Writing Progress Log : W/E 28th August 2026

There has been a lot going on this week and some good progress, mainly. A lot of it was planning. For The Bookshop Mysteries Book 7 - A Ring of Roses, we drafted Chapter 19 and 20 with a total word count of 2,761 words. When we say drafted, that also includes several editing rounds as we edit as we go, and I (Steve) like to make sure what I give Amanda is good quality. We don’t like writing scrappy drafts and fixing them later. We’d rather write good-quality chapters up front, which minimises the work when the draft is complete. We also planned and outlined Chapters 21, 22, and 23.

For MMS 1 Book 1, I began my final careful read-through before we submit the first draft to the publisher on the 7th of September. I read 16 chapters of it this week and will continue over the weekend and next week. We are both really happy with how this book has turned out.

We also made a start on MMS Book 2 as we have a four-book deal with the publisher. The first draft delivery isn’t until March 2027, but it’s a good idea to get started. We drafted Chapter 1, which was 1,174 words. We also spent a fair amount of time writing a character profile of the enemy in the book. We already had a good idea about their details, but we needed to dig into more detail. We always enjoy this part of the process.

Next Monday is a public holiday in the UK, so we are taking a long weekend off, so work will resume on Tuesday.