Eek!

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

A week has five days, right?

And now you’re wondering just what happened, aren’t you? How did I manage to misplace two days?

I got my second COVID vaccination, that’s how. I am now a full member of House Pfizer. For me, that involved a lot of flu-like symptoms and a LOT of sleeping. Which is how I lost two days last week.

Needless to say, there wasn’t a whole heck of a lot of writing done last week.

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

57416 / 150000 (38.28%)

 

But you know what? It’s worth it. It’s totally worth it to be taking that one step closer to being able to go and do and see. Reader events are happening this year, and now, I can be part of them.

(I do want them to hurry up and get the formula together for the 16 and under set. Hopefully before August, so someone might maybe have a high school experience in an actual classroom, thank you. Although getting up at ridiculous in the morning to go to school is overrated, especially for teens who need their sleep! Not to mention Moms who need their sleep…)

Page proofs of Ashes and Light wrapped up this past weekend, so the book is now officially up for presale. I started page proofs on Table of Stone on Saturday, and I may very well have all four books ready to go before The Lady and the Sword goes live in May. That’s… what am I going to do with myself?

(Answer… work on the Spiffy Secret Project, that’s what. Full details coming in… umm… goodness, is THAT the date? Two weeks!!!!)

(Oh crap. Two weeks. Umm…I’ll talk to you all next week. I have work to do!)

 

 

Posted by EASchechter in 2021 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, Ashes and Light, Eek!, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, Swords of Charlemagne, to-dos, upcoming books, Wings of Air, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments

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.

 

 

 

Posted by EASchechter in 2020 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, Adavar, Bones of Earth, Echoes of Light, edits, Eek!, Elemental Project, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, I really want some dull, new books, promotions, publishing, Release date, upcoming books, upcoming work, Wings of Air, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments

Works in Progress: Week Fourteen: Blood Bound and Bones of Earth

Blood Bound
Flesh and Blood, Book 1

67613 / 95000 (71.17%)

***

Bones of Earth
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 3

44650 / 95000 (47.00%)

Little bit of a slow working week this past week. The Teach in was Tuesday, and I spent most of Monday prepping for it, and most of Wednesday recovering! My day at school started at 8:30, and ran until 4:45!  I spoke to five periods of ELA (6th through 8th grades) and one period of Creative Writing, and it’s a good thing that I brought my new presentation AND last year’s presentation. The Creative Writing Class was mostly kids I’d seen earlier in the day in their respective ELA classes! So I had something else on hand to give to them. (They had Anatomy of a Novel earlier in the day, and Life of a Romance Writer for Creative Writing.) However, they DEMANDED that we do something from the earlier presentation to finish off.

See… I created a Madlib for them as a fun closing — we wrote a book blurb using Madlibs. The best inciting incident? The MC lost his earlobes! It was so much fun that every class wanted to do it twice (no), and the Creative Writing class wanted to do it again because they’d all done it earlier. We had time, so I pulled it up. And then, since they’re all doing Nanowrimo and we had more time, so we did a writing sprint! After that class, I had a few minutes of quiet before I went and helped my son’s Origami club (it made no sense to go home, then come back to pick him up.)

Also last week I had another pass on Hidden Things. They liked the premise… but they passed on the series. Back to square one, and I need to decide if I want to go the query-go-round again or just self-publish. Whichever way I go, it’ll be in 2020.

I really do need to kick my production in to overdrive — Cookiepocalypse is coming, and I need to have Blood Bound finished before I start baking. It’s hard to believe that it’s already almost the end of the year (and it got cold this weekend! In Florida! It’s too early to be in the 50s in Florida!)

Everyone up north is laughing at me. Don’t think I can’t hear you!

Thanksgiving is next week, and I’ll be prepping for that. Then I have to start thinking book wrap up and holidays and baking and school’s out!

Busy writer is BUSY!

So let me go get busy. Catch you next week!

 

Posted by EASchechter in 2019 plans, 2020 plans, accountability, baking, BDSM Vampires, Best laid plans, Best planned lays, Blood Bound, Bones of Earth, Cookiepocalypse, Eek!, Flesh and Blood, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, Hidden Things, public displays of geekery, publishing, Self-publishing, Swords of Charlemagne, Teach-in, the-end-is-near, to-dos, upcoming books, upcoming work, WIP, wordcount, Write Faster!, 0 comments

Works in Progress: Table of Stone and Forged in Fire, week sixteen

Table of Stone
Swords of Charlemagne, Book 4

63017 / 85000 (74.14%)

Forged in Fire
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 2

65501 / 85000 (77.06%)

Okay, I’m going to admit it.

