After a couple of months in the doldrums of going round in circles (writer’s block), I’ve finally got back in the creative flow again. It was a horrible situation, because I knew what I needed to write, the bridging passages that create a flow between otherwise disjointed actions or blocks of dialogue, but couldn’t find or express the words. Instead, I was tweaking a word or phrase here and there in ways that added nothing new to the text. I tried to convince myself that I was still being productive, although I knew it was anything but that.

It wasn’t a lack of ideas: my head is still brimming with all the plots and scenes that I have planned for the next books in the “Wandelaar van de Duisternis” series, and more tales in the collection of short stories that I’ve been putting together. I’ve even been thinking about another historic fantasy series (spanning the centuries from the aftermath of Magna Carta to the present day) set against the backdrop of British folklore that I’d considered writing years ago, and I have ideas for a completely different Science Fiction story. Perhaps I should have taken a break from “Ghost Ship” and focused my attention on fleshing out some of those other ideas, before going back to it again with a fresh mind, but I really want to get “Ghost Ship” completed so that I can give the next story in the series (“Spirit Camera”) the attention that it deserves.
For reference, my provisional titles for the stories following “Broken Shards”, “Ghost Ship” and the tentatively named “Short Cuts” are “Spirit Camera”, “Skeleton Key” and “Ferryman’s Coin”.

But the last week has seen progress again, though, and I’ve taken two more chapters past the “first draft” point. I’m still not back to 100%, but I am being productive again and “Ghost Ship” is back on track once more.

Sadly, sales of “Broken Shards” are stagnant. I’m not even getting any page reads on Kindle Unlimited. That’s frustrating, because I’ve created a unique world setting with the Veil and its layers of history, assembled a wonderful cast of characters, and have a good storyline with a sense of humour. And it’s better than most of the Urban Fantasy books I’ve read myself over the last few years. Nor have I used AI anywhere in the process. While I never expected to become a millionaire bestselling author, it would be nice if I saw enough sales to recover my costs. Now I’m hoping that the second book in the series will trigger more buyers when I release it.

On a totally different note, the American Book Center (ABC, and yes, they do use the American spelling) in the Netherlands, in collaboration with the Dutch publisher Zilverspoor, is running a 5,000 word short story competition for the November edition of ComicCon. They’re inviting submissions in any genre, as long as the story contains a fantastical element, and the theme is “Past and Present”.
In “Ghost Ship”, I make mention that Hauke has resolved a problem with a haunting on the Hoorn/Medemblik steam railway. This is a historic steam line, where recreationists dress up in Victorian or Edwardian costume and chat “in character” with the passengers. I’d already started putting together a story about this incident for “Short Cuts”. It seems to fit the theme, so I’ve decided that will be my entry to the competition.
It’s also a good excuse to ride that train line again.