Authors Update - 31 October 2025

I have a tongue-in-cheek question for everyone.  When is life and its dramas around my family and me going to give us a break?

Honestly, it hasn’t been so bad in the Other household since my last post.  Beth is still my rock, and the kids give me grief and love in equal measures. And we’re pushing through.

What kind of rocked me this past week, though, was that as much as I had seriously considered ending things twice this year (which, thanks to my family, I will not), I learnt that two of my former staff have passed away in the previous two months.

Both unfortunately left during the turbulent times when I had been betrayed, and I had wished them both well.  They had both gone on to do good things.  Yet their passing was sad, both from cancer.

It has had me reflective in this past week and puts the sombre experience and my fight with depression in a little perspective.

This past Monday was a horrendously hot day here in Queensland, Australia. So after getting home from work,  Beth and I both poured two fingers of a Scotch Whisky that I have had for a few years and we sat in the pool in the warm evening, toasting to both those that has passed on before us.

On the more exciting side, last week I took the week off.  I needed too, going from owning the company and being the boss, to just being an employee in the same company has taken its toll over the past few months, from ideas being passed over to conversations around account management just not happening, while still having to solve so many problems I needed a break, before I just threw up my hands and walked away.  Not what I want to do right now to honour my commitment to the person who bought my company.

So last week I took a week off and had a communications break from the world, which was nice.  I ended up doing a whole lot of yard work that included over fifty wheelbarrows of mulch and compost, trimming back the overgrown hedges in our front gardens, while pulling weeds and sorting out junk just piling up in the garage.

BTW, if you're in Queensland and you need an office chair, I have a whole lot from my old office, so if you want one and want to come pick it up, let me know 😉

But I also had a goal, in the evenings I sat down, cracked my knuckles and got to finishing my draft of ‘The White Suit’, which I plan to release next month.  This story of the ongoing struggles of Dominic Drugoy with his role now evolving, leading the realm of Christmas as it comes into conflict with the realm of Easter, is, I think, really adding to ‘The Red Suit’ that I released last year.  AND… I’ve planned two more books; next year will be ‘The Black Suit’, and from what I can tell, it will have you clawing the arms of your chair.  The following year will then be ‘The Blue Suit’, concluding the saga.

So last week I wrote about 80,000 words, 58,000 of those were the completion of ‘The White Suit’ draft.  The draft stands at a little over 76,000 words, so it will grow by the time I finish my edit over the next few weeks, with a target release date of 14/11/2025.

I also spent some time working on ‘Shimmer’ and ‘Nuclear Family’ Part III. As well as working on a couple of my Fully Monty draft stores. So a pretty productive week.

Now, with all of that said, what am I planning between now and Christmas?

1.      The Nuclear Family – In the next few weeks, Part II will be complete, and I am looking forward to the next few weeks of chapter releases as Robbie again confronts his despisable family.  I will likely take a two-week break between Part II and Part III, as I did after Part I, as I would like to get a few chapters ahead once more.

2.      The White Suit – This is my big one, it's where so much of my focus has been in the last few months, and like last year, I’ll be giving every tier exclusive access to the story.  It's not going over to Lit, and I will only be linking to it from other platforms, so it will be just for all of you!

3.      Editing – I’ve got a backlog of editing to complete for a few stories, including: ‘A flash before my eyes’, ‘Forget me not’, ‘Entanglement’, ‘Lucky’, ‘Pain’ & ‘Don’t Forget me’ – Those of you who help out on the editing and feedback on my stories, thank you.  I just need to get my ass in gear and finish my reviews and post them all back up.  I am going to try and get one story a week updated, though if I get caught up with work, it might be a fortnight.

4.      Shimmer – I am almost through the Part I edit that was given to me earlier this year.  I’m keen to get this out; however, based on feedback, I am reworking some of the science as the interaction of chemicals and the universe needs a little more work.

5.      Arranged – This is a Fully Monty story for which I have gotten a lot of great feedback. I am about halfway through the edit, and hope to update and release to all tiers very soon.

6.      Full Monty Stories – For my Full Monty crew – I hope to get another two draft stories out for your reading enjoyment and review.  I am aiming for:

a.      Living at the Extremes (Draft Complete) – Can a man running from his past with his daughter fit in with the wealthy heiress?

b.     Small (Draft Complete) – His entire family treats him as insignificant, and now the worst bully comes back into his life.

c.      Significant Other (90% Complete) – While playing as a warm-up act for one of the largest music stars in the world, a man sees his wife in the crowd kissing another man

As I do have so much leave up my sleeve, almost six months' worth, Beth has challenged me to take a week every quarter in 2026, just for writing, which I think we can all agree is a great idea. Well, I think so 😉

Now, with this update done, I am going to grab a bite to eat, a coffee, and do a final read-through of this week's Chapter of Nuclear Family before posting it.

As always, thanks for your support and for reading my stories.  I love all the feedback and encouragement. Keep it coming, and I really want to keep entertaining you!

John Other