Counsel of the Wicked

Give Me The Coffee And No One Gets Hurt…

Give Me The Coffee And No One Gets Hurt…

Otherwise known as the Monday after a convention. Today is definitely a “give me the coffee and no one gets hurt” kind of day.

We found out Thursday night that Necronomicon was going to happen, so Friday morning, we packed up and headed out. The normally two hour trip to Tampa took us over three, but the hotel was lovely as always (except in a few places where it was… not. No functional elevators while trying to load into the room was not fun.) The area of Tampa where the convention is held is on the eastern side of Tampa near Busch Gardens, and you don’t have to cross the bridges to get there. Which is good, because when we hit Tampa, all the bridges were still closed. We didn’t see any of the flooded areas, but the convention was feeling the effects of the storm — the halls were empty, and panels that were usually packed had maybe six people in the audience. Entire panels and games were cancelled because people simply could not get to the convention.

And yet, it was still a good convention. Smaller audiences made for more intimate panels, with better opportunity for discussion. The opportunity to connect with fans and with other writers were increased. New friends were made.

It was a good convention.

Edits for Morrigan’s Heir should be hitting my inbox any minute now, and I can’t wait! One step closer to having you all meet Lorcan! Hopefully, we’ll be able to get this turned around for later this year. Cross your crossables!

I was eliminated from SPFBO right before we left. Honestly, I was expecting it — the judge who was assigned my book is very upfront about not liking erotic or dark, and Counsel of the Wicked is both. I’m not sure she even finished it. Which… again, it’s not a surprise. That book is A LOT, and I’m starting to debate if it’s worth it to keep it in print. I may pull the series at the end of the year. We’ll see.

Now, I’m prepping for my next show, the Not So Spooky Hallowfest in Deltona, Florida. I’ll have an abbreviated catalog with me — it’s a family focused event, so I’ll have Heir to the Firstborn and The Chronicles of John Zebedee and that’s all. If you’re in the area on Sunday, come and check out the show, which is going to be from 10AM to 4PM at The Center at Deltona, 1640 Dr Martin Luther King Blvd, Deltona, FL 32725-2912. If you come out and tell me you saw this blog, you get a discount!

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 3)

71118 / 120000 (59.27%)

Promotions

I’m going to be a part of Enchanted Realms, and this promotion runs for the entire month of October — sign up for newsletters, get free books and enter to win a $30 gift card!


Coming up on October 11th, I have Chains of Light available for free in So Queer To My Heart, a spicy queer romance event.


Finally, I’ll be participating in a Stuff Your Kindle event from October 18-20th. There are over 400 books that will be free or discounted for that weekend, and I’ll have Written in Water up for free!

Appearances

Not So Spooky Hallowfest
October 6th, 2024
Deltona, Florida

***

Wizards, Witches and the Weird
October 27th, 2024
Daytona Beach, Florida

***

Maker Faire Orlando
November 9-10th
Orlando, Florida

Posted by EASchechter in a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, appearances, Chains of Light, Counsel of the Wicked, edits, giveaway, Heir to the Firstborn, Hidden Things, Necronomicon, promotions, SPFBO, Tales from the Arena, The White Raven, WIP, wordcount, Writer on the Go!, Written in Water, 0 comments
Prep All the Things!

Prep All the Things!

Today is September 16th, and I have the first of five shows in a little under two weeks. It’s time to PREP ALL THE THINGS!

Books have been ordered (and in the cases of three titles, more books have been delivered than I ordered, because mistakes were made.) Stock boxes are packed. Prices lists have been printed. Hotel reservations have been made (actually, they were made a while ago.) Vaccines have been onboarded (yesterday.)

Still to do? Haul the boxes off show stuff from my office down to the living room. Print off packing lists. Prep for my panels (and possibly bug the person in charge of scheduling to let me know when those panels are going to be happening because it’s getting late…) And I have to do the things that have to be done before the end of the month, because I’ll be busy from the end of the month until the beginning of November, and a couple of these things are time sensitive.

And, of course, in the middle of all of this, there must be writing done. I’m just over the halfway number on King of Swords, and wondering if I need to increase my wordcount again. Honestly, at this point? I think I’m just going to put words on the page, and if it ends up being two books? It ends up being two books. I can’t imagine my publisher being annoyed at that.

