The Long Journey to Finish a Three Novelette Trilogy Series

Note: This article is written for my Ernest Ortiz Writes Now Substack. But you have the chance to read it before they do.

It seems like a long time ago. Every 6 a.m., I sat in my Toyota Camry outside someone’s house, sipped my iced mocha, held my camcorder, and waited for my subject to do something.

I was a private investigator specializing in workers compensation. Long hours, including weekends and holidays, lots of waiting, in extreme heat and cold. Most of the time boring. Until, everything happens in a blink of an eye.

I’ve worked in several states, got to see the beautiful sights and sounds. More importantly, it taught me many things about human behavior, specifically how people behave when they thought no one was looking. Those two lessons always stuck with me whenever I wrote fiction.

Now, I’m a stay-at-home dad of two boys. The stakeouts replaced by school pickups, cooking, cleaning, changing diapers, and emotional negotiations. But I never stopped writing. The jobs change, but the struggle to write always stays.

The story I’ve been working on

Since late 2018 I’ve been building a sci-fi trilogy called The Package. Most of it in my head before putting it down on paper a year later. Created multiple drafts with dozens of revisions. Even hired someone on Fiverr to create two ebook covers for the first two novelettes, until I got tired of the project and put them on the backburner.

It wasn’t until I created my blog ErnestOrtizWritesNow.com last December that gave me the drive to finish The Package. The first two novelettes are out now on Gumroad. The third and final one drops in August.

Here’s the setup:

Malcolm Diego is a cyberjacker. Think hacker, but wired directly into computer and comm systems via an implant at the back of his neck. He lives on Unity Station orbiting Earth. Work is scarce and money is tight. His ex-girlfriend shows up and asks him to deliver a package to her mother on a colony in the Asteroid Belt.

He says yes. He shouldn’t have.

What follows takes Malcolm from Earth orbit to the Asteroid Belt to Jupiter, through smuggling runs, corrupt officials, pirates, and a conspiracy that turns out to be much bigger than one package.

I wrote the kind of sci-fi I wanted to read: fast-paced, character-driven, no technobabble, no fifty-page prologue explaining the political history of the solar system, not even a timeline. Just a guy trying to make it through the next problem without getting killed.

Originally, it was supposed to be one short story. But it turned out bigger than I expected. Sometimes, ideas can expand more than you can handle and the best you can do is to contain as much as possible.

Why short fiction instead of a novel

Each installment is a novelette, around 5,000 to 20,000 words. The third story, Sovereign, is almost 20,000. You can read one in a couple of hours.

I’m a stay-at-home dad. I don’t have time to read novels or nonfiction books anymore. My readers are probably busy people too. Short fiction that respects your time feels right to me.

There’s also something I love about novelettes and novellas as a form. It’s long enough to build real characters and real stakes, yet short enough to stay tight. No filler. Every character, every scene, every sentence earns its place.

Where to get it

Both novelettes are available on Gumroad, both PDF and EPUB included in a ZIP file, no subscription required, just a one-time purchase.

The Package (Novelette 1 – 10 chapters, 10,800 words) > ernestortizwritesnow.gumroad.com/l/thepackageone

The Package: Foul Run (Novelette 2 – 13 chapters, 12,600 words) >

ernestortizwritesnow.gumroad.com/l/thepackagefoulrun

The first book is $1 while the second is $3. Both ebooks are less than a premium coffee, as I keep saying, because it’s true and I’m not above using it.

The third installment, The Package: Sovereign, lands in August or sooner. Subscribe here and I’ll let you know the moment it’s live.

What to expect

I’ll be posting here about writing, the craft, the process, what it’s actually like to write fiction and nonfiction as a stay-at-home dad, and former private investigator, with limited hours and no quiet. I’ll share behind the scenes on the trilogy and whatever comes next.

Until I say otherwise, I will post two articles on Substack every month, one free and the EOWN Letter for paid subscribers. It’s $5/month and $45/year.

If you read The Package and want to tell me what you thought, reply back. I read everything.

Thanks for being here. Until next month.

• Ernest L. Ortiz, ErnestOrtizWritesNow.com

Thanks for reading. This first issue is free for everyone. If you’re interested in more of The Ernest Ortiz Writes Now Letter, it’s $5/month or $45/year.

#writing #fiction #letter #newsletter #novella #novelette #privateinvestigator #scifi #stayathomedad

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Growing up I had a large oak desk and I miss it. Unfortunately, my place is small and crowded for a second one. My wife uses an adjustable one for work. Ever since becoming a stay-at-home dad, my need for a desk or the dining table to write grows less.

One thing I noticed when I worked as a private investigator is I always used my right thigh to hold and write on my yellow legal pads. I still use this technique to this day. I wrote this article draft while sitting on the couch next to my younger son as he flipped pages from a book.

