📋 Now that I’ve posted the ‘end of 2025’ status report, let’s take a look at January through April 2026!
Still quite a bit of life stuff happening during these months, but much of that has now been wrapped up. I somehow still got a lot of stuff done, so let’s see what’s been going on…
I’ve highlighted the projects that had changes in blue.
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Changing Tides: (Book 4 of the Distant Horizon series). On hold while working on The Dark Forest of Aneth. Next step is to merge the two revised drafts and start writing the missing scenes.
Deceived #3: On hold. Needs revisions. Tentatively titled Exposed.
Future steps: Input Isaac’s notes from Deceived #5 (formerly #4) into the manuscript, revise Deceived #5, and revise #6 (formerly #5) before handing it to Isaac for his feedback.
Dossiers (Deceived Spin-off): On hold. Next step is a revision round which involves incorporating notes into the manuscript.
Multiverse Chronicles (Distant Horizon Universe Spin-off): Last time we were at chapter seventeen in the Distant Horizon Universe newsletter. We’re now up to chapter twenty-six, and my next email will send the epilogue! 😃
So far the manuscript is at 77,000 words, though I expect it to go longer before publication due to several missing scenes.
Isaac and I already knew the detective plotline needed additional scenes written. But I did take the entire manuscript into Claude and asked it to create an interactive timeline that showed where each character group appears on a per-chapter basis, to include a short sentence or two on what’s happening with that group, and to mark incomplete arcs. I now have a better idea of which characters need to be looped in together and where to focus my next set of revisions.
Overall, this should make the revision process go much smoother. Once those scenes are added in, my next step is do a complete read-through to check for revision smudge, and then do a read-aloud with Isaac to make sure the story still fits his vision. (He wrote the original draft, which I then edited). Then it’ll be off to beta-readers!
The question is where to slot working on this story in the grand scheme of things. I don’t want it to get sidelined for as long as last time.
TWB 4: (Book Four of The Wishing Blade series). On hold. Next step is to write the outline and reread the first three books.
The Dark Forest of Aneth (“Ro’nor (“The Restless Sands of Neel”) & Zynia (“The Dragons of the Mist”) cross-over / A Legends of Cirena short novel): I input the notes from the manuscript I printed for editing into my Scrivener file. I ran the updated manuscript through Claude and AutoCrit for developmental feedback, then set the project aside so I could review it later with fresh eyes and decide if I agreed with the suggestions. Ultimately, I disagreed with several of the suggestions, but I did decide I probably need to merge/cut the first couple chapters. I think I ran this through ProWritingAid for copy edits, but this isn’t entirely clear in my planner notes, so I’ll want to double-check edits before finalizing the project.
I also put the manuscript onto my ancient Kindle Paperwhite (from 2013… it’s slow but it does still function, at least for the moment) and read through it like a book. (This was the pass where I decided to merge chapters).
Next step is to input my notes from that round, then see if it’s ready for beta-readers.
Other Goals: Revisit the book cover concept. Create a blurb. Polish the related poem/ballad so it can be included as back matter.
The Ruins of Amixthael (The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear Spin-Off): On hold. Next step is to revise the chapters of the secondary character, then merge the two drafts together.
Future goals: Polish cover. Create blurb.
Untitled LoC Short Story (Standalone – Merchant in Reveratch): On hold. Next step is revisions.
Goals: Figure out a title. Create book cover and blurb. Polish the related poem/ballad so it can be included as back matter.
Untitled LoC Novella (Standalone – Twins in Ferta): Last time I was at chapter fifteen and 34,000 words. At the end of the month I’d reached chapter twenty-three and around 51,500 words. I’ve continued running each chapter through ProWritingAid for copy edit suggestions before sending it out to the Wishing Blade Universe newsletter.
I once again took the most up-to-date version of the manuscript into Claude to look for missing plot threads and to use Claude as a “talking” rubber duck to bounce brainstorming ideas off of. I ended up getting a better idea of what still needs to be added to the story before wrapping it up. (And I’ve also started getting an idea of where the next story might go… and some character motives I hadn’t decided on for one of the antagonists in The Wishing Blade series. Bonus!)
Next step is to continue writing the rough draft.
