Bones of Earth

Nov

2023

Changes in Altitude

This week’s blog is being written in my family room instead of my second floor office, which is why the title today is changes in altitude. I didn’t say they were BIG changes.

I’m downstairs because I’m monitoring the pumpkin crisp that I’m making for Thursday and Thanksgiving. (And I wish you could smell it. It’s AMAZING. Hrm… I know what recipe I’ll be putting in the next newsletter!) I’m on the last few bits of prep. All the shopping is done, the turkey is in the fridge and (I think) defrosted. Tomorrow I’m making apple pie bars and apple muffins for breakfast while we watch the parade, and I’ll take the sides I made and froze last week out of the freezer. Wednesday I’ll be putting the turkey into the brine and making stuffing. On the day, the turkey will get roasted, and the sides will all be heated up (the only one that’s actually going to be cooked on the day are the roasted green beans.)

Surprisingly, the writing has been going well, even in and around shopping and cooking and cleaning and way too many other things. And given where I am in the story, I’m projecting maybe another four chapters before I bring Valley of Shadows and Heir to the Firstborn to a close.

Wait… Valley of Shadows?

Yes. The Patrons have spoken, and the new title of Balance of Power is Valley of Shadows. The Patreon will still say Balance of Power, because I’m not going back to change all the previous chapters or the tags, but it’s all good. When the book comes out, it’ll be Valley of Shadows. And since it may very well be done before the end of the year, I’m going to rethink that March/April release date and move it up to something closer to the end of January/beginning of February. We’ll see how the editing goes, especially since I may be juggling Cookiepocalypse, edits for Valley of Shadows AND edits for Morrigan’s Heir!

Speaking of the Patreon, last week I got the sad news that one of my original Patrons passed away after a sudden illness. They had been a friend for years, even before I started Heir to the Firstborn, and they were part of the Patreon since I started the entire thing and it was still all called “The Elemental Project.” Valley of Shadows will be dedicated to them.

The final bit of news this week is that copies of Written in Water are back in Spellbound Bookstore in Sanford, FL. They’ve just reopened in a larger space, closer to the historic district. If you’re doing holiday shopping in the Sanford area, shop small and local, and check out Spellbound!

Works in Progress

Valley of Shadows
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 7

59057 / 90000 (65.62%)

New Release!

Wait, a new book on a MONDAY? I thought books dropped on Tuesdays!

Usually? They do. Because I can’t read a calendar, you get a new book a day early!

Snowbound — because brown paper packages aren’t the only things getting tied up…

Preorders are live wherever you buy books

Promotions!

First in Series Friday is THIS WEEK! Friday, November 24th (Black Friday in the US), the first books in Heir to the Firstborn, Rebel Mage, and Swords of Charlemagne will be on sale everywhere for 99 cents.

Then, on Cyber Monday, the sale continues! The Cavalcade of Authors will be holding a huge Cyber Monday sale, and for that sale, I’ll be adding in Forged in Fire AND Bones of Earth! To know when the link goes live for this one, you need to sign up for my newsletter. There will be one blast email on the morning of the 27th, letting you know the link is live.

Sep

2022

I Have An Excite!!!

Why am I excited? Because Friday, this happened:

I had NO idea that the release date was Friday, or I’d have said something sooner!

Now, this new edition contains two bits of new material. The first is old new — I wrote The Ice Raven for the Princes of Air launch ten years ago, and it was serialized on the Circlet Livejournal. It’s never before been available for sale.

The second new bit of material is an exciting announcement, because you get a sneak peak at the first chapter of The White Raven: Morrigan’s Heir… coming in 2023 from Riverdale Avenue Books!

Lorcan finally gets his own books! Two of them — I’m starting The White Raven: Morrigan’s Wrath today. (That was the mystery synopsis I was working on a few weeks back.)

The White Raven: Morrigan’s Wrath

0 / 90000 (0.00%)

***

The Sea Prince
(The Sea Prince, book 1)

37782 / 120000 (31.49%)

Yes, I am still going to be working on The Sea Prince.

In other writing news, I finished the rewrite of Children of Dreams, and I’ll be setting up a preorder for that and Visions in Smoke this week. I’ll post links to those on all the social media once they’re up. Bones of Earth went live last week, and is updating everywhere. Not sure what’s happening with the paperbacks — they’re listed as publishing, but Amazon hasn’t updated to the new information, and Barnes and Noble is still listing the old prices. Remember, if you find books with the old covers, it’s the old content.

