Rebel Mage

Feb

2023

February Musings

It’s Valentine week. That time of year when the mainstream media remembers that romance novels exist, and that they have to publish their hot takes about how this romance is not like all those other trashy books. This is trashy, but with class!

The “I’m not like other <fill-in-the-blank>!” stories that you see every year about this time.

Now, I tend to ignore those. Because really, these journalists prove time and again that they are not and have no interest in ever learning about the audience for romance. All they want to do is say, “Look! Books with kissing and girl-shit! It’s Valentine’s Day. That’s about kissing and girl-shit! Let’s write about how dumb we think kissing and girl-shit is!” They completely ignore that romance is big business that keeps the lights on in publishing, because kissing and girl-shit.

I haven’t cross-referenced, but I wonder how many of these same journalists wax lyrical about the Super Bowl. I mean, really, it’s just violence and boy-shit, right?

(I used to be a football fan, but the NFL’s blatant disregard for player health and safety has turned me off the game entirely.)

Anyhow, I heard that yesterday Rhianna threw a baby shower, and some football broke out? Oh, and there were puppies playing for a few hours. That was fun.

I got no writing done over the weekend. There was some hefty organizing — I emptied my pantry, sorted and disposed of expired things that had gotten buried, and then put everything back in. (The impetus was my husband telling me I didn’t need to go pick up cake mix for his birthday. He found some in the pantry. It was, however, three years expired. “No, honey, I’m not getting you botulism for your birthday.”)

I’m closing in on the hinge chapter of The White Raven: Morrigan’s Wrath — the travel chapter that brings our hero back to Eire. Then the shenanigans really start! And I need to rework the last chapter I wrote of The Sea Prince and have this one character tell me if she’s actually an abusive, manipulative bitch or not. It could be that she’s gaslighting but that would mean she’s gaslighting ME. Which, I suppose, means that she’s good at it?

The White Raven: Morrigan’s Wrath
(The White Raven Duology, Book 2)

38974 / 90000 (43.30%)

The Sea Prince
(The Coral Throne, Book 1)

43901 / 120000 (36.58%)

In other news, the Rebel Mage series went wide this weekend, and is now available wherever ebooks are sold. The paperbacks have been widely available since I republished last year, but I took the ebooks out of KU when their term expired. So if you prefer to read via Apple or Nook, or shop at Smashwords or Kobo, you can now get the complete Rebel Mage series on your ereader or tablet. The series begins with Counsel of the Wicked. Rebel Mage is, I think, the darkest series I’ve ever written, and the only one that has content warnings at the front of every book. The preview should show you the content warning page, and this is a series where I must insist that you READ THE CONTENT WARNINGS. (If you can’t see the preview, you can find the content warnings on the book page of my website.)

That’s pretty much it for this week. Now to go see if I wrote myself into a corner in this hostage situation in ancient Rome…

Feb

2023

Monday? Why Does It Have To Be Monday?

I was going to ask why it always seems like Monday, then I realized that I blog on Mondays, so of course it always seems like a Monday when I do this. It IS always Monday when I do this!

(pause for more coffee)

It’s been an eventful week, in a good way. Last Monday, I got the cover art for The Chronicles of John Zebedee, and I’ve set up the preorders! Not all the stores are available yet (Barnes and Noble is slow), but most of the big ones are ready, so click the graphic to order!

This one, I actually forgot to post about last week — Children of Dreams has been nominated for a Paranormal Romance Guild Reviewer’s Choice Award! These books are nominated by reviewers, but voted on by the public, so if you’ve read Children of Dreams, please click on the graphic and vote!

I started The Sea Prince back up again, since edits are off my plate for right now. I’m not sure when I’ll get the edits for Morrigan’s Heir, but until I do, I’m going to keep plugging away on Morrigan’s Wrath and on The Sea Prince

The White Raven: Morrigan’s Wrath
(The White Raven Duology, Book 2)

36067 / 90000 (40.07%)

The Sea Prince
(The Coral Throne, Book 1)

41188 / 120000 (34.32%)

I’ve started giving some thought to the books that will follow The Swords of Charlemagne and The Chronicles of John Zebedee, because the two will converge in Children of the Swords. I don’t have a fully fleshed out idea just yet as to where the story is going, and there’s some research to be done. So that’s a teaser for you (Another teaser? The first book is tentatively titled Seer.)

And I’m about to roll the Rebel Mage books out wide — meaning that you’ll be able to order the ebooks from places other than Amazon. That will happen Friday, February 10th, so if you’re looking for those books on Apple or Kobo, Friday will be the day to start shopping!

