Still doing these!
Still at the Pentagon, but it’s fully edited. The only work I’ve done on it is to do some math on how long it’ll take after I get clearance to publish it – 60 days is what it worked out to. Hoping to hear back and set a release date soon!
I’m currently at 80,000 words and I hope to finish the first draft this month. My goal is to get it out to beta readers by the end of next month, but it’ll more likely be sometime in March. If you’re interested – especially if you’re an author looking for a manuscript swap! – email or DM me on Twitter.
The Apophis Contingency
No drafting yet, but I’ll probably look over my outline and see if it still fits. I’m very exciting to jump back into that world and start drafting though!
Short Stories
I’m looking to finish “The Golem of Checkpoint Charlie” but that may push to next month. I have until June for the Rac Press call.
Outlining
I’m hoping to finish the Lost Remnant (Grace Parkowski #4, the sequel to Sensor Overload) outline. I’m about halfway done and think I’m in good shape there. I’m also playing around with some story ideas lifted from my writing notebook as I retired my old one at the end of 2025 – may throw some concepts out and see if any of them have some merit.
Critiquing
I have two novels that I’m actively beta reading. One is from a longtime writing friend, a fantasy adventure, that is excellent and I just have some small nitpicks to point out. The other is from a new collaborator and while the core story concept is excellent, the execution needs a lot of work. He is writing about military and intelligence community matters – and a lot of technology! – without having a background in that area. Upcoming blog post on this – balancing technical details with “the rule of cool”.
Here’s to the first month of 2026!
Ryan M. Patrick 
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