Luke Chmilenko's Blog
December 29, 2020
Twenty-Twenty-Won
Hi there everyone! Welcome to my last update of the year here which I’m dropping a little early because we have a bunch of things to cover, and I figure it’s never too early to start looking forward, especially with the kind of year 2020 has shaped up to be! So here we go again with another awesome end of the year wrap up and a look ahead at what’s next.
Wrapping up my best year yet:
This year we had two major titles released, the first being the long awaited Ascend Online: Glory to the Brave which I finally managed to finish and the surprise mega-hit that was Stormweaver: Iron Prince. Both of these books did just so amazingly well that I had to pinch myself at times to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming. For Glory to the Brave, we broke all previous ranking records and managed to hit 10th in the whole Audible store for a brief blip in time and for Iron Prince, we managed to claw all the way up to 54th in the Amazon store – all of which was only possible with your support! It’s already surreal that I’m able to support myself and my family with my writing, but to be able to share my stories with so many people (and have them enjoy it!) is just a dream come true.
So, for all of you who have read my books this year and have supported me through not only all the waiting, but the general disaster that was 2020, thank you so much! I really would not be able to do this without your help and, encouragement, and excitement! It is my hope that I can keep bringing you a heap of books for years to come, which is exactly what I plan to do for 2021, so let’s jump on ahead and see what’s in store!
What’s in store for 2021:
A lot. And I mean a lot. So much that the easiest way I’ve come up with to explain everything is to simply dump my writing schedule here so that you can all see.
2021 Writing Schedule:
Solo works:
Scion of Magic - Scion of Magic Book 1
Threads of Fate - Ascend Online Book 5
Co-written works:
Savage Dominion - Savage Dominion Book 1 - with G.D Penman
Wyrmshard - Savage Dominion Book 2 - with G.D Penman
Untitled – Savage Dominion Book 3 - with G.D Penman
Untitled - The Shattered Reigns Book 2 - with Bryce O’Connor
Untitled - Stormweaver Book 2 - with Bryce O’Connor
Paragon of Blood - Paragon Book 1 - with Alex Knight
Paragon of Shadow - Paragon Book 2 - with Alex Knight
Nine Worlds - Nine Worlds Book 1 - with Demi Harper
I did say it was a lot, right? And yes, you read that list right. I have as many as ten books that will be either completed and/or started this year and go into 2022 (assuming that there are no surprises, of course). That’s a lot. In fact, it’s nearly half again my existing catalogue of books at this point in time. But as I say that, I do have two important notes to make with regards to this schedule, the first being that completion does not mean publishing. There is a lot of work that goes into the postproduction of a book, such as editing, proofing, covers, ARC Team reading, and so on, which for some of these books is going to stretch into 2022 because of their completion timing.
Secondly, a few of these books/series (Scion of Magic, Ascend Online 5, and Paragon) are going to be simultaneously released with audiobooks, which means that while they will be ‘done and polished’ they will be in a pending state until the timing all lines up for their release. I have heard what many of you said with not liking the audiobook delays and I will try to see if I can shorten it where I can. But for some series it may not be possible, or make sense for me to do so, such as cases for exceptionally long narrator waits or more business-related reasons.
Now because we have such a huge list of projects that I’m going to be juggling going forward, I am going to be changing the format of my monthly updates to give a snapshot of where they all are in that moment in time as well as their target word counts for finishing. Hopefully should be a cleaner method than what we had going in the past and help capture the full scope of what’s going on.