The Wind Mage and the Wolf Spin-Off (Joran’s Story – A Legends of Cirena short story) : On hold. Needs the rest of the fight scene cross-referenced.
Goals: Edit in ProWritingAid, read-aloud, proofread. Book cover and blurb.
Fae (Huntress 3): Revisions complete!
I also did a second round of revisions for the notes I’d left myself, and ran the AutoCrit “beta-reader” analysis on the manuscript to see if there was anything I wanted to adjust before sending it to actual beta-readers. After that, I took it into ProWritingAid for edits, compiled the chapters and asked Claude to format it based on the ebook formatting of one of my previous books. (Score for a very fast formatting round that only needed a few corrections!)
I then read through that version to check for revision smudge, then took that into Atticus so I could prepare the beta-reader edition. Now it’s off to beta-readers!
Next step is to finalize the cover and write the blurb while waiting for feedback.
Horse Shifter Romantasy 🐎: On hold. Next step is to start drafting from the outline.
Dark Romantasy Idea: Toward the beginning of April, I got an idea for a dark romantasy story that wouldn’t leave me alone, so I took the idea into Claude and started brainstorming/plotting. I now have a rough outline in the form of a bunch of scene ideas that I had Claude organize, though its interpretation of my scenes is a little off from my intentions, so I started writing out a synopsis to better match my vision. I have a small chunk of that written but it’s more like the told version of the story and currently sits at 4,000 words.
Writers of Warrensburg Anthology – I decided to participate in the upcoming Writers of Warrensburg (Missouri writers’ group) anthology! My short story outline has been approved, and now needs drafting. I’ve been watching the online recordings of the meetings and sending my feedback of each story via email since I can’t usually attend live.
Other Stories: Got an idea for a fantasy short story where the gods/demons are inspired by various AIs (working title: “The Gods of Aether Ignis”). About 500 words written into it, but I only have notes for it rather than a solid outline, so we’ll see how far I get with this. Mostly I have three scenes in mind, with one of those scenes drafted, but I’m missing a connector piece.
The YA Alien Invastion/Dystopian short story is on hold.
Trinar Seven – Rediscovered this story (first NaNoWriMo project I did) while at my parents’ house. Ran it through Claude to review its strengths and weaknesses in case I’d like to return to revising it.
Little One – Set up in Scrivener because I’m considering editing this one for my next Distant Horizon Universe newsletter story.
Poetry (?!): Well, I wasn’t planning on writing poetry, but I guess that’s what happens when I read Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing. Published both on this blog and on Substack.
The Singing Coil (Cozy Sci-Fi): Published!
Got it back from beta-readers, formatted it, input the final edits, read through it on my ancient Kindle Paperwhite, and then did a read-aloud with Isaac to catch any remaining typos.
I tried two versions of the blurb. The first I wrote entirely myself. The second version, I handed the story to Claude and gave it a series of prompts to consider, then asked it to create a blurb based on those. I then refined that version and asked readers on a feedback group to review which one they liked better. The Claude-based blurb won out, so that’s the one I’m trying first.
While working on the blurb, I illustrated the cover to get it as close to cozy sci-fi cover conventions as I could. Original drawn in pencil, then inked, scanned into the computer, then cleaned and colored in Photoshop CS6. I did this for both the foreground and background. In dealing with the title treatment, I asked Claude to write me a program I could use to locally batch my typeface files into images so I could choose the font I wanted without having to individually wade through thousands of options.
I had ChatGPT review my backmatter to see if I had any obvious issues with tone when it came to pointing to other stories in my catalogue. (As a note, I’ve been leaning away from using ChatGPT).
Separately, I got the Infinitas Publishing book page created for The Singing Coil, and I created a series of blog posts for the launch, though I still have one that dives into the details of the cover design process that I haven’t yet finalized but want to share.
For mini side projects I attempted to add guitar chords to the lullaby and record a version of me singing it. Eh… let’s just say that’s a work in progress.
Game Design: Quite a few things happening here!
Phalanx: We have most of the pieces we need to finalize the mousepad edition of Phalanx, so the next step is to acquire the last couple of components and package it all together. Goal is to have this edition at the Flower Moon Spring Market.
