promotions

We’re All Gonna Be Safe…

We’re All Gonna Be Safe…

There’s a Youtube personality named Ranboo, who made up a little song while playing Five Nights at Freddy’s. It starts “we’re all gonna be safe…”

This, I think, is the most accurate reaction to 2025 so far. Don’t you think?

Today is technically my first day back at the keyboard, even though I was doing some business related things last week. Inventory of books on hand, repacking boxes, reconciling accounts, paying taxes and filing copyright. I’m waiting for page proofs on Morrigan’s Heir, which might make an appearance in late January (cross your crossables! As soon as I have a date, I’ll let you know!) The Sea Prince is back from the sensitivity editor, with surprisingly few suggestions! I’ll be getting those done and running them past the editor again, and then we’ll work on getting it out into the world. Looking at maybe April? It’ll depend on when Morrigan’s Heir drops.

I finally really looked at King of Swords and realized that yes, it was two books. So Tales from the Arena: Dead Man’s Hand is currently marinating and I’ll print it off for edits next week. Tales from the Arena: King of Swords already has a wordcount already because I moved two chapters out of Dead Man’s Hand. I also plan on starting The Coral Throne (The Sea Prince, book 2), but right now, I haven’t even set up the file in Scrivener. Maybe later tonight.

I’ve also set up a number of in-person events for this year — I’m trying to have at least one a month, because when I sat down to do my accounting for 2024, I found that most of my income came from in person sales. Which proves once again something I learned when I was still making jewelry — no one can sell your product better than you yourself. The list is below — I’ll be all around the Central Florida area, so if you’re in the area on one of those dates, come check out the show! (Note: I will not be selling at ICFA. I’ll be moderating a panel entitled Reimagining the Night: New Faces of Old Terrors.)

Right now, we’re bracing for winter weather here in Florida (I just saw they’re projecting the temperature to be in the high 20s for tomorrow morning) while friends and family are seeing snow into the double digits. So everyone be careful out there, and stay warm.

Catch you next week!

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 4)

5018 / 90000 (5.58%)

The Coral Throne
(The Sea Prince, book 2)

0 / 100000 (0.00%)

Promotions

It’s Bookmas! Well, okay, it’s ALMOST Bookmas. Starting January 10th, and running the rest of the month, you can get free ebooks and free tools for writers, with a new book or tool every day! Sign up for the daily emails here.

Appearances

6th Annual Love is in the Air
February 8th, 2025
Lakeside Community Center
Port Orange, FL

***

ICFA
March 19 – 22nd, 2025
Orlando, FL

***

3rd Annual Spring is in the Air
April 13th, 2025
Venetian Center,
Leesburg, FL

***

6th Annual Mother’s Day Bazaar
May 10th, 2025
Ormond Beach Elks Lodge
Ormond Beach, FL

***

3rd Annual Summer Artisan Market
June 29th, 2025
Brannon Center
New Smyrna Beach, FL

***

Smut Lovers: The Conference
September 17th – 21st, 2025
Orlando, FL

Posted by EASchechter in 2025 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, Bookmas, Happy New Year, ICFA, promotions, public displays of geekery, Tales from the Arena, The Sea Prince, The White Raven, upcoming books, upcoming work, Updatey things, WIP, wordcount, Worldbuilding, writing, 0 comments
Cookies Called on Account of Pain.

Cookies Called on Account of Pain.

I’ve had to delay the start of Cookiepocalypse. With my incredible sense of comedic timing, on Day 2 of Cook All the Things, I pulled a muscle in my back badly enough that standing is mind-numbingly painful. Cookies called on account of pain. I should be up to baking later this week or early next week, and I have a list of four cookies so far (there might be one or two more before I’m done. I’ve been challenged to make a coquito shortbread to go with the coquito poundcake….)

There wasn’t a lot of writing last week, because cooking and pain medication don’t add up to a lot of words. Granted, they’re words I’m starting to wonder if I really need, but I think I’m just going to keep going the way I’m going and see how the story falls out. If it needs to be cut, then I’ll cut it in post. If I second-guess myself, I’ll never get done.

The Sea Prince is going to be off to a sensitivity reader today or tomorrow. Writing a character who is a double amputee was more than a little challenging, and I want to be certain that I’ve done it right. If I haven’t, then I need to know what to fix. I’m hoping to have this book out in early 2025, but that will depend on how much work needs to be done when I get it back. Once it’s done and out in the world, I’ll need to start The Coral Throne.

