conventions

Sep

2023

No More Peopling.

I had a blast at Necronomicon — the Writing Sex panel was awesomely fun, and next year I’ll be pitching a panel I’m calling Mystery Science Sex Scene 3000, where we have audience members read snippets of our work, and identify the authors for fun and prizes.

I love conventions. Honestly, I do. But I spend the week after a convention recovering and avoiding talking to people. Partly because my throat is usually shot by Sunday — talking through an N95 mask is hard. (I did have a small air purifier for panels so I could unmask, but three days of talking is about two and a half more than I’m used to.) The rest of the reason is that I’m not an extrovert. I just play one at conventions. So by the time we get home, I’m ready for no more peopling for a while. My brains are spongy.

Today was a mellow day (see, spongy brains above). Only the essentials have been unpacked and most of the convention stuff is still stacked in the living room. I reconciled inventory records, paid taxes, and got somewhat caught up on things I missed over the weekend. No real writing yet today, and there may not be, but I did discover that there’s been a setting turned off in Scrivener for The Sea Prince, and it wasn’t tracking new words!

The Sea Prince
(The Coral Throne, Book 1)

62021 / 120000 (51.68%)

Balance of Power
(Heir to the Firstborn, book 7)

27250 / 90000 (30.28%)

In other news, I’ll be doing another Cavalcade of Authors promotion in October. This one runs from October 13-15, and you’ll need to check every day because there will be new books EVERY day of the promotion! Click the graphic to sign up for more info. I’ve put Forged in Fire into this promotion.

Also, as of 5:19 Eastern on September the 25th, Written in Water is still in the running at SPFBO. It’s getting nervous over here…

And I think that’s about all I have the brain for today. Go sign up for the giveaway!

Sep

2023

Convention Prep!

Convention prep is my week this week — getting ready for NecronomiCon. After I posted last week, I found out about a schedule change — the Writing Sex panel will now be held on Friday at 8:45 PM. This is still the earliest it’s ever been scheduled, so I’ll have to make sure to clear the room of minors before we start.

Friday, 5:00 PM — Make, Remake, Reboot
Friday, 8:45 PM — Writing Sex ( the earliest I think this panel has ever been scheduled…)

Saturday, 2:00 PM — Don’t Panic! Balancing the Two Worlds of of Life and Creativity
Saturday, 3:15 PM — Let’s Structure Your Story.

There may also be a reading — I haven’t gotten confirmation yet.

Now, if you stop in to see me at the convention, I’ll have a table in the far corner of Writer’s Alley (if I’m reading the map write, all the way to the left as you enter.) People who mention this post, or that they heard about the convention from my social media will get 10% off their purchase at my table. I also have special tote bags that are free with a purchase of $50 or more. (There may also be gluten-free/dairy-free baked goods, if I get a chance to bake.)

The Sea Prince
The Coral Throne, Book 1

53063 / 120000 (44.22%)

Balance of Power
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 7

26572 / 90000 (29.52%)

I’m hoping to get more words in this week, but with convention prep my main priority and baking my secondary priority, I may not get quite as many in as I hope. Thankfully, edits aren’t in my inbox yet… and watch me jinx myself and end up with edits on Friday as we’re about to leave!

….

And I just got a brain-bending email that has stopped me cold. In a good way — it’s not bad news in the slightest. Rather the opposite, actually — it’s nice when people hold you in high esteem. It’s something I’m not feeling capable of doing just yet, but… wow. Nice that they think that I’m capable.

Yes, that’s vague. Purposefully so. If something comes of it? I’ll tell you.

It’s time for me to run away and get more things done. Here’s hoping to see some of you at the convention!

Aug

2023

Back to Work!

Today is the first day of college classes, which means that I am now seriously back to work. Even though I’ve sort of been back to work for two weeks now. Now I’m serious! I mean it!

Yeah… it’s past 2PM and I haven’t written a word yet. So maybe not quite?

I’m learning more about the characters in Balance of Power as I write. One of Aeris’ Companions has hayfever. In the books, they say that they’re flower sick. But it led to this delightful little scene:

“How long have you been awake?”

“Who says I’ve been asleep?” Tiras opened their eyes and sat up.

“You drooling on my sleeve says you were asleep.”

