accountability

Going Places and Visiting Places

Going Places and Visiting Places

Doing shows means that we’re always going places and visiting places, and this past Friday was no exception. We went and visited Shelf Life Books and Gifts in Altamonte Springs. It’s a little wonky to get to the shop, but it’s a cute place, and the owners are lovely people.

And they now carry my books! At the moment, they have Written in Water, The Chronicles of John Zebedee, The Sea Prince, and Chains of Light. If you want something else of mine from them, you can ask them to order it! They are not doing any more author events in 2026, but in 2027, they’ll have me in for a signing. Once I know when, I’ll let you all know!

(That’s Judith, one of the owners. I know she has her eyes closed in this photo. In every other photo we took, I was not looking at the camera. Look, squirrels!)

Saturday was another going places day, only this time it wasn’t as much fun. We went to CVS and got our annual Flu and Covid vaccines. (The superpowers are going to kick in any day now! This time for sure!) They didn’t hit as hard this year as they did in previous years, which was good. I had stuff to do on Sunday.

King of Swords is almost done. I may take some more time off when it’s done. Or I may start on Warmest Witches. (Who are we kidding? I’ll probably start Warmest Witches.) But Teren is about to be all noble and self-sacrificing and Casi is going to kick his arse when he finally catches up to him. And then there will be sex, because it’s that kind of book. I can’t wait to see all four of these together. Or five — when we finally redo the first two so that everything matches, I’m going to see about splitting Playing for Keeps into two, because it’s a novella and a novel in there. Which would make the Tales from the Arena series a novella, a novella, a short novel, a long novel, and a longer novel.

That’s me putting the cart before the horse, though. First, I need to finish King of Swords. Then I’ll talk to my editor about the changes I want to make the other books. And in the other book — I have a manuscript that was originally contracted by Circlet, but apparently got lost in the merger. I took a look at it, and while it’s good, I don’t think it’s finished. So I want to pull it back, revise it, and add to it. Another thing to talk to the editor about when I talk to him, because I’m not sure what the status of that manuscript might be legally.

That’s a to-do for future-Liz. Present-Liz needs to go cook dinner.

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 4)

100639 / 120000 (83.87%)

Warmest Witches
(Coven Tree, book 3)

0 / 24000 (0.00%)


Appearances

Maker Faire Orlando
November 7-8th, 2026
Orlando, FL

***

Deck the Mall
Saturday, December 5, 2026
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Oviedo Mall, Oviedo, FL

2027 Appearances

ICFA
March 17 – 20th, 2027
Orlando, FL

***

Between the Pages
April 10th, 2027
Oviedo, FL

***

Smut Lovers Conference
September 15 – 19th, 2027
Orlando, FL

Posted by EASchechter in 2027 plans, accountability, appearances, contracts, forthcoming works, progress, promotions, publishing, Sapphires and Gold, Tales from the Arena, upcoming books, upcoming work, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments
Screaming Into the Void

Screaming Into the Void

This afternoon, I feel like screaming into the void. Or maybe a pillow. A pillow won’t complain the way the void does. Honestly, I don’t blame the void. If an absolute stranger came and screamed at you, wouldn’t you complain?

Why am I screaming? Because Amazon.

And every indie author in the audio radiance nods in agreement. Because of course it’s Amazon.

Last weekend, I did a free book promotion. As is standard, I set my book free everyone but Amazon several days before the promotion actually started, and submitted those links to Amazon with the request to price match. This is how I’ve done every free book promotion since Amazon started requiring us to go through them to change the prices to free. Only this time, the price never changed. Friday night, I’m in the help chat freaking out because we go live at midnight and the only place things aren’t free is Amazon. Saturday, I post to all the socials saying “Amazon is having technical difficulties. Please download from Smashwords.”

Late Saturday night, I contacted KDP and said, “Cancel the price match. There’s no point. The promotion ends tomorrow.” I received confirmation that they would cancel the price match.