The other thing I need to start is planning for 2025. I know I’ll be at ICFA in March. I’m considering a mall show in May, and that’s about all I have written in warm Jello at the moment. I’ll update the list of appearances as soon as I know where I’ll be.

That’s all for this week. Make sure you check out the books on sale with Stuff with Fantasy!

Special Offer!

Stuff With Fantasy is hosting the December Dash promotion, where you can buy signed books and book bundles directly from indie authors (like me!) I’m already set up with a 25% off coupon on my signed book site for those dates. Use code DECDASH to get the discount, and your books will arrive wrapped, with a gift tag for you to personalize, and with a couple of goodies added for good measure. (Please note: anything purchased this week will be shipping on Monday the 9th, because I’m not up to running to the post office every day this week.)


Work in Progress

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

100602 / 150000 (67.07%)

Appearances

All done for 2024!

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, 2025 plans, accountability, appearances, baking, Cookiepocalypse, forthcoming works, From the Writer's Kitchen, Happy Holidays!, ICFA, Planning, progress, promotions, Tales from the Arena, The Sea Prince, to-dos, upcoming books, upcoming work, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments
Day One of COOK ALL THE THINGS!

Day One of COOK ALL THE THINGS!

It’s Monday of Thanksgiving week, aka Day One of cook ALL THE THINGS! It takes me four days to prepare everything. Today was desserts, and there are now a pumpkin pie and apple pie bars in my refrigerator, and cashew milk ice cream in my freezer. Tomorrow will be mulled cranberry sauce and the sweet potatoes. Wednesday is going to be a DAY — I start out with a dentist appointment. When I get home, it’ll be time to prep the brine for one turkey breast, and the chili rub for the other. I’ll get the brussel sprouts prepped (roast them. Trust me on this. If you roast them, they’re SO GOOD!) And on Thursday, while the turkey is in the oven, I’ll make the salt potatoes and the stuffing (box mix from Katz.)

Too much food? Nah….

And in the meantime, I’ll be working on King of Swords. I’m writing in reverse at the moment — I don’t like the scene I was working on. The timing is off, so I need to backtrack and figure out where it went off the rails and fix it. It’s not a big deal, really. It’s all part of the process. Sometimes, your daily wordcount is in the negative, and that’s fine.

I’m also prepping for a special Holiday sale. From December 2 to the 7th, Stuff With Fantasy is doing a December Dash promotion, where you can buy signed books directly from indie authors (like me!) I’m already set up with a 25% off coupon on my signed book site for those dates. I’ll post the coupon code to my socials over the weekend.

Back to writing backwards.

Have a safe and happy holiday, everyone!

Work in Progress

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

98825 / 150000 (65.88%)

Appearances

All done for 2024!

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, baking, From the Writer's Kitchen, Happy Holidays!, promotions, Tales from the Arena, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments
Once More Into the Beach… errr…Breach…

Once More Into the Beach… errr…Breach…

It’s a show week! Ready for Wizards, Witches and the Weird in Daytona Beach! Once more into the beach… errr… breach, dear friends…

Since we’re on show three of four, everything is still stacked in the living room, waiting to be loaded into the car on Saturday for a “what time did you say we have to leave???” departure on Sunday. I’m in space 38, which is along the left wall as you come in to the Ocean Center, and three from the end. Remember, if you mention you saw this post or that you follow me on social media when you come to the table, you get a discount on purchases!

I’m really looking forward to this show — it looks like it’s going to be a fun day, and the vendors look fantastic! (There’s a list if you go to the event link above.)

I’m also looking forward to the show in two weeks, which will be two days at Maker Faire Orlando. I don’t know where I’ll be setting up yet, but as soon as I know, you’ll know.

Before all of that? Early voting just opened today in Central Florida. We’ll be voting tomorrow. GO VOTE!

And then? What’s after Maker Faire?

A long rest before I start cooking for Thanksgiving. Cleaning my house. Finishing King of Swords. Edits on Morrigan’s Heir (and possible Morrigan’s Wrath.) And seeing what I’ll be writing for my first original piece for THEO. I’ll be starting with them with reprints, to give myself some time to get things planned and get started, but it’s looking like this is where my serial writing will be heading, and my serial writing is going to be a bit more spicy in the future! Since they take all heat levels, my work there may be starting with rerunning the Heir to the Firstborn serial, starting with Written in Water. As soon as my work on THEO starts going live, I’ll let you all know. And if you’re an author interested in taking a closer look? Click the blog button at the bottom of the THEO page. There’s more information there.

And remember… Cookiepocalypse is coming…

Work in Progress

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

84098 / 120000 (70.08%)

Promotions

Kobo is doing a Free First in Series promotion for the entire month of October, so you can grab a copy of Hidden Things for free! (You can find it free where ever ebooks are sold — not just Kobo.)


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

Appearances

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

***

Maker Faire Orlando
November 9-10th
Orlando, Florida

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, appearances, baking, Cookiepocalypse, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, politics, promotions, public displays of geekery, Tales from the Arena, The White Raven, THEO, upcoming books, upcoming work, WIP, wordcount, Writer on the Go!, 0 comments
Cleaning Up.

Cleaning Up.

The storm is over, and now it’s time for cleaning up. Which, for us, wasn’t too bad. The pile of hurricane debris on the driveway is definitely smaller than it could have been. And once again, the storm gremlins played Frisbee with the lid of our compost container. I’m not sure what it is, or how they do it, but some storms just manage to unscrew the lid and fling it around the backyard.

There’s also the inside cleaning up — we have two leaks that are usually not an issue, but for a big storm, we have to prepare in advance. We go through quite a few towels. We’ll be getting those taken care of once the storm season is over, as well as getting the roof repaired.

Goals — finish this book before I have to abandon my office for potentially up to a week. Right now, it looks like the damage to the roof was minor — it just appears to be a missing shingle. But once the team gets up there, they’ll be looking for other damage. If there’s other damage, that means roof work, which means WHAMWHAMWHAMWHAM directly overhead for DAYS. (When the roof was replaced in 2010, it took them a week, but it was August and like an oven on our roof, so they had to go slow.)

Finishing this book — King of Swords is short about 30K words, more or less. Assuming that the book comes in where I think it’s going to, and doesn’t meander off into the weeds for another couple of thousand words. I mean, there are scenes that I want to include, but that I’m not sure will advance the plot. However, I want to write them because they make me happy… So I’ll write them, and then cut them in post if they’re not necessary. That’s what editing is for, after all. Right?

I’m still working on plotting out the Covert Saloon series — if you missed me talking about it, it’ll be another Weird Western. The pairing that I thought was going to be book three is apparently going to be a slow burn through all three books. The book 2 pairing is now taking over book one, and a third pairing in book three with a character I didn’t plan for. Yup, I just take dictation for the voices in my head.

Time to go listen to what my characters want to do next.

Work in Progress

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

79220 / 120000 (66.02%)

Promotions

Kobo is doing a Free First in Series promotion for the entire month of October, so you can grab a copy of Hidden Things for free! (You can find it free where ever ebooks are sold — not just Kobo.)


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


Finally, 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!

Appearances

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

***

Maker Faire Orlando
November 9-10th
Orlando, Florida

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, annoying-muse-is-annoying, Covert Saloon, forthcoming works, Hurricane, promotions, public displays of geekery, Tales from the Arena, upcoming books, upcoming work, Updatey things, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments
Give Me The Coffee And No One Gets Hurt…

Give Me The Coffee And No One Gets Hurt…

Otherwise known as the Monday after a convention. Today is definitely a “give me the coffee and no one gets hurt” kind of day.

We found out Thursday night that Necronomicon was going to happen, so Friday morning, we packed up and headed out. The normally two hour trip to Tampa took us over three, but the hotel was lovely as always (except in a few places where it was… not. No functional elevators while trying to load into the room was not fun.) The area of Tampa where the convention is held is on the eastern side of Tampa near Busch Gardens, and you don’t have to cross the bridges to get there. Which is good, because when we hit Tampa, all the bridges were still closed. We didn’t see any of the flooded areas, but the convention was feeling the effects of the storm — the halls were empty, and panels that were usually packed had maybe six people in the audience. Entire panels and games were cancelled because people simply could not get to the convention.

And yet, it was still a good convention. Smaller audiences made for more intimate panels, with better opportunity for discussion. The opportunity to connect with fans and with other writers were increased. New friends were made.

It was a good convention.

Edits for Morrigan’s Heir should be hitting my inbox any minute now, and I can’t wait! One step closer to having you all meet Lorcan! Hopefully, we’ll be able to get this turned around for later this year. Cross your crossables!

