WIP Update: Distracted by the Shiny New Idea

This week has been a bit of a waiting game.

I'm currently waiting for the physical proof copy of What Falls to Us to arrive. I always do my final proofreading with an actual book in my hands rather than on a screen. Somehow it's easier to spot awkward sentences, missing words, and the inevitable typo that's managed to survive every previous round of edits.

Until that proof arrives, there's only so much I can do, so naturally my attention has wandered elsewhere.

I've been spending a little time on a mystery project that I'm not quite ready to talk about yet. All I'll say for now is that I'll be revealing it before the end of the year, and I'm very excited for you all to see what I've been working on.

Most of my writing time, though, has gone into building the chapter outlines for Complicitous. This is one of my favourite stages of the process because it's where all the puzzle pieces start clicking together.

If you've read my post about being a sculptor-style writer, you'll know that I build my stories in layers. The chapter outline is where I shape the block of stone before I start carving the details.

Of course... if I'm being completely honest, I should probably be working on one of the novels that's already reached the zero draft stage.

Those books are patiently waiting for their first proper developmental edit.

Instead, I've been lured away by the exciting new project.

It's a recurring problem for me. Editing and proofreading require a very different part of my brain to creating something new, and after spending hours hunting for typos or rewriting the same chapter for the fifth time, it's incredibly tempting to open a fresh document where everything feels full of possibility again.

So that's where these projects stand this week:

• What Falls to Us – Waiting for the proof copy to arrive for its final proofread.

• Complicitous – Chapter outlines are coming together nicely.

• Mystery Project – Quietly progressing behind the scenes...

I make no promises that next week's update won't feature yet another shiny new idea.