December lived up to expectations (apart from the jolly, fat, red-coated man, he and I will need to have words soon) and I managed to get another 11,000 words added to draft one.

The lady in the progress graphic comes to you courtesy of iStock, one of my go-to resources for story-boarding. I usually have a hunt around for a face that matches my character map just to give me a little bit of a pretend connection to them. This lady is a wonderful one, a seething contradiction of oppressed and oppressor, religious zealot and practical worker, outcast and lynch-pin all rolled onto one. She takes over the story in Deceit in around 20,000 words and will absolutely set her little world on it’s heels – for all the wrong reasons, driven by all the wrong information, fueled by all the right motives. You are going to love her!

Back to December’s progress, and an “interesting” outcome is that the overall length of the second part of the Descent series has jumped out by an extra 13,000 words. Seems I’m writing longer sections now, around an extra 10% or so, but I’m hoping that my self-imposed December 2026 deadline for draft one of Descent: Deceit and Descent: Diaspora will still hold, especially if January and February remain productive.

Wishing you a safe and fulfilling 2026.