I was eliminated from SPFBO right before we left. Honestly, I was expecting it — the judge who was assigned my book is very upfront about not liking erotic or dark, and Counsel of the Wicked is both. I’m not sure she even finished it. Which… again, it’s not a surprise. That book is A LOT, and I’m starting to debate if it’s worth it to keep it in print. I may pull the series at the end of the year. We’ll see.

Now, I’m prepping for my next show, the Not So Spooky Hallowfest in Deltona, Florida. I’ll have an abbreviated catalog with me — it’s a family focused event, so I’ll have Heir to the Firstborn and The Chronicles of John Zebedee and that’s all. If you’re in the area on Sunday, come and check out the show, which is going to be from 10AM to 4PM at The Center at Deltona, 1640 Dr Martin Luther King Blvd, Deltona, FL 32725-2912. If you come out and tell me you saw this blog, you get a discount!

Work in Progress

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

71118 / 120000 (59.27%)

Promotions

I’m 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!


Coming up on October 11th, I have Chains of Light available for free in So Queer To My Heart, a spicy queer romance event.


Finally, 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!

Appearances

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

Posted by EASchechter in a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, appearances, Chains of Light, Counsel of the Wicked, edits, giveaway, Heir to the Firstborn, Hidden Things, Necronomicon, promotions, SPFBO, Tales from the Arena, The White Raven, WIP, wordcount, Writer on the Go!, Written in Water, 0 comments
Ready…Set…Wait….

Ready…Set…Wait….

That’s the current mood on our house. Ready…set…wait…wait…wait… We’re almost entirely ready for Necronomicon. We just need to pack. But there’s a blob that’s soon to be named Helene in the Caribbean right now. She’s heading for the Gulf of Mexico at the moment, and she may ALSO be heading for Tampa this week.

Driving into what projections say might be a Category 2 hurricane doesn’t seem like my idea of a good time. Hence, the “wait” part of the program. Right now, IF she comes to Tampa or the area just north, it looks like it will be Thursday. But we will see, and then we will decide.

Welcome to Florida in the Fall.

If there is a convention and we attend, then we’ll have a great time. I have five panels — two on Friday night and three on Saturday.

  • Friday, 9PM — Guess the Spec Fic Author By Their Sex Scene (Mystery Science Sex Scene 3K)
  • Friday, 10PM — I Want to Verb Your Noun (the annual Writing Sex panel returns!)
  • Saturday, 10AM — Author Quarters 2 (Reading from something non-spicy)
  • Saturday, 5PM — Gardening vs. Building (Pantsing and Plotting)
  • Saturday, 8PM — Cosmic Construction (Worldbuilding)

In addition, I have a table in Author Alley. Remember that if you tell me you’re a newsletter subscriber or follow me on social media, you get discounts! In addition, I’ll be running a Necro sale — 25% off everything except digital items and book bundles.

If things end up being wet and squally and we stay home, then I’ll run a Necro sale on signed books through my website, and I’ll put things up on sale on Smashwords (easiest place to put up a coupon.)

So… ready…set…wait…wait…wait….

Work in Progress

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

68776 / 120000 (57.31%)

Promotions

This may very well be the last week where Counsel of the Wicked is on sale. There are only three books left in my SPFBO cohort, and mine is one of them. I’ve seen the other semi-finalists, and I’m really not sure I’ll be joining them, so I think I’ll be out shortly. If you want to grab it while it is still on sale, now is the time!


Coming up on October 11th, I have Chains of Light available for free in So Queer To My Heart, a spicy queer romance event. Link to the event page will be coming soon.


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

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, Best laid plans, Best planned lays, conventions, Hurricane, I really want some dull, Necronomicon, promotions, public displays of geekery, WIP, wordcount, Writer on the Go!, 0 comments
Prep All the Things!

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

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, accountability, appearances, Blood Bound, Counsel of the Wicked, Covert Saloon, Iron and Silk, Necronomicon, Planning, progress, promotions, publishing, Tales from the Arena, The Sea Prince, upcoming books, upcoming work, Updatey things, WIP, wordcount, Worldbuilding, Writer on the Go!, Written in Water, 0 comments
Falling into Fall

Falling into Fall

September 2nd means that Summer is on it’s way out, and we’re falling into fall. Officially, it won’t be Fall until the 22nd, but there’s Pumpkin Spice and Halloween everywhere, so… yeah. It’s Fall.