I finished my editing pass on The Sea Prince the other night, and sent it over to my editor to take another look. There are still a couple of questions that need to be answered, but if things fall the way I think they will, then The Sea Prince will launch on Kindle Vella late this year or early next. That’s written in very warm Jello at the moment, though.

While I wait for edits and answers, I’m working on the outlines/synopsis/what my characters are going to laugh at this time for The Covert Saloon series. I sort of pushed that to the side to finish up The Sea Prince, and now I’m almost done with book one. I have a vague idea (nope, not gonna say it…) as to what book 2 will be like, and I know how book 3 is going to end, but not how it’s going to start. Not yet. This series may end up being more discovery writing than I usually do, but we’ll see when we get to that point.

I’m also not sure if it’ll be the next thing I work on, or if I’ll be starting The Coral Throne (the sequel to The Sea Prince.) Or maybe I’ll dive into the Iron and Silk series — that’s all plotted and ready to go, except for some of the research. Or lightning could strike and I could sell Blood Bound tomorrow, which would mean going back into the Flesh and Blood universe and my kinky vampires.

So many choices!!!!

Finish King of Swords first, Liz. Then decide.

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 3)

63263 / 120000 (52.72%)

Promotions

Shockingly, Counsel of the Wicked is still a contender for SPFBOX, which means that it is still on sale wherever ebooks are sold.


I’ll be participating in a Stuff Your Kindle event from October 18-20th. There are over 400 books that will be free or discounted for that weekend, and I’ll have Written in Water up for free!


I’m also going to be a part of Enchanted Realms, and this promotion runs for the entire month of October — sign up for newsletters, get free books and enter to win a $30 gift card!

Appearances

Necronomicon
September 27-29th, 2024
Tampa, Florida

***

Not So Spooky Hallowfest
October 6th, 2024
Deltona, Florida

***

Wizards, Witches and the Weird
October 27th, 2024
Daytona Beach, Florida

***

Maker Faire Orlando
November 9-10th
Orlando, Florida

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, accountability, appearances, Blood Bound, Counsel of the Wicked, Covert Saloon, Iron and Silk, Necronomicon, Planning, progress, promotions, publishing, Tales from the Arena, The Sea Prince, upcoming books, upcoming work, Updatey things, WIP, wordcount, Worldbuilding, Writer on the Go!, Written in Water, 0 comments
The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down…

The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down…

The rain rain rain came down down down. In rushing, rising riv’lets…” (from The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.)

Our weather has been a song cue lately. The picture above is the view from my office window as I’m writing this, and it’s been like this every day for over a week. There are mushrooms growing in one of my potted plants in my garden, and it’s usually in full sun! That’s how damp it’s been recently. Which… I can’t complain too much — usually it’s too dry. But now there’s been flooding in our area. If we get a major storm? The ground is saturated already.

But we’re not going to go borrowing trouble. Trouble seems to have no trouble at all with finding us. Especially if it’s technology related. I had a lot of fun with my website last week, which hopefully no one noticed. And a book order that I placed for author copies to take to the shows I’m doing got very weird. I’ve never seen UPS generate the same tracking number for two different packages before, and yet, here I am with another author’s books in my house. My own order showed up over a week later, having apparently taken the scenic route. But both boxes had the same label, and the same tracking number, so there was no way to tell that there were actually two boxes! (the problem has been fixed, and the other author is getting her books replaced. There’s also a chance I might be getting MY order replaced as well, which… okay.)

It’s a momentous day in our house — in about half an hour, College Boy will officially become College Boy when he logs into his first class. Here’s hoping for no more tech troubles! (And for those of you who have known me forever, and who are thinking, wait, wasn’t he just five years old? I’m so there with you!) There’s going to be a learning curve. There’s always a learning curve. (My fingers wanted to type learning CURSE, and that’s true, too.) But we’ll figure it out.

In the meantime, there are books to write, manuscripts to edit, research to do, and coffee to drink. By the way, Trader Joe’s Chocolate Hazelnut coffee served with Silk Almond Sweet Cream creamer tastes like Nutella.

You’re welcome.

Listening to:

Gossip (featuring Tom Morello), Måneskin

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 3)

59078 / 120000 (49.23%)

Promotions

Shockingly, Counsel of the Wicked is still a contender for SPFBOX, which means that it is still on sale wherever ebooks are sold.

