Hello everyone and welcome to another issue of the Extroverted Writer. I’m sitting here writing this in the morning and I was struck by a pretty fun idea for a post. I thought it would be fun to update everyone on what I’ve been up to, and what I intend to do over the next couple of months. After all, sharing my progress is part of the fun of the platform that you guys have helped me build. With that let’s get started!
Editing On Pack Tactics Continues
I’m deep in the weeds on the editing process of “Pack Tactics”. This is still the working title of the novel that I wrote. I’m working through the first edits now. Then, I’ll be leaving the book for a month before I run it through a second edit. Then I’ll hit the third. The current plan is to have it finished with the second edit, hopefully by September. I’m targeting the first part of 2026 as a release window.
This process has been interesting, to say the least. This is the first time that I have been working on a novel in the editing process and truly understood what that meant. I wrote a lot of things over the years and have edited a lot. I can still tell you I never really understood what the editing process meant. I also learned what it meant when you just put the words on paper. The fact is, editing can be very rewarding and enjoyable if you approach it from the right angle.
I haven’t been approaching it from that angle before this project. I always saw editing as a slog, one that added nothing to the project really other than to rewrite. (This is stupid, but that’s how my thoughts were. I share this because I realize how stupid it sounds now.) In fact, I’m excited to continue editing because I know that “Pack Tactics” is already improved, and I can’t wait to see how we further improve it.
New Novella On The Horizon
It’s said that inspiration hits out of nowhere. That is maybe the most accurate sentence that I’ve ever written. Even in a fiction writing profile that stretches back almost 20 years, that is the most honest sentence I’ve put on paper. This happened to me the other night, in fact, much like how this post came to be. I was sitting there after work one night and this idea struck me out of nowhere.
I don’t want to share too much on the idea YET because I haven’t even started writing. However, I will share that it’s a new novella. I don’t even know how long I want the story to be because the story is going to be an interesting ride to discover. If I had to guess, I’m thinking like 20ish thousand words. It will be the last long work added to “Lies We Tell Ourselves” Which I wanted to talk about a little bit here as well.
As of right now, there’s a LOT that will be included in the upcoming collection “Lies we Tell Ourselves” A vast majority of it will be poetry, or flash fiction, but there will be two novellas. One of them is Repression, which you can get early by subscribing to this newsletter.
I enjoyed writing Repression a while ago. I’m happy that I shared it how I did and I’m happy that it will be included in “Lies We Tell Ourselves”. It will also include this new novella and whatever other random poems and micro fiction I write. As for a release of “Lies We Tell Ourselves” I’d like to target a holiday season release of this collection. I have most of it written and the editing SHOULD be mostly easy. That said, we’ll see how things pan out. I’ll keep you guys updated as we move forward through the process.
Algorithm and another Idea
So one thing about Substack is that even though it’s a social media website of sorts, it’s unique in what it does. I can respect that. I want to start a process to test a theory and I need your help. HOWEVER, you’re going to get rewarded for it, well, kind of.
I want to try to determine if comments will help push your articles and posts in front of more eyes. I believe that it will have an impact, but I’m not sure. What I would like to have you guys do is partake in a test. That test only requires you to do one thing for me, comment on this post. All I need are three random words, whatever three you choose.
How are you getting rewarded? Well, those words are going to be used in a challenge. I intend to take those three words and compose a poem. The only rule is that I have to have at least 30 words. This way that 90% of the words at minimum are my own. The idea here is to challenge myself, create new stuff, and test out a theory. I think it’s a win-win all the way around. With that, click the button below.
And share your suggestions. If you have multiple please share them. I don’t care how off the wall it sounds. I believe in my abilities that I could spin most stuff, so I want to try. I did something similar back in April as part of April Poem a Day Month. What that spawned was an interesting poem that is the backstory for a character you’ve met IF you’ve read “Underside” It wasn’t intended that way when I started. It became that, and it was super cool to watch it unfold.
I’m excited to see what ya’ll come up with and share. Thank you for the continued support as we continue to grow this brand and lean into the next chapter (No pun intended)
K.L. Robinson
Great update. You’re inspiring me to continue editing my novel (my first) and to share my own progress updates along the way. Thanks for the inspiration!