One week later… there’s a free download of The Sea Prince. Wait, what? I get online with KDP because if they’re price matching, then I must have missed something when I changed all the prices back. Where did I miss? I’m told that no, it wasn’t a price match. Those technical difficulties that kept them from doing the price match are still causing issues. We’ve fixed it now. There shouldn’t be any more free downloads. And there weren’t…

Until today. So I get back online with KDP, tell them what the person on Friday told me and ask them what is going on. The initial support person said, “Above my pay grade!” and escalated it to senior support. Senior support when digging and noticed something that the person on Friday should have seen, but somehow missed entirely…

The Sea Prince was listed as free in SIX European markets. The price change was never cancelled for them. Senior support has no idea why, but is pushing an immediate price fix and apologized for their colleague missing it. Oh, and no, sorry, we don’t compensate for lost royalties, even when it was our error. (I only asked for today, because this should have been caught on Friday.)

And that’s why we’re void-screaming today, your honor…

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 4)

96800 / 120000 (80.67%)

Warmest Witches
(Coven Tree, book 3)

0 / 24000 (0.00%)


Appearances

Maker Faire Orlando
November 7-8th, 2026
Orlando, FL

***

Deck the Mall
Saturday, December 5, 2026
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Oviedo Mall, Oviedo, FL

2027 Appearances

ICFA
March 17 – 20th, 2027
Orlando, FL

***

Smut Lovers Conference
September 15 – 19th, 2027
Orlando, FL

Posted by EASchechter in 2026 plans, 2027 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, Screaming into the void, WIP, wordcount, 1 comment
Home Again.

Home Again.

Actually, home again was yesterday. We got home from Smut Lovers, unloaded the car, and sort of fell over. If falling over includes six loads of laundry, that is. Today is a low-energy day, although I did go to the pool to exercise this morning. There’s been a lot of seated work since — backing up the computer. Making calls. Making graphics for Bi Books Forever (see below). And now… blogging.

This would have been done earlier, but our internet went down for a few hours today. The tech has been and gone, and everything is fixed now. I still have to get words on the page, but I also need to make dinner and run to the pharmacy, so… words will be an after dinner thing, I think.

I now have two weeks to breathe before my next show, which will be Page and Pen at the Oviedo Mall on October 3rd. Hopefully, my books will be here before then! (Nope, they’re still not here.) After that, there will only be two more shows in 2026. I’m starting to build my 2027 calendar — I’ve applied for a few shows, and will be applying for more once the applications go live. First thing on the appearances list, though?

Smut Lovers 2027.

Promotions

Read Queer All Year!

To celebrate Bisexual Visibility Month, get free bisexual books (including The Sea Prince!) from the 25th to the 27th of September. Click the graphic to see the books that will be available starting Friday!


Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 4)

91850 / 120000 (76.54%)

Springtime Witches
(Coven Tree, book 3)

0 / 24000 (0.00%)


Appearances

Page and Pen Festival
October 3rd, 2026
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Oviedo, FL

***

Maker Faire Orlando
November 7-8th, 2026
Orlando, FL

***

Deck the Mall
Saturday, December 5, 2026
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Oviedo Mall, Oviedo, FL

2027 Appearances

Smut Lovers Conference
September 15 – 19th, 2027
Orlando, FL

Posted by EASchechter in 2026 plans, 2027 plans, accountability, appearances, Planning, Smut Lovers, The Sea Prince, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments
Are We Ready Yet? No!

Are We Ready Yet? No!

It’s time! Smut Lovers Conference starts Wednesday! Are we ready yet? No!!!

Well, not quite. The books that I have are in the living room, ready to be loaded into the car. That includes the box of books that arrived TODAY! There’s one more box coming, and I’m holding out hope it gets here by Thursday. I may do all the prep work for the charity basket that I want to put together. — put everything in it except for the books, just in case the books get here in time. If the books don’t get here in time? Plan B it is!

We’re staying on site Friday and Saturday nights, so I still need to pack. Which is a problem because outfits still need to be decided on. I know what I’m wearing to the Afterparty, but since that’s where my clothing brain has been focused, I don’t know what I’m wearing to the signing. I’ll figure that out tonight. And since a happy accident today put me near the good shoe store, I have shoes for the Afterparty! Packing will probably start tomorrow night, with the final touches happening on Thursday night.