“And snoring,” Aeris added. “You were snoring.”

“I was not!” Tiras protested. “I don’t snore!” They looked up at Gannet. “Do I?”

“Not much,” Gannet admitted. “Except when there’s Maiden’s Lace blooming. Then you get all red and blotchy, and you snore at night.”

“And Maiden’s Lace is in season now. There must be some growing along the road.” Dyna set down her stitching and held out her hand. “Let me see.”

“I hate Maiden’s Lace,” Tiras grumbled. “My head gets all foggy and my visions get weird. Owyn says he’s never heard of a Smoke Dancer whose visions are controlled by their nose before.”

Aeris frowned. “But Smoke Dancers used to train in the vents of the Smoking Mountain, and they were breathing in the smoke. Owyn was one of the last trained that way. So why is smoke different from the scent of flowers?”

Gannet looked thoughtful, then shrugged. “Because Smoke Dancer sounds more impressive than Perfume Dancer?”

I have to admit, the whole idea of Perfume Dancers makes me smile. According to Gannet, they use fans. And… well, I’m not sure if it’ll come up again later in the book, but it’s fun when something like this comes out of my fingers, because it amuses me.

Work on The Sea Prince continues, and we’ve moved into writing new content instead of fixing the content that already existed. There were a lot of changes to the existing files, which adds up to changes for the direction of the story, and I think I like where this is going a lot more the original. It means that we may not get to use one scene I’d planned for, but maybe we will. We shall see.

The Sea Prince
(The Coral Throne, Book 1)

49406 / 120000 (41.17%)

Balance of Power
(Heir to the Firstborn, book 7)

11990 / 90000 (13.32%)

In other news of the writer world, Written in Water is still available as part of the Brave New Worlds giveaway. You can enter for a $20 giftcard to your bookstore of choice while you browse the books — over 50 of them!

Image of deep space, superimposed with a woman looking down and away. Text reads "Brave new Worlds. Free Sci-Fi and Fantasy Ebooks. August 1-31. Win $20."

And I’m starting to get ready for Necronomicon next month. I got my shipment of copies of Princes of Air over the weekend… and discovered the formatting error. So the copies that I have on hand will be discounted at Necro while my publisher gets that corrected. I’m hoping to have the anniversary copies of House of Sable Locks, but I’m not sure where we are with the new cover, so while I have my fingers crossed, I’m not holding my breath.

It is, however, a very pretty cover and I will get to share it with you very soon.

Maybe… next week?

Tune in to find out!

Aug

2023

Back to School… Sort Of

I decided that even though someone doesn’t start classes for another week, I’m getting back to work on the actual school schedule. So when the high school went back to school, I went back to work. Balance of Power and The Sea Prince are both underway. Chapter one of Balance of Power went live on the Patreon last week, I’m currently finishing up chapter three, and Danielle (my co-author) and I are underway with The Sea Prince.

The Sea Prince
(The Coral Throne, Book 1)

48284 / 120000 (40.24%)

Balance of Power
(Heir to the Firstborn, book 7)

9027 / 90000 (10.03%)

As a reminder, Brave New Worlds is still ongoing for another two weeks, which means that you can still grab up to 50 Science Fiction and Fantasy novels and enter for a $20 gift card. You can grab a copy of Written in Water there, just for signing up for my newsletter.

I realized (at the urging of a colleague, that I really needed to get around to updating the cover for Worlds Begin, the Heir to the Firstborn creation myth, so that it matches the rest of the series.

I got the new cover the other day, and It. Is. GORGEOUS!

Cover for Worlds Begin. A wreath of green leaves and flowers, surrounding the title Worlds Begin in gol

(Reminder — Worlds Begin is a freebie everywhere EXCEPT Amazon, who refuses to set books permanently free. If you want it on Amazon, please price match. Or download from Smashwords and use Send to Kindle.)

I’ve also seen and approved the 10th anniversary cover for House of Sable Locks, but I haven’t yet been given permission to share it. Yes, my “modern erotic classic you’ve never heard of” (according to the now-defunct Cliterati website), is now ten years old. I can’t believe it either. (At some point, you all will see the sequel. It’s written. I promise. And there will be another, but that one is a title and a vague idea.)

