Deadlines Go Whoosh!

Deadlines Equal Productivity

Deadlines Equal Productivity

At the beginning of the year, I set up my planners (yes, planners — I have two paper and one electronic. I also have a kanban board and a bullet journal.) One of the things I take into account when I do this is something that is very true for me (and others) — the fact that deadlines equal productivity. The closer a due date is, the more likely I am to step up my efforts to get something DONE. So I set my kanban board up with quarterly goals, and I mark down on my planner the last Saturday before the end of the quarter as my day to reset the board, rework my goals, and wrap anything that needs wrapping.

The last Saturday before the end of the quarter was two days ago, and BOY, did things get done!

I finished my reread and preliminary edit for Dead Man’s Hand, and I have handed the manuscript off to Darling Editor. As part of the edit, I changed one scene that was bothering me, and I like it much better. Is it perfect? No. I think I still need to tweak the lead-in to that scene, but I want another set of eyes on it first. Next deadline? Having it in to Riverdale Avenue Books by the end of Q2, which is when I also hope to have King of Swords as a draft.

I’ve finished the outlines for all three Covert Saloon books, and set the series bible aside to marinate. I still have research to do on the Oklahoma Panhandle during the 1870s, as well as some religion research, but that’s not anywhere in the near future.

My to-dos for this quarter? I have a list:

  • getting The Sea Prince up for at least a presale (requires layout and page proofs, ordering a cover, and filing for copyright),
  • finishing a draft for both King of Swords and The Coral Throne,
  • getting some preliminary reading/research on Renaissance Venice done for the first Iron and Silk book.

I’m hoping to start The Iron Virgin in the fall, but that is tentative based on some other things that are in the pipeline, and that I can’t discuss at the moment.

Back to work!

Now Available!

Kidnapped from his home and sold as a slave in Rome, Raven-Prince Lorcan must survive in a world where entertainment is murder, diplomacy is betrayal, and love is a commodity. And where a raven who is only supposed to ever have one mate will somehow find two…

Promotions

This weekend, make plans to check out the Narratess Spring Sale. I’m marking The Chronicles of John Zebedee down to $1.99! Grab your copy, and see what else is available.

Work in Progress

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

24277 / 90000 (26.97%)

The Coral Throne
(The Sea Prince, book 2)

25166 / 90000 (27.96%)

Appearances

3rd Annual Spring is in the Air
April 13th, 2025
Venetian Center,
Leesburg, FL

***

6th Annual Mother’s Day Bazaar
May 10th, 2025
Ormond Beach Elks Lodge
Ormond Beach, FL

***

Enchanted Knights: Summer Solstice
June 21st, 2025
Oviedo Mall
Oviedo, FL

***

3rd Annual Summer Artisan Market
June 29th, 2025
Brannon Center
New Smyrna Beach, FL

***

Smut Lovers: The Conference
September 17th – 21st, 2025
Orlando, FL

***

Necronomicon
September 26th – 28th, 2025
Tampa, FL

***

Page and Pen Festival
October 4th, 2025
Oviedo Mall
Oviedo, FL

Posted by EASchechter in 2025 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, Blood of the Raven, Deadlines Go Whoosh!, Draft by the Solstice, Iron and Silk, John Zebedee, Planning, The Iron Virgin, The Sea Prince, upcoming books, upcoming work, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments
Now Entering The Holiday Zone

Now Entering The Holiday Zone

Alternate title — There Are Cookies In That Nebula.

Yes, we have entered the Holiday Zone. Thanksgiving is next week, and then… well, if you’ve been around for a while, you know what comes after Thanksgiving.

COOKIEPOCALYPSE!

(Image of three layer cookies on a clear plate. The cookies are green, yellow and red, with a white chocolate coating.)

Oddly enough, I still have no idea what sorts of cookies I’m going to make this year, other than three color to start and struffuli to end. Those are non-negotiable. Other than that? I’m going to take a poll at Thanksgiving dinner, because everyone who will be eating those cookies will be sitting at that table.