Appearances

Necronomicon
September 27-29th, 2024
Tampa, Florida

***

Not So Spooky Hallowfest
October 6th, 2024
Deltona, Florida

***

Wizards, Witches and the Weird
October 27th, 2024
Daytona Beach, Florida

***

Maker Faire Orlando
November 9-10th
Orlando, Florida

Posted by EASchechter in a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, Counsel of the Wicked, except-for-when-it-is, progress, Tales from the Arena, upcoming work, WIP, wordcount, writing-mom, 0 comments
Falling into Fall

Falling into Fall

September 2nd means that Summer is on it’s way out, and we’re falling into fall. Officially, it won’t be Fall until the 22nd, but there’s Pumpkin Spice and Halloween everywhere, so… yeah. It’s Fall.

I’m also falling into what’s going to be a very busy seven weeks, starting with Necronomicon Tampa on September 27th, and running until Maker Faire in November. The full list of events is below, so if you’re in the area, come see me!

We’ll see how the writing goes during that period, but I’m very pleased with how King of Swords is going, and I am hoping to have a complete manuscript by the end of the year. I’ve got a playlist growing for this project — my main criteria for adding a song is that it needs to sound like it would work in a fight sequence soundtrack or a training montage. The link to the final playlist will be listed in the back matter of the book once it’s done. There’s almost always a playlist for various books — this is the one for The Sea Prince, which is almost done with first round edits. (Yes, this will also be in the back matter for that book.)

So I’ll be spending the next couple of weeks writing like mad, fueled by copious amounts of coffee and music, and trying to wrangle my book suppliers into fixing their mistakes because when I ordered copies of books to sell, I want MY books, not someone else’s! (Instead of the 28 books I ordered, I received 8 copies of mine, and 10 copies of a book by some author I have never heard of. Whee!) And once it all starts, I’ll be doing my best not to get sick at ANY of these events. I’ve somehow never had COVID and I don’t intend to start now! Nasal spray, masks and air purifiers at the ready!

Listening to:

Fight, Little Wolf. Epic: The Wisdom Saga.

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 3)

55058 / 120000 (45.88%)

Promotions

Counsel of the Wicked is still a contender for SPFBOX, which means that it is still on sale wherever ebooks are sold.

Appearances

Necronomicon
September 27-29th, 2024
Tampa, Florida

***

Not So Spooky Hallowfest
October 6th, 2024
Deltona, Florida

***

Wizards, Witches and the Weird
October 27th, 2024
Daytona Beach, Florida

***

Maker Faire Orlando
November 9-10th
Orlando, Florida

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, appearances, conventions, Counsel of the Wicked, Necronomicon, Playlist, progress, promotions, SPFBO, Tales from the Arena, The Sea Prince, upcoming books, upcoming work, WIP, wordcount, Writer on the Go!, 0 comments
Raise the Wordcount!

Raise the Wordcount!

It’s time! I have reached that point in the manuscript where the numbers don’t add up! It’s past the midpoint in the projected wordcount, but I haven’t yet hit the hinge — the midpoint in the book where we start moving toward resolution and the end. What does that mean? It’s time to raise the wordcount!

It’s not the first time I’ve done this — in truth, I think I do it at least once in every manuscript. I start out with a target of 90,000 words. That’s, on average, a good goal for fantasy romance, and makes for a decent sized novel. As I write, I reevaluate that goal. Is this book coming in short? How short? Is it a novella and not a novel? Or am I running long, and need to bump my numbers up? For me, this is more likely. I tend to be wordy in the first draft, but the story get refined and pared down in edits. And sometimes, the wordcount gets even higher in edits, because I missed things! (I think it was Haven’s Fall that had six entire chapters added in edits. That’s about 18,000 more words.)

Right now, I’m working on the edits for The Sea Prince, and I don’t think the wordcount will change too drastically, but I do have to rewrite one particular part that might have been less objectionable when I started this book, but these days? A 34 year old man marrying a girl he thinks is a few weeks short of 18 is… hinky, even if it is a marriage for alliance and to stop a war. (She is older. I need to move that confession earlier in the book, and still make it make sense.)

Once the edits are complete, I need to find a sensitivity editor who can check me on disability representation — The Sea Prince features a character who is a double amputee, and I need to be certain I’m writing him properly. (If anyone has a recommendation on a sensitivity reader, hit me up!)

I need to get these edits done as soon as I can, and get them off to a sensitivity reader before the end of September. Starting the last week of September, I’m going into six weeks of non-stop conventions/shows. Necronomicon is the last week of September, followed the next week by the Not So Spooky Hallowfest. Then I have a couple of week to restock and recover before Wizards, Witches and the Weird in Daytona Beach. My year wraps up with Maker Faire in Orlando, and I can take a deep breath before Thanksgiving and Cookiepocalypse 2024.

