Hi, readers and friends.

I left you in the dark for July and August, but I got a bit of mojo working again. Let’s look back and then look forward. Spoiler: one of my newer novels is about to be published.

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This is a public post also published on my Patreon. I welcome you to follow or subscribe over there to send a little bit of support my way and keep me accountable.

July 2025

In July, I started an interstitial called “Weekend With Benefits” that’s set as an aside in the “New Roommate” story I’d mentioned. The original version, probably, not the “clean for Amazon” version. I’m not sure if the original will drag me onto Smashwords, or perhaps a shopping element here on Patreon or a tier bonus. But even if there’s no blood relation in the original version I started almost two years ago, it might be a bit brisk for Kindle natively.

I broke out the spinoff to an older novel about a time jump – you may remember it as “Retinue.” In this version, currently going by “Rift 2: Rock On“, another man falls through the rift. He gets a retinue of one, and we’ll probably find next year what happens with him. Retinue needs to be finished up this year. I touched on that in my last update, but it’s making progress.

Overall, July saw almost 8,000 words, which was suboptimal but I kept things going, even on that five-word day.

August 2025

August was a more productive month, rounding out at over 35,000 words and only two new projects started.

I got into the Pro Writing Aid premium member sprint challenge, with a new story there sitting at 13k after nine days of writing. This story has a young librarian and a mature cafe owner vying for our hero’s attention, affection, and support. Right now it has the scintillating title of “10k Sprint for PWA,” but it might tie in with my November novel last year in an unexpected way. Or maybe if I’m patient enough, it will be my November novel project this year.

I started the second volume of “You Are My Water, My World.” The first volume is about done with editing and should go out this month.

There’s a new story about a brief three-way tryst at a cheap beach motel, a prequel/wrapper story for the “10k” story and some others along the coast in places that don’t really exist, as well as a couple of to-be-refined shorts that may turn into stories or even a novel or collection by Christmas.

September 2025

Now we’re looking to the future. I have a final pass and front/back matter to finish for “You Are My Water, My World.” I’m pretty sure it will be out this month, a bit beyond 50k, but at a good pausing point before moving on to the conflict to come. And its callback to where Kelvin met Corisande… I didn’t even see that coming.

There are at least two other shorts that are about done, and way too many more that should be moved from the “in progress” to “published” by the end of the year.

And beyond…

If you’re seeing this and you’re not a subscriber, please consider joining even at the free level. It keeps me accountable and productive, and if you do choose to send a few bucks my way at a premium/paid level, it’s more motivating and I’ll have some exclusive content for you soon (including the interstitial extract from “You Are My Water, My World” that I teased in my last update.

My friend Brandon Cooksman (another November novel project friend who I’ve mentioned before) has his new story Vera coming out early this month after many delays and diversions. I’ll add a link when it’s up on Amazon.

The regular summary follows:

New to my writing? Everything’s at my Amazon author page, and all but Photo Booth is free with your Kindle Unlimited subscription.

Want an untraditional sweet romance? Mendocino is your jam.

A little interracial spice from a casual encounter? Calissa is who you’re looking for.

Some medieval lust and love? Majesty of Defeat is the start of my Taledin series. Part two is almost done!

A short, spicy, contemporary why-choose involving a mother/daughter situation? The Road Home should do nicely.

But really, I wouldn’t post anything I wouldn’t want to read myself, so browse and pick something to meet your personal taste.