October 19, 2026

And so dawns a new week. Before I get to the actual important things, I can confirm: the cypress is no more. It has ceased to be. It has run out the curtain and joined the choir invisible. It is an ex-tree. If it wasn’t for the stump that remains in the ground, its existence would have been lost to the winds of history.

Now the important stuff. What am I doing this week in writing? What are my goals for writing. Well, I’m sorry to say that one week isn’t much different than any other. My goal is to simply keep moving forward. I want to be done through Chapter 10 in the dark YA urban fantasy, Chapter 5 in the YA contemporary drama, and finish through the first half of the middle-grade monster academia all by day’s end October 30th. That gives me eleven days. Steep but obtainable.

I am starting to accept that the dark YA likely won’t be ready for February. It still could get there, but it’s looking more like March. Better to polish than rush. Once I get to the more action-heavy chapters in the back half of the book, it should speed up. The problem is getting there first.

The YA drama is moving at an okay pace. Even if I don’t accelerate its pace when one of the other projects finishes, it should be ready for revision by February. That keeps it well on pace for June.

Wow. Is that really all there is for today? I mean, aside from knowing I need to post more on social media, my week is pretty calm this week, which is exactly what I needed. Hopefully, I’ll hit my goals for the week.