There isn’t much else happening at the moment. Waiting on edits to come in, waiting on new books to arrive for Necronomicon in September — I will have copies of Princes of Air on the table! But for now? Time to go make some more words!

Catch you next week, hopefully with a new cover to show you!

Apr

2023

Wordy. Very Wordy.

That’s me in a nutshell. Wordy. Even my short stories are long. I once sent a short story that was about a 1000 words over the wordcount limit in for a call for submissions with a note saying “I have cut this to the bone, and if I cut any more, I will break the story. If you accept this story, I’m willing to do whatever edits are necessary.” (The story was not only accepted for the anthology, they did not cut anything!)

What this means is that the 90,000 word goal on The White Raven: Morrigan’s Wrath? That was a ballpark.

The White Raven: Morrigan’s Wrath
(The White Raven duology, Book 2)

85466 / 90000 (94.96%)

There are, I think, about five or six chapters left in this book. That’s roughly about 15 to 18K words? So that puts my actual target at 100K words or thereabouts. Which isn’t too terribly long for one of my books, and I should have it done in advance of my May 19th deadline. If I can keep the distractions to a bare minimum.

There’s one distraction staring at me on my screen right now — a new synopsis. And not for any project that I’ve been talking about. This one came out of left field, because I got a new laptop. Yes, this makes sense — I was moving old files from the old laptop to the new one, and I noticed the character bios and the beginning of a story that was meant for a shared world project that never happened. (If you’ve read my short stories, this was the story that Foster was reading in Raise the Dead, which appeared in Like a Circlet Editor.) Then I saw some old Kushielverse play by email files that I save from Yahoo when Groups when pfft. And I had written this one bit:

“I have saved lives. I have brought down men who believed they were above the law. I have played a role in stopping an atrocity and I will do so again and again until I am murdered in my bed for it, or until no child need must fear being stolen away.“

And I thought… that’s a good bit. I’d forgotten about that. I wonder… hey, that would work in the Jack and Lucretia thing, wouldn’t it?

So… new synopsis. No title yet. And I’m not sure when I’ll write it. We’ll see.

First I have to finish Morrigan’s Wrath. Then we’ll get to play in other worlds.

(By the by, if anyone reading this used to be involved in the Kushiel play by email game The Night Court? I managed to save all the files before Yahoogroups went away. I have, I think, ALL of the five years of the game.)

In other news, I’ve been accepted for programming at Necronomicon! So I’ll be heading out to Tampa in September. More information on that as I have it.

And that’s about all on this front. Back to making an excessive amount of words!

Mar

2022

Fitting an entire week into two and a half days

Or at least, I’m trying to.

The International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts starts Wednesday, and I’ve been looking forward to it since i attended the October conference. It’s local, so I’m commuting Wednesday and Thursday, but I’ll be staying on site Friday and Saturday. Which means getting everything I usually do in a week done today, tomorrow, and Wednesday morning. All while trying to make sure I get in some words, finish up some things, do laundry, and pack.

Speaking of words, if you’ve been paying attention to the wordcounter, you might notice a change this week…

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

109552 / 170000 (64.44%)

I bumped the total words for The Way Home. It’s going to be massive, but it’s also going to be complete. There will not be a book seven for Heir to the Firstborn. That thump you heard was my foot going down.

If you haven’t yet started the Heir to the Firstborn series, and you want a low-entry way in, Written in Water is a freebie in the Worlds of Fantasy giveaway, which runs until the end of March. All you have to do is sign up for newsletters, and you also have the chance to win a $20 gift card!

I’m working on some stunt writing — some purely erotic non-speculative BDSM short reads that will be going up in KU under the name E.A. Butcher. The pen name is because this is very different from my existing work. The title of the first one will be Tell Me, and I’ll let you know when it’s available.

In other news, unless there’s a miracle or a sudden, INCREDIBLE boost of pledges in the next six days, the Kickstarter for the audiobooks for Swords of Charlemagne will not fund. In the past week, it’s gone backwards. But I’ve learned a thing or two (or six,) and the next time will be better.

And that’s about everything, I think? Even if it isn’t, I need to go cram some more things into a day that’s already way too short.

See you next week with a conference report and possibly a sale link for Tell Me!