Separately I tested inputting the rules, card art, and game details into Claude, and asked it to create a web-based browser game. It came out surprisingly well on the first try. I made a few iterations to the browser edition, and at this point I just need to test it and make sure there aren’t any bugs before sharing it. (And also trying to adapt it to a mobile-friendly version).
If there’s enough interest in the browser edition, I’d like to hire a developer to create a nicer version of the game, but that depends on if there’s enough interest to fund it.
Anchor: Isaac has been eyeing this fun little dice game again that he made and we’re looking to trying to develop a version we can take to local events.
He already has a list of components needed for the prototype test, so we’ll see if we can acquire those when we do our run to pick up the final components for Phalanx. We have a couple beta prototypes already that we’ve used for our own purposes in testing, but they aren’t polished.
Next step is for me to polish the art sketch he designed for the logo of the game.
Fantasy RPG Productivity App: Sometime in early March, Isaac mentioned wanting a productivity app that used role-play game dynamics to incentivize completing various daily tasks and work projects.
So… I’ve been developing that using Claude, and after several iterations, it’s now over to Isaac for testing. I gave Claude instructions on what aspects we wanted in the app. (Quest boards with daily tasks, a marketplace to get equipment for your character, companions, an overly enthusiastic, encouraging fairy to cheer you on…) And I worked with it to adjust the human factors aspect of actually using the app both in a desktop browser and on a phone.
Right now the app uses a placeholder story generated by Claude (with my worldbuilding suggestions) to see if the mechanics work during testing, but if Isaac likes the app and we decide to develop it further, I’ll want to write my own “chapters” into the game.
I also suspect that, of all the apps I’ve been working with Claude on, this one (or the cozy fantasy pet sim, below) would benefit the most from hiring a human developer.
Cozy Fantasy Pet Sim– Toward the end of April I decided to test an idea that had been rolling around in my head for a while. Once again I took to Claude to see what could be created in terms of a browser-based game. My goal? Create a cozy fantasy pet simulator that was entirely self-contained and could run in a browser.
The sim has now been through several iterations. The genetics seems to be working, buying/selling items is functioning properly, going on expeditions and training skills is cohesive, etc.
I’ve also done the first round of inputting my own artwork into the game. Right now there are still several placeholder vector designs for items and backgrounds (I didn’t realize Claude could design vector art and I got quite the surprise when the game first loaded with a fully functional cozy critter design).
Next step is to finish polishing the juvenile creature art I created, then move on to cleaning the adult creature art and adding it into the game. (Right now it’s just “big” juvenile and “little” juvenile).
I’ll also need to write flavor text and create an intentional list of in-game items rather than using the generic generated list. (Anything on the expeditions are already mostly created by me because somewhere along the line I decided this was going to be a Upper Peninsula flavored cozy fantasy and I had way too much fun brainstorming item lists).
This is another project that, if I get the game functional for sharing, I would hope to eventually be able to hire a web developer to make a nicer edition. (Or dream goal… hire a web developer and hire artists to add in new creatures beyond the ones I draw).
AI Usage and Policy: As you can probably tell from this report, I’ve been exploring quite a bit of AI usage. As of the moment, our December 12th AI Use Policy update still holds true, though it doesn’t explicitly reference the use of code generation. I intend to periodically review this policy and update it if needed.
I did go ahead and pick up the $20 Pro plan on Claude to see what it was capable of. Will re-evaluate at the end of the month to determine whether to keep the subscription or cancel it.
Also… I started working on notes for a potential presentation on AI Literacy. Specifically, what AI is, what it can/can’t do, and how to use it safely, or avoid using altogether if preferred. I’ve got a lot of ideas for this, and could really branch off into more detailed presentation ideas, but haven’t yet formed the actual presentation. I’ve been using Claude to dump my ideas into and keep them organized.
Marketing/Admin:
- No adjustments to Amazon Ads. Thinking about starting a couple new ones to test, but these aren’t high priority.
- Continued participating in BookFunnel group promos and rotating which book I focus on promoting. Also tried to do a store-specific promo (Kobo) but haven’t seen much change in retailer traffic.
- I’ve continued sending out story chapters with each newsletter email (The Multiverse Chronicles in the Distant Horizon Universe newsletter and the Ferta story in The Wishing Blade Universe newsletter.) With Multiverse Chronicles about wrapped up, I’m debating which story to tackle next. I’m considering pulling out Little One. But we’ll see.
