Flesh and Blood

Jul

2022

Relaxing… sort of…

I am relaxing! Really!

Well, sort of…

I’m not actively writing. Except that I am messing around a little with The Sea Prince, because I was bored. I redid the outline, and am messing with things to see where they go. It definitely falls into the realm of my favorite trope — “These Two Idiots.”

I’m not actively editing, either. Except that I’m rereading Heir to the Firstborn and making notes of all the things that need to be updated and expanded on for the new editions.

I’m not actively planning, but that’s because I finished the synopses for Flesh and Blood.

I am doing research, but that’s mostly reading, so it’s relaxing even though I’m kinda working.

And in and around that, I’m catching up on TV — we binged The Book of Boba Fett, and finished Obi-Wan Kenobi last night (viewer note — I came away from this series completely convinced in my bones that Obi-Wan is an IDIOT!) I think our next binge is getting back to She-Ra. We have two seasons left on that, I think. Maybe I’ll watch Gentleman Jack when we get back from vacation.

I’m catching up on my reading, too. I finished the main series of Bridgerton books, and I read the newest Valdemar book from Mercedes Lackey. I’m back to reading the Magic in Manhattan (Allie Theron) series, and I have The Tale of the Five (Diane Duane) series downloaded. I haven’t decided yet what book is coming with me on vacation, but I should do that.

Now, if you want to catch up on reading, chapter 8 of John Zebedee and the Heir of the Elvenlands dropped today. There are only three chapters left, then John Zebedee and the Monstrous Town starts in August.

And Where Home Lies drops a week from tomorrow, bringing the last Rebel Mage book back into circulation.

And I think that’s everything for this week.

Jun

2022

Things and Stuff

That’s about the state of things right now in my word. There are things and stuff. Things and stuff are happening, and I’m doing things and stuff.

At the moment, I’m about half finished with the synopsis for book 4 of Flesh and Blood. There’s one book after that, and that will, I think, end the series (at least for the foreseeable future? It has the potential to go on longer, because, you know, vampires.) The short story is still in limbo, and I’m starting to wonder if it’s going to come together, because every time I look at it, my brain goes blank.

Research into Imaginative Anthropology is going well, although I’m realizing that the book I’m reading right now is dated — the next one on my list is a more recent publication, which will help offset the cringe I’m finding in sections on gender and sexuality.

Vacation is coming up soon, but I had to put vacation sewing on hold because the machine needed to be serviced. I should have that back next week. I might go ahead and cut the pieces now, but I might not.

Episode 6 of John Zebedee and the Heir of the Elvenlands went live today. People are reading it, but I can see why folks are saying that Vella isn’t really getting the traction that Amazon hoped it would. I hope they figure out how to make this platform work. I like it, but they really do need to do more to push it!

I’m waiting for more feedback from the beta readers for BVC, but it looks like I have a job of work to do with new edits for Heir to the Firstborn. Serials and novels really are two different beasts, and they don’t translate well from one to the other. That’s on my to-do list for 2023, because I think the only book that will need minimal edits is Written in Water! The new covers are ABSOLUTELY gorgeous and I can’t wait to reveal them — I just got the proof for Wings of Air and it’s beautiful.

There’s also a title change coming — Heir to the Firstborn: The Crossroads will be republished as Dreams of Smoke. I haven’t yet decided what the new title for Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home will be. It does need that Something-in-Something title to fit with the rest of the series (and there are three Something-OF-Something titles, so I need one more Something-IN-Something to balance. But I might not. We’ll see.)

I DO know that The Way Home needs to be edited HEAVILY — it’s way too long. There are subplots in there that may not make it to the final version, and there’s one character who told me more about them after I finished, so I need to change them up a bit. It’s still going to go live for my Patreon patrons in November, but I may hold off actually publishing book 6 in the wild until the BVC edition. Again, we’ll see.

Things and stuff. Stuff and things. Decisions to make.

I’m awfully busy for someone who is supposed to be taking it easy this summer. But, in the taking it easy part, I did binge the entire Book of Boba Fett yesterday (The Mandalorian, season 2.5?) Now on to the rest of my watch list — next up? Seasons 4 and 5 of She-Ra!

