Progress Report.

Hey there! Thought I forgot about you all, didn't you? I don't want this blog collecting dust for too long, so I thought I'd give a little update on how "Ruins" is coming along.

It's clear I have a lot of work ahead of me before I'll be fit for publishing. To be honest, I'm kind of overwhelmed just thinking about all the changes I need to do for "Ruins". Chronic procrastinator that I am, I haven't really gotten around to it yet. But just so I can say I'm doing something, I've been working on three "cutaway" chapters.

These chapters don't focus on Danson, Mankins, and the other main characters, and don't have any real impact on the plot. However, they do give some depth to the setting (at least I hope so) and remind us that there are all these other SHIM owners we never really see. There are a lot of chapters in the book (especially in Part 1) that focus on other people with the main characters taking a backseat. A reader (thanks, by the way!) pointed out to me that this can be distracting, and if I'm going to temporarily shift focus to someone else it would be best to remove the main characters entirely. I decided to experiment with the idea and see if it works. At the moment, I've done two of the three planned cutaways. I want to get the third done, but I'm so caught up with college work and half the time I'm not even at home! (Meaning I can't use the computer my work is saved on.) I should have that third chapter done by this weekend, though (if Murphy's Law somehow prevents that, then definitely the weekend after). Once they're all done I'll put them up here.

Then I suppose I'll get to the real work. There's so much of it, but I guess I can just take it on a little bit at a time. Wish me luck!

Oh, and something you should know for when I put up the cutaway chapters. The first one takes place during Part 1, the second during Part 10, and the third during Part 11. Also, remember that these would be actual chapters in the book, not separate short stories. Try to imagine them in that context, because part of the feedback I'd like regarding the cutaways is if they disrupt the pacing too much or not.

Anyway, there's the update. Expect the cutaways soon, and I hope you're all doing great!