Echoes of Light

Jun

2020

Show of Hands?

Who else thinks that 2020 needs to knock it the fuck off already?

Yeah, me too.

This past week has been emotionally exhausting. I’m doing what I can to support BLM. I’ve been amplifying posts and signing petitions and honestly, I was not expecting Pride this year to go quite that retro.

(If I need to explain to you that Pride started as a riot… well… look, you learned something today. Gold star!)

There’s been writing. I can’t not write, especially when there’s too much and I get overwhelmed. I’ve heard other writers say that they’ve been having trouble during the quarantine because how can you be creative now? I have the opposite problem. Under stress, I tend to dive into a manuscript, because I know everything will be all right in there. Perks of being a romance writer, I guess. You’re guaranteed a happy ending in romancelandia. In real life? Not so much.

So there’s been writing. I might finish Echoes of Light this month. And Wings of Air is promising to be a beast of a book — I’m eight chapters in and we still haven’t made the big move to take us on the first step to the end.

Echoes of Light

25389 / 50000 (50.78%)

***Wings of AirHeir to the Firstborn, Book 4

24898 / 95000 (26.21%)

So, where do I go from here? Once I’m done with Wings of Air, what am I going to do with the Patreon?

Well, I have two options. I have The Willow Sword, a YA idea that I started ages ago, and that sort of lost momentum. That would be two books — The Willow Sword and The Stone Mountain. And I have The Sea Prince, which is a sort of steampunky, Master and Commander kind of thing that I started years ago with a friend. That one also lost momentum. That one would be three books — The Sea Prince, The Coral Throne, and one that I can’t remember what title I was going to use. It’s been a while, and I don’t think I wrote it down.

Between those two series, I think I’m set for Patreon fodder for a while.

I also need to plan out the rest of the Flesh and Blood series (those are the BDSM Vampire books). Five in that series, counting the one that I finished already.

I need to write the second White Raven book.

I need to figure out the third Tales from the Arena book.

And I need to go back through the outline for the next Drum Mage book (Holy Orders, sequel to Heart’s Master) and figure out what I did wrong that made it stop short.

And then… and then….?

I forgot I had this running list (and I completely FORGOT about The Mentalist’s Cat. That would work for Patreon.)

To Write

- - Wings of Air
  - Echoes of Light
  - The White Raven: Morrigan’s Wrath
  - The Sea Prince (started, shelved)
  - The Willow Sword (started, shelved)

To Edit

To Outline

- - Flesh and Blood (five books)
  - The Mentalist’s Cat
  - Holy Orders (Sequel to Heart’s Master)
  - Coral Throne (sequel to Sea Prince)
  - Tales from the Arena: Dead Man’s Hand (Tales from the Arena 3)
  - Men of Mortal Seeming (An Artificer novel)
  - Towers of Light (Metropolis project)

To Sell

- - The White Raven: Morrigan’s Heir
  - Bonds of Blood and Steel
  - Blood Bound
  - The Ice Raven

To Self-Publish

- - Swords of Charlemagne (4 books)

So I’ll be busy and out of trouble for a while, it looks like.

Stay safe, everyone.

Jun

2020

Progress, and the lack thereof.

Echoes of Light

23004 / 50000 (46.01%)

***Wings of AirHeir to the Firstborn, Book 4

20000 / 95000 (21.05%)

I spent most of last week plugging along, arguing with Amazon, doing promo for Bones of Earth, arguing with Amazon, prepping for the RWA Board meeting that happened this past weekend, and arguing with Amazon.

You know, the usual.

Why am I arguing with Amazon? Because the week prior, I did a giveaway of Written in Water, and a sale on Forged in Fire. Now, I can control the sale price, but setting Written in Water for free on Amazon is something only they can do, and only they can change it back. The prices reverted to $6.99 on every other platform last Tuesday. Amazon still hasn’t changed the price back.

Yesterday, I emailed them for the third time and asked them if they were planning on paying me royalties for the books that were downloaded for free after the price was supposed to have reverted. No answer yet.

I think, from here on out, I’ll be doing $.99 sales. Freebies are a pain in the posterior, and I have no control over when Amazon changes things.

(Note — I just went and checked and they’ve FINALLY put Written in Water back to the regular price. Apparently, telling them I expected them to made good on the consquences of their screw-up did something?)

Last week was also the last day of school — I now have a rising 9th grader. High school… eep!