Not much else to share, and I need to get on getting on to writing.

Have a great week!!!

Sep

2022

This Is Getting to Be a Habit

I used to post this blog early on Monday. Maybe one of these weeks, I’ll get back to doing that again.

This is not that week. Today has been a very Monday-ish Monday, and about midday, I hit the “No spoons, ONLY KNIVES!!!” point. I’m a little less frazzled now, but I still have this blog post to write and two more chapters of Children of Dreams to rewrite.

Speaking of that, I’m about halfway complete with the rewrite on Children of Dreams. I still think it will be ready for the November sale date. but I’m not setting up the preorder until I hand the book off to Darling Editor. Which I hope will be sometime next week.

The new edition of Forged in Fire went up for sale this week, and the ebooks look like they’re available almost everywhere. Paperbacks appear to be rolling out, too — Barnes and Noble says they have the new paperbacks, and Amazon has the new cover but the old book blurb. If you order and get a copy with the old cover, that’s the old content, too. Same with Written in Water.

I should have Bones of Earth ready to go sometime late this week or early next.

I love these covers, but you won’t get to see my FAVORITE until we hit book 5. Which I’m not showing you yet.

John Zebedee and the Monstrous Town is starting to wind down — there are two chapters left to go in this middle part of The Chronicles of John Zebedee. Then we hit the final portion — John Zebedee Meets the Witch-Queen of the Elvenlands, which will take us through to the end of the year. And at some point I have to give all of these images to a cover designer for the collected Chronicles of John Zebedee. Which may include bonus material, but I haven’t decided yet. I’d have to write it, and writing brain is still not entirely functional.

Proof that I’m LOUSY at marketing is that I’ve been completely forgetting to promote the collected Rebel Mage ebook, which will be coming out on October 4th! This will be Amazon only, and includes Counsel of the Wicked, Haven’s Fall and Where Home Lies.

There are still eleven days to go grab the updated Written in Water for FREE through the Fantasy Frenzy. Click the image and grab a pile of free books. Did I mention they’re free?

Back to the revision grindstone. Catch you all next week, with hopefully some new news to share!

Aug

2021

Well, THAT was Fun…

I just had to brute force my way into my own WordPress site. That was more interesting than a Monday should be.

Apparently, something is broken in the newest update, and WP support is telling everyone to disable their plugins (didn’t work), change to the default theme (also didn’t work), and make sure that they are using their most updated browsers (also also didn’t work.)

What did work? Rolling WordPress back to the last version. But it took me nearly an hour to find the support forum that SAID that was the only thing that worked. I’m in now, and updating everything. Once I’m done, I’ll let WordPress update again and we’ll see if they fix things before next week.

Monday needs to not try so hard.

I’m in the home stretch with Heir to the Firstborn: The Crossroads! My goal is to have it DONE by Thursday, so I can take the pages with me to Orlando Reads Books.

Heir to the Firstborn: The Crossroads
(Heir to the Firstborn, book 5)

120119 / 130000 (92.40%)

In other Heir to the Firstborn news, the Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal chapter of the RWA announced the winners of the Prism awards on Saturday night, and I’m pleased to announce that Bones of Earth came in third in the Fantasy category. (The book that came in second also won Best New Book, which is impressive!) So, for this series, that’s high ranking placement in two major awards. Not bad!

Not much else — I’m keeping an eye on the events for later this year. One of the other Florida writers conferences cancelled just this morning, so we’ll see if the other in-person events I have planned this year actually happen.

I’m not fond of this whole “Wait and see” approach to life. I happen to like making plans!

And speaking of making plans, I have a meeting in a few minutes, so I need to wrap this up. Here’s hoping I see some of you at ORB!

Mar

2021

Whiplash

Ever had your luck change so fast you get whiplash?

That was me today. Yesterday was a technological mess, to the point that I was ready to throw my laptop away and buy a Mac. I use Libreoffice, a solid, free open source office suite. It does everything that Office does.

Well, almost everything.

In one of the last updates, they managed to break something to the point that saving in .doc or .docx corrupts the files. They become unreadable. I, of course, discovered this when I attempted to upload Ashes and Light to Draft to Digital for formatting.

