Bones of Earth

Work in Progress: Echoes of Light

Echoes of Light

5795 / 30000 (19.32%)

Today’s blog post is coming to you live and direct from my closet.

(Our area is currently under a tornado warning.)

Things are going apace with Bones of Earth. Edits are being edited. I will, I hope, have the final manuscript uploaded to all the places by next week. Preorders are open at Amazon and everywhere else.

I’m working on the synopsis for Wings of Air, and I keep telling myself that write “stuff happens” and then the planned ending is not a synopsis. At least, it’s not a synopsis in my sense of the word — one where if I get hit by a bus, someone else will be able to finish the series. That being said, I really do want to get this started.

(The storm is now overhead, and the inner doors are rattling. Ummm…)

(Two hours pass)

Back now. We’re fine. Everything is fine. Tornado came MUCH too close to my liking (that being about five miles or so).

My, it’s exciting for a Monday!

Now, since I’ve lost two hours of my day, I’m going to finish this up and get back to work.

Wash your hands, stay inside if you can. Be safe.

 

 

 

Posted by EASchechter in 2020 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, Adavar, Bones of Earth, Echoes of Light, edits, Eek!, Elemental Project, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, I really want some dull, new books, promotions, publishing, Release date, upcoming books, upcoming work, Wings of Air, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments

Work in Progress and Completed Work!

Bones of Earth
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 3

109904 / 95000 (115.69%)

Echoes of Light

2765 / 30000 (9.22%)

I gave Bones of Earth a final push yesterday, and finished it last night with a daily word total of 4,303 words. Which means today I’m going to take it easy.

Stop laughing.

Last week, I started the work that I’d been calling John Zebedee and the Elf-King’s Son.  The new working title is Echoes of Light, which means I’m in a titling rut — (something of something else). It also resulted in me spending about an hour finding out if there were fireflies around the Sea of Galilee in Biblical times. The answer? Umm… maybe? There are eight varieties in Israel, but nothing I could find said definitively yes, there’s a variety around the Sea of Galilee. Which means I’m going to do something I don’t normally do — I’m going to wing it.

No, that was not a pun.

Okay, it was, but I didn’t mean it to be.

I’m working on the synopsis for Wings of Air, and will probably be starting to write that in a week or so. Wrapping up Bones of Earth threw some curveballs at me, so I need to work those into how things resolve.  I need to see who is going to be my focal characters in this one. I knew going in that Aria was going to be the primary focus, but Treesi was SUPPOSED to be the primary focus of Bones of Earth, and Owyn sort of took over. Again. Because he’s a brat. So I need for him to take a seat so I can focus on someone else for a change.

(insert Owyn here: “Hey, it’s not my fault you love me so much!”)

(Sit down, Owyn!)

So that’s the plan for now. Work on the synopsis, work on Echoes of Light. Set up the preorders and the ad campaign for Bones of Earth, and get the final polish done. I’m planning on a May 26th release, but that might get pushed back a week or two, depending on edits. We’ll see.  I want to have copies on the table at KeiserSupercon in June (assuming KeiserSupercon happens in June.) There are a couple of other irons in the fire, too, but they’re still written in warm Jell-O. For now, this is what it is.

See you all next week. Virtually, anyway.

Wash your hands! Stay home if you can! And wear your mask!

Posted by EASchechter in 2020 plans, accountability, appearances, Bones of Earth, conventions, Echoes of Light, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, John Zebedee, Keiser SuperCon, new books, presales, promotions, publishing, Release date, Ta-da, thirty, upcoming books, upcoming work, Wings of Air, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments

Work in Progress: Bones of Earth

Bones of Earth
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 3

99336 / 95000 (104.56%)

So I’m going to call it. Bones of Earth will be a draft by the end of the week.

Which means you all get to see the cover!

(I really do like these trees.)

Things are starting to settle down here. I’m getting into a routine.  Get up. Exercise (today was Zombies, Run! — did 1.86 miles, saw four people and six cars total. None close up.) Shower, breakfast, then get to work.