Just a few irons in the fire, no?

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 3)

50061 / 120000 (41.72%)

Promotions

The Narratess Indie Book Sale is winding down, but you can still grab a copy of The Chronicles of John Zebedee for $1.99 (down from $8.99) There are over 300 books in this sale, so make sure you check them out!


Counsel of the Wicked is still a contender for SPFBOX, which means that it is still on sale wherever ebooks are sold.


You still have a few days left to get Written in Water on sale via Kobo! For all of August, start the series for only $1.99. (And because I’m fond of you guys, the sale will be wherever ebooks are sold, not just Kobo.)

Appearances

Necronomicon
September 27-29th, 2024
Tampa, Florida

***

Not So Spooky Hallowfest
October 6th, 2024
Deltona, Florida

***

Wizards, Witches and the Weird
October 27th, 2024
Daytona Beach, Florida

***

Maker Faire Orlando
November 9-10th
Orlando, Florida

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, appearances, Counsel of the Wicked, Necronomicon, promotions, public displays of geekery, Tales from the Arena, The Sea Prince, WIP, wordcount, Writer on the Go!, 0 comments
A Long Day

A Long Day

Any Monday that starts with a visit to the dentist is by definition a LONG DAY. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Thankfully, it was a routine visit, but still. Long day is LOOOOONG.

It’s currently 7:22 PM on the East Coast, and I’m just now sitting down to write this. I have written perhaps a grand total of 50 words in King of Swords, and if I make it to 500, it’ll be amazing. I’m not sure I will, though. The next part of this involves a ritual, and I need to write it.

Maybe I’ll write another scene, just to get words on the page. Maybe. Or maybe I won’t push myself too hard on what’s already been a long day, and stop wherever I stop. That’s more likely, to be honest.

I have the DNC on in the background — I thought it started at 8PM, but it actually stared at 6:30 PM, so I missed a bit. (And you thought I wasn’t going to talk about politics!). Remember to check your voter status. And if you’re not registered, remember to do that. Do you have a primary tomorrow (or soon?) Remember that the down ticket elections are equally as important!

All right. Time to get some words on the page.

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 3)

45654 / 90000 (50.73%)

Promotions

The Narratess Indie Book Sale is this weekend, and you’ll be able to grab a copy of The Chronicles of John Zebedee for $1.99 (down from $8.99) There are over 300 books in this sale, so make sure you check them out!


Counsel of the Wicked is still a contender for SPFBOX (I’m at the point of holding my breath and looking very much like the Kermit the Frog meme where he’s chewing his fingernails). Counsel is still on sale wherever ebooks are sold.


Starting on August 1st and running through the entire month of August, Written in Water will be on sale via Kobo! For all of August, start the series for only $1.99. (And because I’m fond of you guys, the sale will be wherever ebooks are sold, not just Kobo.)

Appearances

Necronomicon
September 27-29th, 2024
Tampa, Florida

***

Not So Spooky Hallowfest
October 6th, 2024
Deltona, Florida

***

Wizards, Witches and the Weird
October 27th, 2024
Daytona Beach, Florida

***

Maker Faire Orlando
November 9-10th
Orlando, Florida

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, Counsel of the Wicked, John Zebedee, politics, progress, promotions, Tales from the Arena, why-the-writing-is-slow, WIP, wordcount, Written in Water, 0 comments

Joy

This past week, I’ve been watching all the writers I know come together to celebrate and support Harris/Walz. And I think I figured out why this particular ticket is so attractive to writers, and especially to romance writers, even without knowing the platform or where things are going to go. Most of us were already going to support the Democratic ticket because Never Orange Never Again. But this feels more than that. This is electric.

Part of it is the whole Project 2025 “porn will be illegal and we get to say what porn is and we’ve been calling romance porn for years so there you go…” But there’s more.

Have you noticed how happy Kamala and Tim are? How much they laugh? How much they enjoy living and being and being out there with the people? How they celebrate the differences? People are noticing. There’s hope for a lot of people for the first time in a long time. And that’s it. That, in my opinion, is the reason that so many of the romance writers are throwing their support behind Harris/Walz.

There’s joy in the world again. There’s hope. There’s kindness. And we are drawn to joy. We have to, or we wouldn’t be writing romances. Happily ever after, right?

