"The only thing I was fit for was to be a writer...

...and this notion rested solely on my suspicion that I would never be fit for real work." - Russell Baker

I have included that quote purely because I want it as a tattoo.

Anyway! Look at that. It's June tomorrow, which means the countdown to the re-release of NIGHT AND CHAOS is on! I feel like I've been horribly unproductive writing-wise this year, and then I remind myself that I've already had three books out, and that I have two more coming up fast. But I think until I finish In Cold Blood, I'm going to keep feeling like I'm lagging, somehow. With tomorrow being the start of a new month, it seems like a good time to crack on. I'm about halfway through, by my estimates, so if I aim for 1k a day, finishing a first draft by the end of the month should be completely achievable. Over-achievable, even.

I'm tidying up some other commitments. Common Brimstone is taking a summer holiday, and I've booked a couple of days off the day job (mostly so I can take Remic back to the vet to have his stitches removed). I'm putting aside the Amber Morgan project I've been dabbling with and I'm resisting the urge to throw myself head-first into a couple of other Shiny Things on my writing to-do list. I desperately want to just focus on In Cold Blood, but I'll admit it's felt like a slog at times. I think part of it is that this is a new story, with new characters, set in an existing world - the Urban Wolf world. I'm working hard to keep the world-building consistent with rules laid out in the series so far, which means a lot of backtracking and fact-checking. I would probably make quicker progress if I just wrote the first draft and then worried about these things, but I can't work like that. Knowing there's a potential error or gap in the story drives me mad. I can't leave it and come back to it later.

Once I've crossed In Cold Blood off the to-do list, I'll probably finish that Amber Morgan project I mentioned, since that's another shorter piece. After that it's a toss-up between three big (verging on epic, in one case) projects - Urban Wolf 6, Blood Canticles 3, or Wild Blood 3. Luckily, that's a decision for Future Nome!