There isn’t much else going on in this neck of the woods. This time of year is usually quiet, so I’m taking advantage of that and making words.

Time to go make the words.

Jan

2023

Rabbit, Rabbit!

So… here’s 2023. Let’s see how this goes. Here’s hoping for better than the previous three years.

Back to work for me today. There was a little noodling around with words over my break — it’s hard to stop. But on the whole, I really took time off for the first time in ages, and I feel so much better for it.

What’s in the cards for 2023? Well, I’m back to working on The White Raven: Morrigan’s Wrath.

The White Raven: Morrigan’s Wrath
(The White Raven Duology, Book 2)

20875 / 90000 (23.19%)

I have edits to work on for The Chronicles of John Zebedee, which should be coming out in March, and edits for The White Raven: Morrigan’s Heir will be coming in at some point. I’m keeping a list of things that I’m noticing need to be updated in Book 1 as I work on Book 2. Things like… I wrote Morrigan’s Heir before I wrote Heir to the Firstborn. Now that Morrigan’s Heir is going to be published, I really need to change the name of that one character… Lorcan has a friend in book one named Owyn. Nope. Can’t use that name again. Needs to be retired. So once those edits come in, I’ll make the changes. I found some stock photography that I loved for the cover, and sent it on to the designer. His mockups look amazing and I can’t wait to see the finished cover!

In other news, I’m still working on Imaginative Anthropology, reading through various anthropology and folklore texts. The outline is slowly coalescing, and at some point, I’ll actually start writing the book instead of just researching. Rebel Mage will be published wide next month — I’m taking the ebooks out of Kindle Unlimited and putting them up everywhere. That should happen sometime around February 10th or thereabouts. And I’m still working on figuring out what’s going to happen with my Patreon, and if I’m keeping it open or shifting my serialization over to Kindle Vella. I should check in with my Patrons about that. I’m still not sure what the next serial will be — maybe I should serialize The Sea Prince? I don’t know. I have to get back to poking away at that one. It was moving when I put it to the side again. I need to open the file again. But not yet. I’ll wait until John Zebedee edits are done before starting back in on The Sea Prince.

What else in in the cards? ICFA in March, and I’m not sure what else. I haven’t heard anything from Boskone about being a virtual guest, and it’s too early to plan Necronomicon. We will be doing some traveling this year because Teen Boy has college on the horizon, and there are some colleges that we should tour. And at some point, I should really decide what I’m doing about going back for my MFA (the two real questions are If? and When?) I should nail that down this year.

And that’s my 2023 in a nutshell.

Oct

2022

Recovery

It’s been a long week, and one that didn’t involve nearly as many words as I’d have liked.

Last Tuesday, we settled in for what promised to be two days of storm. Schools were cancelled for Wednesday, because Ian was bearing down on Tampa Bay. Now, we’re two hours from Tampa, and we were already starting to see the initial rains on Tuesday as we got home. The storm was MASSIVE.

You’ve probably seen the news at this point. We were extremely lucky — we didn’t flood. We didn’t even lose power. Yard cleanup took two days, and I have the roof guys coming next week to check and see if the roof made it through the winds. We were relatively unscathed.

But I also did next to no writing last week, because I had next to no focus, and very little sleep (hurricanes are LOUD!)

The White Raven: Morrigan’s Wrath

1316 / 90000 (1.46%)

***

The Sea Prince
(The Sea Prince, book 1)

38914 / 120000 (32.43%)

What I did do was work on incorporating edits into the Heir to the Firstborn books, and the first three are up. Wings of Air will go up later this week, and the preorders for Visions in Smoke and Children of Dreams will be up later this week as well. I am not quite sure what the heck is going on with the paperbacks — they’re supposed to be available, but no one seems to have them yet. I’m about ready to order them myself and list them on my website — I’ll have an exclusive!

Hrm…might not be the worst idea…

You all did know that I have a bookstore link on the website, didn’t you? The new books aren’t listed there yet — I don’t have any stock on hand, but copies are on the way.

The final chapter of John Zebedee and the Monstrous Town went live this morning, and next week, the first three chapters of John Zebedee Meets the Witch-Queen of the Elvenlands go live. I’ll have that link next Monday, so watch for the blog next week. It’s a long one — it’ll run until January.

The box set for Rebel Mage drops tomorrow, too. I’ve been very lax in my marketing, so this has basically flown under the radar. It’s Amazon exclusive and on Kindle Unlimited.

Something to look forward to next week? The cover reveals for Visions in Smoke and Children of Dreams! In the meantime, check out Wings of Air, which should go live this week.

