Steven Rivers's Blog

Dear reader,

Thanks for dropping by.

I wanted to use this opening post to explain what this place is all about. I’m not sure exactly how it’s going to work but my intention is to use it to record my adventures in writing and publishing a mildly amusing (hopefully, ahem) fantasy series, called ‘The Alignment Cycle’. At the moment I’ve written six books in the series, consisting of two trilogies. The first (‘The Black Guild trilogy’) covers the events that happen at the end of the story (yeah, I’m sort of telling it back to front). The second (‘The Downfall trilogy’) covers the beginning – sort of like the Star Wars prequels, but with better special effects and no trade disputes. Actually, that’s a lie. The special effects are terrible and there is a trade dispute. Or at least a seige. It happens at the start of book #1, although you never get to see it. Anyway … my current plan, if I can call it that, is to start releasing the books from the spring of 2025. This gives me a year and a bit to get my stuff together. And that’s what I’m going to write about here. Me, getting my stuff together. Or trying to.

I’d like to be regular with posts, although we’ve already established that I’m a liar so don’t take my word for that. At the minute I’m trying to get some beta feedback on book #1 and I’ll be posting it shortly on Royal Road. Which will be interesting. Then I need to finish any revisions, sort the covers out, set up my mailing list, get some social media bits and pieces working, find some advance reviewers, get a web domain, and read everything I can possibly find about how to self-publish without vanishing down a sink hole.

So, if any of that sounds interesting then please do stick around. It’ll be fun.

Probably.

This battlestation is not yet operational.

Ok, so it seems as though I’m really bad at this. The trouble is life. It happens and it doesn’t stop and then when it’s happening there’s all these life-things to attend to and because most of them are fairly important, like work and making food and coffee, and especially coffee, then it’s difficult to say to yourself ‘Hey, maybe you should go and write one of those blog posts’, not least because I don’t really think that anyone is going to be too interested in hearing about my boring life-things. Unless you like coffee.

Anyway. I have been busy on one or two other bits and pieces, so I think I might stick it here and see how it goes.

The main thing is this: my WiP YA fantasy trilogy is no longer a WiP. It’s done.

Kinda. Almost.

It’s never going to be ‘done’ because I’m an inveterate twiddler with a compulsive desire to read and polish things until they’re as smooth as a greasy pig, but the basic point is that they are complete. Book #1 ‘The Signs of Magic’ is in the query trenches as I write. Books #2 and #3 are at the ‘this is very definitely the last round of edits’ phase.

So yeah, that’s my news.

See you again in a year.

Sorta. Ish. The thing is, I’m – quite obviously – not the best at this whole blogging malarky. And I tend to forget it’s here. But it’s been a whole year since I last dropped anything here so I thought I’d just scribble a few words down.

Anyway … quick update: The Misty City Chronicles (new name) are done. Also ‘sorta ish’. They’re ‘done’ as in if I got hit by a bus right now (which would be weird because I’m sitting on my sofa) you could read the whole thing from start to finish. I’m going to put it through the editing mangler now (although I’ve been editing as I go, so hopefully it’s pretty much there) and then it’s into the beta reader phase.

See you in another year!

That was a joke.

Sorta. Ish.

It’s true. I’m awful at it. I keep telling myself that I need to put more effort in, but then term starts and all available time disappears down a black hole.

But …

There is the latest: I’ve finally reached the draft stage for book 2 in my series, which is now provisionally called: The Misty City trilogy. Some of the chapters are still rough around the edges (one or two don’t even seem to have edges … ) but it’s all there in one form or another.

So yeah, that’s where I’m up to right now!

Ok, here we are. Still feeling like the inside of my head consists of steamed Christmas pudding after the holidays, but making time every day to get on with some writing.

As of this morning I am up to 51,000 words and on chapters 24-25. This includes a fair bit of editing, which is why the overall amount hasn’t gone up dramatically. I’ve also worked out – I think – how to tie everything together in book 3, so I’m starting to get excited about how it’s all going to pan out there.

Then, once all three books are written, I can start work on making them all fit together as a cohesive package. Hopefully, the first full draft of the Whole Thing will be ready by the end of the year.

This, is a long-term plan.

Happy writing!

To try and get myself blogging more I thought I’d try a new ‘Wednesday word count’. I’m not even sure if it’s Wednesday or not, because it feels like every day has been stuck on Sunday for about a week. But the calendar insists that it is. So who am I to argue?

Right now I don’t think there’s been much change in terms of the word count going up from my last post (I reckon it’s around 49K or so). I’ve managed to finish the first draft of chapter 21 (I’m aiming for 30-ish) and it took a few days of bashing away at things before my brain started to make words that fitted together. But hopefully, I’m starting to get back in the zone. The bad news is that term starts again next week, so my burst of new-found enthusiasm might be short-lived. But with a bit of luck I should be able to get up to chapter 23 by the weekend.

So yeah, this is a reboot. I’m having another crack at my 500-word-a-day plan.

Happy new year!

After taking a short break from writing due to (a) work, (b) having a Christmas holiday to recover from work, and (c) Red Dead Redemption 2 (ahem), I’m finally about to dive back into my WiP. I haven’t done much on it for a couple of weeks, so I’m hoping it all clicks back into place without too much hassle. Job #1 was to check the current word count, out of curiosity (and because it makes me feel like I’m doing something, even though I’m not). And right now it’s at: 47,315. The target is somewhere around the 60K mark, so I just need One Big Push (ok, maybe two) to get it over the line.

Also, I’m going to make a concerted effort to actually keep up with this blog. It’s one of the first casualties of work, so when term starts again in a week or so I’m going to be prepared.

One of the great things about working in academia is that it can be totally absorbing. The downside, however, is that it can easily zap all your spare time. But now term is finally over and I can breathe again – at least for a few weeks – I’m going to try and cultivate more of a blog-writing habit.

So there we are.

Taking a few days off to walk about in these hills (and maybe get some reading and writing done). It’s a nice place, but … oof, my feet are killing me!

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