For the signing, you can find me at table ten in the ballroom. As a reminder, I’ll have the medium heat to spicy books with me for Smut Lovers. The mild books will be staying home (unless someone requests something be brought for pickup!)

I just saw someone post in the Smut Lovers schedule app “It’s time to get the suitcase!” and now I want to sing that to the tune of The Muppet Show, which I think means I need to stop fussing about Smut Lovers and missing books and what to wear and go put some words on the page.

Promotions

One More Week to Try a Book on Me!

If you’ve never ready something of mine, this is a good place to start! Read Written in Water for free on TheoReads! All you need to do is sign up with your email (which also signs you up for my monthly newsletter.)

Offer good until September 21st.


Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 4)

90664 / 120000 (75.55%)

Springtime Witches
(Coven Tree, book 3)

0 / 24000 (0.00%)


Appearances

Smut Lovers Conference
September 16th – 20th, 2026
Orlando, FL

***

Page and Pen Festival
October 3rd, 2026
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Oviedo, FL

***

Maker Faire Orlando
November 7-8th, 2026
Orlando, FL

***

Deck the Mall
Saturday, December 5, 2026
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Oviedo Mall, Oviedo, FL

Posted by EASchechter in a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, appearances, promotions, Smut Lovers, to-dos, 0 comments
“Thanks, I Hate It.”

“Thanks, I Hate It.”

The phrase “Thanks, I hate it.” comes courtesy of College Boy, who has been saying it for years whenever faced with something that he either didn’t want to hear, or that was truly brainbending. It’s become so much a part of the family lexicon that it has shown up in a book (appearing in Children of Dreams, if I remember correctly.)

Why do I bring this up? Because I’m currently having a “thanks, I hate it” experience. For the first time in a long time, I came home from a show with some kind of bug. Thankfully, not COVID (I tested twice, on day 2 and day 5.) This is something that’s been going around, and that settles in your sinuses, messing with the sinuses, the ears, and the throat. It’s breaking up now, but that means that the truly ugly coughing has set in. How ugly? It sounds like I’m trying to turn myself inside out.

Thanks. I hate it.

Being sick for a week means that there weren’t as many words as there could have been. It was hard to focus on writing when coughing was keeping me awake most nights. So I’ve been prepping for Smut Lovers, and I realized that I have an interesting dilemma — I might not have enough books!

I mentioned our excellent sales weekend last week. More books have since been ordered, but will they get here in time? Ask the Magic 8 Ball. I got “Outlook Good,” so I’m hopefully. If the books come in, I’ll be able to put together the charity auction basket I wanted to bring to the conference. I have everything I need to put together the basket… except the books.

What do I do if the books don’t come in? I take orders, that’s what. Order your books today, and I’ll ship them out to you as soon as I get them, with goodies included to make up for the wait. I have an order form ready to go, just in case.

On the writing side, Six More Weeks of Witches is off to the publisher. I have a better title for Coven Tree 3, which will now be called Springtime Witches. I’ll dive into that once I get closer to being done with King of Swords. My first solo academic paper has been accepted for publication, and as soon as I know more, I’ll let you all know. And I’m finishing up reviewing the revisions on some of the papers for the Ruthven Literary Bulletin. Next thing on the list for the RLB is to see if I can scare up some book and movie reviews. Between shows and writing and Lord Ruthven business, I’m pretty busy.

I don’t hate it.

Promotions

Try a Book on Me!

If you’ve never ready something of mine, this is a good place to start! Read Written in Water for free on TheoReads! All you need to do is sign up with your email (which also signs you up for my monthly newsletter.)

Offer good until September 21st.

Get a Month Free on Me!

Score a free month of Yearn, on me! Sign up through my link and get unlimited romantasy audiobooks and ebooks for 30 days.

What books of mine will you find on Yearn?

