2022 plans

Aug

2022

Late Post.

It’s late, but it’s here.

There was no post last week because I was on vacation. I enjoyed myself immensely, and got home Saturday. The laundry is all done and put away, and I think everything is unpacked. Now we’re in the last few days before school starts, and before I get back to work.

What work? Well, if things keep going the way that they were before vacation, I might be putting The Sea Prince to the side again. Not because of lack of story, but because I may have something else I need to work on first.

Yes, that’s very vague. But I’m not saying anything more until it’s written in stone.

I have several sets of edits that need to be worked on — I need to edit Forged in Fire for re-release, and edit Children of Dreams for initial release to my Patrons. I also may have new edits on Hidden Things… because BVC wants the Swords of Charlemagne books, too! I was planning on going over Hidden Things again, because working with Mark on the audiobooks pointed out a few things that made it past me and three editors.

I’ve been wildly distracted by things over the past month, so I haven’t done much on the Imaginative Anthropology project. I will hopefully get back to that, but it’s of lower priority at the moment. The research will keep.

So, for the next week and a half, I’ll be making plans and planning things out. On the 10th… we’re off!

And for now… I’m off to BED.

Jul

2022

In The Blink of an Eye…

Everything can change.

And in other news, this past weekend was a hell of a long year.

Shit happened. Shit happened that I am not at liberty to talk about, but the ripple effect is in play.

Now, I am fine. Darling Editor and Teen Boy are FINE. But there are extended family things that I must focus on, and priorities that must come first.

To that end, I will not be making any in person appearances for the remainder of 2022.

Children of Dreams (formerly titled Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home) is now tentatively scheduled for sometime in 2023. No date yet. When I know, you’ll know.

As of right this moment, I’m not sure what’s going to be happening with writing in the fall. I will probably spend the fall focusing on editing, so that I can have Children of Dreams ready for you in 2023. I was poking at The Sea Prince, so I have a word update, but it may have to wait until things calm down for me to focus on writing.

The Sea Prince
(The Coral Throne, book 1)

34014 / 120000 (28.34%)

As things settle, this might shift and adjust. We will see.

John Zebedeee and the Heir to the Elvenlands is wrapping up — two episodes left after the one that dropped today. John Zebedee and the Monstrous Town will start August 1st. (Vella doesn’t give you a link until the first episode goes live, so once I have that, you’ll have it.)

Where Home Lies releases tomorrow, to wrap up the reissue of the Rebel Mage series. Which means that my last release for the year will be The Rebel Mage box set in October.

So… that’s where we are right now. If I miss a week on the blog, or miss a newsletter, please be patient with me. I’ll be back when I can.

In the meantime, if you can put some good thoughts out into the universe, I’d appreciate it.

Thank you all.

Liz.

Jun

2022

Things and Stuff

That’s about the state of things right now in my word. There are things and stuff. Things and stuff are happening, and I’m doing things and stuff.

At the moment, I’m about half finished with the synopsis for book 4 of Flesh and Blood. There’s one book after that, and that will, I think, end the series (at least for the foreseeable future? It has the potential to go on longer, because, you know, vampires.) The short story is still in limbo, and I’m starting to wonder if it’s going to come together, because every time I look at it, my brain goes blank.

Research into Imaginative Anthropology is going well, although I’m realizing that the book I’m reading right now is dated — the next one on my list is a more recent publication, which will help offset the cringe I’m finding in sections on gender and sexuality.

Vacation is coming up soon, but I had to put vacation sewing on hold because the machine needed to be serviced. I should have that back next week. I might go ahead and cut the pieces now, but I might not.

Episode 6 of John Zebedee and the Heir of the Elvenlands went live today. People are reading it, but I can see why folks are saying that Vella isn’t really getting the traction that Amazon hoped it would. I hope they figure out how to make this platform work. I like it, but they really do need to do more to push it!

I’m waiting for more feedback from the beta readers for BVC, but it looks like I have a job of work to do with new edits for Heir to the Firstborn. Serials and novels really are two different beasts, and they don’t translate well from one to the other. That’s on my to-do list for 2023, because I think the only book that will need minimal edits is Written in Water! The new covers are ABSOLUTELY gorgeous and I can’t wait to reveal them — I just got the proof for Wings of Air and it’s beautiful.