Jun

2022

Productivity

It’s amazing how much you can get done when you take time off.

That’s not supposed to be sarcastic, but it might be, just a little. Because I’m zipping through things that I’ve been putting off while I worked on finishing up Heir to the Firstborn. I’m moving things to the completed column of my kanban board, which is cool. I’m going to see how many things I can get done before I reset the board for 3rd Quarter at the end of the month. So, since I finished the book, I’ve completed my marketing and my financial plans, wrote a series breakdown of Heir to the Firstborn because I have five DIFFERENT beta readers at Book View Cafe. (The only one not at a disadvantage is the person who has book one…) I updated the series bible for Flesh and Blood (the BDSM Vampire series) and realized that it is five books, not four. Wrote the synopsis for book three, and started on book 4. I’ve completed two finance classes and am halfway through a third. And I’m having fun with the research for Imaginative Anthropology, and I have a book on order for a research paper I’m considering on the evolution of the woman warrior. (Working title: From Britomartis to Brienne)

Oh, and I’m sewing for vacation. And learning to shuttle tat.

Now, this seems like a LOT of things, and it is, but there’s no pressure to do any of it. Most of it is really relaxing to do, so it’s not even like work. I’m busy, but I’m not stressed about it.

Episode 5 of John Zebedee and the Heir of the Elvenlands went live this morning.

I’m not sure anyone is actually reading, though, so I might put together an ad to promote it. I can see why people are saying that Vella isn’t really being pushed by Amazon, though.

And Where Home Lies goes live on July 12th. Once the entire series is out (including the box set that is coming in October), I’m going to move this over to be wide. So that will be sometime early next year for wide distribution of Rebel Mage. (I have to wait until the box set comes out of KU, which will be in January, I think.) But this series may move over to BVC, too, so we’ll see what that changes between now and then.

Counsel of the Wicked is a freebie until the end of the month over in the Love Me Now giveaway. There are some interesting spicy romances in there, so take a look!

And that’s about everything for this week, I think.

Jan

2022

Don’t Make Any Sudden Moves!

We don’t want to startle 2022. Approach gently and carefully, and maybe we’ll be all right.

Seriously, how many of us are starting the year like this?

Welcome to 2022. I think? Maybe?

I spent time last week catching up on my rest, my reading, and on my TV. We’re into season 2 of She-Ra, and I started Bridgerton, and was immediately annoyed by the subplot that shouldn’t have been there (I spent quite a few minutes going “Who’s Marina? Did I miss her? Is she in the later books?”) I’ll try again later, when I’ve given myself space between reading the book and seeing the series. I watched quite a bit of Tasting History with Max Miller on YouTube, which is well worth the watching and I can’t wait for his book to come out! And we watched Encanto on New Years Eve, and everyone needs to see that movie (also, Bruno is living rent-free in my head now, and I need to cosplay as Luisa.)

There was no writing done last week, and only a little after I blogged two weeks ago, but Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home is now past the halfway mark in the outline (you know, the one that my characters never seem to want to follow?) We hit the midpoint event, and introduced a fun character (when you meet Frayim, you’ll know WHY Bruno is now living rent-free in my head.)

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

73606 / 150000 (49.07%)

I spent time last week thinking about Tales from the Arena: Dead Man’s Hand, which is the final book in the series, and had been taking a while because the characters wouldn’t tell me what it was about. I have about half a book plotted out. Slightly less plotted out on Blood Price, book 3 of the Flesh and Blood series, but I have time on that one.

In the works for this year? The Box Set of Swords of Charlemagne is currently up for preorder, and will drop on February 1st. I’ll be reformatting and re-releasing the Rebel Mage books on KU (and they will be staying on KU. Dark erotic romance seems to do well there.) The Way Home will be out in late 2022, and we’ll see if there will be one more release this year (I have the date blocked out, but I might not have anything ready to release. We’ll see.)

I’m also waiting on news on several things in slush, including

Sapphires and Gold (which is under contract)
Bonds of Blood and Steel (sequel to House of Sable Locks)
The White Raven: Morrigan’s Heir
the John Zebedee books (not sure what’s happening with that project anymore)
Blood Bound (Flesh and Blood, book 1)
The tenth anniversary edition of Princes of Air (which is late, I know.)