Feb

2022

We’re Doing What? When?

Some variant on this question was repeated a few times during Boskone on Saturday. Why? Because the Writing the Naughty Bits panel was scheduled for 12 noon.

During the day.

I don’t think I’ve ever done this panel during the daylight hours! Ever!

So, for the first time ever, we began the panel by asking “Is there anyone in the room/Zoom who is under the age of 18? Will you please leave?”

It was a fun panel. Writing the Naughty Bits is usually is a fun panel, but this was also a Circlet Press reunion panel.

Being a virtual guest at a convention is fun, but it’s not nearly as much fun as actually BEING at the convention. For one thing, I’m not really there, so I get distracted by things around the house, and things that are a little more immediate, and whups! Con is over!

The recordings of the panels that were offered via Zoom are still up, though. So I’ll be able to go back and see the panels that I missed. (If I remember to do that before they take them down in 30 days…)

I didn’t get a lot of work done on The Way Home this weekend, but I did a decent amount last week.

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

97128 / 150000 (64.75%)

I also have a good idea as to where Tale from the Arena: Dead Man’s Hand is going, so I may start writing that in the next week or two, and finally bring some closure to that series.

The Kickstarter is… well… it is. There are three weeks left, and it’s nowhere near where it should be. I’m starting to resign myself to only getting book one out this year. Unless a bag of money falls into my lap, that is. I do have a sample to listen to in my inbox, though. I’m saving it for after dinner.

The Bookcave giveaway is also still ongoing. There’s one week left for you to grab a bunch of free books and samples, and all you need to do is sign up for some newsletters.

The entire Rebel Mage series is now up and ready for preorder, and will be exclusive to Kindle Unlimited for the foreseable future. I’ve also set up a box set, which will be available a month or two after Where Home Lies (Rebel Mage 3) releases.

And that’s pretty much where I am at the moment. Also, it’s late and I need to go make dinner.

Feb

2022

So Busy!!!

This past week feels like I’ve been running from pillar to post all week, and yet I’m not sure I have much to show for it. Strange.

I didn’t get as many words down as I’d have liked, but I did get to write some interesting scenes that revealed once again that my characters keep secrets from me, and only tell me when it’s the right time. If you’ve seen “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” you probably remember the scene where Roger slips the handcuffs? And Eddie demands to know why he couldn’t do it before, only to have Roger reply that he couldn’t do it before. He could only do it when it was funny.

My characters only reveal things when it’s going to complicate the plot. However, I like this complication, so it stays.

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

94275 / 150000 (62.85%)

Then again, I usually like the complications, and they usually stay. My characters have more of a direct line to my subconscious, which is where these stories start. I figure they know what they’re talking about.

The Kickstarter has another month to go, and I really hope it picks up. If you want to see audiobooks produced for the Swords of Charlemagne books, please share the graphic and the Kickstarter link?

Another thing that’s still running is the Red Hot giveaway! You have until the end of the month to grab your free books!

The last thing that I’ve been working on is the revisions on the Rebel Mage books. Counsel of the Wicked and Haven’s Fall are ready, and I’m putting the final polish on Where Home Lies. All of the books will be out this year, with Counsel coming next month, on March 8th! You can preorder now on Amazon — these ebooks will be Amazon exclusives for purchase or for reading through Kindle Unlimited.

I was also interviewed for the These Mums Write podcast, which was an enormous amount of fun. As soon as I know the date that the episode will air, I’ll let everyone know. I think it’s in early March.

Okay, so maybe I did get a lot done last week. And I have even more to get done this week, including attending Boskone virtually this upcoming weekend, and finding out the results of the Paranormal Romance Guild’s Reviewers Choice Awards!

Wish me luck!

Jan

2022

On a Cold and Frosty Monday.

How cold was it?

My car door froze shut.

Let me repeat that. MY CAR DOOR FROZE SHUT!

In Florida.

As a friend of mine put it, Florida has forgotten how to Florida.

So, while I try to stay warm (Florida houses are not built for this sort of weather), let’s see what’s going on in the weird, wild world of writing!

I have an upcoming promo — the Red Hot book giveaway. It runs the entire month of February over on My Book Cave. You can click the link now, but nothing will be live until next Tuesday.