Work today involves wrapping up Bones of Earth, research for John Zebedee, and finalizing the synopsis for Wings of Air. I need to start thinking about Bones of Earth promo, and prepping the presales. I’m thinking late May for a release, and I’ll have it on the table if we actually have a KeiserSupercon.

Which means I really should get to work.

Take care, all. Be safe. Wash your hands and don’t forget to wear your mask.

Posted by EASchechter in a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, Adavar, Best laid plans, Best planned lays, Bones of Earth, cover art, Elemental Project, except-for-when-it-is, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, John Zebedee, Keiser SuperCon, promotions, publishing, research is fun, run-writer-run!, upcoming books, upcoming work, Wings of Air, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments

Work in Progress: Bones of Earth

Bones of Earth
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 3

95929 / 95000 (100.98%)

 

And, yet again, I’m running over the amount of words that I thought it would take to tell the story. Bones of Earth has, I think, two chapters left. There might be a third chapter hiding in there, though. So it will be a total of thirty-two or thirty-three chapters. We’ll see how the words fall out.

Writing has been challenging this past week. Every time I think I’ve figured out what we’re doing, something changes it. What changed last week was the results from the RWA Special Election. I am now on the RWA Board as a Director at Large. We all had to hit the ground running — we have a job of work ahead of us, and only five months to do it. So part of my new normal has been adding in daily board business.

What changed this week was that school started again… sort of. Florida school are still all closed. But class is back in session, at least virtually. At least… if they can get the technology to work! First day wobbles and all that. I’m thinking it’ll be worked out by the end of the week. Then I’ll have mornings to write while the kids do school.

I also have two evenings a week to write — several Circlet Press authors have started a virtual writing group, and we get together and do writing sprints. Those have helped incredibly!  More than half of my words last week were written in the two writing sprints I “attended.”

We’re still figuring out which way is up. It’ll take some doing — there is no normal any more. At least, not one that we’d recognize. Now it’s one day at a time, one moment at a time. One step. Then another. Keep moving.

The only way out is through.

Be well. And WASH YOUR HANDS!

Posted by EASchechter in 2020 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, Best laid plans, Best planned lays, Bones of Earth, circlet, Elemental Project, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, Homeschool, Patreon, progress, the-end-is-near, upcoming books, upcoming work, Updatey things, WIP, wordcount, writing-mom, 0 comments

Work in Progress: Bones of Earth

Bones of Earth
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 3

90538 / 95000 (95.30%)

I just saw someone refer to this week as “Week Two: Electric Boogaloo.”

Maybe. I’m not sure if we’re all that punchy yet. Some people might be. I’m not.

Not yet, anyway.

If you missed it, I put Written in Water up as a free download until April 1st.  And I finally got Worlds Begin fixed so that it’s free everywhere as well. I’m working on Bones of Earth, and I need to tweak the scene that I wrote over the weekend. It’s not quite where I want it. There are two pages of synopsis for Wings of Air sitting next to me on the desk, which really isn’t much — my synopses tend to run very long.

And I’m starting to consider adding a virus to the Flesh and Blood books, once I get back to them. Something that only strikes the vampires. Because, you know, your output comes from your input. There are going to be a LOT of quarantine meet-cutes or enemy-to-friend books coming down the pipe. I can see it already.

Hrm… maybe I won’t add a virus to the Flesh and Blood books after all.

Today, I’ll find out the election results for the RWA Special election. I’ll post back once I hear that.

My plans for the week? More writing. Exercising. More writing. Finishing a sewing project. More writing. Cleaning up the house. More writing. Tending the garden I just started. More writing. Not stress-buying all the groceries.

I think that covers it.

Stay safe, all. Stay in if you can.

 

Posted by EASchechter in a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, BDSM Vampires, Bones of Earth, Elemental Project, except-for-when-it-is, Flesh and Blood, giveaway, Heir to the Firstborn, plot bunnies, upcoming books, upcoming work, Updatey things, Wings of Air, WIP, wordcount, Written in Water, 0 comments

Free for your social distancing reading

Things are really weird right now. And not in a happy, fun way. When all of us geeks said that we wanted to live in the future, we were thinking rocket cars and space travel, not global pandemics.