I sincerely doubt that there will be a draft before the Solstice, which is my usual rallying cry at this time of the year. King of Swords will continue until I finally hit the end, and I can no longer say how long that will take. Editing this beast is going to be all kinds of fun — how many of these too-many-words are going to end up on the cutting room floor? Find out sometime next year!

If you follow me on Tiktok, you saw that last week, I dropped off copies of Written in Water at the newest bookstore in Orlando, the romance bookstore The New Romantics. It’s SUPER cute (and, I didn’t realize, Taylor Swift themed!) They’re doing soft-openings on the weekends, with the grand opening on December 7th. If you’re in the area, check them out!

I’m starting to wind down for the end of the year. I may not blog next week because there will be cooking practically every day. I have no more shows (and resisted the urge to add one). If there are no last minute sales through my website, then I can close the book on what was a very good year.

Now I just need to finish this book….

Work in Progress

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

95866 / 150000 (63.91%)

Appearances

All done for 2024!

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, accountability, baking, Cookiepocalypse, Deadlines Go Whoosh!, Draft by the Solstice, forthcoming works, Planning, Tales from the Arena, WIP, wordcount, Written in Water, 0 comments
Quiet Is Not Supposed To Be This Busy

Quiet Is Not Supposed To Be This Busy

Last week, I posted about how quiet it is for me in February. Well… quiet is not supposed to be this busy!

This week alone? I do not have a single morning where something isn’t happening, and I have booked afternoons on two of those days. And only one of those afternoons involves me being able to write once I get there.

Okay… it’s just one week. It’s not the entire month. Next week it quiets down again (except Monday. I may not blog on Monday the 19th because I will be getting an eye exam which requires my eyes to be dilated so much that I should be able to see God.)

The Sea Prince is coming along nicely. New characters are walking out of my subconscious and fitting in like I planned for them (I didn’t, and I had to go back and tweak an earlier scene to set the stage for them to even exist). And now it’s the “Oh, that character? Yes, I knew that he was an <insert spoiler here.> It’s been a running joke between us for years….”

I’ve gotten started on the new synopsis for The Coral Throne, and I’m starting to think about the third book, which may or may not happen. I know the title, but my original plans for it (again, old enough to drive in this state) are a non-starter. But that’s a whole book away, so I can think on that a while longer.

I have my preliminary schedule for ICFA, and I’ll be hosting at least one (possibly two) Author Readings, and then doing a reading of my own. I’m excited for this — I’ve being doing panels at conventions for years, but this is a little bit more. I’ll be reading Worlds Begin — the conference theme is Whimsy and Worldbuilding. I think my creation myth fits in nicely.

I’m also thinking about the worldbuilding for the new idea that popped into my head last month, where I wrote down the first scene and really had NO idea where any of it was going. Looks like it’s going to be a fantasy detective sort of thing, with heavy shades of Sherlock and Watson. That’s the idea, but the worldbuilding still needs work. Something to play with when I’m working on graduation things in May, I think.

Edits for Morrigan’s Heir should be along presently. I know I keep saying that. My editor had an attack of life, and says I should have things this week. I’m going to try to get that turned around as quickly as I can so I can do a reread of Morrigan’s Wrath and get that in. Once I have a date for Morrigan’s Heir, I’ll let you all know. I’ve seen the preliminaries for the cover, and I can’t wait to see the final of that. More as I know more!

Works in Progress

The Sea Prince
(The Coral Throne, Book 1)

89023 / 120000 (74.19%)
Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, accountability, appearances, Deadlines Go Whoosh!, forthcoming works, ICFA, plot bunnies, progress, The Sea Prince, WIP, wordcount, Worldbuilding, 0 comments

I Win!

Camp Nano, that is.

For the record, this win was for 30,612 words in 30 days. However, the book is still not done.