Now, normally, this is the point in my year when I take time off — as much as I ever take time off, anyway. However, Heir to the Firstborn won’t wait. I’m going to keep on working to get Wings of Air up on time. Chapter two just went up on Patreon, and I’m working on chapter seven — I might be doing a little backwards writing on it, though. Owyn is in the kitchen, and whenever he goes to the kitchen, chapters tend start reading like a cooking show. Which is fun, but he’s not supposed to be taking over this book again.

(Owyn: “You only think so.”)

(Me: “Shut up, Mouse.”)

So I need to get out of Owyn’s head and back to Del’s. And I need to wake Treesi up — she’s sleeping in at the point where I am in the book.

Echoes of Light is coming along nicely. I’ve just revealed the big bad, and he’s being big and bad. I’m slightly more than halfway through the book, I think. So we’ll have a short novel (40K), which is good for a box set. I’m hoping to get this to a draft sometime this month. We’ll see how that goes.

And that’s pretty much all here.

It’s in no way everything. There’s a lot going on out there. Lots of fear. Lots of violence. Lots of hate.

I am in no way qualified to talk about it, other than to say this — in my social media, I will amplify the voices of activists, the voices of BLM, the voices of hope and the voices that call for justice. I will use y platform to spread their words, because it is their words that are important here. Not mine.

Stay safe out there.

May

2020

WIP and Book Birthdays and Stuff

Echoes of Light

19524 / 50000 (39.05%)

***Wings of AirHeir to the Firstborn, Book 4

15683 / 95000 (16.51%)

It’s amazing how much writing I can do when I don’t have to be anywhere else.

This week, I set myself a goal of focusing on Wings of Air, so that I have a buffer in case of summer vacation pulling me away from the keyboard. (I was so tempted to write AFK there — I’m being slowly indoctrinated into gamerspeak!)

Summer vacation? Wait a minute, Liz. It’s still May!

Yes, it is. And in Florida, schools get out for the summer right after Memorial Day. Wednesday, we’ll be heading out (!) to school, to participate in a Drive through Graduation ceremony as our son graduates from middle school. It’s going to be interesting. And school next year is going to be even more interesting. We’ll see what happens when August comes around (Yes, we go back to school in August around here.)

The cancellations are ongoing — this past week, the RWA cancelled their National Convention. Work is ongoing into a virtual conference. Also this past week, KeiserSupercon announced the convention will be held the first weekend in December. Really! This time for sure!

(This is me, not getting my hopes up.)

And… tomorrow… this happens.

Bones of Earth goes live — if you’ve preordered it, it will be in your reader at midnight. (I think that’s how it works) There is still time to preorder — you can grab it from Amazon here, and from other booksellers here.

(Note: I really, really hope it goes live at midnight — there have been a number of preorders pulled by an Amazon glitch over the past few weeks. So if you hear distraught screaming coming from the direction of Florida tomorrow morning? The presale was pulled last minute. As of two seconds ago, it was still good to go.)

I got the most interesting rejection letter this morning for Hidden Things. The publisher liked it, said it really raised interest, but couldn’t find a spot for it in their lineup so they gave it a pass. That’s a new one for me. I have one more iron in the fire, and if that one doesn’t pan out, then I’ll get going on self-publishing.

And that’s about all for me. Stay safe, everyone.

May

2020

What Day Is It Anyway? Blursday?

Blursday? What day is that?

Well, it’s when you’re not sure what day it is. Actually, I do know it’s Monday. I’m blogging, therefore it’s Monday. Tomorrow, I’ll be doing a Circlet Press writing sprint, therefore it’s Tuesday (or Thursday — it might be Thuesday).

Days run together. Words don’t. The works in progress continue apace.

Echoes of Light

17706 / 50000 (35.41%)

***Wings of AirHeir to the Firstborn, Book 4

10634 / 95000 (11.19%)

Bones of Earth drops one week from tomorrow, and I’ve decided to run a sale this week so people can get caught up! You can download Written in Water here, and you can buy Forged in Fire here.

Until the 26th, Written in Water is FREE, and Forged in Fire is 20% off the usual $8.99 ebook price (down to $7.19) The sale is running wherever ebooks are sold, so if you see someplace where Written in Water is not free and Forged in Fire is not $7.19 (or the equivalant 20% off price in non-US markets), let me know so I can fix it!

In other news, edits have come in (and gone back out) on Time for No Mercy, the short story that I sold to Riverdale Avenue Books for their upcoming Sexy Superheroes anthology. No data yet on when it will be coming out. As soon as I know, I’ll let you all know.

There isn’t a lot else happening. We’re wrapping up the end of the school year. Drive through middle school graduation is next week. I’m doing a million things for the RWA. I’m exercising. I’m baking. I’m cooking. The house is spotless.