We meant Star Trek, guys! Not The Stand! And definitely NOT The Andromeda Strain!

I’m reading the news, and trying to keep things normal for kids who know full well things are NOT normal. This was was supposed to have been Spring Break, and school was supposed to be back in on Monday. The theme parks are closed, they closed restaurants today, and we did NONE of the fun things I had planned. Monday, instead of going back to school, we start week two of being home. Online school starts the following Monday, and they MIGHT go back to school on April 15th. Maybe.

Personally? I doubt we’ll see the inside of a school again this year. Which sucks for J, who is graduating middle school and was supposed to have the 8th grade graduation trip and the graduation dance.  The trip was supposed to be April 10th. We’ll see what happens about the dance.

So what do we do?

Well, if you’re me, you throw some books out into the wild for free. Here. Have something to read.

I’m still working on Bones of Earth — it’s a little slow going. Finding the time to write during the day is… challenging.  But it’s coming along, and will be finished soon.  Then on to Wings of Air.
So I’ll keep making the words. You keep reading them. And we’ll get along that way.
Stay safe. And go wash your hands.
Posted by EASchechter in a-writers-life-is-never-dull, Best laid plans, Best planned lays, Bones of Earth, giveaway, Heir to the Firstborn, Wings of Air, Worlds Begin, Written in Water, 0 comments

Work in Progress: Bones of Earth

Bones of Earth
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 3

85870 / 95000 (90.39%)

Today is day one of self-isolation. Which you might think means “Yay, more writing done!”

Umm… no. Because today was to have been day two of Spring Break (day one was last Friday), and I now have three children at loose ends. (Yes, I said three. No, you’re not misremembering. I only gave birth to one of them. Long story.)

School might resume on the 30th. Maybe. Or maybe not. We’ll see.

So right now, I’m stealing some writing time thanks to the collective power of Minecraft and Roblox.

It’s also taken me about an hour to type just this ^^^^.

Needless to say, the writing may be a little slower than usual over the next two weeks, or at least until I get a handle on juggling this new chainsaw.  And it doesn’t help that the pollen is through the roof here in Florida, so… umm…yeah. Sniffles, coughing, and headaches abound!

Keiser Supercon has been postponed, with a tentative date of sometime in June. We’ll see what happens there, too.

So, for the duration, we’re home. We’re all healthy. And we’re all keeping on keeping on.

Wishing you all the best.

Posted by EASchechter in a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, Best laid plans, Best planned lays, Bones of Earth, Keiser SuperCon, slow-writer-is-slow., Waiting-for-the-other-shoe, why-the-writing-is-slow, Wings of Air, writing-mom, 0 comments

Work in Progress: Bones of Earth

Bones of Earth
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 3

82796 / 95000 (87.15%)

Things are coming along slowly but well. I’m thinking there are only a few chapters left in Bones of Earth, and I’ve started the synopsis for Wings of Air.  Still thinking May or June for a release on Bones of Earth, but we’ll see.

My edits are done on Swords of Charlemagne, and Hidden Things is off a professional editor who is going to read the entire series and make sure everything agrees with everything else. And unless someone jumps up and starts waving advance money at me, those will be coming out starting late this year or early next year.

The RWA Special elections open this Friday. I am running for a Director at Large position, and you can read about all of the candidates and their statements here. If you are eligible to vote, please do so!

And next week is KeiserSupercon! It’s a two day convention this year — Friday the 20th, and Saturday the 21st. I’ll be there both days. And as of this moment, I have no idea if I’m on any panels. There was a reading last year, and there might be again. I have to decide what to pull. I do have something new and short that I just sent off for an anthology, so that might be it.

That being said, my main task for this week is taxes. I haven’t had time to sit down and get them done, so I’ll be working on those as soon as I hit publish on this post.

This is a really short update. I need to go crunch numbers now.