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

92924 / 108000 (86.04%)

Based on where I am, I figure that this book has about five or six chapters left. Yes, I know I said that last week. No, these are not eldritch chapters where you write a dozen and you still have a dozen left to go. Honestly, there’s nothing eldritch about that. That is totally normal. Really. I’m still on target for finishing this book by the 19th. I think. I did leave myself some wiggle room before the end of the school year, though.

And then? This house will be CLEAN!!! (Yup — the ritual “I finished a book, time to deep clean the house.”)

And then what? Well, research for Imaginative Anthropology. Worldbuilding for The Sea Prince. Synopses for the untitled Adavar book, and for a new thing that my brain fed me because it’s bored with ravens already and wants something new and shiny. Courtesans and merchant princes and intrigue, oh, my! Possibly set in the same universe as The Iron Virgin, which came about because of that trip to Nashville I took two years ago (the Gaylord Opryland had a Pirates and Princess event going on, and it percolated into something interesting…) The synopsis is written, and I’ll actually write that one of these years. The feel of the world is the same, so perhaps they are set in different kingdoms or something… I’ll figure it out once I know more about both of them.

It’s funny — I’m actually looking forward to taking the summer off. I haven’t in a few years, which I suppose was the downside of doing the serial. But that means I haven’t really had a chance to reset and refill my creative bucket. Now I’ll be taking that time. I’ll still be working on things, but I won’t be actively writing. And I’ll start back up in August with… something. Either jumping back into The Sea Prince, or picking up one of the new projects that are sitting on the back burner. We shall see what yells the loudest in August when I ask myself, “What am I working on next?”

Once more into the breech… this book isn’t going to write itself!

Posted by EASchechter, 0 comments

Thunder

There’s thunder rumbling outside my window this morning, and some good soaking rain. We need the rain — Central Florida has been bone-dry this spring, and things are turning brown. So I’m not complaining about the gray Monday morning (okay, not complaining much.)

Camp Nano is going really well. I’ve missed one day of writing since April 1st (my birthday — I’m allowed!), but I’m still on track to finish the book on time. And then… it’ll sit and stew for a bit, so that when I go back and reread it, I don’t fill in things that I thought I wrote but didn’t.

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

78492 / 90000 (87.21%)

The story is coming along nicely, even the bits that weren’t in the outline (because there are always bits that weren’t in the outline in my books.) There may even be at least one related short story, but we’ll see if these characters want to tell me their courtship stories the way Oscar and Muirenn did in The Ice Raven.

The school year is starting to wind down, and that means I’m going to start to shift to planning mode fairly soon. Which actually works well for me because I’ve been hyperfocusing on finishing The White Raven, so the worldbuilding for The Sea Prince, and the research for Imaginative Anthropology have both been shelved for the nonce. I’ll pick them both up again in May, as well as getting more serious about the untitled seventh Heir to the Firstborn book, for which I’m still trying to find a title. Nothing seems to work. I’m leaning towards just calling it Heir to the Firstborn, but that doesn’t flow with the previous titles. (all of which are three words and either something OF something or something IN something.) Considering I haven’t even written the first word yet, I have time, but I hate starting with a working title and changing it (even though I totally did that for book 5 of this series.) What little work I’ve done on the synopsis is showing me an odd issue I don’t normally have — bits of the story keep shifting as I keep running into “That’s a good piece, but it won’t work that early.” I suddenly understand my friends who plot out their books using large sticky notes!

Hey… I just put Notezilla on my computer. I’ll have to play with that, see if it helps.

In May. Once I finish this book.

Back to making words.

Posted by EASchechter in 2023 plans, accountability, Deadlines Go Whoosh!, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, Imaginative Anthropology, The Sea Prince, The White Raven, upcoming books, upcoming work, WIP, wordcount, Worldbuilding, Write Faster!, 0 comments

Race to the Finish Line!