On the business side of writing, I’ll be working in a business plan this quarter. Writing is a business, I should have a plan. Q2 will have a financial plan as a focus, and Q3 will have a better marketing plan (better than throw money at ads and hope it works…)

So that’s where things are in this neck of the woods. At least, for now.

Oct

2021

On Your Mark… Get Set… GO!

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

18295 / 150000 (12.20%)

I finished edits on Heir to the Firstborn: The Crossroads, so I started writing Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home last week.

No, I did not write eighteen thousand words in a week. (That would be something, though!) There were five chapters that were already written when I decided that Heir to the Firstborn needed to be two books. Last week, I actually wrote 4,830 words — Chapter One, and part of Chapter Two.

Last week, I also worked a bit more on the synopsis for Blood Price, which will be book three of the Flesh and Blood series. There was some backstory that had been alluded to in Blood Bound that actually needed to be worked out because they find out the truth in this book.

Pen to Paper is on its first scheduled break, and I’m working on getting a couple of units for the last level finished up. (Specifically, the last two levels). This program… it’s just been a year since they came to me and said “We’d like for you to take on this task force and put together this program.” What a YEAR this has been!!!

For my next trick? Well… I can’t tell you yet. What I can say is that I also need to get to work on the presentation I’ll be making at the RWA National convention. Which is coming up… ah… next month. Okay, I REALLY need to get to work on that!

More on the sooper sekrit project in two weeks.

Back to work!

Sep

2021

Mondayest Monday Ever

Today is indeed the most Mondayest Monday ever.

On Friday, my windshield caught a kicked-up rock, and cracked. I’ve always been taught that you shouldn’t drive with a cracked windshield, so I got the car home, and set up an appointment through my car insurance to have the windshield fixed.

This morning, bright and way-too-early, windshield company shows up. They’re going to try to repair the crack first, because it’s not large and not in the direct line of sight. But injecting the resin made the crack get bigger. The tech stopped immediately and told me “We need to replace the windshield.”

Okay, but guess what they don’t have in stock? If you answered the particular windshield for my particular car? You win a gold star!

They’re going to try and get a new windshield for me before Friday and Necronomicon, but they assured me that the car is safe to drive. So that’s something.

I’ve got something of a busy week this week — tomorrow is the Kindle Unlimited release of Table of Stone, the last Swords of Charlemagne book. To celebrate that, Hidden Things is on sale everywhere for 2.99 this week.

Wednesday night I’ll be doing the Busy Black and Beautiful with LaQuette video podcast, and I’ll tweet the link to watch live out once I have it. And Thursday and Friday will be con prep. And in the meantime, I’m doing all sorts of writing prep.

I spent most of last week working on synopses for future writing. Ready to go are Tower of Light and Blood Brothers (Flesh and Blood 2). I’m working now on Blood Price (Flesh and Blood 3), and I’m refining the synopsis for Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home, so it better aligns with what happened in Heir to the Firstborn: The Crossroads. I also need to update the series bible for Flesh and Blood, because i noticed that I left a lot blank that shouldn’t be left blank (There are whole character pages blank, and that’s not good. That’s how you end up reading three books to see if you ever mentioned a character’s eye color.) I’ll be starting the editing reread of Crossroads at the convention, and I’ll be starting to write The Way Home once Crossroads is handed off to my darling editor.

I’ve also got a bunch of things in the RWA pipeline, but I can’t talk about them yet. Exciting stuff, though! You’ll learn more about it soon.

And that’s pretty much it for what’s happening in my neck of the woods. See you all after the convention!

Sep

2021

Down Time and Catching Up.

I’m taking a week or two to rest my brain before launching into Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home. I actually haven’t even started on the edits for Crossroads yet — I figured I’d work on them at the table at Necronomicon, and shoot to have them done by mid-October. Which means that the on sale date for Crossroads will probably be December. Once I have that set, I’ll announce it.

I realized just now that I’ve been sitting on the cover for Crossroads, too.

Choices must be made. But choices have consequences.