Sep

2022

This Is Getting to Be a Habit

I used to post this blog early on Monday. Maybe one of these weeks, I’ll get back to doing that again.

This is not that week. Today has been a very Monday-ish Monday, and about midday, I hit the “No spoons, ONLY KNIVES!!!” point. I’m a little less frazzled now, but I still have this blog post to write and two more chapters of Children of Dreams to rewrite.

Speaking of that, I’m about halfway complete with the rewrite on Children of Dreams. I still think it will be ready for the November sale date. but I’m not setting up the preorder until I hand the book off to Darling Editor. Which I hope will be sometime next week.

The new edition of Forged in Fire went up for sale this week, and the ebooks look like they’re available almost everywhere. Paperbacks appear to be rolling out, too — Barnes and Noble says they have the new paperbacks, and Amazon has the new cover but the old book blurb. If you order and get a copy with the old cover, that’s the old content, too. Same with Written in Water.

I should have Bones of Earth ready to go sometime late this week or early next.

I love these covers, but you won’t get to see my FAVORITE until we hit book 5. Which I’m not showing you yet.

John Zebedee and the Monstrous Town is starting to wind down — there are two chapters left to go in this middle part of The Chronicles of John Zebedee. Then we hit the final portion — John Zebedee Meets the Witch-Queen of the Elvenlands, which will take us through to the end of the year. And at some point I have to give all of these images to a cover designer for the collected Chronicles of John Zebedee. Which may include bonus material, but I haven’t decided yet. I’d have to write it, and writing brain is still not entirely functional.

Proof that I’m LOUSY at marketing is that I’ve been completely forgetting to promote the collected Rebel Mage ebook, which will be coming out on October 4th! This will be Amazon only, and includes Counsel of the Wicked, Haven’s Fall and Where Home Lies.

There are still eleven days to go grab the updated Written in Water for FREE through the Fantasy Frenzy. Click the image and grab a pile of free books. Did I mention they’re free?

Back to the revision grindstone. Catch you all next week, with hopefully some new news to share!

Jul

2022

In The Blink of an Eye…

Everything can change.

And in other news, this past weekend was a hell of a long year.

Shit happened. Shit happened that I am not at liberty to talk about, but the ripple effect is in play.

Now, I am fine. Darling Editor and Teen Boy are FINE. But there are extended family things that I must focus on, and priorities that must come first.

To that end, I will not be making any in person appearances for the remainder of 2022.

Children of Dreams (formerly titled Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home) is now tentatively scheduled for sometime in 2023. No date yet. When I know, you’ll know.

As of right this moment, I’m not sure what’s going to be happening with writing in the fall. I will probably spend the fall focusing on editing, so that I can have Children of Dreams ready for you in 2023. I was poking at The Sea Prince, so I have a word update, but it may have to wait until things calm down for me to focus on writing.

The Sea Prince
(The Coral Throne, book 1)

34014 / 120000 (28.34%)

As things settle, this might shift and adjust. We will see.

John Zebedeee and the Heir to the Elvenlands is wrapping up — two episodes left after the one that dropped today. John Zebedee and the Monstrous Town will start August 1st. (Vella doesn’t give you a link until the first episode goes live, so once I have that, you’ll have it.)

Where Home Lies releases tomorrow, to wrap up the reissue of the Rebel Mage series. Which means that my last release for the year will be The Rebel Mage box set in October.

So… that’s where we are right now. If I miss a week on the blog, or miss a newsletter, please be patient with me. I’ll be back when I can.

In the meantime, if you can put some good thoughts out into the universe, I’d appreciate it.

Thank you all.

Liz.

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.

May

2022

And Here We Go!

First, tomorrow is the re-release of Haven’s Fall!

There’s still time to preorder it, so you’ll have it tonight. Or you can start reading it tomorrow in KU if you’ve already read Counsel of the Wicked.

I sat down Saturday and figured out how much more there is to finish in Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home. The answer? Six chapters. About 18K words. I’m calling is 20K to be on the safe side.

I have ten days, roughly, in which to write that.

Since I figured that out, I have written 2818 words.

Roughly 17,182 words to go.

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

151798 / 170000 (89.29%)

I’m almost done with one chapter, which will leave five more to finish. In ten days.

This is doable. I might have brains of tapioca in eleven days, but it’s doable.

And then Heir to the Firstborn will be finished. Which will be VERY strange. Well, not finished finished. There are still edits. And the series itself has been picked up by a co-op publisher, so there will be even more edits and new covers coming (there’s already a new blurb on Written in Water. It doesn’t take up the entire back of the book.) But that’s the end of the series. That’s it. There’s no more.

