My brother has produced, in my humble opinion, a brilliant piece of artwork to serve as the cover of The Awakening. He’s created an image of Seluban that sticks to the idea of orcs, yet gives an alien take on them. Once the revised submission to the Kindle store is complete, and once the paperback version is greenlit, you’ll see the amazing job he’s done.

At this point it means there’s nothing more to do than wait. In nine days the Kindle edition goes live. The paperback might actually (depending on how quickly it gets approved) end up being available slightly sooner. It’s a bit of a race. I could actually bring the release date of the ebook forward – if the paperback winds up on sale before the 14th, expect the ebook to do likewise.

Whenever it happens, in a few days I’ll become a published author, which I never imagined. Well, I did imagine, but I never really expected it to happen. I can’t sit here and claim The Awakening is a literary masterpiece to rival the best writers, but it’s a story that’s come from my brain, expressing my ideas and themes, the way I wanted to.

I’m already re-writing what would have originally been the second act of one long book, tweaking some elements here and there, developing a deeper look into Chon’ith culture. I’m not saying too much, because that would spoil both The Awakening and the sequel (which I haven’t properly named yet). On top of that, I have The Schism, which could be best described as a coming-of-age tale, and Old Vengeance, which is a violent story of the past catching up with people. There’s no set order to how I’m developing these ideas at the moment, but I suspect the Awakening sequels will take priority in the end.

Being back at work full-time will most likely slow down my output. There’s no way to avoid that. Unless The Awakening is a surprise success that earns me a fortune and I land TV adaptations and merchandising rights, I’ll still be going to work every day. I don’t mind that. I am fortunate enough to enjoy my job. It is certainly a far cry from my previous job, which brought a lot of stress. There’s still an element of pressure – it’s retail sales after all – but it’s more reasonable. As a consequence, I can relax more at home and immerse myself in writing a bit more.

So that’s where things are at. We are in the waiting game now…