The entire Heir to the Firstborn series.
The Coral Throne series
Chains of Light
The Chronicles of John Zebedee


Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 4)

86515 / 120000 (72.10%)

Springtime Witches
(Coven Tree, book 3)

0 / 24000 (0.00%)


Appearances

Smut Lovers Conference
September 16th – 20th, 2026
Orlando, FL

***

Page and Pen Festival
October 3rd, 2026
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Oviedo, FL

***

Maker Faire Orlando
November 7-8th, 2026
Orlando, FL

***

Deck the Mall
Saturday, December 5, 2026
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Oviedo Mall, Oviedo, FL

Posted by EASchechter in 2026 plans, 2027 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, Lord Ruthven Assembly, progress, publishing, slow-writer-is-slow., upcoming work, Updatey things, why-the-writing-is-slow, WIP, wordcount, writing, 0 comments
And Now…. Breathe!

And Now…. Breathe!

Two weeks of shows done. And now… breathe! I have two and a half weeks before the next show. Which means I have two and a half weeks to restock my books, because I was not expecting books to fly off my table the way they did! I started this run with a full table, and ended it nearly selling out of two titles. So now… here’s hoping that I can get those titles in before Smut Lovers!

(The two titles, for the record, are Heart’s Master and Ravenborn.)

I also had something fun happen this past show. Now, I have repeat readers who will buy at one show, and then come back and buy from me at another show. Or I’ll have people who come find me because they were given a book as a gift, and they want more. At this past show? I had multiple people at my table who had never seen me before, but were saying, “Oh, I found this on Amazon!” or “Oh, I read this! I liked it!” One person bought a copy of Heart’s Master, and I mentioned Have Yourself a Merry Little Witchmas as being in the same universe, and she stared at me because she already owned it! It’s not the first time someone has told me that they’ve found my books organically, but it’s definitely the most I’ve heard it in a single weekend!

Speaking of Witchmas… we have a book 2! Six More Weeks of Witches is complete, and it currently with the first reader/Darling Editor. Once he’s done with it, I’ll polish the manuscript up and send it off. I have no idea when you’ll see it, but the file for Coven Tree 3 (tentatively titled Warmest Witches) is already open on my laptop. There’s nothing in it, but it’s open. Before I get to that, it’s time to return to King of Swords. Which means rereading King of Swords to see where I left off.

For the record? Rereading made me cry in Starbucks this morning. There’s a GOOD scene in this one, and I can’t wait for you all to see it!

Promotions

The last night!

There’s still a little bit of time to get in on The Narratess Indie Book sale, so you should click the graphic to see what’s available.

Try a Book on Me!

If you’ve never ready something of mine, this is a good place to start! Read Written in Water for free on TheoReads! All you need to do is sign up with your email (which also signs you up for my monthly newsletter.)

Offer good until September 21st.

Get a Month Free on Me!

Score a free month of Yearn, on me! Sign up through my link and get unlimited romantasy audiobooks and ebooks for 30 days.

What books of mine will you find on Yearn?

The entire Heir to the Firstborn series.
The Coral Throne series
Chains of Light
The Chronicles of John Zebedee


Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 4)

85767 / 120000 (71.47%)

Six More Weeks of Witches
(Coven Tree, book 2)

25217 / 24000 (105.07%)


Appearances

Smut Lovers Conference
September 16th – 20th, 2026
Orlando, FL

***

Page and Pen Festival
October 3rd, 2026
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Oviedo, FL

***

Maker Faire Orlando
November 7-8th, 2026
Orlando, FL

***

Deck the Mall
Saturday, December 5, 2026
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Oviedo Mall, Oviedo, FL

Posted by EASchechter in 2026 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, appearances, Boosting the signal, progress, promotions, publishing, Smut Lovers, Tales from the Arena, upcoming work, Updatey things, WIP, Witchmas, wordcount, 0 comments
Start of the Silly Season

Start of the Silly Season

This weekend marks the start of my silly season — two shows back to back, then two weeks off, then another show followed by a week off before one more show. Then I get to breathe for a month and hope that I have time to restock before my last two shows of the year. Between now and the beginning of December, I have six shows. They’re all listed below, so you can hopefully catch me at one of them!