I’m tired of quarantine, but it really is the only way to stop this damn thing.

Stay in. Stay safe.

See you all virtually next week.

May

2020

Works in Progress: Echoes of Light and Wings of Air.

Echoes of Light

15170 / 50000 (30.34%)

***Wings of AirHeir to the Firstborn, Book 4

5067 / 95000 (5.33%)

Now that I’ve fixed the issues with Echoes of Light, I find myself wanting to play with it more than Wings of Air. Which… nope. Can’t do that. Need to work on them both. So what I think I’m going to have to do is work on Wings of Air early, and save Echoes of Light as a reward.

It doesn’t help that Echoes of Light is being fun right now. John and Ethriel are just so damned cute together!

He heard movement, and turned back, seeing Ethriel trying to get out from under the blanket. “No,” he said. “You stay in bed.” He held his hand up, palm out, and Ethriel flinched. John immediately dropped his hands. “No,” he said softly. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m not going to hit you.” He stepped closer, and pulled the blanket back up. Then he rested his hand on Ethriel’s chest and gently pushed him down. “Stay here.”

Ethriel frowned. “Stay… here,” he repeated. He pointed at the bed.

“Bed,” John supplied the word.

“Stay… bed?” Ethriel asked. Then he smiled. “Stay bed.” He laced his fingers together and rested them on his chest.

“Yes,” John said with a laugh. “You stay in bed.”

Ethriel nodded. “Stay bed,” he repeated. Then he looked thoughtful. “John… stay bed?” He smiled, his brows raised in a hopeful expression, and John was suddenly sure in his bones that there was more to that smile than just being friendly. That he’d known exactly what he’d meant when he’d tried to invite John to the bed the night before.

John felt warm. His throat felt tight. So did his trousers. It was tempting. So tempting. But Ethriel wasn’t hale. And John might not be understanding him properly. This could end badly.

But it was still tempting.

And in other news? I’m still screaming. There is still no resolution for Forged in Fire. And, because of the way they’ve locked down the book in KDP, I can’t get at any of the data to see if there is a major error that needs to be fixed. I don’t know if a reader reported the book, or if it’s a glitch (I’m suspecting glitch, to be honest.) There’s been no communication from KDP Quality Control. I’m in limbo, and I don’t like it. It’s costing me money.

So… since Amazon isn’t letting me make money, Forged in Fire is now ON SALE on Smashwords — use the code TN86U for 20% off — good for the rest of the week!

Meanwhile, Bones of Earth is ready to drop on May 26th. I really hope Forged in Fire is back online on Amazon when that happens.

Over the weekend, I found out that No Safewords II won the Bronze in the IPPY awards. If you remember, I have two stories in that anthology. Blood, Lust was where I first introduced my BDSM vampire Itami Hiro and his beloved Daniel (or at least, their Marketplace alternate universe selves). And there’s Domestic Tranquility, a second Thomas and Eugenia story (the first being Oh, Promise Me! from No Safewords 1).

Not much else is going on here. It’s pretty much just exercise in the morning (Zombies, Run! three days a week, yoga and/or something else twice — you can follow me on Instagram for workout updates, if you’re interested), followed by writing and random stuff around the house. I’m not going out if I can help it — so I leave the neighborhood maybe once a week. Things are opening up around us — restaurants and hair salons and the like, but I’m not willing to be a test subject in how long before the second wave? Especially since the second wave is likely to be worse than the first — we’ve all seen the 1918 Flu graph, right?

If you can, stay in. Stay safe.

May

2020

Works in Progress: Echoes of Light and Wings of Air

Echoes of Light

10585 / 30000 (35.28%)

***Wings of AirHeir to the Firstborn, Book 4

1207 / 95000 (1.27%)

Progress continues. Sort of. I started Wings of Air on May 1st, and it’s going… well, it’s going. It’s only been three days, though. That’s not a bad number for three days. And if you follow me on Twitter, you likely saw this tweet about Echoes of Light the other day.

A third of the way into writing my “the Wandering Jew in the Wild West” novel and I hate it. Well, I don’t *hate* hate it. But it’s going too slow. I think I need to rework this.

Good thing it’s not due until December.

— Elizabeth Schechter (she/her) (@EASchechter) April 30, 2020

I wound up writing backwards — ripping out most of a chapter and a half, and setting them aside. I can use some of it, so it’s not a total loss. But in a work of a projected 30,000 words, to be over a third of the way in and not have met the love interest? No, that’s too slow. The love interest now enters, dramatically, in chapter three.

