Iron and Silk

Sep

2024

Prep All the Things!

Today is September 16th, and I have the first of five shows in a little under two weeks. It’s time to PREP ALL THE THINGS!

Books have been ordered (and in the cases of three titles, more books have been delivered than I ordered, because mistakes were made.) Stock boxes are packed. Prices lists have been printed. Hotel reservations have been made (actually, they were made a while ago.) Vaccines have been onboarded (yesterday.)

Still to do? Haul the boxes off show stuff from my office down to the living room. Print off packing lists. Prep for my panels (and possibly bug the person in charge of scheduling to let me know when those panels are going to be happening because it’s getting late…) And I have to do the things that have to be done before the end of the month, because I’ll be busy from the end of the month until the beginning of November, and a couple of these things are time sensitive.

And, of course, in the middle of all of this, there must be writing done. I’m just over the halfway number on King of Swords, and wondering if I need to increase my wordcount again. Honestly, at this point? I think I’m just going to put words on the page, and if it ends up being two books? It ends up being two books. I can’t imagine my publisher being annoyed at that.

I finished my editing pass on The Sea Prince the other night, and sent it over to my editor to take another look. There are still a couple of questions that need to be answered, but if things fall the way I think they will, then The Sea Prince will launch on Kindle Vella late this year or early next. That’s written in very warm Jello at the moment, though.

While I wait for edits and answers, I’m working on the outlines/synopsis/what my characters are going to laugh at this time for The Covert Saloon series. I sort of pushed that to the side to finish up The Sea Prince, and now I’m almost done with book one. I have a vague idea (nope, not gonna say it…) as to what book 2 will be like, and I know how book 3 is going to end, but not how it’s going to start. Not yet. This series may end up being more discovery writing than I usually do, but we’ll see when we get to that point.

I’m also not sure if it’ll be the next thing I work on, or if I’ll be starting The Coral Throne (the sequel to The Sea Prince.) Or maybe I’ll dive into the Iron and Silk series — that’s all plotted and ready to go, except for some of the research. Or lightning could strike and I could sell Blood Bound tomorrow, which would mean going back into the Flesh and Blood universe and my kinky vampires.

So many choices!!!!

Finish King of Swords first, Liz. Then decide.

Work in Progress

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

63263 / 120000 (52.72%)

Promotions

Shockingly, Counsel of the Wicked is still a contender for SPFBOX, which means that it is still on sale wherever ebooks are sold.

I’ll be participating in a Stuff Your Kindle event from October 18-20th. There are over 400 books that will be free or discounted for that weekend, and I’ll have Written in Water up for free!

I’m also going to be a part of Enchanted Realms, and this promotion runs for the entire month of October — sign up for newsletters, get free books and enter to win a $30 gift card!

Appearances

Necronomicon
September 27-29th, 2024
Tampa, Florida

***

Not So Spooky Hallowfest
October 6th, 2024
Deltona, Florida

***

Wizards, Witches and the Weird
October 27th, 2024
Daytona Beach, Florida

***

Maker Faire Orlando
November 9-10th
Orlando, Florida

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.

Oct

2023

Keep It Simple

Otherwise known as the KISS Principle — Keep It Simple, Stupid (or whatever other s-word you want to have there. This is how I learned it). It governs a lot of forward facing properties from set design to costume design to websites. And translated into Liz Speak today, it means that I personally should not have two locations on my website to update the same information, because I will invariably forget that one of them exists.

Brought to you by the fact that I just remembered I had an Appearances page on this website, which hadn’t been updated since early 2021.

Oops?

It’s fixed now, and the Appearances widget has also been updated. I’m finished with appearances for this year, but there are two on the calendar for 2024 so far, and I’m waiting for more info on a couple of others.

Work is continuing, and I’m still waiting for edits on Morrigan’s Heir. My editor says that they are minimal, however, I don’t know how he defines minimal. Here’s hoping the turnaround will go quickly because this book was advertised for 2023, and I don’t want to let anyone down who was waiting. Once edits on Morrigan’s Heir are finished, I’ll go through Morrigan’s Wrath and make sure everything is consistent, and then send that in.

I’m hoping to have Balance of Power done by the end of the year. I just started chapter 14, and I’m starting to think this will be a shorter book than the others. My projection said 90K words, but I think it’s going to be closer to 65 – 70K. We shall see. And once that’s done, then I’ll go back to The Sea Prince and get that finished. Yes. Finished. This time I MEAN it.

And then? Well, I’m going to start the research for Iron and Silk, because my Pirate Princess is yelling at me. But is she yelling louder than Teren, the Three Day Emperor from Tales from the Arena, who finally told me his story and is just waiting for me to get it on the page? Or maybe, just maybe, I might pull out the bones of The Willow Sword and write that one — it’s started, but something wasn’t right with it, and I think it’s just that I’m not meant to write YA, and this needs to be aged up. Again, we shall see.

I do know that I’m going back to working on one writing project at a time. One in research, one actively writing, one in edits. I don’t seem to be able to balance two writing projects at a time anymore. I think I burned out that portion of my writing brain. But that’s okay. I’m still getting words on the page, and there are still so many books to write.

Works in Progress

Balance of Power
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 7

43409 / 90000 (48.23%)

The Sea Prince
The Coral Throne, Book 1

63623 / 120000 (53.02%)

Promotions!

My no longer final promo for the year is THIS FRIDAY, hosted by Stephanie Freeman. You can find more information and sign up here. For that event, you can grab free copies of The Chronicles of John Zebedee!

I’ve also decided to do that First in Series Friday for Black Friday, marking down Written in Water, Hidden Things, Counsel of the Wicked, and The Chronicles of John Zebedee. So keep an eye out for that information — I need to make graphics for it and get some ads set up.

Oct

2023

Tenth Anniversary!

I have to lead with this gorgeous thing — the tenth anniversary cover for House of Sable Locks…

Isn’t he LOVELY???

This went live sometime over the weekend, and I missed it until this morning, when I received a spam email from a book promoter about my “new book” House of Sable Locks.

That’s very much William… which is funny because that particular model is also on the cover of Infernal Machine! Clearly, the art director and I have similar tastes in steampunk cover models.

The tenth anniversary cover is still going out to all the booksellers and isn’t yet up everywhere. If you want one now, you can get it directly from the publisher.

In other news, I got the news this week that Written in Water was cut from SPFBO, and will not be continuing on in the contest. The reviewer was incredibly positive about the book, and loved the series as well. Really, I can’t complain — the entire experience has been amazing from start to finish. You can read the review here.

In and around working on The Sea Prince and Balance of Power, I’m planning out what the next book will be. Part of that depends on one thing that is out of my control — which books that are out for consideration sell. If I don’t have an answer for that by the time I finish with either of the two books I’m working on now, then I think the next thing I will write will be either The Iron Virgin (aka Pirate Princess), or Tower of Light (aka gay steampunk retelling of Metropolis). I’m not sure which, because it all depends on which one yells at me the loudest.

It’s hard to believe I’ve been doing this whole full-time writer thing over ten years now. What a trip this has been! I have to say, it’s not getting old — I love every minute of it!

Works in Progress

The Sea Prince
(The Coral Throne, Book 1)

63523 / 120000 (52.94%)

Balance of Power
(Heir to the Firstborn, book 7)

34357 / 90000 (38.17%)

Promotions!

A new Cavalcade of Authors promo is coming this week, from October 13th through the 15th. Again, 200 books or more free for download. For this one, I’ve put both Written in Water AND Forged in Fire into the pot.

There’s also a single day event on October 27th, hosted by Stephanie Freeman. You can find more information on that and sign up here. For that event, you can grab free copies of The Chronicles of John Zebedee!

May

2023

Productive Downtime

Productive downtime sounds like a contradiction in terms. Like jumbo shrimp and near miss (if you’re not familiar with George Carlin’s routine on contradictions, go see if you can find it.) It’s a contradiction, but it’s where I am right now. I’m not actively writing, but I’m being very productive.

The synopsis for Book 7 of Heir to the Firstborn is done, and all that needs is a title. I’ve also finished the synopsis for The Silken Courtesan (Iron and Silk, book 2), and am about to start worldbuilding for that series, while thinking about what book 3 might be about. I think that The Iron Virgin (Iron and Silk, book 1) may by my Spring 2024 book, but we’ll see where things lie when I we get closer to the end of Winter 2023.

I’ve also pulled together all of the little bits of worldbuilding that I’ve done on The Sea Prince, and realized that there was more than I thought. It just wasn’t organized. Now it is, and there was very little that needed to be added. So I’m ready to get back into working on the book, and this time I’m going to finish it!

I mean it!

Really!

Back to summer stuff. I’m rereading a manuscript that’s completed but unpublished, with an eye toward submitting it to a new imprint that’s opening up for Fantasy Romance. (Bramble Publishing, a Tor imprint.) I attended a webinar with the acquisitions editor this past weekend, and she says that they’ll be reading unagented submissions. I just don’t know when, so I want this ready to go when they announce. And I’ve started a bonus short story to go with Morrigan’s Wrath, because I left some loose ends for a character who needs his HEA, thank you very much.

Once those are all wrapped up, I’ll be spending the rest of the summer reading and outlining Imaginative Anthropology. I have an idea as to format, but I need to see if it’ll actually work the way I’m thinking. I should know by the end of the summer.

And just regular reading. I have a stack as tall as I am of books I’ve been meaning to read. Time to get to it! First on my list? Babel, by R.F. Kuang.

And that’s my plan for the next two months. Productive downtime.

Iron and Silk

Prep All the Things!

Work in Progress

Promotions

Appearances

Closing In On The End.

Works in Progress

Promotions!

Keep It Simple

Works in Progress

Promotions!

Tenth Anniversary!

Works in Progress

Promotions!

Productive Downtime

Works in Progress

Appearances

Find My Books!

Social Media

Let's Keep in Touch!

Thanks for signing up!