Writing Review: September 2025

I had a good solid month for writing in September, with a final word count of 27,533. Even better, the majority of it was not in the fan fiction rewrites project, although I added some words to that.

That’s not to say I don’t think I should be working on fan fiction! It just means that I ended up diversifying a bit. I tend to write better fan fiction when it’s not all that I write, just as I tend to write better in general when it’s not all that I do.

• I added fifteen new chapters to Never But Maybe, including chapter 27 which was actually newly written. As of this posting, I have chapters 28, 29, and 30 sketched out but not written. I expect I’ll be able to finish during October.
• I also finished up the rewrite on Limits, and got a fair number of positive reviews on that.
• While reorganizing my Scrivener projects, I came across a bit of Harry Potter work I’d written right after I saw the movies. While it wasn’t finished, there was a good stopping point along the way, and I know I’m not likely to actually finish it anytime soon. So, with a bit of tweaking, I was able to go ahead and release it under the name The Little Match-Boy.

In addition to finished fan fiction work, I wrote some new words in the upcoming All That Mattered and about a thousand toward a new Scarecrow and Mrs. King fic that suggested itself while I was reading Joe Brutsman’s extraordinarily good book, American Cable: A Comprehensive Study on the TV That Changed the World. I recommend the book, as it’s full of his fantastic dry, snarky sense of humor, while at the same time offering a compelling narrative and a lot of great information and insights.

Finally, I proved to myself that I’ve still “got it” when it comes to writing on demand, which is something I’d begun to wonder if I was still able to do.

It took three drafts, but I was able to finish the requested story for Thistle and Moth (which I mentioned last month). I currently have the story, called “An Illumination of Days,” with some of my writer buddies for feedback, but it’s ready for submission by the October 4 deadline.

I also got some feedback on “The Tobacco People” and, based on that, am working on a revised version. It’ll easily be ready in time for the January 31 submission deadline for the Reedy Branch Review, where I’m hoping to publish it.

The one item I still didn’t do much work on was The Perfect Daughter, although I did add a couple hundred words during a writing weekend. Part of this may be because The Iron Rose’s publication has been delayed from its original April date. I keep hearing that it’ll be within the next thirty days, and I understand the reasons for the delay — they’re good ones, and the editors are friends of mine anyway — but it has left me a tad disillusioned. This may be affecting my ability to work on an additional story in that same universe. I’m far from ready to give up on it, though.

For October, my plans are to “keep on keeping on.” I’m likely to write some more on All That Mattered, even though the outline isn’t complete. I’m also hoping to finish the final three chapters of “Never But Maybe.” Plus, I’ve had another original character begin speaking to me, so there may be something else — or even one or two something elses — on their way.

I’m looking forward to it!