Now, we still have a way to go before our happily ever after, and we can’t be complacent — that way lies both defeat and despair. But I honestly think we’re going to get there now, and the weight is starting to lift.

Remember to check your voter status. And if you’re not registered, remember to do that.

Support joy.

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 3)

40887 / 90000 (45.43%)

Promotions

Counsel of the Wicked is still a contender for SPFBOX (I’m kind of shocked — Written in Water was out by this point). So it’s still on sale wherever ebooks are sold.


Starting on August 1st and running through the entire month of August, Written in Water will be on sale via Kobo! For all of August, start the series for only $1.99. (And because I’m fond of you guys, the sale will be wherever ebooks are sold, not just Kobo.)

Appearances

Necronomicon
September 27-29th, 2024
Tampa, Florida

***

Not So Spooky Hallowfest
October 6th, 2024
Deltona, Florida

***

Wizards, Witches and the Weird
October 27th, 2024
Daytona Beach, Florida

***

Maker Faire Orlando
November 9-10th
Orlando, Florida

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, accountability, Counsel of the Wicked, happy-happy- joy- joy, politics, Tales from the Arena, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments
The Wild Ride is Just Beginning.

The Wild Ride is Just Beginning.

Last week was something else, wasn’t it? And the wild ride is just beginning.

I’m feeling a little more hopeful about… well, everything. The political news has evened out and looks very promising, and I’ve managed to get all those vendors to admit they’ve screwed up and get the supplies I need out in the mail (in theory. They’re not here yet. But they were supposedly mailed last Thursday.)

So things are looking up. Which isn’t to say that they’re not also promising to be exciting, but they’re exciting in a positive way, which is good.

I’m a third of the way into King of Swords, and enjoying myself enough that everything else has sort of fallen to the wayside. I do need to get back into working on plotting out The Covert Saloon series and revising The Sea Prince, but King of Swords is just so shiny and fun!

I haven’t had any updates on The White Raven books yet, but I’m hoping for something in the next month or so. Morrigan’s Heir is supposed to be out this year, but I don’t know what the turnaround is with my new editor, so I don’t know if I should be looking at edits coming in sometime next month or sometime in October. I’ll check in with him if I don’t hear by mid-August, and see where we are. I’m really looking forward to seeing these two in print and having you all meet Lorcan properly.

I need to make up my mind on what I’m doing with The Sea Prince when it’s all revised and ready. Do I want to run it through Kindle Vella? Or should I shop it around? Maybe I just want to just go ahead and self-publish? Decisions, decisions. If you have opinions, let me know? Where would you want to read a sort of steampunky Master and Commander-ish novel?

Next week, there may be no blog post — we have the double whammy of a young man getting three wisdom teeth pulled AND a 50/50 shot at the first hurricane of this season to make the right turn in the Caribbean and head for Florida. If I can post, I will, but I might be busy.

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 3)

29959 / 90000 (33.29%)

Promotions

Only two days left of the Smashwords Summer Sale. You can pick up my entire catalog 25% off here and here.


Counsel of the Wicked is still a contender for SPFBOX, so it is STILL on sale, but because of the Smashwords sale, it’s even BETTER — it’s FREE (only on Smashwords)!!! But only for another two days!


Starting on August 1st and running through the entire month of August, Written in Water will be on sale via Kobo! For all of August, start the series for only $1.99. (And because I’m fond of you guys, the sale will be wherever ebooks are sold, not just Kobo.)


The Cavalcade is having a Free Book Promo for this weekend only! August 2-4 you’ll can browse and download books of all genres. The link will be coming in my socials and my newsletter on FRIDAY. If you don’t get my newsletter, you can sign up here.

Appearances

Necronomicon
September 27-29th, 2024
Tampa, Florida

***

Not So Spooky Hallowfest
October 6th, 2024
Deltona, Florida

***

Wizards, Witches and the Weird
October 27th, 2024

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, Cavalcade of Authors, Counsel of the Wicked, Covert Saloon, forthcoming works, promotions, Tales from the Arena, The Sea Prince, The White Raven, upcoming books, upcoming work, Updatey things, WIP, wordcount, writing-mom, 0 comments
Which Way Is Up?

Which Way Is Up?

Did you ever have one of those days when you just aren’t sure which way is up? I think I’m having one of those weeks, and it’s only Monday.