Cue much thrashing and flailing, and finally purchasing Office. And then discovered that the corruption was embedded in the formatting — I could not copy the text from the .odt file and paste it into a Word document! It locked Word up solid. What I ended up doing was copying the text from the .odt to Google Docs, then copying from Google Docs to Word. Which somehow fixed the formatting issue and it worked.

And then I ripped Libreoffice out by the roots.

But tell me again how technology makes your life easier…

Flash forward to this morning. File uploads like a dream, preorder is ready, print proof is ordered, and I go do my morning yoga. When I pick my phone up again, T-Mobile is reminding me that it’s Tuesday, so I should go check out my free stuff and play the giveaway game. I NEVER win the giveaway game, and as I spun the virtual wheel, I muttered, “I never win this. Why do I do it?”

And promptly won a $5 Visa gift card.

Now, the T-Mobile reminder also reminds me that it is Tuesday, which is when my county releases the new block of Covid vaccination appointments. They changed the criteria YESTERDAY, and I’m eligible for vaccination now. So I log into the vaccine portal…

And score an appointment. I get my first shot next Tuesday.

I think I may need to nip out to play the lottery…

Heir to the Firstborn(Heir to the Firstborn, book 5)

36493 / 150000 (24.33%)

Work continues on Heir to the Firstborn, and I’m ramping up for the release of Wings of Air on the 23rd. How, you ask?

A sale!

Starting next Sunday, and running all week (so, from March 7-13th),

Written in Water will be $1.74 (75% off).
Forged in Fire will be $4.49 (50% off)
Bones of Earth will be $6.74 (25% off)

The sale is already set up in Draft to Digital and Smashwords, but I need to set it manually in Amazon.

In addition, there will be a Kindle Countdown deal on Hidden Things, starting March 14th!

Wings of Air will go on sale everywhere on the 23rd.

Jun

2020

Progress, and the lack thereof.

Echoes of Light

23004 / 50000 (46.01%)

***Wings of AirHeir to the Firstborn, Book 4

20000 / 95000 (21.05%)

I spent most of last week plugging along, arguing with Amazon, doing promo for Bones of Earth, arguing with Amazon, prepping for the RWA Board meeting that happened this past weekend, and arguing with Amazon.

You know, the usual.

Why am I arguing with Amazon? Because the week prior, I did a giveaway of Written in Water, and a sale on Forged in Fire. Now, I can control the sale price, but setting Written in Water for free on Amazon is something only they can do, and only they can change it back. The prices reverted to $6.99 on every other platform last Tuesday. Amazon still hasn’t changed the price back.

Yesterday, I emailed them for the third time and asked them if they were planning on paying me royalties for the books that were downloaded for free after the price was supposed to have reverted. No answer yet.

I think, from here on out, I’ll be doing $.99 sales. Freebies are a pain in the posterior, and I have no control over when Amazon changes things.

(Note — I just went and checked and they’ve FINALLY put Written in Water back to the regular price. Apparently, telling them I expected them to made good on the consquences of their screw-up did something?)

Last week was also the last day of school — I now have a rising 9th grader. High school… eep!

Now, normally, this is the point in my year when I take time off — as much as I ever take time off, anyway. However, Heir to the Firstborn won’t wait. I’m going to keep on working to get Wings of Air up on time. Chapter two just went up on Patreon, and I’m working on chapter seven — I might be doing a little backwards writing on it, though. Owyn is in the kitchen, and whenever he goes to the kitchen, chapters tend start reading like a cooking show. Which is fun, but he’s not supposed to be taking over this book again.

(Owyn: “You only think so.”)

(Me: “Shut up, Mouse.”)

So I need to get out of Owyn’s head and back to Del’s. And I need to wake Treesi up — she’s sleeping in at the point where I am in the book.

Echoes of Light is coming along nicely. I’ve just revealed the big bad, and he’s being big and bad. I’m slightly more than halfway through the book, I think. So we’ll have a short novel (40K), which is good for a box set. I’m hoping to get this to a draft sometime this month. We’ll see how that goes.

And that’s pretty much all here.

It’s in no way everything. There’s a lot going on out there. Lots of fear. Lots of violence. Lots of hate.

