But promises. To myself. And I guess, to you.

Now, where were we? Oh yeah.

Things For Which Words Actually Exist

In some cases actually quite a few words. They accumulate over time, you know.

Practice to Deceive 2, AKA ‘Seeing is Deceiving’

This is very, very nearly done. Relatively. But it’s been ‘very nearly done’ for literally years at this point, so, you know. Time to shit. Er, finish.

For those who care about these things – that’s you, right? – this has been in the works almost since the first book was published, so from about 2014. It’s been plotted since then. Just not written. Does that tell you plotting in advance is bad? I dunno.

Anyway, status is 102,000 words, give or take a few. I projected 125K, but I have a feeling it’ll come in longer. If it does come in longer, it’ll be bigger than the original.

Is it better than the original? Well, it’s different. For those who read the first one (and if you haven’t, why the hell are you here?), this continues directly with Billy, Kate and Ginny jetting off to San Diego for Comic-Con. (Clearly, this is set concurrently with when it was conceived, so 2014, when things were still relatively normal.) There, hijinks and shenanigans ensue. Let’s just say it’s not just Billy that ends up wearing a mask and impersonating people.

That’s the big one. It’s the one that’s open in another window right now taunting me. It has to happen this year. It just has to.

Fffffffine, a deadline, fine. I’m very unsure on this. Let’s say first half of 2022. OK? Maybe I’ll dig up the publication date for the first one and throw it out at the same time.

(checks Amazon)

June 29th. Huh. Well, I guess that lines up nicely.

You’re The One That I Want

This isn’t a novel, it’s a short story, I guess. (Something in the region of 10K words, I think.) It was written when I was really struggling with getting anything down, and told myself I’d write this in literal ‘five minute chunks’. It’s actually been done for a couple of years, but something nagged at me endlessly about the ending. It didn’t work. So it’s getting rewritten. When that’s done, it’ll be out soon after.

So when, you deadline dodging bastard?

Fine. It shall be out by February. Of this year. Yikes.

I’ve been told by one early reader that this is one of the hottest things I’ve ever written. I don’t agree, but it’s certainly fun, and has a specific bent to it that I think many of you will like.

A Halloween Story I Started in 2021

… but clearly, didn’t finish. So I will. By Halloween. I mean, c’mon. For real.

A Christmas Story I Started in, uh, let’s not talk about that

This one’s been tricky to crack. I really like what I have. I’m just not sure how to end it. I actually picked it up again to try and have it out by ‘last’ (it was a week ago, god) Christmas, but no dice. Sooo this year then?

What the hell else. Hmm.

Things I’ve Considered Writing Which, Frankly, You Should Tell Me If You Want

And no, don’t just say “I’ll take everything!” Consider yourself holding one precious vote which you can leave in comments. I’m not committing to doing any of these, but to be honest I don’t have a big project going, so… maybe I should have one? And these are all big.

Her Substitute 2

I have a few different ideas around this. One in particular, I have to admit, I do like, and would be potentially quite fun. Not fully formed, though, but that could change.

The likelihood is this would be similar to the first book in that it’d be in some sort of teen dominated setting, likely a school. If you loved the first book for the sexy schoolteacher thing, this would work. If you were into the slow-burn seduction of the innocent thing, maybe less so. I wouldn’t want to totally repeat myself.

If there’s a pitch in my head it’s basically “Darien meets his match”.

A new original superheroine (ish) series

Some of you likely remember BBSSG, or Spider-Girl. I have been tempted many times to go back to work with her, mostly because I have happy memories there… but when I look at where I left it, it’s a convoluted mess of plot spaghetti and after a few more minutes I go “Oh yeah, didn’t I stop writing this because no-one could possibly pay me for it?”

The solution has/was/is to write my own. So over the years I’ve toyed with a bunch of different ideas on this. I’ve pretty much settled on one, which is ambitious – and wouldn’t have a woman as the central figure. Well… kinda. Hard to say without spoiling. Let’s say if you felt reading SG back in the day that there was too much F2F masking and not enough M2F, well, this’ll float your boat.

There’s heavy lift here, but it could be fun. It’d be cool to architect my own universe. I’d miss messing with all the building blocks Marvel left strewn about – and believe me, I had more ideas on how to play with them – but hey, that’s what thinly-veiled archetypes are for right (I mean jeez, it’s not like The Big Two don’t do it literally all the time).

Some sort of return to A Lie Within A Lie

Apart from on DeviantArt where the BBSSG chapters get requests all the time, ALWAL is the series (ha) which gets the most requests for continuation.

Problem is I have no real clue on how to do it. It’s just never struck me. I could push myself to figure out something, but… never have.

The original story came from a very specific place, which I’ve talked about before; the impetus to continue just isn’t really there. The story seems to be done. I’ve had people suggest that Ethan find Dominic years later, or Dominic goes after another target, or Ethan basically turns into Dominic, but none of those really resonate.

As I type this something does flicker in my head. The question of what would happen to that messed up family after Dominic was gone from their lives. Especially considering the relationship between Ethan and his stepsister. Hmm.

Anyway, this could be done, it’s just not something I’ve really thought of.

That’ll do. I’m getting that feeling in the pit of my stomach which the workshy part of me doesn’t react well to.

You have a vote. Use it if you like. And in 364 days, if nothing from the above is present and available, feel free to use this to beat me with.