In Which I Report Tangible Progress on the Novel

I’ve teased my upcoming book a couple of times—and today, I will drop a few more breadcrumbs for you. It’s not far away, now. This will be my final update before I go live with a cover, title, blurb, and release date. The key points:

The first draft is done. Only took me three years! I started¹ it on February 2, 2022, when I was a creative writing undergrad at Portland State—and on February 2, 2025, not two weeks ago, I logged the last few keystrokes. Total length came out to 124,124 words.
The second draft is in progress. I’m removing some chapters, adding material elsewhere, and generally making things as polished as I can for my awesome beta readers (you guys know who you are!). Rounds of critique and revision are scheduled through June-ish.
My work does not stop when the book itself is finished. Since I am self-publishing, that means I have to personally coordinate every aspect of the release: editing, formatting, cover art, cover design, ad copy, ad creative, promotional materials, advance review copies, advertising campaigns…
As such, I am postponing the date of publication to September. I could still publish in July, if I pushed hard enough, but I want more time to secure advance reviews and troubleshoot any issues with the print edition. I need to have absolutely all of my ducks in a row by the time this novel goes live.
I’ve signed a contract with a cover artist, and I’m actively hunting for a professional graphic designer to do the text and layout. Once I have the full cover, I will announce. Unfortunately, I can’t promise a specific date for the cover reveal—it could be as early as the end of this month, or as late as the beginning of April. Stay tuned.

All told, the project goes quite well. Even if I’ve once again modified my schedule, that is because I am cutting no corners, and sparing no expense. Mark my words, this will be beautiful.

One more note: that handsome space lizard up there is the work of Randall Mackey. I didn’t commission him to do the cover—that’s still under development by a different artist—but to illustrate a six-foot² cardboard cutout of a lizard-man, which I can take with me to cons, fairs, and other in-person events. I am very, very happy with how it turned out. Now to find a suitable manufacturer of life-sized cutouts…

Thanks for catching this update today, folks! I’ll be going on hiatus for the next month or so, but I’ll catch y’all again around the beginning of April.

I could also say I started the novel on September 8, 2019, June 10, 2016, or November 23, 2014. Really depends on your definition of “started.” And “novel.” Any way you slice it, though, this thing’s been in the works for a while. ↩︎
Never mind that canonically, these guys would barely measure up to your elbows. ↩︎