The following is stuff about Book 6 and news about Book 7. Probably best to read it after you've read Chapter 246 first.

It’s been a rough couple of weeks but I finally got to the end of Book 6. Somewhat rushed and I’m sure there are a bunch of loose ends I didn’t tie up, but at this point I’m just glad to get it out and take a break.

HTADDB has always been a very experimental story with me winging it on a daily basis, so I’ve always expected it to have ups and downs, but this volume was particularly tricky towards the end (for various reasons), and I’m sure it shows.

I think I ended up with too many characters in this one and not a strong enough overall story to keep them all in line. When I do the rewrite for the eBook release, I’m probably going to make a lot of changes.

Those of you who have read ‘The Good Student’ have seen what a more traditional approach to writing from me looks like, and it’s much more what I’m comfortable with. Which is why I like HTADDB. It pushes me to think differently and come up with fresher (and stranger) ideas, which makes writing more interesting for me. That said, it’s also riskier and more likely to come up short.

Maintaining the 5 chapters a week schedule with no forward planning is getting harder and harder, so for the next book (yes, there will be a Book 7) I’m going to switch to 3 chapters a week (mon-wed-fri) and try to plan things out in a more traditional way to see where that takes the story. It will also give me more time to write my other projects.

My main focus will be to introduce a viable nemesis for Colin. So far he's been flying under the radar, but with his new powers, I think he could do with a decent challenger.

I’ve never written something this long and it’s all new territory for me, so I’m not really sure how things are going to turn out. Could be the best one yet, could be a huge disaster.

But I’m very grateful to all of you who have kept reading and for all the support. It’s enabled me to branch out and perhaps even start writing full time (eventually). I hope to have even more stories out soon, I just need a proper schedule (and fewer curveballs).

Thanks again, especially to my patrons who are incredibly generous and supportive. Your belief in me pushes me to try harder even when I feel completely wasted and I'm incredibly grateful.

Cheers to all of you and if you find yourself in need of something to read during the hiatus, you might like my other two stories, The Good Student and Bitter.

See you back here for Book 7, 3rd July. You can find more updates about what I'm up to on twitter (@mooderino) or on my Patreon page.

Mood.