I’ve been quiet here for a while. Quiet on social too. Not because nothing has been happening—because everything has.

After four months of revision, the ARC for The Empires of Durajan is now in the hands of my most trusted ARC readers, and I’m excited (and a little relieved) to be at this point. The world has expanded. The stakes are higher. The battles hit harder. The emotions run deeper. And as the story grows, everything becomes more gray—more complicated, more human.

This is an ambitious book, but it’s also a continuation of the questions that made me start writing Durajan to begin with. In the process, I’m learning more about myself as an author. I’m also still carrying the same lingering questions about belief, hope, love, sacrifice, faith, memory, community—and what it costs when those things collide.

Right now, the manuscript sits at roughly 145,000 words, and I think it will remain around that range, give or take. For perspective, Book One—The Chronicles of Durajan—came in just short of 107,000. And I’m still humbled by how readers have received that first step: 4.93/5 on Goodreads, 4/5 on BookBub, and 4.8/5 on Amazon. If you had sat me down a couple years ago and told me I’d be on my second novel, I wouldn’t have believed it. But here I am—already planning what comes next.

I don’t think it’s spoilery to share the planned titles:

The Song of Durajan — Book Three of the Durajan Series
The Legacy of Durajan — Book Four of the Durajan Series

Beyond the core series, there are additional books planned as part of the larger arc of the Awakened World and Durajan.

I’m not Sanderson, Jemisin, or Liu—but they inspire me. And when readers and reviewers mention my work in the same breath as authors like that, it fuels me. It gives me hope. It tells me to keep going.

I’m 53 years young, and I’m not starting late.

I’m starting.

The scheduled release for The Empires of Durajan (Book Two of the Durajan Series) is Summer 2026. I’m well ahead of schedule, and I’m hoping to launch properly this time, carrying forward what I learned from the launch of The Chronicles of Durajan back in October.

And I’ll end with this.

If you have a dream that’s been sitting in the back of your mind for years—reach back. Do your best to make it happen. Take the risk. Take the falls. Nothing worth having comes easy.

This book has been early mornings, late nights, weekends, and whatever time I could protect when inspiration struck.

Do the same.

Try.