Productivity Report #4
April 2026
At the end of each month, I write a productivity report to record what work I did on my writing goals during the month. I do this exercise each month mostly for myself, to hold myself accountable and to tweak my plans, if necessary. If you’re curious, here is the plan I put together at the beginning of the year.
This is my productivity report for April 2026.
Substack and Forever Man
As April closes out, we are now up to Chapter 29 of Forever Man. I saw an uptick in engagement during April. It still isn’t a lot, but several new readers emerged, resulting in a few new subscribers. I remain several chapters ahead in my writing, despite not writing many new chapters in April.
Last month, I reported that I was struggling with writing articles other than the Forever Man chapters. That flipped in April. I kind of feel like I wrote too many articles. Readers get bombarded with emails from people they follow on Substack. With Forever Man, I’m already sending two emails each week. For most of April, I sent two additional emails each week (meaning I posted four total articles each week). That seems like too many.
In May, I’m going to back off on writing so many articles. I think I’ll write one article per week, in addition to the two chapters of Forever Man that go out each week. That’s still three emails, which isn’t great. I’m toying with the idea of creating a monthly newsletter that will compile the articles I write each month. Instead of sending emails out every time a new article is written, an email will only go out when the monthly (or maybe bi-weekly) newsletter is published. I’m still trying to work out the details in my head.
Austin Brandt Novels
Nothing new to report on the Austin Brandt novel front. The Punta Rassa Trail (the first book in the McNally Ranch series) was published in March. I anticipate the next novel, Three Roads Home, will be published during the third quarter (probably September) of this year.
Promised Land: Novellas
I’m pleased to report that Promised Land: Novellas was published in April. In addition, I published ebook versions of each of the novellas in the collection (The Art of Charcuterie, The Best Laid Plans, Carried on the Wind, Promised Land). It felt good to publish all five books in one month. I say that, not only because publishing five books in one month is a big number, but because I feel like I did my best writing to date in those novellas.
North & South
North & South is a collection of short stories I’ve been working on for years. The book is currently being revised, and it has been a treat to revisit some of these old stories, some that I haven’t seen in more than a decade. There’s still a lot of work to do on the stories, but I anticipate having North & South published by the end of June.
Second Chances
Finally, Second Chances has made it into the drafting queue. This book has been on my mind for months, but I needed to get other things done first before I could start working on it again. The story follows six different characters, and it has been a real challenge to tell their individual stories while also weaving them into the overall story. It’s time consuming, but when everything fits together, it’s very rewarding.
There’s still a lot of work to do to get Second Chances ready, but I anticipate being able to publish it before the end of the third quarter.
Nonfiction Books
I had to have a tough conversation with myself in April about publishing any nonfiction books the remainder of the year. Entering April, I was planning on publishing The Way Forward, a political nonfiction book I was writing under the pen name David W. Mack. I was hoping to have that book ready to publish by the end of September, but I had to admit to myself that that was looking less and less likely. As I was trying to decide what to do about the book, I started asking myself if it was worth even writing it. To be certain, I have some things to say in the book, but the truth is that time spent on nonfiction books takes away from the time I have to write and publish fiction books. Fiction remains my priority, and I’m already stretched thin trying to stick to my fiction writing schedule.
I’m not ready to abandon The Way Forward yet, but I have to be realistic about the time I have available to write, and I have to stick to my priorities. I’m trying to keep an open mind, but with each day that passes, it becomes less likely I’ll be able to publish The Way Forward on time, if at all.
On a more positive note, I published the audiobook version of Understanding the United States Constitution in April. I used Amazon’s Virtual Voice to do the recording. Virtual Voice did an acceptable job, but I wouldn’t call it great. I don’t think I’m going to use Virtual Voice again unless Amazon makes some upgrades to it. I’m thankful to have access to the tool—especially since it is free for books in Kindle Select—but I don’t want to keep producing mediocre audiobooks.
Audiobooks
In April, I opened auditions for the audiobook version of Driven: A Novel. For some reason I don’t completely understand, I haven’t gotten many auditions for the book. In the past, when I opened auditions, I received 60+ recordings. This time, I’ve received less than 20. The good news is, a few of the auditions have been stellar. I plan on making a decision on who I’m going to hire to narrate Driven in the next few days, with a publication goal date of mid-June.
Marketing
In April, I sent another book out into the world (Promised Land: Novellas), and did nothing to promote it. I didn’t do a launch at all. I just hit publish and moved on to the next book.
I know I’ve said in previous productivity reports that I’m holding off on doing any book marketing until after my new website is completed at the end of June, but I have to say that this routine of publishing a book then abandoning it has really started to eat at me. At the moment, I have a total of 23 books published, and none of them are selling. They are lost in a sea of other books that are better promoted and more visible.
The truth is, I don’t have any real interest in marketing. To be clearer, I want my books to be marketed. I just don’t want to be the one to do it. But I’m a one-man show, and if the books are to be marketed, it’s up to me to do it. I really need to figure this out.
Final Thoughts
At the moment, Second Chances is in the drafting queue, North & South is in the revision queue, and Driven is in the audio queue. In May, I will be traveling a bit, but I hope to have North & South done by the end of the month so I can start devoting more time to Second Chances. In the next few days, I’ll select a narrator to read Driven, then the only thing I’ll have to do on that project is review chapter recordings as they are submitted.
My goals for the remainder of the quarter are to:
Publish North & South
Publish the audiobook of Driven: A Novel
Build new website
I’m currently in good position to accomplish all of these goals before the end of the quarter. If things stay on track, or even get a bit ahead of schedule, I may be able to start working on third quarter goals before the second quarter ends. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.