2013 plans

21
Nov
2013

Getting the ducks in a row.

It’s been over a YEAR since I last did a State of the Writer. (One year and one week. Which means it’s been one year and one week since my husband’s car accident. Wow. Time flies.)

So, without further ado, let’s see what I did this past year. This is the old list.

To Write:

      • Sapphires and Gold
      • From Dusk ’til Dawn
      • The Willow Sword
      • Sea Prince (To be written with Danielle Jones)
      • Tales from the Arena
      • Wanderer’s Moon (next book in the Midnight Moon series. Not to be done until we sell Nomad’s Moon)

To Outline

      • The Navigator (Steam and Screw, Book 1)
      • The Captain (Steam and Screw, Book 2)
      • Coral Throne (sequel to Sea Prince)
      • Hidden Things (Mystere Book 1)
      • The Lady and the Sword (Mystere Book 2)
      • Ashes and Light (Mystere Book 3)
      • Tablets of Stone (Mystere Book 4)
      • Rainbow Wars (the teach-in idea. Definitely a  YA. And it needs a better title)
      • Holy Orders ( Sequel to Heart’s Master)
      • Temple of the Mysteries (maybe a shared world thing)

To Sell

      • Nomad’s Moon
      • Exile’s Moon
      • Heart’s Master
      • Kidnapped by Pirates
      • Holy Palmer’s Kiss

Not bad. On the to Write list, I wrote three and sold two of those (I’m counting the self-pub as a sale. I’m making money on it.) On the sale list, I only sold one. And on the outline list…. ummm… yeah. That hasn’t changed at all. Except that I added one. (That one being The School. And that one I finished the outline of last night.)

So, plans for the rest of the year? I’ve just started back into The Sea Prince.  I’ve talked to Danielle, and we’ve decided that it’s not going to be mainstream. I’m going with what I know — erotic romance. So I’m putting the sex scenes I cut out back in. Might have been nice if I’d kept those drafts, I suppose. But I lost a revision somewhere, including a really good scene that I’m annoyed that I can’t find. I can recreate that scene, too. I’m hoping to have this done by the end of the year, but that is me being, I think, insane. Maybe the end of 1st quarter 2014.

From there, we’ll see what happens. So here’s my updated to-dos.

To Write:

      • The Willow Sword
      • Sea Prince (To be written with Danielle Jones)
      • The School
      • Berlin (A Sable Locks short story)

To Outline

      • The White Raven (Yes, a sequel to Princes of Air)
      • The Navigator (Steam and Screw, Book 1)
      • The Captain (Steam and Screw, Book 2)
      • Coral Throne (sequel to Sea Prince)
      • Hidden Things (Mystere Book 1)
      • The Lady and the Sword (Mystere Book 2)
      • Ashes and Light (Mystere Book 3)
      • Tablets of Stone (Mystere Book 4)
      • Rainbow Wars (the teach-in idea. Definitely a  YA. And it needs a better title)
      • Holy Orders ( Sequel to Heart’s Master)
      • Temple of the Mysteries (maybe a shared world thing)

To Sell

      • Nomad’s Moon
      • Exile’s Moon
      • Heart’s Master
      • Holy Palmer’s Kiss
      • Sapphires and Gold
      • The Ice Raven
Posted by EASchechter in 2013 plans, Ta-da, to-dos, 0 comments
06
Nov
2013

So… here's something new.

New and interesting and something I never thought I would say.

I’m going to be self-publishing Tales from the Arena.

If I got the formatting done properly, I’ll get them uploaded tomorrow. If I haven’t done the formatting properly, then we’re looking at Monday or so. The Smashwords guide to formatting an ebook is very good… if you’re using Word.

I’m not using Word. I think that may very well be something I splurge on next year, though. Between not being able to do rtf format in Libreoffice without losing all formatting when I hit ‘save’, and now not being sure if I’ve done this right… yeah, might be worth it.

So… tune in here for more information, which I’ll be posting as I figure out what I’m doing  it becomes available!

Posted by EASchechter in 2013 plans, Eek!, new books, Self-publishing, Tales from the Arena, upcoming books, upcoming work, 0 comments
05
Mar
2013

What’s upcoming on the Schechter writing radar?

Well, my next novel, the steampunk erotic romance House of Sable Locks, will be coming from Circlet sometime soon. How soon? Not sure. I sent the page proofs back in a couple of weeks ago, which means we’re in the home stretch. But we’ve been having trouble finding a cover. I mean, just WHAT do you put on the cover for a book where the hero is a half-trained Mad Scientist, and the heroine is a machine?

Yeah, that was a FUN book to write. Skirted some real legal issues there, too. There were a few chapters that had to be gutted and rewritten to avoid the whole “It was legal when this book happened. It is NOT LEGAL NOW!” gray area.

After that, I’ve got another novel in the slush at Circlet. This one is a paranormal BDSM M/M romance called Heart’s Master, and I’m pretty pleased with it. Especially since it took six years to write!  I’m trying to be patient, but patience is not my strongest virtue.

Another M/M romance went off to Circlet too, a few weeks ago. That one is a high fantasy novella called Sapphires and Gold. When I started it, it was supposed to be erotic horror, but apparently, while I can do erotic pretty durned well, I cannot write horror to save my life.