Echoes is being another slow writing project, because I keep having to stop and do research. The setting is off the Arkansas River, just outside of Skullyville and Fort Coffee, in what was Arkansas after the Civil War. I keep having to stop and check maps, which is interesting because on the modern maps, the borders have moved so everything is now Oklahoma, Skullyville was a port town but has since moved inland, and Fort Coffee isn’t there anymore! (Now, granted, Fort Coffee was destroyed during the Civil War, but when the story is set, there were ruins. Now? There’s a sign.) So I have to compare modern maps to period maps.

Once I get them moving, it’s to a fictional town, so I won’t have as much map-reading to do. But for now? I’m doing a lot of Googling.

In other news… there’s not a lot of other news. Necronomicon has cancelled for 2020. I’m still waiting to hear about Keiser SuperCon, Megacon and RWA Nationals. I also need to decide what I’m doing if these events do happen. I mean, I’m asthmatic, which puts me in the higher risk group. I think that means that I really shouldn’t be doing conventions this year (unless I have no choice — with RWA Nationals, since I’ on the Board of Directors, I have to go to Nationals). Which means that if you want to see me in 2020… ummm… you probably won’t see me at a convention in 2020.

That being said, I just did my first ever online convention with FutonCon. It was run entirely on Discord, and it was interesting. There’s more panel interaction than when I did my live reading on Facebook, which is nice, but it’s still kind of hard to get past the feeling of “I’m talking to myself.”

I think I prefer in-person conventions, given my choice. And, you know, the option of not catching the never-get-overs.

That’s all from my neck of the woods. Stay safe. Stay in, if you can. And wash your hands.

Apr

2020

Work in Progress: Echoes of Light

Echoes of Light

9368 / 30000 (31.23%)

And here I thought that the only thing that really slowed me down when I was writing were scenes that required blocking, like fight scenes and sex scenes.

Add scenes that require verification to that — as in, where exactly was Skullyville, OK during the Civil War (when it was Skullyville, AR. They moved the border later). Reason I’m asking? It’s NOT THERE now, it’s somewhere else! From the maps of the era, Skullyville used to be right on the Arksansas River, and was a regular stop for steamboats. Skullyville today? NOWHERE NEAR the river!

So yeah, there was a lot of looking at maps and comparing them and figuring things out this past week.

I’ve also been working on Wings of Air, or at least, figuring out where Wings of Air is going to go. I plan on finishing the outline this week, and starting the actual writing.

I’m doing something new this week, as well. I’ll be doing two readings this weekend (May 1-3, 2020) at FutonCon. Friday night I’ll be holding at 18+ reading from 9PM to 10PM EST, and on Saturday I’ll be reading from 5PM to 6PM EST, with an all ages reading. I’m figuring on something from Blood Bound for Friday, or maybe bring out an old favorite and read The Succubus. Or, you know, I have an hour. Maybe both? For Saturday, I’ll be reading from Heir to the Firstborn.

Still no word on the rest of my conventions scheduled for the year. We’ll see what happens with them.

Bones of Earth is ready to go with preorders on Amazon and everyplace else, and I’m experiencing something I never have before. I picked several stock images for my Facebook ad series — they commonality is that they all have birch trees, to echo the birch trees on the cover of Bones. And apparently, I picked some very striking images, because people are sharing the ads and commenting on the pictures! That’s new and different.

Then again, everything is new and different these days. It’s all strange and more than a little weird. Some of it is a good weird. Some is not. But we’ll manage.

Stay safe, everyone. Wash your hands. Stay inside if you can. If you can’t, be careful.

Apr

2020

Work in Progress: Echoes of Light

Echoes of Light

5795 / 30000 (19.32%)

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

(Our area is currently under a tornado warning.)

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

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

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

(Two hours pass)

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

My, it’s exciting for a Monday!

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

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

Apr

2020

Work in Progress and Completed Work!

Bones of Earth
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 3

109904 / 95000 (115.69%)

Echoes of Light

2765 / 30000 (9.22%)

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

Stop laughing.

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

No, that was not a pun.

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

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

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

(Sit down, Owyn!)

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

See you all next week. Virtually, anyway.

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

Echoes of Light

Show of Hands?

Progress, and the lack thereof.

WIP and Book Birthdays and Stuff

What Day Is It Anyway? Blursday?

Works in Progress: Echoes of Light and Wings of Air.

Works in Progress: Echoes of Light and Wings of Air

Work in Progress: Echoes of Light

Work in Progress: Echoes of Light

Work in Progress and Completed Work!

Works in Progress

Appearances

Find My Books!

Social Media

Let's Keep in Touch!

Thanks for signing up!