Drafts of Books 3 and 4 are more or less complete

 Just another update, I've managed to insert enough new material to bring the Book 4 manuscript up above 200 pages, making it just long enough to really call it a novel, and I'm very happy with how it's turned out. I've finished naming chapters on both book 3 and book 4, and I think the drafts are at a point where I can set them down long enough to get back to work on other projects.

Also an interesting thing I wanted to share; while going back to do some work on the audiobook for book 2, I went back looking through my notes and files on my XP laptop where all of my books started. The first inklings of a plot idea for Book 3 were recorded in late May of 2018, approximately three weeks after I finished the rough draft of Book 2. This early note was very short, but it contained the core concept/theme of "discontinuity" that carried through the manuscript all the way until now, along with the idea of starting book 3 with a "deleted scene" from the first book that dates all the way back to 2016.

But the idea stayed on the back burner for quite a while, as I was focused on completing and publishing books 1 and 2. Compiling ideas and notes for book 3 began in earnest in 2020, along with the first few pages of actual writing. The plot for book 3 really started to come together in 2021. But numerous distractions, including life changes and changes in routine during and after the pandemic, along with the very particular problem of watching too much streaming TV, slowed the writing process for some time. Progress picked up more about 18 months ago, when I made a conscious effort to make changes in my life to facilitate my creative projects.

I've really been blessed to see some of these projects come to fruition, and it was very satisfying to look back at some of these half-forgotten notes to see that the seeds that would grow into books 3 and 4 were already there before the first two books were even published.

More particularly, it's also very satisfying to see that the Jerry Copperpot series, which for years has only consisted of two books, will eventually become a four-volume saga worthy to be called a "series."