Given where I am in Six More Weeks of Witches, I should be done with the novella sometime in the next two weeks. I have two chapters left, I think. Once that’s done and off to Darling Editor to read, I have a couple of things to finish (my paper for an anthology and my reading for the Ruthven Literary Bulletin) before I can get back to work on King of Swords. I’ll hopefully have King of Swords done by the end of the year. What will come in 2027? I’m not sure yet. Coven Tree 3 for certain (there will be 8 novellas in this series.) I’m not sure what else — it will depend on several irons already in the fire.

I’m starting to make other 2027 plans and putting together that calendar — I’m already booked for ICFA 2027 and for Smut Lovers 2027, and I applied for two more shows today. I also have a family event in 2027, so I’ll have to take that into account in my planning. If I overextend, then nothing gets done and I know this!

I’ve said before that the life of a writing mom is like juggling chainsaws. I’m trying not to drop any next year.

Promotions

The Narratess Indie Book Sale Coming August 29 – 31st!

Try a Book on Me!

If you’ve never ready something of mine, this is a good place to start! Read Written in Water for free on TheoReads! All you need to do is sign up with your email (which also signs you up for my monthly newsletter.)

Offer good until September 21st.

Get a Month Free on Me!

Score a free month of Yearn, on me! Sign up through my link and get unlimited romantasy audiobooks and ebooks for 30 days.

What books of mine will you find on Yearn?

The entire Heir to the Firstborn series.
The Coral Throne series
Chains of Light
The Chronicles of John Zebedee


Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 4)

85755 / 100000 (85.76%)

Six More Weeks of Witches
(Coven Tree, book 2)

19332 / 24000 (80.55%)


Appearances

Tanoshii Con
August 22nd – 23rd, 2026
Ocean Center Arena, Daytona Beach.

***

Enchanted Knights Medieval Magic Renaissance Faire
August 29-30, 2026
12PM – 6PM
Volusia Mall
Daytona Beach, FL

***

Smut Lovers Conference
September 16th – 20th, 2026
Orlando, FL

***

Page and Pen Festival
October 3rd, 2026
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Oviedo, FL

***

Maker Faire Orlando
November 7-8th, 2026
Orlando, FL

***

Deck the Mall
Saturday, December 5, 2026
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Oviedo Mall, Oviedo, FL

Posted by EASchechter in 2026 plans, 2027 plans, accountability, appearances, Best laid plans, Best planned lays, conventions, Coven Tree, forthcoming works, ICFA, Lord Ruthven Assembly, Planning, progress, Tales from the Arena, the-end-is-near, upcoming books, upcoming work, Updatey things, WIP, wordcount, Writer on the Go!, writer on writing, 0 comments
Back to Work… Almost.

Back to Work… Almost.

Vacation is over, it’s time to get back to work… almost. I’m actually getting back to work on writing on Wednesday. I’m currently working on revising the metadata and keywords for all of my books. It’s been a minute since I last updated mine, so it’s well and truly past time.

Yes, I’m updating all of them.

Now, this sort of requires a lot of thinking about what the average reader plugs into the search engine when they’re looking for something new. Once you have something you think is going to work, you plug that in as a keyword string, and hopefully your books will start selling.

Hopefully.

There’s more to it than that, but all you can really control is what’s in the keyword field in your metadata. There are services that say they’ll tell you exactly what your keywords need to be in order to sell, but those are all subscription services, and with me being on the shelf for a couple of months? Well, I’m not subscribing to anything this year.

So I’m brainstorming keywords and we’ll see what happens.

In other news, if you’ve been curious about trying Yearn, you can try it for a month on me! And clicking that link this week enters you into a contest for five signed special editions AND a free year of Yearn!

All right. Back to work.

Promotions

Get a Month Free on Me!

Score a free month of Yearn, on me! Sign up through my link and get unlimited romantasy audiobooks and ebooks for 30 days. Plus, if you sign up this week (Aug 3–9), you’ll be entered to win five signed special editions + a FREE YEAR of Yearn!

What books of mine will you find on Yearn?

The entire Heir to the Firstborn series.
The Coral Throne series
Chains of Light
The Chronicles of John Zebedee


New Cover!