So, with that said, here is where we are as of now:
End of 2020 Writing Update:
Primary Solo Project:
Scion of Magic: 8,969/150,000 words
Secondary Solo Project:
Anthology Short Story: Planning/Outlining Stage
Ascend Online: Threads of Fate: 150,894/250,000 words
Co-written Projects:
Untitled - The Shattered Reigns Book 2: 35,000/150,000 words
Savage Dominion Book 1: Complete! Release Date: January 15th, 2021
Wyrmshard - Savage Dominion Book 2: Planning/Outlining Stage
Paragon of Blood - Paragon Book 1: Planning/Outlining Stage
As you can see, I’ve just started working on Scion of Magic as my primary project, which with a bit of luck I hope to have done or nearly done by mid spring. Right now, we’re in the early stages of the book which is traditionally the slowest part for me. I’m hoping as plug forward into the meat of the book I’ll find my legs and start zooming through larger and larger chunks of it.
For my secondary project, I am pressing ahead on Threads of Fate and a short story for an upcoming anthology. As you can all see for Threads of Fate, I already have a huge chunk of words written for it, however they are a bit of a mess (from my perspective at least). What I’m doing right now for the time being is essentially a lot of cutting and editing, so I can be ready to jump into it when the time comes. My hope is that I’ll be able to have the book done sometime in the fall of 2021, but with how many projects I have on the go this year and with how long an Ascend Online book typically is, I’m honestly not sure how realistic that goal is. I’ll do my best though!
Regarding the co-written projects, Savage Dominion is done and has a release date! This book will be coming out on January 15th with the cover reveal and pre-order to go up on January 1st! So, keep your eyes peeled for that very soon! Beyond that G.D and I have already started on book 2, Wyrmshard and hope to have it finished by the summer with the release to follow sometime afterwards.
Next Bryce and I are also working hard on book 2 of our Shattered Reigns series. Our current hope is to have this book content complete by mid spring and then get it out into the world ASAP afterwards. Then afterwards our plan is to jump right into Stormweaver book 2, which will hopefully be completed by the end of the year or early 2022. It’s unfortunately too early to say right now just when that book will be ready.
Beyond those three projects, I am also excited to announce two more co-written projects I will be working on this year with both Alex Knight (best known for his Nova Online series!) and Demi Harper (best known for her God of Gnomes series!). They are fantastic authors and I am super excited for the stories that we have in store for you all!
With Alex, we will be working on a new OP MC system apocalypse style LitRPG titled ‘Paragon’ which will be in the spirit of ‘Solo Leveling’, ‘I am the Sorcerer King’, and ‘Towers of Heaven’ to name a few inspirational sources. With luck, we will have the first book out this year with the second to follow early 2022.
With Demi, we will be working on a Norse Epic Progression Fantasy story, drawing heaps of inspiration from the Assassins Creed Valhalla, God of War, and a host of other books too numerous to name! Right now our hope is to finish book 1 by the end of this year and aim for a 2022 publication date.
And that’s it! Or, at least that’s it when it comes to books. I have two other Kickstarter related projects that I would love to put out this year, but at the moment I am still looking into their viability and timing – especially with the aftereffects of the pandemic still looming over us. If things work out, I’ll hopefully be able to pile them on top of everything else that we have planned here, but if not, I’ll delay until my workload and the world is more back to normal.
So, with all of that, I’m going to wish you all a super happy holiday and new year to come and will see you all again soon in 2021!
Luke
Wrapping up my best year yet:
This year we had two major titles released, the first being the long awaited Ascend Online: Glory to the Brave which I finally managed to finish and the surprise mega-hit that was Stormweaver: Iron Prince. Both of these books did just so amazingly well that I had to pinch myself at times to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming. For Glory to the Brave, we broke all previous ranking records and managed to hit 10th in the whole Audible store for a brief blip in time and for Iron Prince, we managed to claw all the way up to 54th in the Amazon store – all of which was only possible with your support! It’s already surreal that I’m able to support myself and my family with my writing, but to be able to share my stories with so many people (and have them enjoy it!) is just a dream come true.
So, for all of you who have read my books this year and have supported me through not only all the waiting, but the general disaster that was 2020, thank you so much! I really would not be able to do this without your help and, encouragement, and excitement! It is my hope that I can keep bringing you a heap of books for years to come, which is exactly what I plan to do for 2021, so let’s jump on ahead and see what’s in store!
