Series Update

Above: The view from the balcony during my writing retreat over Memorial Day weekend. The sun is rising on the left side of the photo, illuminating the high clouds in shades of gold. The mountains—not yet touched by sunlight—are mottled green. The tree line in the foreground offers additional color and texture to the landscape.

May 31, 2024

General Update

I’m going to do things a little different this week.

I don’t have a specific topic in mind, but I still want to provide an update on my what I’m working on. I feel it’s important to update my readers (few though there may be), as well as to hold myself accountable. So, onto the updates!

Convergence of Connection

I wrote 4k words while on my writing retreat last weekend. A little less than I had hoped for, but I also battled a migraine for a couple of days. Regardless, it was nice to get away and focus on writing!

As of last night, I hit 142k words on this project (reminder: book three of The Way of the Wielder series). At this moment, I’m in the thick of writing the battle sequence that I’ve been working toward throughout the series. I’ve been thinking about this sequence for well over a year, and it’s exciting to finally put it on paper, so to speak.

When I first started writing this book, I anticipated a first draft word count of 170-175k. Based on my high-level outline, it appears I’ll be close to that, which means I’m about 30k from being done. That means I’ll finish in mid- to late-June, which is right on target! I love when that happens.

Mysteries of the Material

I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned this book on my blog. That’s about to change.

Mysteries of the Material is book two of The Way of the Wielder series. I completed the first draft in February 2023, then sat on it for about six months while I wrote Rise of Iron (the first in another series… more on that another time). The first round of editing happened in September 2023, then I rolled right into writing Convergence of Connection in November.

Once I’m done drafting Convergence of Connection, I’ll do another round of edits on Mysteries of the Material. That should take about 3-5 weeks, because I do a read through digitally and on paper.

Once that’s done, it’s time to send it to my editor and cover artist. I’m using the same ones I used for The Way of the Wielder, for consistency in style. Editing should be straightforward, and take about a month (maybe five weeks).

Cover art is more in depth, and should take 5-6 weeks. That includes her read through up front. I’ve mentioned previously that she reads the whole manuscript, which allows her to catch details that would otherwise be overlooked in a synopsis. I love this process, and based on the feedback I’ve received on The Way of the Wielder’s cover, I know you do, too. I’m looking forward to what her creative mind comes up with this time around!

If all goes well, I expect Mysteries of the Material to be released later this year. I don’t want to pin down a specific day or even month, but as we get closer, I’ll keep you updated.

Next Time

That was a lot of text, so thanks for sticking around. Next time, I hope to have my first draft of Convergence of Connection complete, so it might be a few weeks until I post again.

Until then, I want to hear from you. I’m always on the lookout for an interesting topic for my blog, and I’m open to your suggestions! If you have any thoughts, ideas, or questions, please email me at: inquire@sarahjhoodlet.com.

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Thanks for reading. Until next time, be well, and stay creative!

~Sarah