Time for a new look on an older book.

When Delan stumbled into the Temple, he wasn’t expecting to be welcomed as a Temple servant. He wasn’t expecting his only duty to be to serve Lyander, cloistered son of the High Priestess. He wasn’t expecting to fall in love.

And he wasn’t expecting that he was going to have to choose: save his love, or save the world.


Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 4)

81571 / 100000 (81.57%)

Six More Weeks of Witches
(Coven Tree, book 2)

13478 / 20000 (67.39%)


Appearances

Tanoshii Con
August 22nd – 23rd, 2026
Ocean Center Arena, Daytona Beach.

***

Enchanted Knights Medieval Magic Renaissance Faire
August 29-30, 2026
12PM – 6PM
Volusia Mall
Daytona Beach, FL

***

CANCELED
Florida Authors Book Fest
September 11-13, 2026
Brannon Center
New Smyrna Beach, FL

***

Smut Lovers Conference
September 16th – 20th, 2026
Orlando, FL

***

Page and Pen Festival
October 3rd, 2026
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Oviedo, FL

***

Maker Faire Orlando
November 7-8th, 2026
Orlando, FL

***

Deck the Mall
Saturday, December 5, 2026
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Oviedo Mall, Oviedo, FL

Posted by EASchechter in 2026 plans, accountability, promotions, public displays of geekery, Self-publishing, 0 comments
Progress!

Progress!

Progress is progressing! Today, I was discharged from pain management, because if there’s no pain, there’s nothing to manage. Makes sense, right? The admins were all lovely and wished me well and told me that they hoped they didn’t see me again. Which… I hope I don’t see them either!

I still have one more week of restrictions, and I’ve gotten to the point where I keep forgetting. For example, I had some hand sewing to do the other night, and apparently managed to drop half a dozen needles on the tile floor in my family room. Which meant several days of “Oh, there’s a SHINY THING in the grout. Let me pick it up… oh. Oops!”

This, by the way, is how I found out there’s a magnet on the end of the grabber thing they gave me in the hospital.

This weekend is my first show postop, and I’m hoping for a good one! I still can’t lift anything, so set up and tear down are going to be all kinds of fun. But it’ll be good to get back into the swing of things! Come see us at the Summer Creatives Market in Sanford, at the Sanford Civic Center!

Remember, if you tell me you saw this post, you get a discount at the show! See you all there!

Promotions

Yearning for a New Way to Read Fantasy Romance?

Check out Yearn! Newly launched, women-owned, and backed by luminaries in the romance world.  Combines the best of Booktok, KU and Goodreads, without the toxic messes. And now available on Android!

What books of mine will you find on Yearn?

The entire Heir to the Firstborn series.
The Coral Throne series
Chains of Light
The Chronicles of John Zebedee

Download the iOS app here.
Download the Android app here
International users? Sign up here to be notified!


New Cover!

Time for a new look on an older book.

When Delan stumbled into the Temple, he wasn’t expecting to be welcomed as a Temple servant. He wasn’t expecting his only duty to be to serve Lyander, cloistered son of the High Priestess. He wasn’t expecting to fall in love.

And he wasn’t expecting that he was going to have to choose: save his love, or save the world.


Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 4)

81571 / 100000 (81.57%)

Six More Weeks of Witches
(Coven Tree, book 2)

13478 / 20000 (67.39%)


Appearances

Summer Creatives Market
July 18th, 2026
10:00Am – 3:00PM
Sanford, FL

***

Tanoshii Con
August 22nd – 23rd, 2026
Ocean Center Arena, Daytona Beach.

***

Enchanted Knights Medieval Magic Renaissance Faire
August 29-30, 2026
12PM – 6PM
Volusia Mall
Daytona Beach, FL

***

Florida Authors Book Fest
September 11-13, 2026
Brannon Center
New Smyrna Beach, FL

***

Smut Lovers Conference
September 16th – 20th, 2026
Orlando, FL

***

Page and Pen Festival
October 3rd, 2026
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Oviedo, FL

***

Maker Faire Orlando
November 7-8th, 2026
Orlando, FL

***

Deck the Mall
Saturday, December 5, 2026
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Oviedo Mall, Oviedo, FL

Posted by EASchechter in 2026 plans, accountability, appearances, happy-happy- joy- joy, Healthy writer, happy writer, progress, upcoming work, why-the-writing-is-slow, 0 comments
And Now… We Wait.