I’m hitting the EEK part of the writers journey. The one that sees the deadline looming on the horizon, and the book isn’t anywhere NEAR finished yet.

I might have to focus solely on Table of Stone for a few weeks. Thankfully, I’ve got up to chapter 20 queued up for Forged in Fire. However, if I focus on Table of Stone, that means I might not get Forged in Fire done in time to have hard copies ready for Indie Bookfest.

Like I said, EEK!

And while I’m talking about Forged in Fire, chapter 17 has some what-the-fuckery that made the first reader/husband come into my office and say “What’s the heck was THAT???? Where did THAT come from?” It will, I hope, make sense in the long run. For now, we’ll see what the Patrons say when the chapter goes live. (Want to be in the room when that happens? You can, you know. Just join me on Patreon!)

Also on my to-do list is prep for my panels at Oasis. I’ll be moderating two panels, and I’m looking forward to them (especially the one on self-publishing!) If you’ll be in Orlando at the end of May/beginning of April, come check out the convention!

Posted by EASchechter in accountability, Adavar, appearances, Eek!, Elemental Project, Forged in Fire, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, Patreon, Swords of Charlemagne, Table of Stone, upcoming work, WIP, wordcount, Write Faster!, 0 comments

Busy, Busy!!!!

Busy, busy morning!

Ebooks are set up for presale

Print book is uploaded for layout and processing.

ARCS are off to readers

Written in Water is coming February 19th!

Posted by EASchechter in 2019 plans, Adavar, Eek!, Elemental Project, Heir to the Firstborn, Patreon, promotions, publishing, Release date, Self-publishing, SQUEEE, upcoming books, Written in Water, 0 comments

Mirror: Eek! Sorry

It’s been over a week since I last said anything to my lovely Patrons, and I just now realized it. Sorry about that! We’ve had some schedule shifts here, and I’m still getting used to what’s going to be a temporary normal. I’m not sure how long it’s going to be normal, exactly. I’m sure I’ll get my writing schedule under control before too long.

I have been working on Adavar, albeit in a notebook. I’ve written up the Air Tribe, and that will be coming sometime this week. I’m working on Earth and should have that finished shortly, and I already have ideas for Fire. Once I have those down, then I’ll see what else needs to be pulled together before I actually start with the writing part. Basic character sketches, maybe. There might be a blurb. Or not. I hate blurbing my own work.

I really am excited to get the actual story started.

In other news, I’ll be a featured author at Indie Bookfest, which is coming up next month here in Florida.  This will be a first time for me, and I’m looking forward to that!

Okay. Back to finishing up Earth.

(Originally posted on Patreon.)

Posted by EASchechter in a-writers-life-is-never-dull, Adavar, appearances, Eek!, Elemental Project, forthcoming works, Patreon, Planning, why-the-writing-is-slow, writing, 0 comments

So… this happened…

I went to check on Heart’s Master this morning (because I’m a dork like that) and I found this:

heart-s-master-kindle-edition-by-elizabeth-schechter-romance-kindle-ebooks-amazon-com

It came out Thursday, and it’s broken the top 100 on Amazon for Gay Erotica. (It premiered at 154, I think.)

Wow!

 

Posted by EASchechter in Eek!, Heart's Master, KermitArms, kvelling, mind blown, SQUEEE, yippee, 0 comments

Interview!

Late Saturday afternoon, I was interviewed by the lovely people from Hangin’ with Authors. The interview just went live on their YouTube page.

http://https://youtu.be/ifMe4ZKuZos

If I sound like a dork, don’t tell me, okay? Thanks.

Posted by EASchechter in Boosting the signal, conventions, Counsel of the Wicked, Eek!, heeheeheehee, interview, public displays of geekery, wow, 2 comments

So… here's something new.

New and interesting and something I never thought I would say.

I’m going to be self-publishing Tales from the Arena.

If I got the formatting done properly, I’ll get them uploaded tomorrow. If I haven’t done the formatting properly, then we’re looking at Monday or so. The Smashwords guide to formatting an ebook is very good… if you’re using Word.

I’m not using Word. I think that may very well be something I splurge on next year, though. Between not being able to do rtf format in Libreoffice without losing all formatting when I hit ‘save’, and now not being sure if I’ve done this right… yeah, might be worth it.

So… tune in here for more information, which I’ll be posting as I figure out what I’m doing  it becomes available!

Posted by EASchechter in 2013 plans, Eek!, new books, Self-publishing, Tales from the Arena, upcoming books, upcoming work, 0 comments