I’ve come to a decision on the title for Book 2. It will be called The Straits of Galahesh, though I reserve the right to change it at any time. It’s important for me to have titles, though. For whatever reason, they help me shape the book. With The Winds of Khalakovo, it captured both the Russian feel I was shooting for and a bit of the of sense I was trying to give the reader: that something was amiss. Change was on the wind. And I used that to good effect throughout the writing of the book.

With Straits, I’m shooting for more of a flavor of the Empire that stands to the west of the Grand Duchy. They’re loosely based on the Ottoman Empire, and they’re a major player in this book, so I wanted to get them in to the title right away. On the island of Galahesh are, well, straits. They come into play quite a bit in the story, but I also wanted to again, make it a harbinger of the danger that lies ahead, which helps me to shape the story.

I’m about 48k into the book so far. I’m shooting for 20k per month so that I can finish around the February timeframe and then begin immediately edits for my May due date next year. It’s a little aggressive because of the size of the books I’m writing (roughly 180k or so each), but it’s doable. I usually get in about 1k per writing session, and I write most nights, so I think I’ll be able to do 20k a month without much trouble.