Draft by the Solstice

Nov

2024

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!

Nov

2023

Back to Work

It’s the first Monday after Thanksgiving, and it’s time for me to get back to work. This book won’t write itself. Valley of Shadows has three, maybe four chapters left. And my incentive to get this done quickly is that December starts Friday, and that means…

COOKIEPOCALYPSE IS COMING!!!

I need to sit down and decide what cookies I’m making this year. There will definitely be three color cookies — there have to be three color cookies or it’s not Christmas. There will be struffuli on Christmas Eve (and if you want that recipe, check out Love at First Bite, which is a collection of recipes available as a free download from the Cavalcade of Authors.) But in between? I’m not sure yet. I need to ask the family what they want. As always, there will be pictures posted to my Instagram — I know there are some of you who wait for those pictures every year!

As I bake, I’m also going to get back to my research for Imaginative Anthropology. I’ve been putting that off because I had too much on my plate, but baking and reading seem to go hand in hand. There will also be the planning for next year, revisiting my business plans and setting up my annual goals for 2024. The end of the year is a busy time for the small business.

At some point, we have to put up the tree, and Hanukah starts next week (blended household, in case you didn’t know.) Fall semester is over next week, and we’re all very much looking forward to Winter Break. We found out last week that Teen Boy has been accepted to his top college, but we haven’t committed yet — we want to hear from the last two and see what they’re offering. But top school has started the process of evaluating the college credits he already has, so we’ll see what they come back with.

Spring semester will be all kinds of interesting and exciting — here’s hoping that senioritis holds off until the first week of May, though!

So much happening in 2024! But I need to finish 2023 first, so back to work!

Works in Progress

Valley of Shadows
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 7

62071 / 90000 (68.97%)

New Release!

Snowbound dropped today! You can get it anywhere you find ebooks!

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

Promotions!

Cyber Monday Sale is Live!!!! You can find the first three Heir to the Firstborn books for $0.99 cents each! In addition, Hidden Things and Counsel of the Wicked are also still $0.99!

Nov

2023

Changes in Altitude

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

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

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

Wait… Valley of Shadows?

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

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

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

Works in Progress

Valley of Shadows
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 7

59057 / 90000 (65.62%)

New Release!

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

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

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

Preorders are live wherever you buy books

Promotions!

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

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

Oct

2023

Closing In On The End.

Here we are, closing in on the end of 2023. Halloween is tomorrow, and then we get into November and the slow slide toward a new year. Yesterday, I hit the halfway point on Balance of Power, which means I’m well on my way to finishing the book by December, just in time for Cookiepocalypse. Planning for 2024 has started (slowly, but it has started), and I’m looking forward to closing the book on 2023.

It’s been a good year. A weird year, but a good one. I’ve learned a lot, and I’ve come to a lot of realizations that will change how I work going forward. What, you ask? Well, working multiple projects at a time isn’t something sustainable for me anymore, to start with. I have to focus on one thing at a time in each category — planning, researching, writing and editing. If I try to do more than one in each category, then none of the others get done. Time to adjust so I can accomplish more by doing less.

I forget if I let you all know that Written in Water didn’t make the finals for SPFBO. It had a fabulous review, though. You can see the finalists here, and there’s still one more to come (by tomorrow, I think!)

So what’s in the cards for 2024? Keeping in mind that things are still in the squidgy, warm Jello stages of planning, 2024 holds at least one convention (possibly three — I applied to present at ICFA, and I’m in the waiting list for a convention that I’ve never done before), more events with the Cavalcade, at least one but possibly two books from Riverdale Avenue Books (Morrigan’s Heir is still on the roster for this year, but they have Bonds of Blood and Steel, and I will be sending them Morrigan’s Wrath once I finish the Heir edits.) There will be at least one self-published book — that would be Balance of Power, and getting research done for Imaginative Anthropology and for the worldbuilding for Iron and Silk.

So, if I keep with the categories, here’s my 2024 starting lineup.

Planning:
- ???? (at the moment, I have a pile of story outlines ready to go. So this with either stay empty for a bit, or just be business planning.)
Research
- Imaginative Anthropology
  - Iron and Silk research when done
Writing
- The Sea Prince
  - ???? when done (Either Tales from the Arena: Dead Man’s Hand or Tower of Light.)
Editing
- Balance of Power
  - Either The Sea Prince or whatever comes back first from RAB.

I’m looking at perhaps a March or April publishing date for Balance of Power, but that will depend on several factors (how long edits take, how long cover creation takes, and what other books I have releasing and when.)

On a personal level, someone who lives in my house and is taller than I am now graduates in the spring of 2024, and starts college in the fall. All the applications are in, applications for scholarships have started, and we do the financial aid paperwork in December. Then we wait…

Oh, and there’s a two-years-postponed vacation in there somewhere. I really can’t wait for that!