Part of my brain break has been laying the groundwork for what I’ll be doing after I finish The Way Home (or while I’m working on it, depending on things.) I’ve written a synopsis for Blood Brothers (Flesh and Blood book 2), The Iron Virgin (that Pirate and Princess thing), and I’m working on the synopsis for Tower of Light (the gay steampunk retelling of Metropolis that I was challenged to write years ago by one of the best editors I ever had). I’m hoping to get the rest of the Flesh and Blood synopses done before Necro, but Tower of Light is going slowly — I’m having to be very conscious of matching the beats of Metropolis. So I may save Tower of Light to actually write until I have nothing else going on.

Stop laughing.

I’m also still working on RWA things. Pen to Paper is running, and my team is working on incorporating our development tester feedback into upcoming units. I’m tech support on call for our participants, and having a great time with that. I’m also working on another couple of projects that are still in the warm Jell-O stages, and won’t be solidified until after our first Board meeting, which will be… soon? Ish? I don’t have a date for that yet. So there is a lot in flux in that area.

Coming up on the end of third quarter also means starting to look at what I’ll be doing and publishing in 2022. Right now, I know for certain that I’ll be wrapping up Heir to the Firstborn, releasing a box set of the Swords of Charlemagne books (February 1st, 2022!), and I will be rereleasing the Rebel Mage books — I have all new covers for them. I haven’t set up a schedule yet for most things yet, but I will next quarter. I need to decide if I will be doing a box set for the Heir to the Firstborn books, but I’m not going to decide on that until I finish The Way Home. If I do put one out, it will be late 2022. That’s the publishing that I have control over. I’m waiting to hear what’s happening with John Zebedee (it appears that the project may have been pushed back, but no official word yet), and with the myriad of things over with Riverdale Avenue Books.

And that’s about it for this week. Back to work!

Aug

2021

It’s Starting!!!

Today is the day!!!

Pen to Paper starts today!!!

Ten months of hard work and hustle, and it finally starts today. This past week we had our onboarding meetings with our Guides and with our Participants and everyone is so excited and enthusiastic, and loving the materials they’ve already seen.

To quote my son, I have an excite.

via GIPHY

I also have a lot more work to do. But today, I have an excite!

Heir to the Firstborn: The Crossroads
(Heir to the Firstborn, book 5)

116776 / 130000 (89.83%)

I didn’t get the draft synopsis done last week for The Iron Virgin (the pirate thing), and I didn’t get as much done as I wanted on Crossroads, but I did finish my revision on Blood Bound, so that will be heading off sometime this week or next. I also had a really exciting something drop into my lap, and that needs to get worked on. Nope, not saying. Can’t say. But OMG!!!

I’ll tell you all more when I can. Promise.

Needless to say? I’ve got a busy week ahead. And an even busier one next week, with Orlando Reads Books coming up! Catch you all next week!

Aug

2021

Goodness, is that the time?

The time, at the moment, is 11:27 AM on August 9th. And in one week, the RWA Pen to Paper program, the project that has been eating my brain for the past year, launches.

You know that gif of Kermit, standing backstage and biting his nonexistent nails?

via GIPHY

Yeah… that’s a fair approximation of how I’ll look on Sunday….

That is, when I’m not like this…

via GIPHY

Because it’s starting. It’s really starting. We created something from the ground up and people are excited to be a part of it. This program is… well, it’s amazing. Yes, I know I’m as biased as a new mother in this regard, but really, it’s AMAZING.

And it starts one week from today.

In other news — yes, I do have other news — the worldbuilding for this new pirate thing is coming along. I might even have a rough synopsis this week. Which will then get put aside to percolate because I have to finish Heir to the Firstborn: The Crossroads, start Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home, edit Crossroads for a late fall/early winter release, and edit Blood Bound so that I can get that back out to Riverdale/Circlet. My barefoot pirates (and yes, there’s a reason for them being barefoot!) will have to wait!

Heir to the Firstborn: The Crossroads
(Heir to the Firstborn, book 5)

115164 / 150000 (76.78%)

Notice how that number dropped from last week? That’s because I moved about 13K words out of this manuscript and into The Way Home. I’m thinking there are maybe another three or four chapters to this one, so I am shooting to have the draft of Crossroads done this month, and I fully intend to try and make the November release date I put into my planner at the beginning of the year. But… it might be December. I’ll see how revisions go and keep everyone posted.