And Now… We Wait.

And now… we wait. What are we waiting for?

Last week, I sat down with the neurosurgeon. She walked into the room and asked, “Do you have your phone?”

Me: “Yes.”

Her: “Good. Take a picture of this. I want you to see what we’re talking about.”

So I have a photo on my phone of my spine, and of the disc that has breached containment. (Surgeon: “See that bulge? It should NOT look like that.”) I was ordered to stop PT immediately, to start walking in the pool to keep my activity up, and to wait.

Again, what are we waiting for? For our insurance to decide that we’ve sacrificed the right amount of goats and chickens, and can be allowed to proceed with surgery. When that happens, the surgical coordinator will call me and we can set up a date to take care of things. It could happen as soon as this week, or it could take a month. Ask the Magic Eight Ball, because I certainly don’t know.

(There is a safety net built in to this process. If the pain increases, or if anything changes for the worse, I am to report IMMEDIATELY to the ER.)

Given the fact that I have no idea when that call is coming in, I’ve cancelled both of my June shows. So if you were looking forward to seeing me at Summer Lovin’ at the Oviedo Mall or at the Enchanted Knights Renaissance Faire in Sanford, I’m sorry to say I will not be there. Last week, I thought I’d be able to make it work. Now? I know I’m not up for it.

I’m also putting the blog on hiatus starting now. This will be the last post until recovery. I’ll still be posting to my social media, so you’ll be able to keep up with me there. But for now? Take care of each other, and I’ll see you on the other side.

Promotions

Yearning for a New Way to Read Fantasy Romance?

Check out Yearn! Newly launched, women-owned, and backed by luminaries in the romance world.  Combines the best of Booktok, KU and Goodreads, without the toxic messes. And now available on Android!

You can find my work there — the entire Heir to the Firstborn series. The Coral Throne, Chains of Light, and The Chronicles of John Zebedee are all part of the catalog. And if you use my referral code, you’ll get 50% off your first month!

Referral Code: Schechter50
Download the iOS app here.
Download the Android app here
International users? Sign up here to be notified!


New Cover!

Time for a new look on an older book.

When Delan stumbled into the Temple, he wasn’t expecting to be welcomed as a Temple servant. He wasn’t expecting his only duty to be to serve Lyander, cloistered son of the High Priestess. He wasn’t expecting to fall in love.

And he wasn’t expecting that he was going to have to choose: save his love, or save the world.


Now Available!

The Imperial Navy has been destroyed. Now Tarjiaan must save his kingdom. With his beloved Nika by his side and their consort Daanir at his back, he must gather his allies and defeat the traitor hiding beneath the waves. To save his people, Tarjiaan must master his newfound magic, defeat the traitors, and conquer his deepest fears.

The end of the war is in sight, but treachery runs as deep as the ocean.


Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 4)

81571 / 100000 (81.57%)

Six More Weeks of Witches
(Coven Tree, book 2)

13478 / 20000 (67.39%)


Appearances

APPEARANCE CANCELLED
Summer Lovin’ Book Festival
June 6th, 2026
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Oviedo, FL.

***

APPEARANCE CANCELLED
Enchanted Knights Summer Solstice Faire
June 20th, 2026
11:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Downtown Sanford, FL

***

Summer Creatives Market
July 18th, 2026
10:00AM – 3:00PM
Sanford, FL

***

Tanoshii Con
August 22nd – 23rd, 2026
Ocean Center Arena, Daytona Beach.

***

Smut Lovers Conference
September 16th – 20th, 2026
Orlando, FL

***

Page and Pen Festival
October 3rd, 2026
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Posted by EASchechter in 2026 plans, accountability, Best laid plans, Best planned lays, 1 comment