First, there’s the political news. No, I’m not giving up, but I am worried.

Second… you know this Spiderman meme?

Right now, I have two vendors and my health insurance doing their best impression of this meme. I’ve spent ages on the phone today, and each of them is saying that the other is the reason that things aren’t happening, and I have no way to verify which of them is accurate.

Needless to say, not a lot has gotten done today, because trying to wrangle each of these has been like trying to comb water — interesting exercise, and completely unproductive. Well, possibly productive, but I won’t know until Thursday.

As I told Darling Editor, beating my head against the wall would be more fun.

What’s also more fun is King of Swords — I’m eight chapter in and it’s humming along nicely. Teren is a fun character to write, as he tries to figure out how to make all the various broken parts of himself fit together into something approaching a whole. He’s just met the person who is going to help him, and they’re adorable together, if I do say so myself. I can’t wait for you to meet these two.

There are still purple flowers outside my window. I think something ate the iris buds, though.

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 3)

24965 / 90000 (27.74%)

Promotions

The Smashwords Summer Sale is winding down — just over a week left! You can pick up my entire catalog 25% off here and here.


Counsel of the Wicked is still a contender for SPFBOX, so it is STILL on sale, but because of the Smashwords sale, it’s even BETTER — it’s FREE (only on Smashwords)!!!

Appearances

Necronomicon
September 27-29th, 2024
Tampa, Florida

***

Not So Spooky Hallowfest
October 6th, 2024
Deltona, Florida

***

Wizards, Witches and the Weird
October 27th, 2024
Daytona Beach, Florida

Posted by EASchechter in a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, Counsel of the Wicked, politics, Tales from the Arena, this-is-why-we-can't-have-nice-things, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments
Flowers Outside My Window

Flowers Outside My Window

There are flowers outside my window. Purple ones. They’re on the crepe myrtle tree we got from the city for Arbor Day a couple of years back. I can just see them from where I’m sitting, because the tree is just finally tall enough to be seen from my desk on the second floor. It’s nice — a pop of color among the green that is my yard. I can see iris buds, too, so I’ll have some white and purple irises sometime in the next few days. Sadly, something ate the deep pink cranberry hibiscus that I could see from where I’m sitting, so I have to move if I want to see the sole survivor of the wall-o-hibiscus that was the back of that bed. (Said sole survivor is attempting to be a wall all by itself. I have a hibiscus with ambitions.)

If you think I’m trying to focus on the pretty and innocuous, you have much to go on.

Things are scary out there. And turning to writing stories helps, but at the same point, I write steamy, sexy books… and there are threats to my livelihood on the horizon. Now, I’m not changing what I’m doing. I’m still going to write my stories, and they’re still going to be about people falling in love, and about the many ways love can be found. But it’s still scary out there.

Flowers help. Games help. I haven’t finished Tavern Talk yet. It’s GOOD. It’s really good. Although the cozy isn’t as cozy, and the what just happened here? moments are getting more frequent. I’m about halfway through Act 3, and there are only 4 acts in the game, and I’m starting to worry for some of these characters. (Honestly? I thought that cozy meant… well… COZY. But I’m invested and I need to know how the story ends.) I think my next game will be something lower stakes, like Vampire Therapist or Capybarista. The art in Vampire Therapist is very nice. And honestly, using cognitive behavior therapy on vampires amuses me. as for Capybarista? It’s about capybaras who own a coffee shop. What’s not to like?

It’s thundering outside my window now — late afternoon Florida storms are rolling in. Time to get back to making words so I can wrap my writing day before dinner. I have a game to finish.

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 3)

18649 / 90000 (20.72%)

Promotions

The Smashwords Summer Sale is live! And, because of reasons too silly to go into here, I have two author pages. You can pick up my entire catalog on sale here and here.


Counsel of the Wicked is still a contender for SPFBOX, so it is STILL on sale, but because of the Smashwords sale, it’s even BETTER — it’s FREE (only on Smashwords)!!!

Appearances

Necronomicon
September 27-29th, 2024
Tampa, Florida

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Not So Spooky Hallowfest
October 6th, 2024
Deltona, Florida

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Wizards, Witches and the Weird
October 27th, 2024
Daytona Beach, Florida

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, Counsel of the Wicked, politics, product endorsement, promotions, Tales from the Arena, upcoming work, Updatey things, Waiting-for-the-other-shoe, WIP, wordcount, Worldbuilding, 0 comments