Posted by EASchechter in 2020 plans, accountability, appearances, Best laid plans, Best planned lays, Bones of Earth, conventions, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, Hidden Things, Keiser SuperCon, public displays of geekery, Swords of Charlemagne, upcoming books, upcoming work, Updatey things, Wings of Air, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments

Work in Progress: Bones of Earth

Bones of Earth
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 3

80744 / 95000 (84.99%)

I forgot to blog last week. Bad Liz. No Liz biscuit.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks. I can’t say much, other than… umm… BUSY! And no, it’s not writing related. Or RWA related.

Just… busy.

There’s been writing, though. And I’m starting to see the end to Bones of Earth. So I need to figure out what happens in Wings of Air, and quickly. So I’ll be getting on to that synopsis hopefully as soon as I finish my taxes. I’m going to go out on a limb and say Bones of Earth will be out in print in May or thereabouts.

After that, I have a few priorities:

  • Write Wings of Air
  • Write John Zebedee (due December)
  • Sell or otherwise publish Swords of Charlemagne.
  • Series plan for Flesh and Blood (the BDSM vampire series)
  • Figure out what will go on with the Patreon once I’m done with Heir to the Firstborn.

That last one may be me reviving one of the two things that I started and never finished. I think The Willow Sword might be the next Patreon serial. We’ll see, though. That one stalled out hard when I started writing it the first time. Maybe going back to it and rewriting it for serialization will fix whatever was broken.

And since there’s not much else to say, and I need to get myself moving, I’ll leave you with a tiny snippet from Bones of Earth that amused me to no end when I wrote it.


Owyn woke up. That surprised him enough that, for a long moment, all he could do was stare at the shadowed ceiling over him, marveling at the experience of just breathing. He’d woken up. That meant he was alive.

How the fuck had that happened?

Posted by EASchechter in 2020 plans, accountability, Adavar, BDSM Vampires, Bones of Earth, Elemental Project, Flesh and Blood, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, I really want some dull, John Zebedee, publishing, queue, Swords of Charlemagne, the-end-is-near, to-dos, upcoming books, upcoming work, Wings of Air, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments

Work in Progress: Bones of Earth. Also, An Announcement

Bones of Earth
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 3

73018 / 95000 (76.86%)

Remember how last week I said that the writing was going really well?

Things almost immediately thereafter took a turn for the very weird, and the writing slowed down again. Not bad. Just weird, and I’m working on getting back into a rhythm of writing again.  I’m trying not to fall behind again.

Which is going to be very interesting going forward, because I just filed the papers to run for the RWA Board as a Director at Large in the special election that will happen next month.

How many people just went “Wait, WHAT????”

Last Thursday, the entire RWA Board resigned. All of them. A special election was called, and the call went out for candidates. I took a look at the requirements, and I talked to people. I asked former BOD members about their jobs and responsibilities, and I spent a lot of time thinking about what they said. I asked permission of my chapter — being elected means I have to stand down as President-Elect to FFPRWA, although it does give me a month to find someone willing to step up into my position if I have to resign it.

So now what? Well, I keep writing. One of the factors in my decision to run was that I can balance Bones of Earth and the Board.  If I am on the BOD for longer than the seven months that is projected — if I run for reelection in August? I have the Swords of Charlemagne books almost ready to go. A lot of people have told me that being on the BOD had a negative impact on their writing. Right now, I very well might be in my best position to do this. It’s not the only reason I decided, but it would be a lie to say it wasn’t a factor.

No, what really made the decision for me is what I put as the hashtag on my Twitter announcement. I am putting my money where my big mouth is — I was very vocal against the previous board and their lack of… well ANYTHING beneficial to the RWA. Now I have a chance to be the change.

Something else I said on Twitter? “Doing nothing is not an option.”

The election voting opens March 13 and closes the 20th. So I’ll know in just over a month.

Posted by EASchechter in 2020 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, Bones of Earth, Heir to the Firstborn, promotions, publishing, Swords of Charlemagne, upcoming work, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments