards my goal.

I checked, and the page count (for print) for this other book I've been revising is well over 350 pages! That's roughly 90k words. I think this might be my longest book.

To make things easier on myself, I have condensed and organized my notes for revisions and edits. I'll be able to knock everything out in one or two days this way. The hardest part is always revising, but it's so worth it!

Finished major revisions for The Threads That Weave. Still have to go back and touch up the smaller issues in my notes, but that can wait a bit. I wanna start revisions for the second book of Last Train Home soon.

I finally did the thing and made an author account here! This way I can keep things separate from my main and fun account. The goal is to tinker more with the weblog.