One of the interesting aspects about art is the dichotomy between structure and creativity. In order to make something, you need to take the time to practice, usually with a teacher showing you how to improve. You not only need talent, but the time and patience to make enough mistakes to learn what to look or listen for.

I’ve been taking classes online through Masterclass.com. I’ve completed classes from Dan Brown and Margaret Atwood. I’m going to be starting another one from James Patterson soon. I’ve also worked through a series of YouTUBE videos by Brandon Sanderson while reading some of his works to see what he teaches for myself (you can find the first lecture in the series here). I’m seeing a lot of my faults and flaws in my own writing by doing this. Hopefully, I’ll be able to translate this onto the page as I continue my own journey. No matter what you are doing, whether it’s for your job or your hobbies, I suggest you keep practicing and learning, whether it’s from other enthusiasts, teachers, or online classes like skillshare.com or The Great Courses Plus.

I’ve also been working with a mapmaking program called Campaign Cartographer. I’m looking forward to putting some maps up for my world once I get better at doing them. There are a lot that are either only in my head or colored pencil sketches. I’m going to work on them in order of importance, but don’t worry, I’ll get them up on the site as I complete each one.

I’ve been drafting Casualty of Silence, although I’m really behind my goal. I’m at around 70,000 words with my normal target being 90,000 to 100,000 words. I’m in a good place right now, as I’ve completed my latest training and am working to complete this draft. I’m going to have to do some serious revision, but I have a much better vision for what I’m going for with this book, now. I’m excited about where it will take me.

And finally, Corruption of Blood is almost through the beta read phase. My beta readers have given me awesome feedback. I’m waiting for a couple more to give me their reactions, then I’ll be doing a round of edits before getting that to my editor. Again, I’m a little behind, but I’ll get there.

Next week I’m going to be continuing my series on creating Shildaria for my next series of novels. I’m also going to change my post date from Sunday to Thursday. Most of the people who read this actually do so on Thursday afternoons, so putting out my content when people are actually looking for it makes some sense. Let me know what you think. I’ll see you Thursday!