Sci-fi horror on a Pacific island breaks out in:

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First draft status - Digital Novelist notes - 2026-02-20

how the sci-fi horror novel's going

Robert,

Thanks for joining the Digital Novelist newsletter!

It'll be good to stay in touch as we both continue down this long winding path for writing fiction.

You came on a good day. Because I just wrapped the first draft of my upcoming military sci-fi horror novel Cereus & Limnic: Escape From Okinawa.

Total word count came to 103,537.

Took me about 6 months for this first draft.

Looking forward to sharing more with you in the future!

-Keith


ANNOUNCEMENT!

This weekend Feb 21-22, 2026 I will be a vendor at Virtuous Con 2026!

It's online, so stop by and say hi if you get a chance.

It would be great to talk to you again!


Session 1: Writing (Novel) 3.5 hours

1700 words written - First draft complete

Excerpt:

Somebody was in the toilet. I could hear muttering coming from beneath the seal of brightness of the door. Resinous woodiness with a hint of citrus, a cloud of frankincense (I'm pretty sure) hit me with a bout of nostalgia as I inhaled.

Session 2: Writing (Novel) 10 mins

Began planning the editing process.

Session 3: Editing (Novel) Cereus & Limnic: Escape From Okinawa (10 mins)

1250 words edited

Began editing


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