Yes, still writing

I've slowed down a bit since returning from Japan—there are just too many distractions at home, unlike being in a hotel room where there's not much to do in the evening except write. But I'm still working.

Today, more or less finished (there's a tiny bit still to do) work on a scene that I've been building toward for three chapters now. That feels good.

I'm starting to think that I need to go through the entire story and make a spreadsheet of what honorifics all the characters use for each other. It's too hard to remember; I have to keep looking back at earlier chapters, which usually ends up with me wondering if I've been inconsistent. Sigh.

Chapter 16 update: 12,055 words.

Minor update to Chapter 15

 Hi there,

I've just posted a minor tweak to chapter 15. (Note, this update is only on my website; I haven't gotten around to putting it on FF.net). There's a scene in the chapter where Iku appears to be sharing a room with Dhiti—whereas other scenes, in both chapters 14 and 15, make it clear that Iku is staying in the guest room at Dhiti's house.  So I've rewritten a couple of paragraphs to fix that.

As part of the update, both chapters 14 and 15 now have an entirely new look—they use a different stylesheet which I think is a lot more readable than the old one. (Chapter 14 doesn't show on the SM4200 page as an update, because there's no actual story changes—just style changes.)

Let me know what you think of the new look!  If people are generally favourable, I'll update the earlier chapters as well.

Chapter 16 update: now at 9169 words.

Goodness me, I’m writing again

 I did an idle Google search for “Sailor Moon 4200” the other day and it led me to a podcast about SM4200 (incredibly kind, by the way): https://retrofanficretrospective.podbean.com/e/episode-96-sailor-moon-sailor-moon-4200/

After listening for a bit, I had to look up a point of what they were saying. And then, quite suddenly, the writing bug bit me again.

Since then, I’ve been writing every evening, here in my hotel room (ironically, I’m in Japan right now, and for the next week or so). Pages and pages of new material. More importantly, I’m enjoying writing again.

So…yeah, Chapter 16 is well under way.

I’ve also been re-reading a lot of the earlier chapters, both to refresh myself and to get the flavour of the story again, and I’m finding myself tempted to go back and do another general revision to tighten up the writing. (Honestly, the opening of chapter 9 is painful; it seems that every time someone says anything they beginning it with “So”.) But, tempting though that is, I think I’ll stick with writing new stuff, which seems a bit more productive.

Wishing you all a happy New Year for 2026!