What’s in store for 2021:
A lot. And I mean a lot. So much that the easiest way I’ve come up with to explain everything is to simply dump my writing schedule here so that you can all see.
2021 Writing Schedule:
Solo works:
Scion of Magic - Scion of Magic Book 1
Threads of Fate - Ascend Online Book 5
Co-written works:
Savage Dominion - Savage Dominion Book 1 - with G.D Penman
Wyrmshard - Savage Dominion Book 2 - with G.D Penman
Untitled – Savage Dominion Book 3 - with G.D Penman
Untitled - The Shattered Reigns Book 2 - with Bryce O’Connor
Untitled - Stormweaver Book 2 - with Bryce O’Connor
Paragon of Blood - Paragon Book 1 - with Alex Knight
Paragon of Shadow - Paragon Book 2 - with Alex Knight
Nine Worlds - Nine Worlds Book 1 - with Demi Harper
I did say it was a lot, right? And yes, you read that list right. I have as many as ten books that will be either completed and/or started this year and go into 2022 (assuming that there are no surprises, of course). That’s a lot. In fact, it’s nearly half again my existing catalogue of books at this point in time. But as I say that, I do have two important notes to make with regards to this schedule, the first being that completion does not mean publishing. There is a lot of work that goes into the postproduction of a book, such as editing, proofing, covers, ARC Team reading, and so on, which for some of these books is going to stretch into 2022 because of their completion timing.
Secondly, a few of these books/series (Scion of Magic, Ascend Online 5, and Paragon) are going to be simultaneously released with audiobooks, which means that while they will be ‘done and polished’ they will be in a pending state until the timing all lines up for their release. I have heard what many of you said with not liking the audiobook delays and I will try to see if I can shorten it where I can. But for some series it may not be possible, or make sense for me to do so, such as cases for exceptionally long narrator waits or more business-related reasons.
Now because we have such a huge list of projects that I’m going to be juggling going forward, I am going to be changing the format of my monthly updates to give a snapshot of where they all are in that moment in time as well as their target word counts for finishing. Hopefully should be a cleaner method than what we had going in the past and help capture the full scope of what’s going on.
So, with that said, here is where we are as of now:
End of 2020 Writing Update:
Primary Solo Project:
Scion of Magic: 8,969/150,000 words
Secondary Solo Project:
Anthology Short Story: Planning/Outlining Stage
Ascend Online: Threads of Fate: 150,894/250,000 words
Co-written Projects:
Untitled - The Shattered Reigns Book 2: 35,000/150,000 words
Savage Dominion Book 1: Complete! Release Date: January 15th, 2021
Wyrmshard - Savage Dominion Book 2: Planning/Outlining Stage
Paragon of Blood - Paragon Book 1: Planning/Outlining Stage
As you can see, I’ve just started working on Scion of Magic as my primary project, which with a bit of luck I hope to have done or nearly done by mid spring. Right now, we’re in the early stages of the book which is traditionally the slowest part for me. I’m hoping as plug forward into the meat of the book I’ll find my legs and start zooming through larger and larger chunks of it.
For my secondary project, I am pressing ahead on Threads of Fate and a short story for an upcoming anthology. As you can all see for Threads of Fate, I already have a huge chunk of words written for it, however they are a bit of a mess (from my perspective at least). What I’m doing right now for the time being is essentially a lot of cutting and editing, so I can be ready to jump into it when the time comes. My hope is that I’ll be able to have the book done sometime in the fall of 2021, but with how many projects I have on the go this year and with how long an Ascend Online book typically is, I’m honestly not sure how realistic that goal is. I’ll do my best though!
Regarding the co-written projects, Savage Dominion is done and has a release date! This book will be coming out on January 15th with the cover reveal and pre-order to go up on January 1st! So, keep your eyes peeled for that very soon! Beyond that G.D and I have already started on book 2, Wyrmshard and hope to have it finished by the summer with the release to follow sometime afterwards.
