So, I changed my mind. It happens. It happens a lot if I'm being honest, but generally I'm not writing and publishing a web serial in real time, and no one else need ever know—save my wife and two lovely cats.

  I burned myself out. That's the simple truth of it. I try not to burn myself out these days, but I still slip up on occasion. For the month I was rapidly posting and writing Sailor's Rise, I couldn't sleep more than five or six hours a night, knowing I had to write or edit or post a certain amount every morning before my busy workday began. I'm also a writer who is uncomfortable with imperfection, which means I'm constantly going back to old chapters and making tiny edits you probably never noticed. I think I rewrote the opening paragraph of one particular chapter a dozen times.

  I always edit a lot as I write, but at least when it's just me and the page, I can let myself move forward, knowing I'll come back later to edit again with fresher eyes. With web serial writing, it's already out there. I need to fix it as soon as I see the problem or the opportunity, make it better, add that foreshadow I didn't think of the first time around. (Some of this was a response to helpful feedback that will make the book better, so thank you.)

  And on top of this, I was still actively promoting while designing a print edition for it, which is more work than you think it is, unless you already assumed it would be a lot of work, which it is. (A quick, self-promotional aside: Trial was a Semi-Finalist in this year's SPFBO, the big indie fantasy novel competition!)

  And I got to a point where it wasn't enough to slow down. I needed to collapse, and so I gave myself an excuse to do just that. And then, afterward, I needed to wrap up work on Trial, reflect, and slowly start writing again. I've since written three new chapters of Sailor's Rise, all over the past month—without compromising my sleep.

  My plan now is to continue exactly that: writing. Just writing. I intend to finish book one of Sailor's Rise sometime next year, and then I will explore publication options. I don't yet know what form that will take, but I will certainly let readers here know about it, so stay tuned.

  Elias, Bertrand, and Briley will indeed return. But I need to write in solitude for a while. I ask for your patience, and I'll check my inbox here infrequently. Mostly, I'll be writing.