There’s also a title change coming — Heir to the Firstborn: The Crossroads will be republished as Dreams of Smoke. I haven’t yet decided what the new title for Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home will be. It does need that Something-in-Something title to fit with the rest of the series (and there are three Something-OF-Something titles, so I need one more Something-IN-Something to balance. But I might not. We’ll see.)

I DO know that The Way Home needs to be edited HEAVILY — it’s way too long. There are subplots in there that may not make it to the final version, and there’s one character who told me more about them after I finished, so I need to change them up a bit. It’s still going to go live for my Patreon patrons in November, but I may hold off actually publishing book 6 in the wild until the BVC edition. Again, we’ll see.

Things and stuff. Stuff and things. Decisions to make.

I’m awfully busy for someone who is supposed to be taking it easy this summer. But, in the taking it easy part, I did binge the entire Book of Boba Fett yesterday (The Mandalorian, season 2.5?) Now on to the rest of my watch list — next up? Seasons 4 and 5 of She-Ra!

Jun

2022

Productivity

It’s amazing how much you can get done when you take time off.

That’s not supposed to be sarcastic, but it might be, just a little. Because I’m zipping through things that I’ve been putting off while I worked on finishing up Heir to the Firstborn. I’m moving things to the completed column of my kanban board, which is cool. I’m going to see how many things I can get done before I reset the board for 3rd Quarter at the end of the month. So, since I finished the book, I’ve completed my marketing and my financial plans, wrote a series breakdown of Heir to the Firstborn because I have five DIFFERENT beta readers at Book View Cafe. (The only one not at a disadvantage is the person who has book one…) I updated the series bible for Flesh and Blood (the BDSM Vampire series) and realized that it is five books, not four. Wrote the synopsis for book three, and started on book 4. I’ve completed two finance classes and am halfway through a third. And I’m having fun with the research for Imaginative Anthropology, and I have a book on order for a research paper I’m considering on the evolution of the woman warrior. (Working title: From Britomartis to Brienne)

Oh, and I’m sewing for vacation. And learning to shuttle tat.

Now, this seems like a LOT of things, and it is, but there’s no pressure to do any of it. Most of it is really relaxing to do, so it’s not even like work. I’m busy, but I’m not stressed about it.

Episode 5 of John Zebedee and the Heir of the Elvenlands went live this morning.

I’m not sure anyone is actually reading, though, so I might put together an ad to promote it. I can see why people are saying that Vella isn’t really being pushed by Amazon, though.

And Where Home Lies goes live on July 12th. Once the entire series is out (including the box set that is coming in October), I’m going to move this over to be wide. So that will be sometime early next year for wide distribution of Rebel Mage. (I have to wait until the box set comes out of KU, which will be in January, I think.) But this series may move over to BVC, too, so we’ll see what that changes between now and then.

Counsel of the Wicked is a freebie until the end of the month over in the Love Me Now giveaway. There are some interesting spicy romances in there, so take a look!

And that’s about everything for this week, I think.

May

2022

All KINDS of New Things!

All sorts of new things to tell you about this week!

First, my first Kindle Vella serial launched today! John Zebedee and the Heir of the Elvenlands is the first of three installments in The Chronicles of John Zebedee. You can read the first three episodes for free, and astute readers might notice a familiar name drop in there…

(If you see it, and go HEY, then here’s your confirmation. Yes, it’s the same universe. Yes, I’m planning a crossover. No, it’s not happening anytime soon. I need to do the research for it. It’s in the queue.)

Also new this week is a giveaway. Starting Wednesday the 1st, and running until the end of June, you can download Counsel of the Wicked as part of the Love Me Now giveaway. Click the link or the graphic to see what other books are available!

I’m taking it sort of easy for the summer. I have research that I’m working on, and I’m taking a finance course because I am woefully ignorant where money is concerned. And since I finished a book, it’s also time to clean all the things. I’m learning to shuttle tat lace, because one of the creators I watch on Tiktok does it and it looks cool. I’m catching up on TV that I missed, and I have a stack of books that I’ve been wanting to read. There’s also some planning in the works, and that short story I mentioned a while back that got pushed to the side, but I’m not going to put pressure on myself to finish it. I haven’t taken any real down time in far too long. It’s time to refill my own creative coffers.

Time to go start refilling.

May

2022

Thirty

Late Friday night, I posted this to my socials:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Elizabeth Schechter (@schechterelizabeth)

That’s the final wordcount for Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home. It’s done. This marks the end of the Heir to the Firstborn series, too (although it won’t wrap up in Patreon until sometime in November.)

Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home
(Heir to the Firstborn, book 6)

164465 / 170000 (96.74%)

Not gonna lie. It’s weird being done with this series — it’s been a constant in my life since June of 2018, when the worldbuilding started in Patreon. The first chapter of Written in Water went live in August of 2018, and I’ve been working on it ever since. Four years with these characters, who’ve grown and changed and amused me to no end.

I’m still getting my head around the fact that I’m not going to be writing Owyn anymore. Yes, he is my unabashedly favorite fictional child, and he took over darn near the entire series.

So… what now?

Would you believe… new edits? And new covers?

See, in March I was introduced to Book View Cafe (and by introduced, I mean I was very firmly told “You need to be working with them!”) Book View Cafe is a co-op publisher, and after their vetting period, I was welcomed into the fold, and the Heir to the Firstborn series will be my first books released under their aegis. The first three books are currently being read, and I’ll be making edits to them. I have the new cover for Written in Water and IT. IS. AMAZING!!!! And no, I’m not showing it to you yet.

Soon.

Now, I’m going to do something that I haven’t done in four years.

I’m taking the summer off. Not entirely — I’m horrible at doing nothing. But I’m not actively going to work on fiction this summer (with the exception of one short story that I started and haven’t finished.) I’ve got research to do, and a pile of fiction to read that is taller than I am. I have one more part to my business plan to finish, and a class I want to take. And vacation. I’m taking a vacation.

No writing fiction. On August 10th, when school starts up again, I’ll be diving back into The Sea Prince, and I’ll be starting edits on The Way Home.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be new fiction this summer, though. The Chronicles of John Zebedee starts on May 30th on Kindle Vella with John Zebedee and the Heir to the Elvenlands.

(One week from today!)

And Where Home Lies drops July 12th, to finish out the re-release of the Rebel Mage trilogy. (You can still preorder this!)

Downtime. I’m not sure I know how to downtime anymore.

I think I need more practice.

May

2022

And Here We Go!

First, tomorrow is the re-release of Haven’s Fall!

There’s still time to preorder it, so you’ll have it tonight. Or you can start reading it tomorrow in KU if you’ve already read Counsel of the Wicked.

I sat down Saturday and figured out how much more there is to finish in Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home. The answer? Six chapters. About 18K words. I’m calling is 20K to be on the safe side.

I have ten days, roughly, in which to write that.

Since I figured that out, I have written 2818 words.

Roughly 17,182 words to go.

Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home
(Heir to the Firstborn, book 6)

151798 / 170000 (89.29%)

I’m almost done with one chapter, which will leave five more to finish. In ten days.

This is doable. I might have brains of tapioca in eleven days, but it’s doable.

And then Heir to the Firstborn will be finished. Which will be VERY strange. Well, not finished finished. There are still edits. And the series itself has been picked up by a co-op publisher, so there will be even more edits and new covers coming (there’s already a new blurb on Written in Water. It doesn’t take up the entire back of the book.) But that’s the end of the series. That’s it. There’s no more.

Well… I don’t think there’s anymore.

Edits may not happen until fall. I want to spend the summer working on business planning and marketing, and doing research for my Imaginative Anthropology project. Maybe planning out some other writing.

But definitely taking a break.

Ten more days.

Okay, words. Let’s go.

May

2022

Race to the Finish Line!

Here we are, with two and a half weeks left of school, and… probably about ten chapters to go in Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home. That’s roughly 30K words.

In two and a half weeks.

Ummm… this is going to be a really short blog post! I have to go make all the words!!!

Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home
(Heir to the Firstborn, book 6)

140730 / 170000 (82.78%)

I can’t believe this series is almost done. It’s really kind of wild — this is the longest I’ve ever spent on any single project, ever. And the amount of work and worldbuilding that went on behind the scenes — well, I knew it was ambitious to write a serial in real time. I just didn’t know just how ambitious!

And at the same time, I’m really ready for this series to be done. I’ve done just about everything I can do with the characters — including some things that should have been permanent but weren’t (trying to avoid book 3 spoilers…). There might be a short story for some side characters that came into it near the end of The Way Home, but… maybe not.

Once it’s done, I’ll be taking the summer off. Well, as off as I ever get — there will be edits, and I need to finish the last part of my business plan. I have research to do for the imaginative anthropology project I want to put together, and I have so much reading to catch up on!