I seem to like writing M/M, because another novella went off to the Pagan Writers Press a few weeks ago, too. That one was From Dusk ’til Dawn,  and it was another high fantasy.

And right now, I’m writing a science-fiction BDSM erotic novel called Tales from the Arena. I’m hoping to have this done by June 1, so that I can focus on my son for the summer.  So, that being said, I need to get back to work!

 

Posted by EASchechter in 2013 plans, forthcoming works, From Dusk 'til Dawn, Heart's Master, Sable Locks, Sapphires and Gold, Tales from the Arena, Waiting-for-the-other-shoe, 0 comments
25
Feb
2013

Which way is up?

Seriously, that is about where my brains are right now.

It was a busy weekend. If you follow my Tweets, you know I was at the Disney Princess Expo on Friday, volunteering. (I  didn’t do the Disney Royal Family 5K this year because I blew out my knees training for a different 5K.) So, for SEVEN HOURS, I was on my feet, talking to people, handing out shirts, answering questions and basically having a BLAST.

An exhausting blast.

Saturday, I got up early and went to Weight Watchers, then came home and realized that I’ve been so busy that I haven’t really done much cleaning up around the house. MUST CLEAN ALL THE THINGS!

Again, exhausting.

Sunday? Finish cleaning, laundry, go meet friends and drop off food for a friend who is having a baby any minute. Then come home, pick up my boys (the big one and the little one), go shopping. Come home again, make dinner. Attempt to write. Pick exactly the worst time to discover that DH and I have been working at cross purposes for months, and hash that out. Fall down FAR TOO late at night for the time I had to be up this morning.

Writing? Not so much!

I did, however, get myself a lovely little toy last week. Picked up a tablet computer. So now, I can write wherever I am, even if I don’t have the laptop with me.

Which means I need to decide what the end of the school  year project is going to be. I have until June 1 to finish something, so that I can have a fully edited manuscript to send out come fall. And I have choices.

I’m thinking I’ll be working on Sea Prince, since I’ve been thrashing at Tales for about a month now, and have thrown out the accumulated words twice as crap. Something about this opening sequence is NOT jelling, and I think I need to rethink my outline. But I also got feedback on Willow Sword from a contest I entered, so I might focus on that one.

Or something new might pop into my head.

To Finish (all started!):

    • Tales from the Arena
    • Sea Prince (To be written with Danielle Jones)
    • The Willow Sword

To Revise

    • From Dawn ’til Dusk.

To Outline (in order)

    • Holy Orders (Sequel to Heart’s Master)
    • Hidden Things (Mystere Book 1)
    • Steam and Screw
    • The School
    • Temple of the Mysteries
    • The White Raven (sequel to Princes of Air)
    • Color Wars (YA)
    • Coral Throne (sequel to Sea Prince)
    • The Lady and the Sword (Mystere Book 2)
    • Ashes and Light (Mystere Book 3)
    • Tablets of Stone (Mystere Book 4)

To Sell

    • Nomad’s Moon (currently being revised)
    • Exile’s Moon

On Hiatus

    • Wanderer’s Moon
Posted by EASchechter in 2013 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, except-for-when-it-is, 1 comment
31
Dec
2012

2012 in review, and 2013 plans.

I posted this to Facebook a few hours ago:

“Hello, is this 2013? Yes, I’m happy to say that we’ve had an opening, and we’re going to be offering you a contract, if you’re available to start immediately. Oh, good. Thank you, and welcome aboard.

“What? Oh, the previous contractor? Well, I shouldn’t say this, but he had to be let go. Perhaps… fired with extreme prejudice is a better way of putting it.

“I’m sure we won’t have the same issues with YOU!”

In a nutshell? 2012 sucked rocks on a personal level. Professionally, though? Not bad!

Sold:

    • To Market to Forbidden Fiction  (reprint)
    • O, Promise Me!  to Circlet Press  (THIS is the one I’m most proud of selling!)
    • Kidnapped by Pirates to Forbidden Fiction
    • Fools Rush In to Forbidden Fiction (reprint)

Still under consideration:

    • Sapphires and Gold to Circlet Press
    • Heart’s Master to Circlet Press
    • Holy Palmer’s Kiss to Forbidden Fiction

Can’t sell, but FUN to write (aka fanfiction)

I had rejections, too. It wouldn’t be publishing if I didn’t!

Now. Plans for 2013!

To Finish (all started — these are my primary tasks until I get the page proofs for House of Sable Locks!):

    • From Dusk til Dawn
    • Tales from the Arena
    • Sea Prince (To be written with Danielle Jones)
    • The Willow Sword

To Outline (in order)

    • Holy Orders ( Sequel to Heart’s Master)
    • Hidden Things (Mystere Book 1)
    • Steam and Screw
    • The School
    • Temple of the Mysteries
    • The White Raven (sequel to Princes of Air)
    • Color Wars (that YA)
    • Coral Throne (sequel to Sea Prince)
    • The Lady and the Sword (Mystere Book 2)
    • Ashes and Light (Mystere Book 3)
    • Tablets of Stone (Mystere Book 4)

To Sell

    • Nomad’s Moon (currently being revised)
    • Exile’s Moon

On Hiatus

    • Wanderer’s Moon

And of course there will be the random short stories thrown in for good measure.

Happy New Year, everyone! See you next year!

Posted by EASchechter in 2013 plans, Happy New Year, recap, 0 comments