Works in Progress

Balance of Power
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 7

47097 / 90000 (52.33%)

The Sea Prince
The Coral Throne, Book 1

63623 / 120000 (53.02%)

Promotions!

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

Dec

2020

I Smell Cookies!

John Zebedee Meets the Witch Queen of Elfland

43399 / 50000 (86.80%)

Okay, not yet, you don’t. But if you were close enough, or smells could come through the internet, you would later today!

Cookiepocalypse 2020 starts today! We’ll be starting with three color cookies, and I’ll be posting the pictures to Instagram. And in between batches, I’ll be working on finishing John Zebedee Meets the Witch Queen of Elfland, because school is out Friday, and the Solstice is next Monday. #DraftByTheSolstice

Last week, there wasn’t nearly as much writing as I’d have liked. There was a lot of editing — I’ve made my first pass at Wings of Air, and it’s been handed off to Darling Editor. There was also recording two Two Minute Tips (something that took me all day Sunday and part of Monday — there’s a reason I’m not a public speaker!) And I taught my first ever live class for the RWA. Complete with computer problems immediately before class because of COURSE the class had to be pre-disastered for our convenience.

The upside of computer problems right before going live? No time for stage fright!

The downside? Spending the rest of the afternoon with durn-near crippling Imposter Syndrome, because I hadn’t gotten it out of my system beforehand.

(There might have been rather a lot of stress eating that evening. Good thing I hadn’t made the cookies yet or they’d have all been gone!)

Things are better now. Spent yesterday in an RWA Board meeting (all….durn…day….) which meant that I got a lot of knitting done. There was work done, but there was also knitting because it’s the only way I can distract the toddler brain and stay focused enough to actually get any work done during the meeting. (When I write, I have music on. But if I’m in a meeting? I knit.) And now, I’m focused on getting this manuscript finished.

And cookies.

Right. Off to go make words and calories!

Dec

2020

Busy, busy, busy!

John Zebedee Meets the Witch Queen of Elfland

38005 / 50000 (76.01%)

And here I thought that I’d be able to start baking soon. Umm… not this week! This is a busy week for me!

Today starts the Erotic Romance contest over on Booksweeps. 30 books (including Chains of Light!) and the grand prize winner gets a brand-new ebook reader. No, I’m not sure which one. But hey, naughty books for the holidays! SOOO much better than coal! You can

This week, I’ll also be recording a couple of Two Minute Tips for the RWA University, and I’ll be teaching a class on using Zoom for RWA University. The class is free to RWA members.

Now, I did not realize when I agreed to record a Two Minute tip that it would take me most of a day to get a clean copy. Or that two minutes is REALLY SHORT. (The clean copy I finally recorded ended up being nearly 8 minutes long. I’ll be redoing that, and breaking it into two shorter videos.)

I have two writing group meetings this week (oddly enough, not through Zoom), and a social gathering (Zoom). I have a training to take (also Zoom!), and the winter RWA Board meeting is on Sunday the 13th (and if you’re a member, you can attend by registering here.)

I’m working on edits this week (initial edits on Wings of Air, and incorporating edits into John Zebedee and the Monstrous Town.) And I’m working on John Zebedee Meets the Witch Queen of Elfland. I’m slightly more than halfway through that, and the words are flowing nicely. But… I might be still writing when Cookiepocalypse starts.

I’m still working on having a draft by the Solstice, though.

Preorders are going well for Hidden Things, and I really can’t wait for it to launch. One of my long-time readers (hi, Ian!) commented on an ad about how happy he was to see this finally coming to print. Me, too!

I’m going to a very ambitious 2021. I have six releases planned — one every two months.

Hidden Things (Swords of Charlemagne 1) – January.
Wings of Air (Heir to the Firstborn 4) – March
The Lady and the Sword (Swords of Charlemagne 2) – May
Ashes and Light (Swords of Charlemagne 3) – July
Heir to the Firstborn (Heir to the Firstborn 5) – September
Table of Stone (Swords of Charlemagne 4) – November.

The last two might switch, because Heir to the Firstborn is the only book of those six that hasn’t actually been written yet. (Before anyone asks, the John Zebedee series is slated for a 2022 box set. 2022 might also see the return of the Rebel Mage books.)

Don’t expect anything this ambitious in the future, now. This is me being EXTREMELY bullish.

So that’s the state of the Liz this week. Busy!!!!

Draft by the Solstice

Now Entering The Holiday Zone

Work in Progress

Appearances

Back to Work

Works in Progress

New Release!

Promotions!

Changes in Altitude

Works in Progress

New Release!

Promotions!

Closing In On The End.

Works in Progress

Promotions!

I Smell Cookies!

Busy, busy, busy!

Works in Progress

Appearances

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