PROGRESS REPORT: WEEK ENDING MARCH 29, 2014

With the end of March nigh, 2014 is almost a quarter over!
So I thought it best to pause and take note of everything I have accomplished over the last three months, and what lies ahead.

*At the end of 2013, I committed to two short stories this year that (at the time) had no scheduled deadlines.
Since that promise, the publisher asked me to finish the first one, which I did. The other is about ¾ finished, and needs a final proofreading review before being submitted.
The Singularity story I've previously bragged about was written in the latter half of 2013, and its anthology should be out sometime later this year.

*As reported last week, I have agreed to do a short story for a new anthology project that I am very excited about.
I know what I want to do, and have even started work on it. The story technically isn't due until October, but the publisher will get it long before then.

*ALPHA, BOOK 2: WAYWARD SON

Cover art by Marc Guerrero

As of this progress report, I have completed six chapters and am in the middle of Chapter 7.
Considering this project has been mentioned in practically every progress report since I started FILLING BLANK SPACES, why is this taking so long, you ask?
Super-heroic tales in straight prose (no images) are a lot harder to write than
you might think. Compared to television, movies, and comic books; everything is depended strictly upon the written word. With only the one previous book in the series, I am basically continuing where I left off at the end of PROJECT ALPHA, and I want every word to be as perfect as humanly possible.

*HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE: BOOK 3
You will note that there is no subtitle yet for the third book in this series about everybody's favorite private detective plying his trade on another planet in the far flung future.
Part of the reason for this is because what I had originally planned to do in Book 3 has been pushed back to Book 4, because the fourth book will be a real game changer for Hugh and company, and I wanted to lay some more ground work in Book 3 than just suddenly spring everything on you unsuspecting readers.
Work on this novel will begin just as soon as ALPHA, BOOK 2 is submitted and the short stories are done.

And of course there is always my Editor-In-Chief duties at The Free Choice E-zine, where we just celebrated our very first month of over 4000+ page views!

So what does the future hold?

I honestly don't know.

Barring anything unforeseen, I should be finished with Alpha and the short stories before the end of this summer, and working on HUGH 3 sometime after Labor Day at the latest.

Time is a precious commodity that us mere Humans never seem to have enough of. And this humble scribe, along with the rest of the world, also has to deal with the other day to day trappings of life too. Other projects and ideas are always welcomed, but until one of those arises, I know what I'm working on in the meantime.

See you around the Internet!
Lee Houston, Junior
30 March, 2014