But first… moar words!!!

Before I forget! Counsel of the Wicked is on Kindle Countdown deal this week, because Haven’s Fall comes out NEXT week.

Now, back to making words.

May

2022

A World of Blurry Dilation…

Come with me, and you’ll be in a world of blurry dilation…

I’m typing this while still dilated from an eye doctor appointment three hours ago. Which means I’m touch typing. This is… challenging. And if any typos creep through, that’s why.

Announcements first —

The Wild West Paranormal project that I was working on has been cancelled, and I have these three novellas all finished and polished and ready to go. So I’m going to get them out into the world, and give Kindle Vella a try. The first three episodes of John Zebedee and the Heir of the Elvenlands will go live on May 30th, with a new episode dropping every Monday. Link as soon as I have one, and I am really kinda digging the cover graphic I came up with for this.

There are two more graphics for Monstrous Town and for Witch Queen, and I’ll show those off later. And the collected Chronicles of John Zebedee will be my first release for 2023.

Another announcement — I have recently gotten the nod to join Book View Cafe, which is a cooperative publisher. As part of this, and for my first releases from BVC, I will be getting all new covers for the Heir to the Firstborn series, and they will be re-edited and re-released starting later this year. I’m really excited for this, and I can’t wait to show you all the shiny new covers.

I announced the cancellation of the audiobook project last week. I did talk to Mark after, and he’s still incredibly upset (honestly, we all are.) So once the Heir books are republished, I’m going to send a set to him and see if he’s interested and has the time to take them on, and we’ll go from there.

Haven’s Fall drops two weeks from tomorrow, on Kindle Unlimited, and paperback wherever paperbacks are sold. ARCS are currently closed for Haven’s Fall and for Where Home Lies, but I may open them up again because they closed too soon.

I’ve set The Sea Prince aside for the moment. Again. Not because I’m stuck, but because my brain wants to play in the new, shiny world more than it does in The Way Home (what, this old thing?) I’ll pick up The Sea Prince in the fall, and hopefully have that done by the end of the year. And I’m hoping to have The Way Home done by the end of the month.

Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home
(Heir to the Firstborn, book 6)

136347 / 170000 (80.20%)

I just need to stop having these characters throw new plotlines at me that I then have to nip in the bud. I mean, really, this is the last book. I do NOT need to add in a new plot thread with all new characters who are NOT IN THE OUTLINE in chapter FORTY!

So those new characters have been squared away, and today is the day I start writing the last, long slide down to resolution. I think. Maybe. Once I can see straight.

Apr

2022

Mondayist Monday that ever Mondayed

Today started with the disappointing news that, because of reasons beyond anyone’s control, production on the Hidden Things audiobook has to be canceled, and the contract dissolved. It’s not anyone’s fault, and everyone is very disappointed. Back to square one, I suppose. Although I think I’m going to have a hard time picking a new narrator — Mark’s voices were just so absolutely perfect.

Mark and I are hoping that we will be able to work together again in the future. So here’s to that hope, — maybe with Heir to the Firstborn or The Sea Prince. We’ll see what happens once those two are done.

Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home
(Heir to the Firstborn, book 6)

131341 / 170000 (77.26%)

****

The Sea Prince
(The Coral Throne, book 1)

31308 / 120000 (26.09%)

I may be putting The Sea Prince to the side for the next month — school is out one month from today, and I really want to have The Way Home complete by then. Or I can use it as a carrot — if I get my words in for The Way Home, I’ll get to go make some words for The Sea Prince. We’ll see which works better.

So… for now, I’m going to keep working on The Way Home, getting that finished so that edits can start and we can get the series wrapped up for a November release. I’ll revisit the Hidden Things audio in the fall, once there’s some distance and I’m not hearing the voices that we set up already. I was planning on working on some non-fiction for the summer anyway, so I may just take a total fiction break and pick up The Sea Prince in the fall, too. I think I might need a break. We’ll see.

2022 plans

Late Post.

In The Blink of an Eye…

Things and Stuff

Productivity

All KINDS of New Things!

Thirty

And Here We Go!

Race to the Finish Line!

A World of Blurry Dilation…

Mondayist Monday that ever Mondayed

Works in Progress

Appearances

Find My Books!

Social Media

Let's Keep in Touch!

Thanks for signing up!