I’m also falling into what’s going to be a very busy seven weeks, starting with Necronomicon Tampa on September 27th, and running until Maker Faire in November. The full list of events is below, so if you’re in the area, come see me!

We’ll see how the writing goes during that period, but I’m very pleased with how King of Swords is going, and I am hoping to have a complete manuscript by the end of the year. I’ve got a playlist growing for this project — my main criteria for adding a song is that it needs to sound like it would work in a fight sequence soundtrack or a training montage. The link to the final playlist will be listed in the back matter of the book once it’s done. There’s almost always a playlist for various books — this is the one for The Sea Prince, which is almost done with first round edits. (Yes, this will also be in the back matter for that book.)

So I’ll be spending the next couple of weeks writing like mad, fueled by copious amounts of coffee and music, and trying to wrangle my book suppliers into fixing their mistakes because when I ordered copies of books to sell, I want MY books, not someone else’s! (Instead of the 28 books I ordered, I received 8 copies of mine, and 10 copies of a book by some author I have never heard of. Whee!) And once it all starts, I’ll be doing my best not to get sick at ANY of these events. I’ve somehow never had COVID and I don’t intend to start now! Nasal spray, masks and air purifiers at the ready!

Listening to:

Fight, Little Wolf. Epic: The Wisdom Saga.

Work in Progress

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

55058 / 120000 (45.88%)

Promotions

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

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

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, appearances, conventions, Counsel of the Wicked, Necronomicon, Playlist, progress, promotions, SPFBO, Tales from the Arena, The Sea Prince, upcoming books, upcoming work, WIP, wordcount, Writer on the Go!, 0 comments
Raise the Wordcount!

Raise the Wordcount!

It’s time! I have reached that point in the manuscript where the numbers don’t add up! It’s past the midpoint in the projected wordcount, but I haven’t yet hit the hinge — the midpoint in the book where we start moving toward resolution and the end. What does that mean? It’s time to raise the wordcount!

It’s not the first time I’ve done this — in truth, I think I do it at least once in every manuscript. I start out with a target of 90,000 words. That’s, on average, a good goal for fantasy romance, and makes for a decent sized novel. As I write, I reevaluate that goal. Is this book coming in short? How short? Is it a novella and not a novel? Or am I running long, and need to bump my numbers up? For me, this is more likely. I tend to be wordy in the first draft, but the story get refined and pared down in edits. And sometimes, the wordcount gets even higher in edits, because I missed things! (I think it was Haven’s Fall that had six entire chapters added in edits. That’s about 18,000 more words.)

Right now, I’m working on the edits for The Sea Prince, and I don’t think the wordcount will change too drastically, but I do have to rewrite one particular part that might have been less objectionable when I started this book, but these days? A 34 year old man marrying a girl he thinks is a few weeks short of 18 is… hinky, even if it is a marriage for alliance and to stop a war. (She is older. I need to move that confession earlier in the book, and still make it make sense.)

Once the edits are complete, I need to find a sensitivity editor who can check me on disability representation — The Sea Prince features a character who is a double amputee, and I need to be certain I’m writing him properly. (If anyone has a recommendation on a sensitivity reader, hit me up!)

I need to get these edits done as soon as I can, and get them off to a sensitivity reader before the end of September. Starting the last week of September, I’m going into six weeks of non-stop conventions/shows. Necronomicon is the last week of September, followed the next week by the Not So Spooky Hallowfest. Then I have a couple of week to restock and recover before Wizards, Witches and the Weird in Daytona Beach. My year wraps up with Maker Faire in Orlando, and I can take a deep breath before Thanksgiving and Cookiepocalypse 2024.

Just a few irons in the fire, no?

Work in Progress

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

50061 / 120000 (41.72%)

Promotions

The Narratess Indie Book Sale is winding down, but you can still grab a copy of The Chronicles of John Zebedee for $1.99 (down from $8.99) There are over 300 books in this sale, so make sure you check them out!


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


You still have a few days left to get Written in Water on sale via Kobo! For all of August, start the series for only $1.99. (And because I’m fond of you guys, the sale will be wherever ebooks are sold, not just Kobo.)

Appearances

Necronomicon
September 27-29th, 2024
Tampa, Florida

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

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

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Maker Faire Orlando
November 9-10th
Orlando, Florida

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, appearances, Counsel of the Wicked, Necronomicon, promotions, public displays of geekery, Tales from the Arena, The Sea Prince, WIP, wordcount, Writer on the Go!, 0 comments