Update 4/17/24

Getting The Thirteenth Talent ready for publication. Very soon, I should have the cover up on this site with an expected publication date.

As soon as I figure out exactly when that date is going to be.

(I’m really looking forward to seeing “Coming Soon” under a book cover again. It’s been too long!)

As for Trial of the Ornic 3, I’ve been making steady progress on it. I’m going back to my process when I first started this series, which is simply this: I don’t know what’s going to happen next.

Dean Wesley Smith calls this Writing Into the Dark (here’s the Goodreads link and here’s a link to a video review). I’m finding that it mostly works well for me. I say mostly because I don’t write strictly into the dark. I write until I come up against an issue, then I stop, think about it, create maps or tools or interviews or whatever helps me think about it, then go back to writing.

And if I feel like I’m losing track of the story, I go back in the manuscript however far I need and read it forward until I’m back to the blinking cursor.

I’ve found this is the system that works best for me.

Another thing that helps is ignoring word count quotas. My only hard and fast rule is to write everyday, even if it’s just a sentence. I keep track of my word count so I have an idea of how long it takes to write whatever I’ve written, and I do keep track of my word count using a spreadsheet with various approaches to the data, but I don’t sweat reaching any insane goals or typing as fast as I can.

Interestingly, ever since I started chilling about output, my speed has increased. “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast” perhaps?

Anyway, I’ve got Zhiv and Krysilla and the clan on their next adventure with a few issues already rearing their heads. I hope they make it.

See you next month!

Update 3/16/24

I finally began the type-in for the copy edit of The Thirteenth Talent! Not only that, but I’m almost halfway through the type-in.

It turns out, the biggest issues had to do with formatting and continuity. The formatting issues are because I was trying out a new way of writing, simply because I didn’t have any way of using my typical methods. Thankfully, it looks like that won’t be an issue in future books.

The continuity issues are because it has been too long since I was in that world and I thought I could just read a quick outline and some notes before I started writing. Silly me. Not only that, but enough time has passed that I’m not the same person I was when I wrote parts one and two of this volume. And I think it shows.

So, I’ve learned I have to spend a lot more time immersing myself in a series if I’ve been away from it for a long time. Which is very useful info for a writer. (I think the one exception is if it’s a disjointed series, but more on that later.)

I’ve also learned that a writer I had once followed passed away suddenly in 2021. I’ve had others, friends and family as well as writers, pass on in the last several years, but maybe they’ve been really adding up in my head? It’s just really hit me, really hard, how short our lives are.

And that the time we think we have may not be there.

So, do what you love while you can. For me, that means getting back to writing and spending time with my family.

I hope all is well with you. Drop a comment below if you like. I’ll write again next month. Hopefully.

Placeholder post

Unable to write a full post this month. May write more later.

Still editing and getting to a pretty good spot in the process. Hopefully next book will go faster.

At the very least, will post again next month. Take care, stay safe, and find good books to read.

The Plan for 2024. Mostly.

You’ve probably noticed, but I haven’t published much for the last few years. There’s a number of reasons for this, but part of it is that I’ve been trying to figure out what actually works in marketing, publishing, and writing. It’s taken me this long because I’ve learned that not every expert is actually an expert.

I’m writing this now, because I think I actually have a To Do list that makes sense to me, makes sense in the larger publishing/writing/marketing world, and works with where I am right now. The very first large goal I think needs to be accomplished is to get a decent backlist up and going. That also means finishing any series I want finished.

Here’s a somewhat more detailed version of that. We’ll see how it works (and what needs to change) as the year goes on.

1. No detailed yearly plan. Life rears its head and the plan gets smashed. I try again, and something changes or a crisis happens and I have to pivot and good gosh, all I want right now is some stability. Too many crises over too many years have made me leery of planning anything. So, no yearly plan. The one exception? A penciled-in publication date for the next title.
2. Hello, weekly and monthly plan! This is where the majority of my planning will be. It should allow me to pivot without dramatically changing anything, or making me feel like my publishing dreams need to be torn down and rebuilt from the ground up.
3. The word for the year is WIBBOW. Technically, it’s the acronym of the year, but whatever. It stands for Would I Be Better Off Writing. I have it on an index card with my writing stuff. Heck, I may even make a desktop background for it, but…WIBBOW. (Hmm. No, desktop background isn’t worth the time compared to writing).
4. Rethink social media. I’m reducing my time on the various platforms. For now, my focus is Facebook (for the writer groups), Goodreads, and this site/blog.
5. Publish more. This year, my top priority is to publish The Thirteenth Talent. After that, publish the next book that’s ready. Then the one after that. And the one after that. And the one…you get the idea. As a side note, the books I publish will not get much, if any, active marketing (i.e. no ads of any kind, etc.). I’ll mention new releases here and on Facebook. I may send out some eARCs. That said, most marketing right now will be passive (best covers I can manage, good blurbs, keywords, etc.).
6. Write more. To publish more, I must write more.
7. Get a new website and create a mailing list. After seeing what’s happened with Twitter/X and thinking it through, I’ve realized this is the best active marketing action I can and should take. Not sure when it will happen, but my goal is to have it done by the end of the year.
8. Reduce blogging to once a month. This is a WIBBOW thing. The more I blog, the less of my limited time I’m spending actually publishing. And since my focus is on publishing more and finishing whatever series I’ve begun that I want to finish, blogging will become a monthly update for at least the next year. I’m tentatively thinking of setting an actual date for each post. The 15th maybe? Not sure yet, but if I’m posting that infrequently, then I really need to have some consistency about it.

I think that just about does it for list items. I’ll post again in February (probably around the 15th) and let you all know how my tentative plan is going.

