Hello, dreamers. It was another busy week, but I’ve made good progress. Still, as I always say, the work of an aspiring writer is never done. That said, here’s what I’m working on this week.

Pioneers

Unfortunately, I didn’t meet my self-imposed deadline for finishing work on Pioneers. I’m trying to salve my conscience by telling myself that, due to the holiday, I still technically have another day. The good news is that, as of this writing, I am five chapters away from the end. And, given the amount of work I’ve done on the coming chapters over the past year, I should find myself doing more proofreading than actual writing.

That said, I feel the press of my ongoing projects acutely. Given how important it is to me, I find it necessary to immerse myself when working on Pioneers. That means while I’m working on it, there’s little room for anything else. And I can feel my upcoming and outstanding projects breathing down my neck.

My goal for today is to finish work on Pioneers. Despite the small number of chapters remaining, I believe it’s an audacious goal. But hopefully I can wrap things up tonight. Once that’s done, I plan to step away from the story for a few days, and focus on my next project.

Aquarius 1 and Turn of the Century

Through my work on Pioneers, I’ve kept at it with research for Aquarius 1. It didn’t take long for me to start seeing this as an immense task, one that kept spinning off in more directions. Luckily, I had my experience researching Pioneers to fall back on.

I’ve begun to realize that, at least for now, I don’t need to worry about in-depth research on the moon, or its biosphere. So, I’ve decided to narrow my focus to the book’s initial setting: the DSRV Challenger. That said, I’ve again found my comps research to be invaluable. I’ve begun asking myself new questions. What music to the characters listen to? What does the ship smell like?

To that end, I’ve been immersing myself in reading on cultural trends. It’s a subject I’ve long found utterly fascinating, and I’ve been enjoying it. As I work through it, a picture of human society and culture in the 2110s is slowly coming together.

As if all of this wasn’t enough, I do plan to take a fresh look at Turn of the Century during my Pioneers break this week. I also plan to resume my weekly posts, starting with a new “WIP Wednesday”, in which I’ll be writing about how cultural trends in our history might inform my vision of the future. Until then, dare to dream. – MK