I don’t post many updates here anymore – though looking at my last draft, it seems like I meant to post something in August of 2020 and forgot to. Whoops. Honestly, I’m a lot more private than I once was, and I don’t really want to put my whole life anywhere online, even including this site that I control. But I can’t go all of 2021 without writing something, right? checks date Better late than never, I guess.

I’ve written several more short stories and novels since my last update about Ghost. Reiterate has been done for quite some time, I’m just super uncertain of how it turned out, so I haven’t published it. I wrote a short story with a working name of Cauliflower (it has nothing to do with vegetables) that I have no plans of publishing. I mostly wrote it because there was one specific scene I wanted to write, so I wrote a story around that scene. Heh.

My biggest project has been a novel called The Storm. I finished it a couple months ago, but I’ve only given it a once over and need to really dig into it for editing. It’s the longest novel I’ve written at around 91,000 words, so it’ll take a while to carve it up and figure out if I want to put it out into the world. In the meantime, I’ve been working on a short story that’s a sort of re-imagining of a story I outlined and partially wrote in 2011-2012.

Outside of the writing world, I’ve been playing Genshin Impact quite a lot since it launched. I’m sure that would come as a shock to no one that knows me, but I guess it’s worth mentioning.

Perhaps slightly more shocking is that I suddenly became a fan of Twice this year – completely randomly decided to try listening to some KPop and now here I am. I’ve only really dabbled back in the SNSD/Girls Generation days, but boy, was I big into JPop back in the early 2000s (did I mention that I met and got a picture with Taku Takahashi of m-flo and saw him do a live show at Otakon 2019? Cause I still can’t believe that happened).

Speaking of Korea, Solo Leveling is such a great read. If you’re into comics (it’s a full color manhwa/Korean comic), I highly recommend it. I started reading it last year, but the series just ended this week. It’s in the ‘power fantasy’ genre (MC suddenly gains a lot of power/abilities), and while it doesn’t really do anything unique, it plays in its space remarkably well.

And hey, look, if you’re reading this and I know you personally, I probably don’t need to tell you, but just in case, please get vaccinated. I don’t want to see anyone I know on /r/hermancainaward.


In between editing sessions of
Reiterate (which is done, by the way, I just need to publish it), I was working on my first novella – a 110 page young adult cyberpunk story called Ghost. This story is something I would’ve loved to read as a teenager (and, to be honest, would still enjoy reading). I usually try to write for a broader audience, but this one is admittedly kind of niche, and as such, it’s hard to say if the same people that enjoyed Iterate will also enjoy Ghost.

That said, Ghost was the most fun I’ve ever had writing something and is a story I’m excited to put out in the world, even if it won’t reach the same audience. I came up with some concepts I’m super proud of, and if you’re up for a fun, technology-fueled ride, I’d urge you to check it out.

I’ll get a page up in the sidebar soon for Ghost, but in the meantime, you can find it on Amazon.

Source: PhilipDiStefano.com

The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry

I had several ideas for Reiterate when I started writing it in 2018. Some of them panned out, and some didn’t. This is the first sequel I’ve actually penned to completion, and there were a lot more challenges than I anticipated. It is wildly difficult to try to keep a story like Iterate straight because it contains so many world-building details. I had to rewrite a lot of sections of Reiterate several times, and I had to reread Iterate a couple times, all while taking notes and making edits to the sequel. Every rewrite requires editing, and it all just compounded into much more work than I thought it would be.

The gist of what I am saying is that Reiterate is nearly done, and I know I’ve been saying that for a while, but that’s still where it stands. I underestimated the process of writing a sequel, and that’s all there is to it.

Source: PhilipDiStefano.com

I usually try to set expectations pretty realistically, but I have done a bad job of that here with my last couple of updates. I just finished the second major round of editing on Reiterate, and there is still something bugging me about an arc in the middle that I need to fix.

My last update mentioned May 2019, but the reality of that happening seems unlikely at this point. For now, let’s just say “coming soon.”

Source: PhilipDiStefano.com

I’ve been trying to keep up with blogging, and it’s been a little difficult, but I’m still doing better with updates lately than I have last year or probably the year before.

