Year 12 of My 5-10 Year Overnight Success Plan

by | Apr 6, 2025 | Checking in | 0 comments

It’s that time of year again… time for me to send out a belated update on overtime Year 12 of my 5-10 Year Plan for Overnight Success. Let’s ignore the pedantry of nomenclature this time around and get right to business.

2024 was somewhat chaotic. Most of it was unrelated to books, but books got a little slower in the process.

Missions 5-16 of Passage of Time were meant to come out, but the production side lagged, and the releases stretched into 2025. Rest assured, I did write them all. We’re just getting the last few through the editing/cover art/narration/etc. pipeline.

From last year’s update, I suggested a few options for what might come after:

• One of the screenplay ideas I’ve got knocking around (I already have a spec script for Galaxy Outlaws… I don’t need another, presently)

• More Project Transhuman—a future-future series set centuries down the road from Human Phase

• Something one-off and literary, just for a change of pace.

• A Tiffany series (never said it couldn’t be Black Ocean)

• A new idea that swoops in and grabs hold of me

Well, it looks like Option E was the dark-horse winner. It’s too soon to share details (more probably this summer), but I’ve just recently finished a first draft of book 1. For now, I’ll say it’s a return to pure fantasy, and it involves one of my favorite fantasy races—as they should be.

I figure those three books will keep me occupied until summertime. After that, I’m making no promises. I have a few ideas. One of them will be what I write next (or something that I think of between then and now).

As I’ve gotten more acclimated to this whole “being a writer” gig, I do start to notice trends about how I work and how I work best. Deciding a road map 2-3 series in advance just doesn’t tend to stay the plan all the way to writing them. And that’s ok.

We’ll see what comes next around the time I get started writing it.

HOWEVER…

2025 is going to include what I’m hoping is the best surprise in a Long Time. No, it’s not a TV show or movie. That surprise will be its own whole email (or three) if that happens. For now, it’s a skunkworks project that will remain a surprise.

(I really think you guys are going to love it, though!)

And since this email has been heavy on vague teasers, I’ll share something you can start looking forward to next week. In addition to the usual rotating email topics, I’m going to start sprinkling in email mini-series, where I divert to a topic I think you’ll find fun before returning to the usual Living in the Future, Movies & TV, and Games emails.

First up, in honor of Passage of Time Missions 13 & 14: a six-week mini-series on Surviving a Time Loop! First in the series hits the blog a bit after the email goes out.

Anyone who is interested in this whole 5-10 Year Plan for Overnight Success (now in overtime) can check out earlier entries to see the journey unfold.

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