- I had Claude help me design a book progress tracker in Google Sheets. I’ve been using this to quickly overview what steps are still left on any given project.
- I’ve been using Claude to check my progress every couple weeks or so to make sure I stay on track and don’t get (too) derailed by shiny side projects. I also created an Infinitas Publishing-focused project within Claude to help keep myself organized and analyze more business data for patterns I might be missing. It seems to be helpful in prompting me to clean up my business sheets, get accounting done faster, and finish these status reports. (Mostly because if I want feedback on them, they actually need to be done. And even artificial feedback is apparently useful in giving me that poke to get a move on it).
- I tested ChatGPT for making a rough Google Sheets business model canvas for Infinitas Publishing. I’m not sure that was actually useful. I’ll need to look at this again later.
- I used Claude to review the Infinitas Publishing website design and get suggestions for improving readability and placement on a new button feature I’m considering adding. Currently Huntress is the only page that has these.
- Tinkered with Claude Design in beta for a slide-show style book trailer. (Note: I had it use my own images). Same with creating A+ content for Amazon pages. I liked the ideas but it’s not quite polished enough to use yet. Might revisit its suggestions later.
- Updated Huntress and Changeling metadata! Woot! Finally updated Amazon keywords and categories for these two. (Apparently I hadn’t updated these in several years). I had Claude suggest keywords based on my series briefs, which I then checked in Publisher Rocket. I returned with the keywords I was considering, then had Claude pick from those with an explanation for why. Got these updated. Haven’t yet seen a boost in sales, but hoping it will help long term.
- I used Claude to review my manuscripts for suggested content warnings, tropes, and comp titles and started adding the ones I agreed with to the book pages on the Infinitas Publishing website. Currently have them on the Deceived and Distant Horizon series, and part of the Glitch series.
- Finally started updating book pages with additional details like ISBN, genre, publication date, word count, etc. Also tested website accessibility for both Alt text and generative engine optimization and started restructuring series pages based on that. This is in progress.
- Been listening to more podcasts (especially The Creative Penn podcast and related Patreon) and did a lot more reading, mostly of non-fiction.
- Infinitas Publishing accounting is up-to-date through the middle of April. Now I’ve just got to try to keep it up to date. I’ve made a note on my calendar that repeats once a month for getting these details entered.
- Finally updated my Amazon Central author bio.
Next up: Review and update book prices; watch Book Blurb Magic course on books with multiple POVs, continue updating metadata of other books. Continue updating the design of individual Infinitas Publishing book pages. Check for what other retailers need my updated author bio. Continue adding books to the Stripe store for direct sales. Revise Amazon ads, and overhaul book categories, keywords, and blurbs.
Crafting Your Fictional World: On Hold.
Repurposing Old Newsletter Content:
Still doing this! And still enjoying seeing what I wrote previously and updating it as needed. I’ve been trying to schedule a month’s worth of posts at a time, with varying degrees of success.
Events: We’re currently planning on going to the Flower Moon Spring Market in Hancock at the end of May, and plan to apply to the UP Rainbow Pride event in Marquette. Books have been ordered!
I’ve made plans to do a Crafting Your Fictional World presentation later in the year. More on that closer to the event.
SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: Finally started formatting an ebook for an indie press. Basic formatting complete, and next step is to incorporate the publisher’s feedback.
I’m debating getting back into photography with a specific focus on casual, fun shots, especially those with costumed or fantasy vibes. Still working out the logistics, but I’m starting to talk to friends about how to go about setting up a test session.
Future Goals: Update the SBibbPhoto website to incorporate Daz work and fix the SEO information. Finish designing cute mascot for a local store. Finish editing photos for a local Aikido group.
SIFlint Art: I created a dragon illustration for a local zine. Still in progress, but the inked version now exists.
I’m watching for a sale at my sticker printer so I can order more stickers (and get bag hoarding dragon stickers!)
Daz PA: I submitted a few products for Daz site promotions. The Egyptian Ankh Makeup set and Frog Prince poses have been accepted for the month-long Outlet store, so we’ll see how that goes. 🙂
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Happy writing and reading (Or 3D rendering if you’re into Daz)! 🙂
Stephanie Flint - Author and Artist 