So, what has been going on?

  • I have a new favorite king cake (Cannata’s gooey butter amaretto cream cheese (*insert chef’s kiss here*).
  • I finished my anime rewatch spree (True Tears was about how I remembered it – fun ride, disappointing end).
  • Apex Legends has been a ton of fun, but I’m really looking forward to them adding more game modes
  • My goal to read more often feel through in a spectacular fashion, so I guess I am replacing it with “play Beat Saber for 30 minutes five times a week.”
  • We are going to Japan soon (I fly a lot, but I’ll admit having quite a bit of anxiety over this long as heck, trans-Pacific flight).

I still want to write a sort-of-review about the 2018 MacBook Pro, because I definitely have some things to say about specific aspects of the machine, but I don’t feel like writing a full review. Also, I’m sure the Japan trip will warrant its own post at some point.

Editing on Reiterate is going kind of slow. I’m at the point where I’m getting burned out on it (it happens when you’re reading and re-reading and re-re-reading), but I did I take a small break in between to write something new, which can be found in my last post. I was shooting for April or May to be done, but I can pretty much guarantee now that April won’t happen, and May probably won’t either. I’d rather be sure it’s the best it can be, though, so I’ve gotta finish my due diligence on it.

That’s all for now.

I don’t normally post stories I’m working on anymore, but in between editing sessions of Reiterate, I wrote a 7,000 word story intended as the first chapter of a new novel, and I’m not sure if I’m on to something. I personally like it, but it’s young adult cyberpunk, which I guess is sort of a weird combination.

Anyway, here it is.

Ghost (working title)

I know I said a few updates ago that Reiterate might be done in Q4 2018.  Well, Q4 2018 is almost over, and I just finished the rough draft.  Part of the holdup was that Reiterate ended up being longer than I was expecting.  The other delay wasn’t really a delay as much as it was a poor estimate of when I’d be done.  I’ve still got tons of editing to do, so if I had to take another (very likely wildly inaccurate) guess of when Reiterate will be available, I’d say May 2019.

Source: PhilipDiStefano.com

If you’ve read Iterate, then you know that one of the central themes of the story is a time loop that revolves around August 28th, 2018.  Well, that is today, so on that note, Happy Iterate Day!  To celebrate, I wanted to make the Kindle version free for today, but I found out when I went to make the price change that you cannot make a book on the Kindle Direct Publishing platform free unless it’s enrolled in KDP Select.  I would have no issue with that, except KDP Select has an exclusivity agreement that I am not comfortable with.  As a result, I can’t make the Kindle version of Iterate free today.  However, I can still give it away, just not quite as easily!  If you would like a free copy of Iterate, please Tweet at me.  This offer stands until the end of August.

I also figured there is probably no better day to give more information on the sequel, which has been in the works since a few weeks after I published Iterate.  The moment I cemented the title for Iterate was when I also knew that the sequel would be called Reiterate.  It was an obvious choice for both books, which made the usually daunting task of picking a title pretty easy in both cases.

Clearly, I’ve been sitting on that tidbit for a while, but that’s not all that I have to share.  The first draft of Reiterate is currently sitting just shy of 41,000 words, and I would be shocked if the finished first draft is anything less than 60,000 words.  It’s hard to truly estimate a word length for a story you’re not done telling, but if my guess is correct, that would make Reiterate longer than Iterate by a bit.

I am still trying to release Reiterate in Q4 of this year (meaning sometime before January 1st, 2019), but that date may have been a bit too ambitious.  Regardless, it will be done when it’s done, and I’m pretty excited with how it’s turning out.

Source: PhilipDiStefano.com

For some reason, I thought I’d posted here that Iterate would have a sequel at some point, but I suppose I confused platforms.  Regardless, this post is to say that yes, Iterate will have a sequel, and I am currently writing it.  As much as I’d love to release it on August 28th, 2018, that’s a pretty unrealistic goal right now.  While subject to change, I’d say a more likely release will be Q4 2018.

Source: PhilipDiStefano.com