Alright. I think I’m finally making some progress with Grim February. I’m still in Chapter Twelve, but last night, I finally managed to finish that scene that was giving me so much trouble. I’m now 18 hand written pages into the effort (which should mean I’ve written around 6,300 words) and I’m feeling the story picking up steam once again.

I’m sitting down to write some more this morning. Got the coffee brewing and I’m ready for a big push.

The start of Grim February has been brutal. I’ve been trying for days, desperately, to write myself out of this scene I’m stuck in. Eleven hand written pages later, I think I nearly have it now. Hopefully I can move on soon, pick up some momentum and get this novel moving onto the home stretch.

In some good news, I spent much of the last two days figuring out the ending of the novel. And I think I pretty much have it now. Including the murderer. As my wife said in her infinite wisdom at this point: Now you only need to go and write it all down. Ha!

Today, I’m starting a month of doing nothing but trying to finish the first draft of my novel. Something I’m calling Grim February.

Some of you might know that I work as a freelance journalist and podcaster to make my living. And in the months since finishing NaNoWriMo 2021, I haven’t gotten much work on the novel done, because I’ve been very busy with assignments. Therefore, I’ve taken the whole next month off from my other work to concentrate on GRIM DEEP in the hope of bringing my government grant to a successful conclusion.

I will keep you updated on this blog and my Twitter account as to how this effort is progressing. My current manuscript stands at 11 chapters and 73,103 words. I have no idea how long the novel will be, I don’t even know the details of how the story will end yet. But I will give my best to finish it in February. Wish me luck!

After quite some time, I’ve finally released another chapter of the novel. You can read Chapter 3 – Sightseeing right here on the site for free right now. I hope you enjoy it!

If you want provide feedback on this new chapter or on the ones that were already published previously, you can do so via the fab.industries forums. I have created a sub-forum for GRIM DEEP on there. You can use this to help me improve the book, if you want. I am looking forward to your ideas, impressions and corrections.

I’m currently editing some of the earlier parts of the novel based on some annotations I’ve made over the course of the previous year. As I’m working my way along, I’ve also updated the first two chapters of the novel here on the website.

Additionally, I’ve added a new Culture section to the lore repository, which includes some information on the card game Leviathans that’s mentioned in Chapter 2.