Over the past couple of weeks, life has required me to step back for a short time—first for a family trip to Hawaii, and then due to a hospitalization in my family.
Even in that pause, the work of storytelling continues.
Progress on the Dark Blade Trilogy has been quieter, but steady—revisions, cover refinement, and the ongoing process of shaping scenes so they read with clarity and impact. Not every step in writing is visible in word count, but each one matters.
As part of that process, here’s a short excerpt from early in Book 2:
Stinging sweat poured down Dan’s face and into his eyes as he circled his opponent, trying to angle the sun into Perren’s gaze instead of his own. The training ground grass had shriveled to dry blades, and the main sparring area had been ground into dust beneath their feet.
As Dan feinted toward Perren’s right wrist, he expected the usual response. A parry, a shift, another circling step.
Instead, Perren stepped back and kicked up a cloud of dust into Dan’s face.
Then he rushed in.
Wood struck wood with a sharp crack as Perren beat Dan’s blade aside and drove forward. The practice sword hit Dan square in the chest, knocking the air from his lungs and sending him reeling backward. He caught his foot on a brittle tuft of grass. And went sprawling onto his back.
At this point in the story, Dan is still learning—still making mistakes, still falling down. Those early failures are part of the foundation for what comes later.
Writing often works the same way.
Step by step, pass by pass, the story grows stronger.
More updates to come as the process continues.