It’s Camp NaNo! Every April and July, the people behind NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, aka November) run Camp NaNo, which is a slightly more relaxed version of the November madness. More relaxed, in that you can set your own wordcount goal. Going in to April, I noticed that I was short about 30K works in The White Raven: Morrigan’s Wrath. So, I pulled up the Nano website, set up a project in Camp Nano, and set my wordcount goal at 30K words.

In nine days, I’ve written 9062 words. (I haven’t written yet today.)

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

71379 / 90000 (79.31%)

Since my primary goal is to have the book finished by May 19th (one week before the end of school), I’m not too worried about getting all 30K words in my the end of April. But if I do, then yay!

And then… I wait. I need to let the book settle before I go back and read through for edits, and I need to wait to see what the edits on Morrigan’s Heir look like to see what, if any, changes are needed so the books are consistent. So final delivery on the book will be contingent on when I get edits in on book one.

Speaking of which, I should check with my editor on how things are going with book one.

Once that’s done, then I’ll spend the summer putting together an outline for Imaginative Anthropology, finishing the worldbuilding for The Sea Prince, and writing up a synopsis for the unnamed Heir to the Firstborn book that is percolating. And maybe adding in some of the research I need to do to plot out Children of the Swords. We’ll be doing at least one college tour over the summer, too.

I think I’ve said before that I don’t know how to downtime. Like, at all.

Posted by EASchechter in 2023 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, Deadlines Go Whoosh!, Heir to the Firstborn, Imaginative Anthropology, progress, research is fun, The Sea Prince, The White Raven, WIP, wordcount, Worldbuilding, 0 comments

Mondayist Monday that ever Mondayed

Today started with the disappointing news that, because of reasons beyond anyone’s control, production on the Hidden Things audiobook has to be canceled, and the contract dissolved. It’s not anyone’s fault, and everyone is very disappointed.  Back to square one, I suppose. Although I think I’m going to have a hard time picking a new narrator — Mark’s voices were just so absolutely perfect.

Mark and I are hoping that we will be able to work together again in the future. So here’s to that hope, — maybe with Heir to the Firstborn or The Sea Prince. We’ll see what happens once those two are done.

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

131341 / 170000 (77.26%)
****

The Sea Prince
(The Coral Throne, book 1)

31308 / 120000 (26.09%)

I may be putting The Sea Prince to the side for the next month — school is out one month from today, and I really want to have The Way Home complete by then. Or I can use it as a carrot — if I get my words in for The Way Home, I’ll get to go make some words for The Sea Prince. We’ll see which works better.

So… for now, I’m going to keep working on The Way Home, getting that finished so that edits can start and we can get the series wrapped up for a November release. I’ll revisit the Hidden Things audio in the fall, once there’s some distance and I’m not hearing the voices that we set up already. I was planning on working on some non-fiction for the summer anyway, so I may just take a total fiction break and pick up The Sea Prince in the fall, too. I think I might need a break. We’ll see.

 

Posted by EASchechter in 2022 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, audiobooks, Best laid plans, Best planned lays, Deadlines Go Whoosh!, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, Hidden Things, post novel ennui, publishing, Swords of Charlemagne, The Sea Prince, upcoming books, upcoming work, WIP, wordcount, 1 comment

New Server, Who DNS?

Remember how I said I was moving the website? It’s officially moved! My website is now hosted by Greekgeeks, and I’m already loving the change.

They said the migration could take up to 48 hours. It was done in under 12.

They said that the DNS change would take a couple of hours. FIVE MINUTES.

SSL certificate? Push a button and POOF!

Makes my geeky heart happy. If you’re at all interested in checking them out, click here. (affiliate link)

I’m in the middle of the 5 Day Author Ad Profit Challenge (taught by Bryan Cohen), so there haven’t been as many words as there might usually have been during a week. And I’m seeing that Sea Prince is going to need quite a lot of tweaking to bring the older chapters up to date and in line with where my writing is now, as well as making sure the characters voices are consistent. But I can do THAT once I have a draft. Right now, the words are flowing, and I’m not stopping! Write first, edit later!

