Progress Report December 2022

Progress Report December 2022
Artbreeder image for decoration

Hey, I’m back for another progress report – the last one for 2022.

My inner life and my outer life do not match this month. I’ve been having a lot of successes, really, including making #1 in an Amazon category with my Wolf book. And making audiobooks for the Wolves.

Inside… it’s dark. Lonely. A hard place to be in right now, and it takes a lot of energy to just keep doing what needs to be done every day. Writing has suffered. I’ll climb out of this eventually.

So let’s move on with the progress reports.

Winds of Destiny / Pillars of the Empire Progress Report

I’ve been focusing on Sky – still writing his story since NaNo didn’t work out for me. About 10k left to do, so I think I can get it done this year. And then I’ll need to get North (Book 4 of the Winds) ready for publication in February.

I’m glad I gave myself some time with this series. I still have to finish Earth (Book 1 of the Pillars), which will probably happen in January.

In addition, I’m getting more of an idea for a Prequel, which will explain how the Pyramids and the Veil actually came into existence. I might even have found a point-of-view character for that, although he doesn’t have a name yet.

Oh, and I do have a giveaway for South in January, through my newsletter. You can sign up below.

Wolves of the South Progress Report

No, still no print books. That’s because I have to go back to the designer and rewrite the blurbs and ugh… I do not have that in me right now.

But I have great other news: There are now audioboooks!

That’s right, I made audiobooks for the Wolves (for now, book 1-5, the last one will come as soon as I find the energy to listen to the five hours it’ll take). There is a catch – unfortunately.

You see, the only audiobooks I can afford at this point are autonarrated ones. Yes, the scary and potentially amazing world of AI has arrived, and Google Play Story has allowed me to make audiobooks narrated by their text to speech system.

I have listened to them. They are okay. Not great but okay, and if you want to “read” my Wolves on a commute, they should work for you. Take a look at them on the Google Play Store.

In very exciting news, I had a promotion for “A Wolf’s Quest”, which led to over 1,000 downloads on Amazon alone. That propelled the book to #1 in the Werewolves and Shifters Suspense category – the free one, alas, which means no bestseller tag. But I got proof.

Wolves Progress Report Screenshot

Social Media Progress Report

Mastodon is great. I’m very happy with my server and the connections I’m building there. It’s much more direct, clean and amazingly friendly over there. I can only encourage you to join me there.

In fact, I will be dropping Twitter. I’m posting less, but I do not want to give up my account for anyone else to grab. And I most certainly no longer want to create content for a deranged billionaire. To be brutally honest, my country has some experience with Nazis. Do not recommend, will not support.

Proofreading / Editing Progress Report

I’m full for December. I have a novel to proofread and three short stories to edit. I’ll have another novel to proofread end of January, but I can slide in something short.

I will pick out things that make me stumble and I have a good eye for typos, but I will never diss you. In fact, my current clients love all the encouraging comments I make.

Interested? Hop over to my Proofreading Page, fill in the form you’ll find there, and then we’ll talk.

The Newsletter PopUp

Yes. This is my way of doing pop-ups, since I absolutely hate them. But I have to remind you of my newsletter, after all.

It goes out once a month, and you’ll get a progress report, book deals, a review and most of all… an Ember story. That’s my dragon plushie, and she is both cute and cheeky. Sign up below.

About Hannah Steenbock

Hannah Steenbock is an author, dreamer, and coach. She has published several short stories in English and German, as well as one novel in German. In 2013 she started self-publishing her work. In 2014, she has won two awards for her short story "Sequoia".
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