There’s a particular kind of tired that doesn’t come from lack of sleep. It comes from context switching.
It’s the friction of writing a chapter in the early morning quiet, then pivoting immediately to emails, scheduling posts, and checking sales dashboards I pretend not to care about (but care about anyway). It’s the mental tax of pushing a book I’ve already finished while my mind is already drifting to the next one.
That’s where I am right now.
The Long Tail of Pejorative
Pejorative: Echoes of a Nation is out in the world. It still feels surreal when I stop long enough to notice. This last week alone, ten copies found new homes. That’s not a bestseller headline, but it’s real. Ten readers. Ten quiet votes of confidence.
For an indie author, that matters.
The hard truth is that the work doesn’t end when the book is released. In many ways, the release is just the starting gun for the administrative work. Marketing isn’t a switch you flip; it’s a slow, ongoing grind of showing up. It’s saying, “This exists,” over and over again, hoping it finds the right people.
And then there are the reviews. You try not to fixate on them, but you do. You refresh the page. You wait. You remind yourself that silence isn’t rejection. It’s a vulnerable phase that people don’t discuss enough: the book is no longer yours. It belongs to the readers now, to interpret or ignore as they see fit. I can’t control that. I can only keep pointing to it.
The Indie Reality: Many Hats, One Head
There is a persistent myth that the hardest part of writing is inspiration. That might have been true once. It isn’t anymore.
Being an indie author means being a writer, editor, marketer, scheduler, copywriter, data analyst, and graphic design critic, all while maintaining the day job that keeps the lights on.
My weeks are full. Some obligations are predictable; others are emergencies. Some require early mornings, others cost me my weekends. I don’t talk about the logistics much publicly, but they dictate my writing life. Practically, this means writing has to be deliberate. I don’t wait for the muse. I write in the gaps. I’ve learned to accept progress that looks small from the outside but feels like a victory from the inside.
There is no montage for spreadsheet updates. There is no applause for rewriting a blurb for the fifth time, or the sixth, or seventh. But this is the work. Quiet. Persistent. Often invisible.
The Push and the Pull Right now, I’m managing the tension between the book that needs selling and the book that needs writing. Pejorative deserves attention. It’s a book built on slow burn and word of mouth. Stopping the marketing now feels like quitting a marathon at mile 20. But then there is Simulacrum.
Simulacrum: Where I Am Now
Simulacrum is currently with beta readers. Sending it off felt like dropping a heavy pack after a long ruck. The book is tighter now. Sharper.
At its core, it’s a psychological sci-fi novel about identity, grief, and consent in a world where memory is mediated. It follows a man navigating a reality that keeps slipping, forcing him to question what is authentic and what has been curated. It’s not a loud book. It doesn’t rush to explain itself. The technology is there to pressure the characters, not to dazzle the reader.
The plan is a release toward the end of February 2026. Beta feedback will shape the final revisions, and cover art is already in motion. Now, it’s just about refinement. The question I keep circling is when to start the hype machine. Push too early, and people lose interest. Push too late, and nobody knows it’s coming. There’s no clean answer—just judgment calls. I even put a stake in the ground with a call out in the post material of Pejorative.
A new novel by Jason Butterfield – Spring 2026
What if your memories weren’t yours? In a city optimized for productivity at the cost of humanity, Luke Raines begins to suspect his reality, and even his own identity, are not what they seem. As cracks spread through the perfect facade of NeuroCore’s world, Luke’s search for truth leads him into places he was never meant to see… and toward a name the system insists has never existed: Eve.
Simulacrum – Echoes of Humanity is a psychological sci-fi thriller about memory, identity, and the ghosts left behind in machine-made worlds.
Concept art for Simulacrum cover - Let me know what you think in the comments.
Looking Ahead: Quondam Waves
And then, there’s the one waiting in the wings. Quondam Waves has been with me, on and off, since 2010. It lived in notebooks and abandoned drafts because, frankly, I wasn’t a good enough writer to handle it yet. Now, I am, I think.
The outline is complete. Once Simulacrum wraps, this is the project. It explores time, memory, and causality through the lens of recurrence. It’s about people brushing up against futures they shouldn’t see. It is bigger, more cinematic, and more complex than my previous work.
The Long Game
Some days, progress feels glacial. Other days, I sell ten books or crack a difficult scene, and it feels like enough. This isn’t a sprint. It’s a long, uneven march. It requires the discipline to keep showing up even when the signal feels faint.
I’ll keep pushing Pejorative. I’ll get Simulacrum ready for February. And I’ll finally write Quondam Waves the way it deserves to be written.
Somewhere between the drafts, the deadlines, and the many hats, the work gets done.
And, with that said...
Happy Holidays!
I’m Jason, a science fiction writer obsessed with the places where technology, military life, and human nature collide - often in spectacularly messy ways. With a background in tech and the military, I love crafting stories full of sharp dialogue, immersive worlds, and unexpected humor. Follow along if you enjoy these kinds of stories or want to learn more about my writing and upcoming novels.