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

126161 / 170000 (74.21%)
****

The Sea Prince
(The Coral Throne, book 1)

28452 / 120000 (23.71%)

I keep forgetting to put this out there. If you’re interested in reading my work before the general public, I have an ARC page on Booksprout. In exchange for your review of the book, you can get advance copies of any of my upcoming work! Right now, I have Haven’s Fall and Where Home Lies available, and as soon as I have a copy of The Way Home available, that will go up there as well.

Likewise, if you’re interested in any of my books, but can’t afford them? Drop me a note. I know that not all of my books can be gotten through the public library, so I’m happy to send review copies out. It helps me, and it protects my readers from pirate sites that are loaded with malware.

In audiobook news, there have been some delays with recording (mostly covid related). If all goes well, recording will start this Thursday, and may be done shortly thereafter. I’ve been invited to (virtually) hang out in the booth and listen in, because Mark (my narrator) and James (his engineer) want my real-time input on voice characterizations. I’m very excited about being involved in the project, which I know is unusual (and honestly, if I’d been able to be this involved in the recording of House of Sable Locks, the chapter Gunner’s Daughter would have had a VERY DIFFERENT SOUND!!!!)

Not much else to add. I’m working on business planning, and collecting resources to do research on the non-fiction project over the summer. Working on finishing The Way Home before the end of May, which is a big push because I’m thinking I have maybe ten chapters left? That’s 30K words, roughly. Which means… go write all the words, Liz!

Catch you next week!

 

 

Posted by EASchechter in 2022 plans, accountability, audiobooks, Deadlines Go Whoosh!, Eek!, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, Hidden Things, Rebel Mage, reviews, Sable Locks, Stop Piracy, Swords of Charlemagne, upcoming books, upcoming work, WIP, wordcount, Write Faster!, writing, 0 comments

Back to Work!

Home from vacation! And what a wet vacation it was! There were only two days that we did not get rained on — the first day and the last one! Every other day featured a deluge of Florida proportions — I’m told there is video footage of kids swimming in the flooded pathways at Magic Kingdom. (ewwICK!)

It was fun, though. Our first time back in the parks for a vacation (as opposed to a day) in nearly 8 years, and our first vacation in 4 years. Introduced to Feather Bowling (or, as we called it, drunk curling), and Pandora (the planet, not the jewelry or the streaming service. James Cameron is an insane genius, the immersive technology in Pandora is AMAZING, and I want to have a talk with him about evolutionary tracks and his rationale for having his planet have hexapedal fauna while the dominant species is bipedal with a prehensile tail. Either that, or I actually have to see the movie. Maybe it’s explained in there?)

Enjoyed a couple of things at Food and Wine, and saw the neat little exhibit on Kawaii culture in Japan (and had fun after both Spaceship Earth and The American Adventure — turn to Teen Boy and ask “So, what did they get wrong?”)  And we spent half a day in Black Spires Outpost on Batuu, had blue milk and a spherical Coke, and built a lightsaber (which is not cheap, but SO WORTH IT!!!)

It says Coca-Cola in Aurebesh — the written language of Star Wars.
We found the FUN Photopass spot — the photographer provided the sabers.
Protection and Defense — one of the four hilt options offered at Savi’s Workshop. I opted for a purple kyber crystal.
Not lighting it up because it is LOUD!

I forgot to get pictures of the blue milk — it’s a rice and coconut milk base, with pineapple and dragonfruit, and colored blue with spirulina. And it would make a killer pina coloda — they actually do offer it with rum! There’s also a green milk option, which I’ll have to try the next time I go. Whenever that happens.

Got home in time for the Vivian Awards, which meant dressing up to sitting my office.

I didn’t win, but I’m okay with that. Just being nominated in the most diverse contest class in RWA history is enough, especially when it’s with the book that I pulled from RITA consideration in protest of the board shenanigans in 2019.

Now I’m back on Earth, though, and back to creating my own worlds. I did carry a notebook with me all week… and I think I opened it once.