I am in no way qualified to talk about it, other than to say this — in my social media, I will amplify the voices of activists, the voices of BLM, the voices of hope and the voices that call for justice. I will use y platform to spread their words, because it is their words that are important here. Not mine.

Stay safe out there.

May

2020

WIP and Book Birthdays and Stuff

Echoes of Light

19524 / 50000 (39.05%)

***Wings of AirHeir to the Firstborn, Book 4

15683 / 95000 (16.51%)

It’s amazing how much writing I can do when I don’t have to be anywhere else.

This week, I set myself a goal of focusing on Wings of Air, so that I have a buffer in case of summer vacation pulling me away from the keyboard. (I was so tempted to write AFK there — I’m being slowly indoctrinated into gamerspeak!)

Summer vacation? Wait a minute, Liz. It’s still May!

Yes, it is. And in Florida, schools get out for the summer right after Memorial Day. Wednesday, we’ll be heading out (!) to school, to participate in a Drive through Graduation ceremony as our son graduates from middle school. It’s going to be interesting. And school next year is going to be even more interesting. We’ll see what happens when August comes around (Yes, we go back to school in August around here.)

The cancellations are ongoing — this past week, the RWA cancelled their National Convention. Work is ongoing into a virtual conference. Also this past week, KeiserSupercon announced the convention will be held the first weekend in December. Really! This time for sure!

(This is me, not getting my hopes up.)

And… tomorrow… this happens.

Bones of Earth goes live — if you’ve preordered it, it will be in your reader at midnight. (I think that’s how it works) There is still time to preorder — you can grab it from Amazon here, and from other booksellers here.

(Note: I really, really hope it goes live at midnight — there have been a number of preorders pulled by an Amazon glitch over the past few weeks. So if you hear distraught screaming coming from the direction of Florida tomorrow morning? The presale was pulled last minute. As of two seconds ago, it was still good to go.)

I got the most interesting rejection letter this morning for Hidden Things. The publisher liked it, said it really raised interest, but couldn’t find a spot for it in their lineup so they gave it a pass. That’s a new one for me. I have one more iron in the fire, and if that one doesn’t pan out, then I’ll get going on self-publishing.

And that’s about all for me. Stay safe, everyone.

May

2020

What Day Is It Anyway? Blursday?

Blursday? What day is that?

Well, it’s when you’re not sure what day it is. Actually, I do know it’s Monday. I’m blogging, therefore it’s Monday. Tomorrow, I’ll be doing a Circlet Press writing sprint, therefore it’s Tuesday (or Thursday — it might be Thuesday).

Days run together. Words don’t. The works in progress continue apace.

Echoes of Light

17706 / 50000 (35.41%)

***Wings of AirHeir to the Firstborn, Book 4

10634 / 95000 (11.19%)

Bones of Earth drops one week from tomorrow, and I’ve decided to run a sale this week so people can get caught up! You can download Written in Water here, and you can buy Forged in Fire here.

Until the 26th, Written in Water is FREE, and Forged in Fire is 20% off the usual $8.99 ebook price (down to $7.19) The sale is running wherever ebooks are sold, so if you see someplace where Written in Water is not free and Forged in Fire is not $7.19 (or the equivalant 20% off price in non-US markets), let me know so I can fix it!

In other news, edits have come in (and gone back out) on Time for No Mercy, the short story that I sold to Riverdale Avenue Books for their upcoming Sexy Superheroes anthology. No data yet on when it will be coming out. As soon as I know, I’ll let you all know.

There isn’t a lot else happening. We’re wrapping up the end of the school year. Drive through middle school graduation is next week. I’m doing a million things for the RWA. I’m exercising. I’m baking. I’m cooking. The house is spotless.

I’m tired of quarantine, but it really is the only way to stop this damn thing.

Stay in. Stay safe.

See you all virtually next week.

May

2020

Works in Progress: Echoes of Light and Wings of Air.

Echoes of Light

15170 / 50000 (30.34%)

***Wings of AirHeir to the Firstborn, Book 4

5067 / 95000 (5.33%)

Now that I’ve fixed the issues with Echoes of Light, I find myself wanting to play with it more than Wings of Air. Which… nope. Can’t do that. Need to work on them both. So what I think I’m going to have to do is work on Wings of Air early, and save Echoes of Light as a reward.

