Ryan M. Patrick

Halfway through the year!

A much better month in terms of writing, but still no traction on my two novels in the Pentagon security review.

The Saturn Anomaly and Crush Depth

NSTR. Still at the Pentagon. I’ll ping them again in July or August.

The Kuiper Dominion

Great month. I finished at 94,000 words and have been furiously editing ever since. I’m currently on Chapter 30 out of 45 and will be sending to my beta readers and the Pentagon next month. It’ll be a race – will I get The Kuiper Dominion into review first or will they get one of mine back to me before then?

Memento Vivere

Outline is primed and ready to go. I’ll be starting it the moment The Kuiper Dominion is done. I am super confident about it; I think I’m going to blow through it and release it later this year (it doesn’t need a security review!).

Short Stories

Two stories were accepted into anthologies this month – one hasn’t been announced yet, the other can be found on the main image on my homepage (or click here). I submitted yet another one to a different anthology and have my next one outlined and ready to go. Like I posted on Twitter, I went 0 for 10 with my first 10 shorts and have gone 3 for 5 since then – I’m definitely improving as a writer!

Critique

I finished one short story from a friend. Still at 8/12 manuscripts for the year.

Mid-Year Check on Goals

1. Release The Saturn Anomaly – waiting on the Pentagon

2. Draft Crush Depth – done

3. Release Crush Depth – waiting on the Pentagon

4. Draft The Apophis Contingency – replaced with The Kuiper Dominion, but done

5. Draft, Edit, and Submit 4 Short Stories – 3 done, 4 to go.

6. Critique one novel a month – 8/12 done, but none in the pipeline.

7. Recover Memento Vivere – done, and changed to draft Memento Vivere. On track.

8. $2,000 in royalties – let’s not talk about this one. No releases is killing my momentum. Probably on track for half that right now unless I get a book (or two) out.

9. 1 Blog Post / Week – close enough

10. 1 Social Media Post/Day – if we’re talking about X, I’m fine. If it’s including FB/IG…let’s not talk about this one either!

Moral of the story: I’m doing ok, but the Pentagon review process is killing me. I’ve replanned a bit to avoid it (2 of my next 3 releases are fantasy and won’t require it) but it is what it is.

Goals for July

1. Finish editing The Kuiper Dominion and get it to the Pentagon and beta readers
2. Start Memento Vivere
3. Start my next short story
4. Outline Dead Reckoning (the artist formerly known as Ocean City Ghost Story)
5. Do a manuscript critique

Thanks and I hope you all had a great June!