<Sheepish grin>

Already, with October not finished, and I am going to modify my rather ambitious plan to publish a story a month for 15 months.

The first story I wanted to publish needs a major rewrite. I can keep about a quarter of it, but the rest must go. In its place, I shall be telling a much better story. This happens to me all the time, especially with short stories.

It is a combination, I think, of the fact that I am more confident with my ability to write novels combined with my tendency to get bogged down in the middle of the story, that has led me to this pass.

I now hope to publish my next short story -- actually, probably more of a novelette -- in November.

This should teach me to announce ambitious projects without being certain I can actually achieve them.

I have added a portfolio, with so far one short story and one article, to give readers some idea of the sorts of writing I do. The short story is my attempt at a horror story, and the article is something I wrote for a content creation site, which subsequently rejected it, meaning I am free to use it here. Between them, they are, I think, a fair representation of the sort of work I am capable of doing.

I have finished the second draft of my ghostwriting project, with yet more to do. I also want to start a rewrite of my story for October, which, as it stands, is in need of at least one more draft before it sees the light of day. It is a mystery story, which means it is a genre I am more comfortable in. I have three weeks to go in October, and I still need to finish the final draft, format it, and commission a cover, so I will have plenty to keep me busy this next week.

It's October 2nd, and I have begun thinking about the first story for my 15 in 15 project. It's a novelette called Evil Twin, a serial killer story. It needs a rewrite, however, and I am not completely certain how to start that. What I want to do is to combine two lead characters into one, but I am not quite certain, at present, who will survive.

In the meantime, I have finished the first draft of my ghostwriting project. I want to start the second draft this week, possibly tomorrow. And yesterday, I made some progress on Old Wounds, my third Charlie Rowe novel, which I hadn't worked on for 2 1/2 weeks. I managed several hundred good words, but then I deleted several hundred words I don't need, which originally involved a character who I have written out of the story. So I added a few hundred words, then deleted several hundred more. This seems to be one step forward, one back.

At least the words I deleted weren't the same words I wrote, which means I am still ahead. And I am getting some writing done.

On the other hand, I still have to think about setting up a Patreon page, which I haven't given much thought to over the last few days. That's something else to think about this month, as I would like to go live with a Patreon page by the end of the year.