That’s the price to pay for being a field writer. You use whatever resources available to you in order to write. Unless you’re an amputee, sorry, your thighs are always with you if you need a writing surface.

The lesson: you don’t need expensive equipment or the best writing setup in order for you to write. Trying to do that will prevent you from writing. Your notebook, pencil, and thighs are all you need. Now, go forth and write.

#writing #desk #field #thighs

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I’m trying to get The Package done and need a break from posting. Will get back next Monday. Thanks for your patience and support!

#writing #break #rest

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I’m going to focus the rest of the week to try to finish The Package series. Novelette 2 will be done before the July deadline. Novelette 3 might be done before the August deadline.

Just a reminder, Novelette 1 is out right now. Click on the Gumroad link below: https://ernestortizwritesnow.gumroad.com/l/thepackageone

Again, thanks for your support!

#writing #draft #editing #novelette #shortstory #update

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My condo is small. Space is limited, we have lots of stuff, and there’s barely any room to maneuver. When I enter through the front door and into the living room there’s a 80” x 72” playpen taking up the majority of the space.

With the playpen there’s barely enough room to walk around to the couch, stand next to the changing table, and swing the door open to allow people to enter or leave the house. But it’s a good place to write as long as my children don’t climb all over me, which is often. So, I always have my notebook and pencil with me instead of my phone.

If you do this, remember two things. Don’t let them grab your notebook and pencil so they can put them in their mouths and don’t focus too much on writing when your children want you to play with them.

#writing #children #playpen #stayathomedad

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If there’s one piece of writing advice I can give to you and others, it’s the title above. Let’s face it, many of us writers have trouble getting past that blank piece of paper or screen. Even we if have something written, often we don’t write anything else, and progress stalls.

So whenever you’re having trouble writing something, just write one sentence at a time. If you can keep up the momentum and write more, then that’s great. If not, just write another sentence the next day.

Let’s assume you’re writing a novel, 80,000 words and the average sentence is about 17.5 words. If you only write one sentence a day it will take you about 12.5 years to complete a draft. Yes, that’s a long time, but think of how many writers you know that have waited that long and still haven’t published anything.

The lesson: Compounding works. One sentence a day produces progress. It may take a long time, but you’re doing better than someone who keeps hesitating and letting perfectionism overwhelm them.

#writing #advice #daily #one #sentence

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I consider myself a field writer. There’s no dedicated wooden oak desk to call my own. The dining room table feels uncomfortable. And any cafe is a violation of my quality writing time. So I have to be adaptable to wherever writing setting I go.

One day I had an idea. My wife and I have this little table. It’s rectangular and the legs are bent and shaped so that it can slip next to a couch or regular chair. And it’s the perfect height when I have to sit on the toilet.

So, I put it in our main bathroom and it looks perfect. I have the privacy to write while doing my business, or pretend I’m doing business. You’d think this is the best idea ever. But my wife put her foot down and said no. The reason was hygiene so that idea is dead.

Hey, if you can get away with it get a small table for your bathroom and if it works for your writing, then good. I hope your spouse, roommates, or whoever lives with you agree with it. Just make sure you clean it every day or so.

#writing #bathroom #table

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Wow! Can’t believe I made it this far. All three drafts of The Package trilogy are done. Now, all I have to do is revise and edit them.

If things go well, I’ll publish the first story by the beginning of June. Maybe sooner. I’ll let you know where I’ll publish them, stilll deciding on that.

Thank you for those still interested in the series. I hope you like them.

#writing #draft #editing #novelette #shortstory #update

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As a teen, I’d leave the TV on while writing, studying, and sleeping. It’s a terrible habit and has stuck with me since. Instead of TV, now it’s YouTube. But at least this habit has lessened throughout the years.

I can write without distractions for at least fifteen minutes. Then I’ll watch something on YouTube for a few minutes. I’ll write again and repeat the process. It’s the best system for me.

How about you? Is there some bad habit you do whenever you write? Let me know.

#writing #habit #tv #YouTube

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I recently watched the seventh season, second episode of Star Trek: DS9, Shadows and Symbols. The character Benny Russell (played by Avery Brooks) is in a psychiatric room writing his story on the walls. He does this because the doctors refuse to give him paper.

A psychiatrist, Dr. Wykoff (played by Casey Biggs) offers Benny a paint roller to erase his writings so he can be “cured” of his delusions. I won’t spoil any more so go watch. After watching that episode it gave me an idea.

Inside my home I have blue, white, and yellow walls. What color wall would I choose? Or would I write on all of them? Unfortunately, white and yellow walls are too bright even in low lighting. Blue walls are easier on my eyes and still bright enough when there’s not enough light.

However, all of this doesn’t matter. The real question is: how long can my kids and I write on the walls before my wife goes berserk and makes me clean and repaint them?

#writing #blue #ds9 #startrek #walls #white #yellow

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