Revisiting the Dresden files

What I'm reading:

My little guy's been waking extra early, so we've been going on dawn walks while I listen to the Dresden Files. It's about a private eye wizard in Chicago, but it evolves into something much bigger - spanning the supernatural underworld, faerie courts, and cosmic-level threats. Currently at 18 books with 4-5 more planned to wrap up the series. The first two are a bit of a slog, but if you can push through to book 3, you'll see why fans (myself included) are obsessed with the ever-escalating urban fantasy epic.

Book 3 of Wild Green Flame Update:

Section one is complete and sent to beta readers - sitting at about 85k words, roughly 300 pages. Originally I'd planned to get Ardan out of Barleron and into the war within ten chapters, but the political intrigue evolved into something far richer than I'd initially envisioned, with unexpected surprises that'll ripple through the rest of the series.

Section two is where things get exciting. My main antagonist needed more depth and menace, so I dove into history for inspiration - and Caesar's manipulative genius was the perfect template for making my villain truly dangerous.

The rewrites were extensive, but now the world feels more lived-in, the narrative more fulfilling, and the stakes have risen to heights I hadn't expected!

Writing is curious - sometimes you think 'this is Pulitzer material!' and others you wonder 'who would read this trash?' My biggest fear was this wouldn't live up to my other books, but it's finally reaching the standard I'm proud of.

Personal update:

I held down the fort while my wife went to New York for CJ Henry's flower exhibition at Rockefeller Center. Just me and the little guy working on the novel. At the same time I tried catfish with my father-in-law - a real man's adventure.

I've been prepping for my return visit to Australia where I unfortunately need to show up occasionally to keep my day job (outrageous that they take attendance!). And my little guy is less than two weeks away from turning 1, which was exciting!