Next Bryce and I are also working hard on book 2 of our Shattered Reigns series. Our current hope is to have this book content complete by mid spring and then get it out into the world ASAP afterwards. Then afterwards our plan is to jump right into Stormweaver book 2, which will hopefully be completed by the end of the year or early 2022. It’s unfortunately too early to say right now just when that book will be ready.
Beyond those three projects, I am also excited to announce two more co-written projects I will be working on this year with both Alex Knight (best known for his Nova Online series!) and Demi Harper (best known for her God of Gnomes series!). They are fantastic authors and I am super excited for the stories that we have in store for you all!
With Alex, we will be working on a new OP MC system apocalypse style LitRPG titled ‘Paragon’ which will be in the spirit of ‘Solo Leveling’, ‘I am the Sorcerer King’, and ‘Towers of Heaven’ to name a few inspirational sources. With luck, we will have the first book out this year with the second to follow early 2022.
With Demi, we will be working on a Norse Epic Progression Fantasy story, drawing heaps of inspiration from the Assassins Creed Valhalla, God of War, and a host of other books too numerous to name! Right now our hope is to finish book 1 by the end of this year and aim for a 2022 publication date.
And that’s it! Or, at least that’s it when it comes to books. I have two other Kickstarter related projects that I would love to put out this year, but at the moment I am still looking into their viability and timing – especially with the aftereffects of the pandemic still looming over us. If things work out, I’ll hopefully be able to pile them on top of everything else that we have planned here, but if not, I’ll delay until my workload and the world is more back to normal.
So, with all of that, I’m going to wish you all a super happy holiday and new year to come and will see you all again soon in 2021!
Luke
November 1, 2020
November Writing Update!
Hey everyone!
We’re kicking things off with a new blog here on Goodreads to celebrate the end – and the start – of another month! So welcome to November and welcome to my new blog! Woo! Just one more month to go until there’s only one more month to go for the year! (We can do this and finally say goodbye to 2020!) But until then, we have ourselves another writing update to get through, so let’s dive in as we always do!
All hail Stormweaver: Iron Prince!
Starting off first with the biggest update of the month, thanks to all of your help, Stormweaver: Iron Prince has been an amazing success these last two weeks, managing to gather over 600 reviews and shoot up the amazon charts in just two weeks! This crushed any and all expectation that Bryce and I had for the book and we are absolutely floored by its reception. Thank you for everyone who supported us with this book! If for some reason you haven’t tried this book out just yet, then well, now’s your chance! Your fellow readers have weighed in and absolutely love it!
For those of you who have read it and are itching to know about the sequel, Bryce and I are working towards it! Right now, we need to finish off book 2 in the Shattered Reigns series, and then we’ll be diving back into Stormweaver. With luck, we will be able to have the book ready and done for the end months of 2021. (Big books take time to write after all!)
Now announcing the next project!
I know I have been fairly secretive about the other projects that I have been working on, but it’s time now to formally announce one of them here, which is a new cowritten series with myself and G.D Penman titled, ‘Savage Dominion’! This is an Isekai Fantasy LitRPG that we just finished the first draft of this week. The next step is to go through the self edit process then the formal editing one afterwards. It’s a little too early to say when we’ll have this book turned around just yet. But if there is any way that we can get it out this year, we will *try*, but likely it will stretch to January.
And beyond that…
I don’t know. Or I do, sorta, but I haven’t quite made up my mind just yet. Beyond Savage Dominion I have two other solo projects on my plate that I have spoken about before, the first being Starfall (A SciFi LitRPG Novel) and the other being Scion of Magic (A Progression Fantasy Novel). I’d originally planned to work on Starfall next after finishing this current crop of books, but after listening to some feedback from early readers and watching what the reception was like for both Glory to the Brave and Iron Prince, I am not so sure the original story I had planned is the right one. Specifically, the VRMMORPG and LitRPG elements within.