Thanks for reading. Wherever you are, I hope all is going (and will go) well for you. See you in February!

Smashwords End of Year Sale Has Begun And I’m In It

So, I’m still working through the edits for The Thirteenth Talent. It’s over 200,000 words now, so that makes sense. Hopefully, I can find more time and speed up the process. But in the meantime…

A number of my books are free right now as part of Smashwords End of Year Sale. If you want to get a free copy, here are some links.

Loki, Son of Laufey – A mythology romance about Loki and Sigyn.

The Baker’s Wife – The first book in the Trial of the Ornic and The Thirteenth Talent’s predecessor, it’s about a baker’s wife who helps a minstrel and ends up becoming embroiled in a conflict with epic consequences.

Shining Armor – Shapeshifting dragons. Need I say more?

Master of Roads – A dark story about a princess who decides to make a deal with the God of Death to avoid becoming the pawn between two bloodthirsty princes.

And at a 75% discount, we have Lady Fair, sequel to Shining Armor, a story about a shapeshifting dragon trying to fight corruption and a human woman who’s sworn to kill all dragons.

Happy reading!

Update: September 18, 2023

I’ve barely made any headway these past few weeks in either The Thirteenth Talent (Trial of the Ornic #2) or the next book in the Trial of the Ornic series. And life has been busy enough, I can’t remember the last time I posted here.

But…I have written about 13,000 words in Trial of the Ornic #3. The ending word count, given previous books, is probably going to be about 240,000 words. Roughly.

So yeah, it’s going to take a bit of focused effort to get that done. But first, I have a promise to fans of this series that I need to keep.

My priority is now getting the next book in the series Trial of the Ornic, The Thirteenth Talent, edited and published before the year ends. The editing shouldn’t take much longer, and since I’m currently the reason The Thirteenth Talent isn’t ready for publishing yet, it shouldn’t take much time to get it finished and ready. Relatively speaking. I’m thinking I might, if I really focus, have it done before Thanksgiving, just in time for Christmas.

We’ll see. I’ll update again as soon as I can. Thank you for your patience and for reading.

Overdue Update: 9/2/23

Not much time, even now, but I felt I needed to at least say this much.

I’ve hardly been able to write the past few weeks due to other parts of my life needing attention. Last week, I wasn’t able to do anything at all. Today, I wanted nothing more than to sleep or rest or something that was not writing. However, last month I went back to a tool I learned about a few years ago called FRED. by Shaunta Grimes. It’s pretty straightforward with two parts. The first part? A monthly calendar. The second? A simple table where you record your word count.

Stick gold stars or some other motivational sticker on the calendar for each day you write. And fill the table with your word count.

Last month, I managed two writing days after I started using it. And I somehow got a few words in yesterday.

Today, I kept thinking about how this is a new month, about how what matters isn’t what you didn’t do in the past but what you’re doing right now, and even though I was tired and didn’t think I’d get anything worth keeping, for the sake of the little gold star on today’s date, I went ahead and tried.

I’m still not sure about the scene I wrote in Trial of the Ornic 3, but it got me thinking about what I want from this novel (it’s changed since I first started this series) and how I want to get there. Before I knew it, I had the next four scenes decided and I’ve filled out scene cards for them with a clear image of what needs to happen next.

And I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s pretty metallic star as well. The simple things, you know?

Given my experience, I highly recommend taking a look at Shaunta’s FRED system. It’s simple, easy, and surprisingly motivational, especially in a “Don’t Break the Chain” kind of way.

Here’s the link again if you missed it above.

A Simple Tool for Actually Achieving Your Goals (Whatever They Are) by Shaunta Grimes (link takes you to Medium)

What tools do you use to stay on track? What motivates you? I’d love to hear your answer in the comments below.

Quick Status Update 7/15/23

Not much to write about this past week. I’ve been very busy with a number of things other than writing, so not much progress has been made. I wrote, at most, about 1000 words in Trial of the Ornic #3. This post is mostly to keep me in the habit of blogging about my progress, or, in this case, lack of it.

Hopefully, I’ll have more news next week.

Quick Update, July 7, 2023

Things are going well with the copyedit for Trial of the Ornic #2. Also, it now has a title!

The Thirteenth Talent.

Thank you to my writing friends at Holly Lisle’s forums for their input. I came up with some options for the title of the sequel to The Baker’s Wife, and they helped me narrow the options down to one. Not only did this speed up the process, but it gave me valuable feedback regarding how each of the titles were viewed. Their help was and is deeply appreciated.

In the meantime, I’m still writing the rough draft of Trial of the Ornic #3. It’s been slow going the past few weeks, but I’m enjoying the process and look forward to a lot more new words this coming week. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Review: The Murderwarden by E.J. Tedrow

It’s finally out!

Note: I read this as a beta reader and asked the author if I could give a review on Goodreads and on my blog. She said yes. The review you read here is (mostly) the same as the one on Goodreads. All thoughts are my own.

The synopsis: Anja, a young murderwarden struggling with her magical powers of focus and her socially adept partner, Faris, find themselves embroiled in a difficult case that becomes more deadly and personal the deeper they go.

My thoughts:

First off, I loved the concept and the magic. It’s very well done, especially the consequences of having a magical talent that can make a person obsessively curious about all details. That aspect is thoroughly explored in this book and I loved seeing all the sides Tedrow shows us, good and bad.

Her partner is also a gem to read. One of the consequences for Anja is that her talent makes it difficult to get along with people. Her partner, Faris, not only makes up for this deficiency with his empathy and communication skills but does it in a way that makes her feel completely accepted. I can’t wait to read future stories involving these two. They work exceptionally well together.

There were some aspects of the plot I was able to guess in advance but it didn’t matter. The unfolding was worth the time.

I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series!