Benjamin Medrano's Blog

September 15, 2025

September 15th 2025 Update

Circle of Ashes is up to ~135,000 words, and I’m not sure how much longer it’ll be. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it ends up being in excess of 150,000 words, but we’ll see how that goes, overall.

This coming weekend is going to be a bit disruptive due to me traveling, so don’t expect an update next week. I’m hopeful that I’ll still get a significant amount of writing done, but we’ll see when we get there.

That’s it for the week! Be well!

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on September 15, 2025 03:00

September 8, 2025

September 8th 2025 Update

Circle of Ashes is up to about 127,500 words! I’m not sure how close to done I am, as things have been complicated of late. I wish I could say more, I’m dying to share bits and pieces from the story, but I don’t want to give spoilers.

I also got back some art pieces which, sadly, have nothing to do with my current projects. Hopefully they’ll get some use in the near future…

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on September 08, 2025 03:00

September 9th 2025 Update

Circle of Ashes is up to about 127,500 words! I’m not sure how close to done I am, as things have been complicated of late. I wish I could say more, I’m dying to share bits and pieces from the story, but I don’t want to give spoilers.

I also got back some art pieces which, sadly, have nothing to do with my current projects. Hopefully they’ll get some use in the near future…

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on September 08, 2025 03:00

September 1, 2025

September 1st, 2025 Update

I have Circle of Ashes up to about 117,500 words and counting, which is pretty good from my perspective. I haven’t been able to make as much progress as I’d necessarily like, but I’m happy that I’ve made as much as I have. Alas, today is a holiday in the USA, so I’ll be interrupted and unable to write.

I’ve also seen a color concept of the Circle of Ashes cover art, and am really looking forward to getting it in the near future! That’s it for this week, though!

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on September 01, 2025 03:00

August 25, 2025

August 25th 2025 Updates

Circle of Ashes is up to ~107,500 words, and I think I might have gotten past the hardest part of it. There’s no chance I’ll finish the book this week, but we’ll see how long it goes, I hope this doesn’t turn into a 150,000+ word novel, but I’ll know when I’m done. I’m not cutting the story short just because it’s gone longer than I expected.

I’d share the cover art, but unfortunately it seems the artist is behind schedule, so it’s nowhere close to complete yet. In any case, that’s where I’m ...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on August 25, 2025 03:00

August 18, 2025

August 18th 2025 Update

Circle of Ashes is up to ~97,000 words, and with the electrical work out of the way I should be able to focus this week. Assuming my muse doesn’t drag me off down a tangent this week, anyway.

In a few words, last week sucked. I couldn’t concentrate on anything, and the rewiring took longer than expected, leading to barely anything getting done. The only thing I did get done was a bit of silliness when the muse dragged me off to write about a character named Sasha. I have no clue where the cha...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on August 18, 2025 03:00

August 11, 2025

August 11th 2025 Update

Circle of Ashes is up to ~92,500 words and climbing. Alas, this week will be chaos, as the electricians are performing a badly-needed upgrade to our house’s wiring. I suspect the wiring is close to 80 years old, but I hope it’s less than that. I expect not to be able to get much writing done until Wednesday.

Ironically, Wednesday (August 13th) is when Tess Irondale expects to begin recording the audiobook of Talyn: Blooming! Here’s the link to her Discord server, if you want to listen in, blo...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on August 11, 2025 03:00

August 4, 2025

August 4th 2025 Updates

Circle of Ashes is up to about 82,500 words, and I’m moving into a section which may be insane. I’ve no clue how long it’ll be, but I hope to finish the rough draft this month. I think I have good odds of that, but I’m not making any promises just now.

The art for the book should begin this week, and once I have it I intend to set up the pre-order, as I should have a good idea of when it’ll be ready for publication at that point. So yeah, that’s what I’m working on right now!

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on August 04, 2025 03:00

July 28, 2025

July 28th 2025 Update

Well, it’s a good thing my wife made the preparations she did, because the personal matter? It was visiting one of her uncles who had cancer, and he passed away the day after she arrived. Due to this, my schedule was a bit (a lot) disrupted. I only got Circle of Ashes up to ~72,500 words, which is somewhat frustrating. I’m not surprised, but I could wish I managed more.

In any case, there’s not much more I can say about things. I’m doing what I can to help, I just count myself fortunate that ...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on July 28, 2025 03:00

July 21, 2025

July 21st 2025 Update

I swear, when it rains it pours. Some bad family news which has further interfered with writing occurred, though I did get a fair amount done. Circle of Ashes is up to ~67,500 words, and I’ve ordered the cover art for it. Unlike many of my prior books, I knew exactly what I wanted for this cover almost from the beginning, I just needed to nail down a few details. I’m excited to see what the artist makes.

I’m not worried about me at the moment, but life is definitely being interesting. I wish ...

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on July 21, 2025 03:00