December 2015 Challenge Report

In December 2015, I started on two challenges: The Story-A-Week Challenge and the Holiday Extension Challenge. I didn’t start until the second week of December which means I needed to complete three short stories, and three chapter books in order to meet the challenge.

I started the challenge late in the second week, and still completed the short story challenge, but I didn’t manage to complete the chapter book. That took me until the last week in December. So, the titles of what was completed for the challenges are as follows:

The Story-A-Week Challenge

• Week 2: Seppelitus: added around 4,000 words for a total of 13,500 words – and now scheduled for release in December 2016;
• Week 3: The Severine Sidestep: added around 2,500 words for a total of 5,300 words – now under submission;
• Week 4: Rendezvous at Raptor’s Rest: added around 9,672 words for a total of 11,239 words – and now scheduled for release in January 2017.

The Holiday Extension Challenge

• Week 2: Rocky Rides the Space Range (Otherworld Adventures #4): not yet complete;
• Week 3: Legacy of Hope (Wheelchair Adventures #2): now scheduled for release on April 15, 2016
• Week 4: Legacy of Hearts (Wheelchair Adventures #3): not yet complete.

All in all, not a bad way to get into the writing habit, and start ensuring Carlie had some regular releases for next year. The aim is for her to have one chapter book a month released by the end of 2017. And that’s the point of the Holiday Extension challenge. Ditto for me. I’d like to have a short story a month coming out. In 2016, I’m aiming at one every two months, but I’m hoping to have that up to one a month in 2017. These challenges are a step towards achieving that.

When his flying ship, the Red Horizon, was shot down, Tescher told no-one he had a woman on board. Three years later, he returns to the ship wreck and finds Marianna not only survived the crash, but left him a message. She found what she was looking for aboard his ship, and she’ll wait for him at the Raptor’s Rest, but once a year—tonight. Tight flying will get him there in time, but it will take more for him to navigate clear of the underworld predators circling the criminal shores on which Marianna has landed.

Rendezvous at Raptor’s Rest is set in the steampunk world of 1840’s Australia, complete with flying ships, landed gentry, velociraptors and those who take their tinkering with the ether just a little too far.