Monday, January 29, 2018

Updates

If this first month is any indication of how the rest of the year is going to go, I am going to be very, very busy. Not just on the writing front, but in my personal life as well. For starters, I've finally finished my move, and my condo is being prepared to be put on the market. Factor in that I've made significant headway in wedding plans, and you're looking at someone who is surviving on very little sleep or reading time. (Note- Wedding planning is not for the week of heart.)

In addition to all the personal kerfluffel, I've managed to proof and upload the final, final, FINAL copy of Moonlight's Ambassador to Amazon. This is probably the closest I've cut it to the publishing deadline, so it is a huge relief to know it's up and that I don't have to do anything else to it. No more proofing, formatting, or stressing. Just the soothing knowledge that it's done. Unfortunately, I don't know if it makes sense to do an ARC since we only have a week until it goes live. I may have to wait until the next book to put that idea into production.

In other news, Dragon 3 continues to chug along. I have roughly 35,000 words left of the first draft, maybe more. I'm entering the climax and trying to bring to fruition all those seeds I planted in the first part of the book. I'm at the stage where I have no idea if the story I've written is working and I'm just desperately trying to finish. There are so many tangled threads right now that I'm having serious anxiety about whether I'm going to be able to weave everything together into a cohesive whole in the few words I have left. A lot of things are supposed to happen this book. Now it's a matter of making those things happen without forcing or short changing them. It's harder than it sounds.

The crazy thing is I've been here before on other books. The worst was probably Pathfinder's Way. It's why it took me almost 3 years to finish. Since taking that long isn't really an option anymore, it means having to find my way through the weeds. It can be difficult, but I have faith that the finished product will be worth the struggle. If nothing else, I'll just have a really extensive editing cycle this time. I guess that's a silver lining of a sort.

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Sneak Peak

Only a few more weeks until Moonlight's Ambassador is released into the wild. I'm very excited for this book. A lot happens in Aileen's world. Things are revealed, people are betrayed, and vampires. So many vampires. I can't wait for you guys to read it.

In the meantime, here is chapter one for your reading pleasure. :-)

Chapter One

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

So Many Things

It’s a new year, a time to look back over what you did in the previous year even as you chart a course for the new one. I’ve had a very busy 2017 and 2018 is already shaping up to be more of the same.  This year I published three books and a novella. I also got engaged and am in the process of moving in with my fiancĂ©. It’s an exciting time, but also a busy one.

I took the week between Christmas and New Years off for some much-needed family time and so I could get some wedding planning done since my wedding date is in June. I’m glad I did it because my brain really needed some time off, but now I am so busy that my eyes are crossing :-). I’ll probably have very little time off until I finish the first draft of Dragon 3 and put Aileen 3 to bed.

In the midst of all that hubbub, I did make time to see Jumanji—twice. Because it was just that good. Seriously, I laughed the entire time. I think it’s my favorite team up between Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart. I’d recommend seeing it if you haven’t.

In addition to wedding dress shopping and venue visiting, I also finished watching season one of Riverdale and am now stuck waiting for season two to hit Netflix since I refuse to watch things out of order. The wait is killing me.

As for books, I got to finally finish Flame in the Dark by Faith Hunter, which as always was awesome. The real surprise for me was a book called AName Among the Stars by Mark Henwick. Oddly enough, I’d read part of another series by him previously but had forgotten about him until I found the most recent book. I really liked the book. It’s a Sci Fi and has great world building and a main character I adored. The romance is sweet but the focus of the book is on the external political plots. If you like that sort of thing, I’d definitely recommend.

I also had a trip to the vet first thing this year since my new cat, Odin, got a viral upper respiratory infection and ear mites. He was sick over New Years so I spent the weekend waffling between wanting to take him to an emergency vet hospital since my normal vet was closed and thinking he was fine given the fact he chased Loki all over the house a couple of times.

Since I did it last year, I figured I’d do it again this year since it really helped me focus. Below is a tentative publishing schedule for 2018 for those of you curious about when the next book is out.

Moonlight’s Ambassador – Aileen 3 – Early February

Dragon 3 – May

Broken Lands 3 – July-August (Very tentative as books in this series tend to be longer and take more time to write)

Unknown Project – October/November

There you have it. My plan for 2018. As always, this is subject to change.


Happy New Year, everyone. May your 2018 be everything you wish it to be.