new books

Happy Book Day Eve!!!

It’s Book Day Eve!

(What? Liz, is that even a thing?)

Sure, it is! It’s the day before a book release! Tomorrow, Hidden Things goes live!!!

 

After all this time, it’s kind of hard to think that the day is finally almost here. One more sleep ’til Book Day!

How long? Last week, over on Facebook, I had a memory pop up.

That exchange is in chapter 4 of Hidden Things.  Written six years ago!

So what am I doing to celebrate Book Day? I’m leaving the house! (but only for a little while). I’ll be editing The Lady and the Sword (Swords of Charlemagne, Book 2), and writing Heir to the Firstborn. And working on my Super Spiffy RWA project.

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

11742 / 150000 (7.83%)

Heir has been going slowly — last week was a month long,  I swear. And this week promises to be just as long — my son has been doing virtual high school, because of the obvious reasons. But he has to be on campus twice this week for testing — the PSAT is tomorrow. (That’s why I’m leaving the house.) There’s also another major test he needs to take on Thursday.

So of COURSE we get the email this morning that there was someone on campus last week who has since tested positive for COVID. Of course we did.

Not entirely a happy Mama here. But… well, Florida, where living goes to the highest bidder.

Wow. Enough of that. Book Day! Tomorrow is BOOK DAY!!!

Posted by EASchechter in 2021 plans, forthcoming works, Happy Book Day, Heir to the Firstborn, Hidden Things, kvelling, new books, Release date, Swords of Charlemagne, upcoming books, upcoming work, WIP, wordcount, writing, writing-mom, 0 comments

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!!!!

 

Posted by EASchechter in 2020 plans, 2021 plans, accountability, Best laid plans, Best planned lays, Draft by the Solstice, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, Hidden Things, John Zebedee, new books, presales, publishing, Rebel Mage, Release date, Self-publishing, Swords of Charlemagne, to-dos, upcoming books, upcoming work, Wings of Air, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments

Busy, busy, busy. Did I mention busy?

Wings of Air
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 4

26414 / 30000 (88.05%)
***
John Zebedee and the Monstrous Town
26414 / 30000 (88.05%)

I talk every so often about how I juggle chainsaws. (Figurative chainsaws, not real ones.) I juggle being a mom and a writer and being an RWA Board member, with all the little things that come with those titles.

This past couple of weeks, I added three new ones.

Way back when I was a baby writer, I wrote a gaming manual. Psionics for SkillSkape was written for Chivalry and Sorcery, and my first outing as a writer was to present and promote it at Gencon 2004. The book went out of print in 2015 when the publisher closed, following the very untimely death of one of the owners.  Late last year, I think, I heard from his widow, who told me that there was a Kickstarter to bring Chivalry and Sorcery back into print, and that the new publishers were interested in bringing Psionics back out. Was I interested?

Sure!

So last week, I got the new files for Psionics for SkillSkape, which needs to be re-read and re-edited.

I haven’t played Chivalry and Sorcery since 2005, so this is being interesting.

Also in the past couple of weeks, I was asked to present a class to RWA University, based on a tutorial that I put together for the Virtual Conference (and that we subsequently didn’t need to use). I have to lengthen the tutorial into an actual class, and we need to set a date for that class. So I’ve been working on that.

And THEN… I was asked to take the helm of a task force exploring the benefits that the RWA can offer to our unpublished members. This includes taking on the design of a major RWA program. But no pressure!

When asked to take this on, my response was “You all trust me a whole lot, don’t you?”

So, between writing (1 and 2), editing (3), re- releasing one of the books from Forbidden Fiction (4), designing a class (5), I’ve been doing outreach to members (6),  brainstorming ideas of my own(7),  and recruiting members for my task force (8).

Eight! Eight chainsaws in the air! Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha! (Thunder! Lightning!)

Wait… new release?

Yes. I got a wild hair last week, and found several pieces of stock art that I felt fit Chains of Light. And then couldn’t decide, so I crowdsourced a decision on Twitter and Facebook. Did the cover design, got the novella up on Kindle Unlimited. It’ll be KU only until January, then I’ll throw it wide.

I also came to an executive decision last week. (Being my only employee, I suppose that means all my decisions are executive decisions.) Since Wings of Air had turned into a MONSTER of a book, and it’s not even to what I had envisioned as the halfway point… there will be Heir to the Firstborn, BOOK 5. The working title of Book 5 is Heir to the Firstborn, because why not wrap it up with the series title? Also, I have no spare brain cells to think of something better at the moment. (see above, eight chainsaws). This means that Wings of Air may be out in print by the end of the year, but I won’t swear to that yet.

The second issue of my newsletter went out Friday. Did you get it? Do you want to get it? (You missed a really REALLY, good cake recipe if you didn’t get it. Next month will be something for Thanksgiving. Not sure what yet.)

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So that’s everything in my neck of the woods. Time to go top off the coffee and get back to work!

Posted by EASchechter in 2020 plans, 2021 plans, annoying-muse-is-annoying, Best laid plans, Best planned lays, Chains of Light, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, John Zebedee, new books, promotions, upcoming books, upcoming work, Wings of Air, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments

Well, that was a non-event…

That, of course, being Isaias. I know it’s not going to be a non-event further up the East Coast, but usually it’s Florida that gets all the hurricanes. This time… well, I did say I wanted some dull. We got it. And this morning, after yoga, I swept the porch, moved all the plants back into place, and put the porch furniture back out.

But really, it was an “I shaved my legs cleaned the gutters for this?” kind of storm.

This year, it’s been interesting in a odd fashion. Storm season has been an afterthought for me. Usually, when storm season starts in June, I get all our storm supplies laid in so that we’re ready. I have a spreadsheet with expiration dates, and I rotate the supplies as needed.

This year, I was in the natural market on Friday, and I thought “I really should get a couple of loaves of shelf stable gluten free bread. And the emergency ice cream.”

That was the extent of my storm prep for the season. (And before you ask, emergency ice cream is a thing in our house. If the power goes out, eat the emergency ice cream FIRST.)

In talking with other area moms about storm prep (and the lack thereof — I’m not alone in this), I said the following: “My crisis management brain is currently occupied. All other crisises need to wait in line.”

From the reactions, this is apparently a deeply profound statement. But it’s true. I’m so focused on the pandemic and the crisis response to it (and Florida’s distinct LACK of crisis response to the pandemic) that the news that there was a Cat 1 hurricane heading for Florida? Please, don’t bother me with trivials! Oh, it weakened, and now it’s just a tropical storm? Turn off the sprinklers, we don’t need to water the lawn this weekend. Better barbecue tonight, it’s going to rain tomorrow.

Now, there was writing and writing prep this weekend.

Wings of Air
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 4

56448 / 120000 (47.04%)
***
John Zebedee and the Monstrous Town
0 / 30000 (0.00%)

Wait a minute, Liz! That wordcounter says zero! Yes, it does. That was the writing prep. I have the writing plan all ready, and I’m starting the synopsis for John Zebedee Meets the Witch Queen of Elfland.

The plan is to have EVERYTHING done by December. Which will make this the busiest writing year of my career — I’m hoping to finish 2020 by completing three novels, three novellas and one short story.

Last week was the busiest release week of my career — four releases in one day!

Under the Cape includes my short story Time for No Mercy.

Fools Rush In, Her Captive, and To Market are all reprints, and are all enrolled in Kindle Unlimited.  We’ll see how that works for the next 90 days. Then maybe I’ll go wide with them.

Not much else is going on here. We’re getting ready for school to start (we took the full remote option — refer to previous statement about Florida’s lack of crisis response.) And part of getting ready for school is a deep clean of Teen Boy’s room, something that we’re taking in small bites so as not to overwhelm him (or me!) Yesterday was the bookcase, today was the desk. Tomorrow is under the desk, and under the bed, and getting the menagerie of stuffies under some semblance of control. Curtains and bedding will be washed later this week, and everything vacuumed. At that point, I think it will be easier for him to manage, and to find things (there were several instances of “Oh, THERE that is! I was WONDERING where that went!” over the past two days.)

Hope things are boring your neck of the woods. In a good way, anyway.

Stay safe.

Posted by EASchechter in 2020 plans, accountability, Boosting the signal, deep thoughts, Happy Book Day, Heir to the Firstborn, Hurricane, I really want some dull, John Zebedee, new books, progress, publishing, Under the Cape, Wings of Air, WIP, wordcount, writing-mom, 0 comments

Fly, My Pretties!!!

Today, I have something happening that I rarely do — I actually don’t think this has ever happened to me before.

I have four book releases today!

One of these is an anthology appearance, my first with Riverdale Avenue Press. Under The Cape is a sexy superhero anthology edited by Rachel Kenley, and it was fun to work on.

My story in this anthology is Time for No Mercy, and yes, that’s a Doctor Horrible reference.

The other three all re-releases of short stories. I’m starting them out in Kindle Unlimited, to see how they do. So in 90 days, they might go wide. Or they might not. It’s an experiment.

