PROGRESS REPORT: WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 14, 2026

 Another busy week is behind me, but at least I got some writing done.

Had to get both an eye exam and my car past emissions this past week, on top of the usual cooking, cleaning, laundry and other assorted errands and chores.

Since I was dilated, that day was a total loss to everything except the radio. 😕 I did get to hear some good music while my eyes readjusted to normal.

The optometrist says that while I may be facing cataract surgery someday, it happens to everyone in time but it won't be within my foreseeable future.

No pun intended.

And I'm over 22,000+ words and into Chapter 12 of the HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE prequel novel: PRIVATE BATTLES.

So you have to take the good with the bad.

In any event, I better get back to writing now.

Take care.

STAY SAFE!

Have a great week and I'll see you around the Internet.

Lee Houston, Junior

15 February, 2026

PROGRESS REPORT: WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 7, 2026

 I've made it to Chapter 12 and am about to break the 21,000+ word mark on the HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE prequel novel PRIVATE BATTLES.

I admit that Chapter 11 took a little longer to complete than I first thought it would.

Part of it was trying to work things out.

Another part was going back to tweak stuff in previous chapters as the novel evolves to where it is now and what it might be by the time I finish.

The rest was the usual requirements of life that I've discussed before. Like cooking, cleaning, etc.

One aspect that I haven't touched much on lately has been the weather.

As I post this, there hasn't been a day or night ABOVE freezing in my neck of the woods so far in 2026!

And this streak extends into the last few days of 2025 before New Year's Eve!

The weather forecasts claim by this time next weekend it might be a different story, at least during the days. We might even make it to like 37 or 38 degrees Fahrenheit during the day.

However the nights will still dip back down below 32F.

On the plus side, I'm staying in more to keep warm, which does get me some extra writing time.

On the other hand, all I can think of is trying to stay warm and wondering when all this {bleep} will end?

Except for missing the holidays and my family, I always thought bears had the right idea about hibernating until Spring.

In any event, take care.

STAY SAFE!

Have a great week and I'll see you around the Internet.

Lee Houston, Junior

8 February, 2026

And still available from Amazon...

PROGRESS REPORT: WEEK ENDING JANUARY 31, 2026

 The first month of 2026 is over. Wish its winter was too!

It has been SERIOUSLY cold these last few weeks.

HOW COLD IS IT?

It has been so cold... you folks will have to make up your own jokes about it because I'm too busy trying to stay warm to do so myself. 😉

In any event, while I'm still on Chapter 11 of the HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE PREQUEL
NOVEL: PRIVATE BATTLES, I have broken the 21,000+ word mark.

This has been one heck of a novel to write so far because, while I'm trying to set up the series for whoever winds up being the revived HUGH's new publisher once I'm done with this manuscript and start looking for them, I don't want to use anything that I already did in the existing books.

The previous HUGH MONN novels from the late, lamented Pro Se Press are part of my long term plans to restart the series.

I plan to take as many of the cases from the original short story collection and rework them into one novel to be called EARLY DAYS, which starts after PRIVATE BATTLES' last page when HUGH has earned his private detective license and sets up his own practice.

Whether or not there will be a totally new novel after that book remains to be seen, but there will be a new case for the private detective in the far flung future between the rereleases of CATCH A RISING STAR and FEMME FATALES, the other books Pro Se published in HUGH's previous print history.

Of course I will be going back over and revising those manuscripts before they're published again but afterward everything will be brand new from that point on.

Now then, two quick points of interest before I end this post.

The first being I would like to thank everyone for the 8,368 page views FILLING BLANK SPACES received this past month, which is the highest ever according to Google's Blogger logs.

The second should come as no surprise, but SOLITAIRE'S DEBUT NOVEL as well as SOLITAIRE 2: THE AGENDA are both on sale at Amazon from Airship 27.

Now then, I better get back to writing now.

Take care.

STAY SAFE!
And I'll see you around the Internet.

Lee Houston, Junior

1 February, 2026