Update #4: Origins II Editing

3/7/25

Hello!

I've been doing pretty well recently, and shifted onto editing Origins II.

I haven't published one of these update blogs in a bit, the last one was just my maps. Which was fun to publish and write!

My recent blogs seem like I'm going through some stuff, which I guess I am but not to the severity they make it seem. I'm in a great place right now I just need to open my eyes.

But this is an update blog, so I'll stay on course and keep it light. These blogs probably won't have concept art going forward, maybe they'll feature maps or stuff like it. But not today's blog.

So, Origins II is fast approaching publication. Yet I'm still about two months out. We're only about halfway through the timeline, yet the process feels further along than that. That's probably a good thing.

Origins II isn't fully finished being written, but I had to step away from writing. I reached the final fight scene after several re-writes of the pre-battle "monologue". I have an idea of how it's supposed to feel, but I'm struggling to convey it. Honestly, I kind of just hate fight scenes. The final battle of Origins was fine, I liked it a little better how I published it online, but I had to make some changes for the official release, like add Liam into the battle.

However, I may lack clear purpose for this new final battle. It's kind of a first for me. Foundations and Origins battles felt very different, since they were directly fighting the villain of that book, but Origins II is different. The main villain is not so important in this book, maybe that's a bad thing. But Origins II in a lot of ways is more about the characters than anything. That's what I like to write anyway. (Maybe I'm giving Origins and Foundations a silver lining, the villains weren't directly involved in those books either, maybe even less so...)

So now I'm editing Origins II. It's not even complete, and I've already gone onto the next phase. It'll all work out though. I'm getting a better feel for the book again as I go through and read what's already happened and spurred our characters onto their path. I feel like this happens with every book, yet I forget between every book. That could be said for any part of this process.

So that's the update. Editing has started, writing is on hold. I want to finish it all in early April, so I have plenty of time still. But these next few weeks will get busy! I am finishing one job, moving back to the states, and starting another. This is all happening in the next month. So we'll see how I manage the stress!

Otherwise, I'm excited for what's to come, both for my books and my personal life.

Have a great month of March, and potentially April too. I'm sure I'll blog more but who knows if I'll think about wishing this again!