PROGRESS REPORT: WEEK ENDING MAY 9, 2026

 I managed to get some serious writing time this past week!😎

Not only did I complete Chapter 16, but am well into both the 31,000+ word count and Chapter 17 of the HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE prequel novel PRIVATE BATTLES!

I would love for this trend to continue, but the coming week does not look favorable between a doctor's appointment and a few other personal items on top of the usual housework, errands, chores, etc.

In any event, I will try to accomplish what I can in the days ahead but before I sign off, for those celebrating today:

Take care.

STAY SAFE!

And I'll see you around the Internet.

Lee Houston, Junior

10 May, 2026

PROGRESS REPORT: WEEK ENDING MAY 7, 2022

Well, although I will still have to stop at some point and make my second pass on the SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL before I send it to My Friendly Neighborhood Beta-Proofreader if she ever gets an opening in her busy schedule, I have started work anew on what will eventually become the second novel in the SOLITAIRE series! 😀

Or in other words, I've finally come up with an alternate plot!

Despite what Harlan Ellison always told people, there is no man in Schenectady, New York, USA that you can buy ideas from.💡🚫

Then again, I've also heard that ideas come from the ether and are brought by the Ether Bunny.🐰😉

But the truth is that regardless of how they materialize, ideas are products of the imagination.

Everyone's works differently, which is part of what contributes to such wide and varied titles within any given genre, let alone having such a vast plethora of genres to begin with.

But before I close this week's PROGRESS REPORT, although I lost mine back in 2017, I hope that those who could have enjoyed a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY with their maternal parent(s).

In any event take care.

STAY SAFE! 😷

And I'll see you around the Internet.

Lee Houston, Junior

8 May, 2022

PROGRESS REPORT: WEEK ENDING MAY 8, 2021

 A LOT OF GROUND TO COVER THIS WEEK, SO LET'S GET RIGHT TO IT!

I received a nice acknowledgement e-mail from the publisher I recently sent a writing contest entry to that they got my short story.

Still a long way off at this point from the submission deadline expiring, let alone a winner being announced, but considering past contests for other publishers I've competed in never paid entrants this courtesy...

If you're wondering why I still enter such contests to begin with, as a writer I'm always looking for new venues and creative opportunities so if I win, or at least "WOW" the judges enough for them to wonder what else I might have; it will be interesting to see what develops.

Still working on my SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL.

On Chapter 24 (not counting the Prologue) and have passed the 43,000 word mark.

Considering I'm hoping this will be the first book in an ongoing series, I won't have every plot point resolved by the last page, but the story certainly won't end with those dreaded words TO BE CONTINUED.

Got the SOLITAIRE manuscript back from My Friendly Neighborhood Beta-Proofreader, who once again found some more "bugs" in the Tokyo section of the adventure.

Man, I'm having more problems with that area than Japan does with Kaiju!😉 But this is why writers have beta-proofreaders, to catch such problems so they can be resolved long before the manuscript is submitted to and possibly rejected by a publisher because the errors weren't caught and corrected before sending it in.

When I finish making the corrections, Nancy will pick up where she left off and hopefully will have smooth sailing/reading from there.

Had a long story conference with Nancy Hansen this past week concerning the Mark Halegua Memorial Project.

As members of Team Blue, we have been working on finishing what would have been Mark's debut novel had he not been taken from the world prematurely last year. 😢

Mark was a friendly guy and very knowledgeable in regards to pulps past and present, which shows in the project he was working on.

It's set during the "Great" (quotation marks are mine because I've never been able to figure out what was so great about it) Depression and one man trying to make an honest living when...

In any event, I've obviously got to get back to writing now.

So take care.

STAY SAFE!😷

I'll see you around the Internet and—>

Lee Houston, Junior

9 May, 2021

PROGRESS REPORT: WEEK ENDING MAY 9, 2020

Finished going back over the SOLITAIRE manuscript and, between tweaking and tightening the text here and there, wound up adding an additional 150+ words, bringing the count up to almost 34,000 as I picked up where I left off.
Solitaire (the character) is still in Japan as I post this, fighting the good fight and still has a couple of more stops to go after leaving the Orient before Book 1's adventure is over.
♫Where it all ends I can't fathom my friends♫
Then again, I already know but I can't tell you, especially since I need to get back to writing now.😉

Take care, and I'll see you around the Internet.

Lee Houston, Junior

10 May, 2020

PROGRESS REPORT: WEEK ENDING MAY 9, 2015

I have completed that invitational short story I've been working on the past few weeks!
Gonna go back in a few days and give it a final read through before submitting it to the publisher who invited me to participate in the anthology.
Meanwhile, back to work on ALPHA, BOOK 2: WAYWARD SON!

Lee Houston, Junior
10 May, 2015