Progress July 2026
J. Kaye
7/10/20262 min read
A month has passed, which means another Blog Post!
So this last month has passed rather quickly. The socials are still growing, little by little but that's progress. I am starting to feel like I belong on booktok / bookstagram more and more, and growing steadily more confident. Sometimes, I do struggle to think up or even get nervous about posting my marketing and ideas, but these are lessening, and with all the support I've received, it makes it worthwhile. I'm hoping to have some character art to post soon.
Writing-wise, I have made progress with the second book of my duology, with a full working draft now, starting to head to Beta-Readers. I have also started on sequels, with 20,000 words added into these, but I have headed back into editing trenches to ensure the duology will be released as soon as possible. One beta-reader in the publishing industry has given me some very good and incredibly supportive feedback over a FaceTime that went on for 2 hours, which was a lovely conversation.
Reading-wise, I finished two books, Golden Son and the History of Carthage, and am now 200 pages into the Final Strife. However, I have mainly been beta-reading and interacting in my writing groups. These, I think, are essential to potential writers: incredibly supportive and thinking about feedback and listening to feedback makes you think deeper about your own writing. How to get into writing groups? Usually I find mine by the internet, googling location and genre. Then you apply the rules, and after that, just follow the group's rules! And all the hosts / organisers are incredibly supportive, so if you have questions, they'll help you out.
Apart from that, not much more to report. I'm back up running (the sport) with a 10K race soon and enjoying the weather and the World Cup, praying it'll come home. Also watching the latest season of The House of the Dragon, which is incredible!
That's it for July; next up is August, in which around the mid-point I should get the script back from the developmental editor! Look forward to catching up then.
Joe K