First up — my erotic retelling of an already erotic poem.

To Market.

Do not go to the Goblin Market. Do not try their wares.

 

Second release was inspired by Tom Smith and his song Kidnapped by Pirates is Good.

Her Captive

What do you do with a kidnapped sailor…?

 

And finally, my action romp through an ancient temple.

Fools Rush In.

When someone tells you that something cannot be done, proving them wrong might just be interesting.

 

(I’m really very pleased with how that cover came out.)

EEEE!!!! New books!!!!

Posted by EASchechter in happy-happy- joy- joy, kvelling, new books, publishing, Release date, short story, SQUEEE, Ta-da, Under the Cape, yippee, 0 comments

Romance Writer’s Weekly: Speedbumps

Hello and good morning! Welcome in! It’s a lovely, albeit drizzly, day here in Central Florida, and I have a new book out!

I’ll talk about the new book in a minute. For now, let’s talk speedbumps. All writers have speedbumps, those scenes that slow their writing pace to a crawl. It’s always the same — you’re writing, the characters are really talking to you, you have the energy, you’re making words…. and WHAM!!!

Speedbump.

I have two speedbumps in particular, and they both happen for the same reason. What are they? What’s the reason?

For me, it’s sex scenes and fight scenes. Both of them slow me down to a crawl. Funny, right? A writer who has built her career on steamy sex can’t just (pardon me) bang one out? (I’m sorry!)

It’s true! I’ve been known to leave <INSERT SEX HERE> in a manuscript so I can search it up later and put the scene in, just so that I don’t break my momentum. So far, I haven’t handed a manuscript to my editor with a missing scene, but you never know. One of these years, it’ll happen.

So what do sex scenes and fight scenes have in common?

Blocking.

I can’t write a “count the number of legs in the bed and divide by two” sex scene (to quote one of my favorite Terry Prachett lines). A scene that essentially boils down to “Wham, bam, thank you ma’am” (or “thank you, man,” depending on which book we’re talking about) does nothing for me. Sex scenes have to flow properly and organically, and make sense when you go from one to the next. Otherwise they just don’t work for me. Which means spending a lot of time thinking them out, planning movements, researching positions and BDSM rope dress. I can tell you that my search history would make my mother wash my mouse out with soap!

Fight scenes slow me down the same way. Writing a fight scene can be very much like writing a sex scene, because the movements have to flow, and they have to make sense.

Writing The White Raven: Morrigan’s Heir took forever because it’s a sword-and-sandal erotic romance. But it’s off with the editor now, so hopefully I wrote both sorts of scenes properly and it sells!

Now, there are fight scenes in the Heir to the Firstborn series, but there’s no explicit sex (it’s all behind closed doors), so I only had one speedbump to worry about. It didn’t slow me down too much, because Bones of Earth (Heir to the Firstborn 3) is out today.

For Owyn, saving the world meant losing everything.
Losing everything led him to something worth living for.
Keeping that something may cost him his life.

You can find it on Amazon, Smashwords, Google Play, or any other ebook retailer.  There’s even a paperback, although it’s not showing up on Amazon for some reason. (Working on that!) And if you want to follow along with the final book once you’ve caught up, you can jump into Wings of Air by joining me on Patreon.

That’s about all for my neck of the woods. Time to go back to writing, and hope I don’t hit any speedbumps. Your next stop on the RRW web cycle is over with A.S Fenichel. If you’re in the mood to take a chance, she’s running a contest! For me? I’m curious to see if her speedbumps are anything like mine!

Posted by EASchechter, 0 comments

WIP and Book Birthdays and Stuff

Echoes of Light

19524 / 50000 (39.05%)

***
Wings of Air
Heir 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.

Posted by EASchechter in 2020 plans, accountability, appearances, Best laid plans, Best planned lays, Bones of Earth, Echoes of Light, Elemental Project, forthcoming works, Happy Book Day, Heir to the Firstborn, Hidden Things, John Zebedee, Keiser SuperCon, new books, presales, Release date, Swords of Charlemagne, the-end-is-near, upcoming books, upcoming work, Wings of Air, WIP, wordcount, writing-mom, 0 comments

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 Air
Heir 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.

Posted by EASchechter in 2020 plans, accountability, Bones of Earth, Boosting the signal, Echoes of Light, Elemental Project, Forged in Fire, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, John Zebedee, new books, progress, promotions, Release date, Ta-da, to-dos, upcoming books, upcoming work, Wings of Air, WIP, wordcount, Written in Water, 0 comments

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.

Posted by EASchechter, 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