Heir to the Firstborn: The Crossroads
(Heir to the Firstborn, book 5)
126114 / 150000 (84.08%)

I have an idea where this is going to wrap, though. And I’m shooting to have a draft complete by the end of the month, or by Orlando Reads Books, so I can dive into the revisions that it’s going to need since it’s not the last book. The book will drop quite a bit in wordcount when I finally call it a draft — there are three chapters, the epilogue and some bonus material already written that will be moved to the last book.

I’m also thinking on a new thing — working title is The Iron Virgin, and I’m blaming the Gaylord Opryland for it. Why? Because there was a Pirate and Princess event running when we were there, and I came home with a Pirate Princess in my head who wants her story told now, thank you very much. The worldbuilding is being interesting — it went from a steampunk setting with airships to a fantasy setting with living ships (which… I’m not sure why the ships are alive yet. They haven’t told me. There is more worldbuilding to be done.)

That’s a song cue right there — “The ships are alive, and I don’t know why yet…” (ttto The Sound of Music.)

If I want words on the page, I need to go get to writing them. Catch you all next week.

Posted by EASchechter in accountability, Deadlines Go Whoosh!, fickle-muse-is-fickle, Heir to the Firstborn, Orlando Reads Books, slow-writer-is-slow., summer, thinking thinky thoughts, why-the-writing-is-slow, WIP, wordcount, Worldbuilding, Writer on the Go!, Written in Water, yippee, 0 comments

On Your Mark…

This week starts the race that will be July. I have just over a week before I leave for the RWA Retreat, and I have THINGS that must get done between now and then.

Things I need to do:

  • Finalize the presentation that I’ll be giving at the retreat.
  • Save presentation to a thumbdrive  and put it in my travel purse.
  • Email the presentation to the office (just in case)
  • Finish the video logs for Unit 11. (These will be DONE before I leave, durn it.)
  • Write the Unit 11 quiz
  • Decide which knitting project I’m taking with me for the Fiber meet-up I’m hosting.
  • Decide which research materials I want to bring (Hrm… Tower of Light or SooperSekrit Edwardian-era project?)
  • Write up a packing list
  • Pull out my suitcase
  • Pick out clothes

And in and around all of that? Working on Heir to the Firstborn, prepping for the Ashes and Light release on the 20th, and maybe going out for dinner (to an actual restaurant – gasp!) for our anniversary right before I leave.

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

118734 / 150000 (79.16%)

Heir to the Firstborn proceeds nicely, if slowly. I sincerely doubt that the 150,000 word target will stand for another week, which will then lead me to the question of… one book or two.

I know. I KNOW! I said this was going to be one book. But, I also said that about Wings of Air, and look where that got us (hint — 118,734 words into the second book of what was supposed to be one book.) Heir to the Firstborn is going to be massive. And while that doesn’t much matter in serial or as an ebook. In print, that’ll be a problem. Because there are only so many pages you can put into a trade paperback before it falls apart.

So we may very well have Heir to the Firstborn: The Progress and Heir to the Firstborn: <something that has to do with the second half of the book>

(Book one may not be The Progress. I have to decide. Book two will either be The Crossroads or The Way Home. We’ll see.)

But we’ll also get to meet an interesting character in that half of the book. I started writing his scenes already, and I love him to bits. Nope, not telling.

Now, if I do break this into two books, then I will definitely make the November release date that I was worried that I’d miss, because that part of the book is done.  I will need to make new cover art for the second book, those. Not a huge problem there.

I’ll make up my mind about it at the retreat.

 

Posted by EASchechter in 2021 plans, 2022 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, Ashes and Light, Best laid plans, Best planned lays, cover art, Deadlines Go Whoosh!, deep thoughts, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, Planning, publishing, Release date, Swords of Charlemagne, thinking thinky thoughts, to-dos, upcoming books, upcoming work, WIP, wordcount, Write Faster!, Writer on the Go!, 0 comments