Also on next Tuesday, the box set for Swords of Charlemagne drops!

This will be ebook only, and will be available wherever ebooks are sold!

The Kickstarter to fund the Swords of Charlemagne audiobooks is off to a slow but steady start. I have some newsletter mentions upcoming, and a podcast although we haven’t yet set a date for that. If you’re interested in seeing audiobooks for the Swords of Charlemagne series, maybe toss a coin to your writer? And share the Kickstarter with your friends!

Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home continues.

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

85073 / 150000 (56.72%)

Slightly more than halfway on my anticipated words, and we’re slightly past the halfway mark, so this is good.

I have virtual Boskone coming up in February- virtual for me, anyway. There is an in-person convention, but I’m not going north in February. It might be warmer, but there will almost definitely be snow! I’ll be on two panels:

The Name Game

18 Feb 2022, Friday 19:00 – 19:50,
If you think baby names are hard for Earth parents, try naming characters for a fantasy realm or a totally alien planet. Let’s ask our panelists where they find sources of inspiration for the name game. What are your favorite memorable names from fantastic fiction? Are there any rules for painless name generation?

Writing the Naughty Bits

19 Feb 2022, Saturday 12:00 – 12:50,
With the increased popularity of erotic romance and erotica, more and more genre authors are trying their hands at adding sex to their stories. Let’s discuss the differences between romance, erotic romance, erotica, and pornography, and talk about how to incorporate sexual scenarios into a story. [This panel will contain frank language.]

They’ve put the naughty bits panel at NOON. The programming chair may need to put their asbestos underwear on because having this panel during the day? Um… okay?

Should be interesting! And hey, I’m virtual, so if there’s outrage, I won’t be there when they come for me with the pitchforks and torches!

Although a fire might be nice right about now…

Jan

2022

New Things!

It’s been a WEEK, y’all. Three new things to discuss today, and only one of them is on the usual radar.

New Words!

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

81461 / 150000 (54.31%)

Of course there are new words. I’ve been working away at Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home. If you follow me on Facebook, you may have caught a glimpse of some of those new words — there was one phrase in particular that struck me as amusing enough to share:

“You might as well spit on a fish for all the good it will do.”

Patreon readers haven’t yet met the character who says this, so that’s all you’re going to get.

There’s also been some more planning on Tales from the Arena: Dead Man’s Hand. I will hopefully get to that book late this year, but there are some other things that have to come first. Like finishing the revisions and re-release on the Rebel Mage books, for example. And prepping for the next thing on my list….

New Audiobooks!

Friday evening, I got the approval from ACX to start accepting auditions for the Hidden Things audiobook. I immediately sent the audition page to a narrator whom I’d picked out months ago… AND HE SAID YES!!! So Hidden Things will be narrated by Mark Oosterveen. I’ve already told him I’m interested in having him read all four books.

Putting together an audiobook is not cheap, even under royalty share. So I’m starting a Kickstarter to fund all four books. The Kickstarter will go LIVE on Wednesday, and we’ll have 60 days to raise $5000. You can click the link to follow on Kickstarter, which will notify you when the page goes live for bids.

New Awards!

I got an email out of the blue last week telling me that Hidden Things has been nominated for the Paranormal Romance Guild’s Reviewers Choice Award for Best of 2021 (I’m not sure what category), and that Swords of Charlemagne has been nominated for Best Series. I have no other information on that but OMG!!! More to come when I know more.

New Shop!

Conventions are starting to say, “Um…. maybe meeting in person isn’t a good idea” again. So, because I probably won’t have that many opportunities to get out and meet people and sell signed books this year, I’ve gone ahead and made a virtual dealer’s table! You can buy print books and I’ll ship them directly to you, personalized however you like. You can also buy the limited edition Swords of Charlemagne thumbdrive, which is a 2GB thumbdrive that contains all four books in mobi, epub and pdf formats.

And that is, I think, everything that happened this past week.

Wow!

conventions

No More Peopling.

Convention Prep!

Back to Work!

Back to School… Sort Of

Wordy. Very Wordy.

Fitting an entire week into two and a half days

We’re Doing What? When?

So Busy!!!

On a Cold and Frosty Monday.

New Things!

Works in Progress

Appearances

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