Not much else is happening. I’m prepping for Orlando Reads Books, starting to think on costuming for Necronomicon and Books at the Beach, and looking forward to two conferences I’ll be attending as an attendee (for the record? Emerald City Writers Conference and Trans/Inter/Cross: A Symposium on the Fantastic Between Genres, Media, and Cultures.) I have RWA Nationals in November, and Keiser Supercon in December.

Still planning on being a puddle in January.

Feb

2021

A Day Off? What’s That?

Why are days off so much more busy than the days when I’m scheduled? Answer? Because I try to cram everything I can’t get done on the days when I’m working into the days when I’m nominally not working. Because the truth of the matter is that I’m never not working. I’m a mom, and an independent business woman, and I run a household. I’m never not doing something, and I’m not sure I know how to sit and do nothing. Even when I do yoga, my mind never shuts off. Today’s post is much later than I usually post, because today I got up, exercised, ate something, went to Trader Joe’s (and encountered my first maskhole being escorted from the premises for refusing to wear his mask properly), came home, showered, had lunch, had a conference call, had another conference call, made dinner, redid two covers (The Lady and the Sword and Wings of Air) because page proofs arrived and showed that I screwed something up on BOTH covers, and now I’m writing this post. I might get more proofreading done on Wings of Air before bed, but I still have edits to do on Ashes and Light, and I haven’t written a word on Heir to the Firstborn. There are some social media things I need to do for an RWA chapter, and those won’t be getting done until tomorrow, and I’m putting off some things for the Super ~~SEECRIT~~ Spiffy RWA project until tomorrow, too. Hrm… no wonder I’m tired. Heir to the Firstborn is progressing. Heir to the Firstborn(Heir to the Firstborn, book 5)

28828 / 150000 (19.22%)

I wrote a scene the other day and posted it to my Facebook, and it’s a nice example of how a scene really does change between the time it flows from my fingers and the time the reader gets it. The initial scene, as written, was this:

Othi’s jaw dropped. He looked at Owyn, then shook his head. “I… I don’t think I’ve heard you swear like that. You didn’t, when we were out in the deep. Or did you, and I just missed it?”

“Probably missed it,” Alanar said. “Owyn is very sweary.” He smiled fondly at Owyn. “One of these days, love, I should wash your mouth out with soap.”

“You and what army?” Owyn growled.

Alanar laughed and turned toward him.“If I get you in the right position, you’ll ask me for the soap,” he purred, and Owyn turned pink.

“Enough of that,” Aria said. “We have to leave, and we cannot wait for the pair of you to crawl back into bed.”

Alanar straightened and turned to face her. He smiled. “Oh, I wouldn’t be the one crawling.”

It’s a good scene. But that last line bothered me. It was out of character for Alanar. It was right… but why did he say that? So I let it percolate, and the finished scene still includes this exchange, but it’s very different from the original. And I’m not showing it to you because spoilers. You have to wait for Heir to the Firstborn. Today, for the first time, I started thinking about what will come next. Once I’ve finished publishing Swords of Charlemagne and Heir to the Firstborn, what’s next year going to hold? There are the plans to republish the Rebel Mage books, and I’ll need to design new covers for those, but what new fiction is coming? I’m honestly not sure yet. The White Raven: Morrigan’s Heir is over with Circlet, as is Blood Bound, Sapphires and Gold, and Bonds of Blood and Steel. I don’t have any information on where those are in the process, so not data on them. The Chronicles of John Zebedee are off with the publisher putting together the box set, and those should be out in 2022. I need to write the second White Raven book, and I need plan out the rest of the Flesh and Blood series. I think the series plan may be what I focus on once the edits are done for Swords of Charlemagne, while I’m finishing Heir to the Firstborn. As for the Patreon, once Heir is finally wrapped, I may try to resurrect The Willow Sword, and do that one next. Too many things. Not enough hours to do them.

Flesh and Blood

Relaxing… sort of…

Things and Stuff

Productivity

Don’t Make Any Sudden Moves!

On Your Mark… Get Set… GO!

Mondayest Monday Ever

Down Time and Catching Up.

It’s Starting!!!

Goodness, is that the time?

A Day Off? What’s That?

Works in Progress

Appearances

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