Hal Spacejock 6: Safe Art - I've completed 28,000 words in 24 days. Target 65,000, and I'm hoping to have the first draft done by the end of August.

Hal Junior 3: The Gyris Mission.  The first draft is complete at 31,000 words, editing is in progress and the draft paperback layout is in place. Cover art under way. Hoping to get it all ready during September, with a release date towards the end of the month. (ISBN for the paperback is 978-1-877034-24-4)


October will be Hal 6 editing month, and I'm looking to release the ebook towards the end of November. However ...

November is Nanowrimo, and this year I intend to write a brand new novel featuring another character from the Hal Spacejock series. It'll be more gritty than the Hal Spacejock books, and it should satisfy my itch to write a proper thriller.

It's possible Nanowrimo will delay Hal 6, but not by much.

After that I have a half-finished Hal Junior 4 novel waiting to be restarted, and Hal 7 is already 2/3 complete. Deadlines are a bit nebulous this far out, but assuming December '12 to write Jnr 4 and Jan/Feb '13 to write Hal 7, then Jnr 4 could be out in March '13 and Hal 7 could be April/May.

On top of that, Albert Aribaud, the translator who did such a good job on the French edition of Hal Spacejock book one, is currently working on the translation of Hal Junior: The Secret Signal. Very preliminary estimates are for a December completion, but that's just a wild guess at this stage.

I'll also have more translation news soon. Hal Spacejock really is spreading his wings, isn't he?

Obviously these deadlines are subject to change, and they depend very much on how much programming I have to do to pay the bills. My ebook income for the past 6-8 months is the only reason I've been able to write and release more books: I can point to the income and convince my family this writing business isn't just a hobby, and the long hours I spend at the computer really are worth it.

This isn't some lame author plea to buy my stuff, it's just a fact of life. For the first time in the past 15-20 years I can afford to devote more than odds and ends of spare time to my writing, and my output has increased enormously.

I hope your own projects are coming along - please feel free to comment below, letting me know what you're writing and how much time you're managing to put in every week.