It doesn’t help that Echoes of Light is being fun right now. John and Ethriel are just so damned cute together!

He heard movement, and turned back, seeing Ethriel trying to get out from under the blanket. “No,” he said. “You stay in bed.” He held his hand up, palm out, and Ethriel flinched. John immediately dropped his hands. “No,” he said softly. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m not going to hit you.” He stepped closer, and pulled the blanket back up. Then he rested his hand on Ethriel’s chest and gently pushed him down. “Stay here.”

Ethriel frowned. “Stay… here,” he repeated. He pointed at the bed.

“Bed,” John supplied the word.

“Stay… bed?” Ethriel asked. Then he smiled. “Stay bed.” He laced his fingers together and rested them on his chest.

“Yes,” John said with a laugh. “You stay in bed.”

Ethriel nodded. “Stay bed,” he repeated. Then he looked thoughtful. “John… stay bed?” He smiled, his brows raised in a hopeful expression, and John was suddenly sure in his bones that there was more to that smile than just being friendly. That he’d known exactly what he’d meant when he’d tried to invite John to the bed the night before.

John felt warm. His throat felt tight. So did his trousers. It was tempting. So tempting. But Ethriel wasn’t hale. And John might not be understanding him properly. This could end badly.

But it was still tempting.

And in other news? I’m still screaming. There is still no resolution for Forged in Fire. And, because of the way they’ve locked down the book in KDP, I can’t get at any of the data to see if there is a major error that needs to be fixed. I don’t know if a reader reported the book, or if it’s a glitch (I’m suspecting glitch, to be honest.) There’s been no communication from KDP Quality Control. I’m in limbo, and I don’t like it. It’s costing me money.

So… since Amazon isn’t letting me make money, Forged in Fire is now ON SALE on Smashwords — use the code TN86U for 20% off — good for the rest of the week!

Meanwhile, Bones of Earth is ready to drop on May 26th. I really hope Forged in Fire is back online on Amazon when that happens.

Over the weekend, I found out that No Safewords II won the Bronze in the IPPY awards. If you remember, I have two stories in that anthology. Blood, Lust was where I first introduced my BDSM vampire Itami Hiro and his beloved Daniel (or at least, their Marketplace alternate universe selves). And there’s Domestic Tranquility, a second Thomas and Eugenia story (the first being Oh, Promise Me! from No Safewords 1).

Not much else is going on here. It’s pretty much just exercise in the morning (Zombies, Run! three days a week, yoga and/or something else twice — you can follow me on Instagram for workout updates, if you’re interested), followed by writing and random stuff around the house. I’m not going out if I can help it — so I leave the neighborhood maybe once a week. Things are opening up around us — restaurants and hair salons and the like, but I’m not willing to be a test subject in how long before the second wave? Especially since the second wave is likely to be worse than the first — we’ve all seen the 1918 Flu graph, right?

If you can, stay in. Stay safe.

Apr

2020

Bones of Earth Preorder!

Shattered by betrayal, Aria’s Companions have separated. Aven and Del have retreated to the safety of the Water tribe, leaving Owyn and Treesi behind on land to stand with Aria and help their wounded Heir heal. Despite their best efforts, Aria retreats, rejecting them both.

Owyn knows that he and Treesi can’t do this alone. He starts riding out to the coastal villages surrounding Terraces, sending messages out to the deep, begging Aven to come back, telling him that the Heart can reach the Heir. Then he returns from one such trip to find Aria and Treesi have left Terraces, leaving him behind.

Abandoned, Owyn leaves Terraces. Instead of following Aria, he goes north, trying to find a way to contact the Water tribes. Trying to find a way to save everything before it’s too late.

To do that, he must face his deepest fear, risk losing his heart, and accept help from the most unlikely of allies.

Preorder now on Amazon or wherever ebooks are sold!

Available May 26th!

Bones of Earth

Changes in Altitude

Works in Progress

New Release!

Promotions!

I Have An Excite!!!

This Is Getting to Be a Habit

Well, THAT was Fun…

Whiplash

Progress, and the lack thereof.

WIP and Book Birthdays and Stuff

What Day Is It Anyway? Blursday?

Works in Progress: Echoes of Light and Wings of Air.

Bones of Earth Preorder!

Works in Progress

Appearances

Find My Books!

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