So, with that in mind I have taken my idea back to the planning stages to see if the book wouldn’t be better suited as a Progression novel, rather than a LitRPG. As I do that, I’m turning my attention more towards Scion of Magic for the time being in terms of active writing, but I’m not sure yet where my focus will land just yet. I really hope to be back into the writing groove by the month’s end, but we will have to see. In either case, I am planning for these next books to be substantially shorter than my usual works, so I don’t expect whichever I choose to take too long to write, after which I plan to jump back onto Ascend Online: Threads of Fate and finish that book off with the content that I’ve originally split off.
Okay! I think I’ve rambled enough here for the month, so I am going to wrap it here and get back to work! Thank you again for those of you who have supported Glory to the Brave and Stormweaver: Iron Prince’s launch and I will be seeing you all again come December!
We’re kicking things off with a new blog here on Goodreads to celebrate the end – and the start – of another month! So welcome to November and welcome to my new blog! Woo! Just one more month to go until there’s only one more month to go for the year! (We can do this and finally say goodbye to 2020!) But until then, we have ourselves another writing update to get through, so let’s dive in as we always do!
All hail Stormweaver: Iron Prince!
Starting off first with the biggest update of the month, thanks to all of your help, Stormweaver: Iron Prince has been an amazing success these last two weeks, managing to gather over 600 reviews and shoot up the amazon charts in just two weeks! This crushed any and all expectation that Bryce and I had for the book and we are absolutely floored by its reception. Thank you for everyone who supported us with this book! If for some reason you haven’t tried this book out just yet, then well, now’s your chance! Your fellow readers have weighed in and absolutely love it!
For those of you who have read it and are itching to know about the sequel, Bryce and I are working towards it! Right now, we need to finish off book 2 in the Shattered Reigns series, and then we’ll be diving back into Stormweaver. With luck, we will be able to have the book ready and done for the end months of 2021. (Big books take time to write after all!)
Now announcing the next project!
I know I have been fairly secretive about the other projects that I have been working on, but it’s time now to formally announce one of them here, which is a new cowritten series with myself and G.D Penman titled, ‘Savage Dominion’! This is an Isekai Fantasy LitRPG that we just finished the first draft of this week. The next step is to go through the self edit process then the formal editing one afterwards. It’s a little too early to say when we’ll have this book turned around just yet. But if there is any way that we can get it out this year, we will *try*, but likely it will stretch to January.
And beyond that…
I don’t know. Or I do, sorta, but I haven’t quite made up my mind just yet. Beyond Savage Dominion I have two other solo projects on my plate that I have spoken about before, the first being Starfall (A SciFi LitRPG Novel) and the other being Scion of Magic (A Progression Fantasy Novel). I’d originally planned to work on Starfall next after finishing this current crop of books, but after listening to some feedback from early readers and watching what the reception was like for both Glory to the Brave and Iron Prince, I am not so sure the original story I had planned is the right one. Specifically, the VRMMORPG and LitRPG elements within.
So, with that in mind I have taken my idea back to the planning stages to see if the book wouldn’t be better suited as a Progression novel, rather than a LitRPG. As I do that, I’m turning my attention more towards Scion of Magic for the time being in terms of active writing, but I’m not sure yet where my focus will land just yet. I really hope to be back into the writing groove by the month’s end, but we will have to see. In either case, I am planning for these next books to be substantially shorter than my usual works, so I don’t expect whichever I choose to take too long to write, after which I plan to jump back onto Ascend Online: Threads of Fate and finish that book off with the content that I’ve originally split off.
Okay! I think I’ve rambled enough here for the month, so I am going to wrap it here and get back to work! Thank you again for those of you who have supported Glory to the Brave and Stormweaver: Iron Prince’s launch and I will be seeing you all again come December!