Well… I don’t think there’s anymore.

Edits may not happen until fall. I want to spend the summer working on business planning and marketing, and doing research for my Imaginative Anthropology project. Maybe planning out some other writing.

But definitely taking a break.

Ten more days.

Okay, words. Let’s go.

May

2022

A World of Blurry Dilation…

Come with me, and you’ll be in a world of blurry dilation…

I’m typing this while still dilated from an eye doctor appointment three hours ago. Which means I’m touch typing. This is… challenging. And if any typos creep through, that’s why.

Announcements first —

The Wild West Paranormal project that I was working on has been cancelled, and I have these three novellas all finished and polished and ready to go. So I’m going to get them out into the world, and give Kindle Vella a try. The first three episodes of John Zebedee and the Heir of the Elvenlands will go live on May 30th, with a new episode dropping every Monday. Link as soon as I have one, and I am really kinda digging the cover graphic I came up with for this.

There are two more graphics for Monstrous Town and for Witch Queen, and I’ll show those off later. And the collected Chronicles of John Zebedee will be my first release for 2023.

Another announcement — I have recently gotten the nod to join Book View Cafe, which is a cooperative publisher. As part of this, and for my first releases from BVC, I will be getting all new covers for the Heir to the Firstborn series, and they will be re-edited and re-released starting later this year. I’m really excited for this, and I can’t wait to show you all the shiny new covers.

I announced the cancellation of the audiobook project last week. I did talk to Mark after, and he’s still incredibly upset (honestly, we all are.) So once the Heir books are republished, I’m going to send a set to him and see if he’s interested and has the time to take them on, and we’ll go from there.

Haven’s Fall drops two weeks from tomorrow, on Kindle Unlimited, and paperback wherever paperbacks are sold. ARCS are currently closed for Haven’s Fall and for Where Home Lies, but I may open them up again because they closed too soon.

I’ve set The Sea Prince aside for the moment. Again. Not because I’m stuck, but because my brain wants to play in the new, shiny world more than it does in The Way Home (what, this old thing?) I’ll pick up The Sea Prince in the fall, and hopefully have that done by the end of the year. And I’m hoping to have The Way Home done by the end of the month.

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

136347 / 170000 (80.20%)

I just need to stop having these characters throw new plotlines at me that I then have to nip in the bud. I mean, really, this is the last book. I do NOT need to add in a new plot thread with all new characters who are NOT IN THE OUTLINE in chapter FORTY!

So those new characters have been squared away, and today is the day I start writing the last, long slide down to resolution. I think. Maybe. Once I can see straight.

Apr

2022

New Server, Who DNS?

Remember how I said I was moving the website? It’s officially moved! My website is now hosted by Greekgeeks, and I’m already loving the change.

They said the migration could take up to 48 hours. It was done in under 12.

They said that the DNS change would take a couple of hours. FIVE MINUTES.

SSL certificate? Push a button and POOF!

Makes my geeky heart happy. If you’re at all interested in checking them out, click here. (affiliate link)

I’m in the middle of the 5 Day Author Ad Profit Challenge (taught by Bryan Cohen), so there haven’t been as many words as there might usually have been during a week. And I’m seeing that Sea Prince is going to need quite a lot of tweaking to bring the older chapters up to date and in line with where my writing is now, as well as making sure the characters voices are consistent. But I can do THAT once I have a draft. Right now, the words are flowing, and I’m not stopping! Write first, edit later!

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

126161 / 170000 (74.21%)

****

The Sea Prince
(The Coral Throne, book 1)

28452 / 120000 (23.71%)

I keep forgetting to put this out there. If you’re interested in reading my work before the general public, I have an ARC page on Booksprout. In exchange for your review of the book, you can get advance copies of any of my upcoming work! Right now, I have Haven’s Fall and Where Home Lies available, and as soon as I have a copy of The Way Home available, that will go up there as well.

Likewise, if you’re interested in any of my books, but can’t afford them? Drop me a note. I know that not all of my books can be gotten through the public library, so I’m happy to send review copies out. It helps me, and it protects my readers from pirate sites that are loaded with malware.

In audiobook news, there have been some delays with recording (mostly covid related). If all goes well, recording will start this Thursday, and may be done shortly thereafter. I’ve been invited to (virtually) hang out in the booth and listen in, because Mark (my narrator) and James (his engineer) want my real-time input on voice characterizations. I’m very excited about being involved in the project, which I know is unusual (and honestly, if I’d been able to be this involved in the recording of House of Sable Locks, the chapter Gunner’s Daughter would have had a VERY DIFFERENT SOUND!!!!)

Not much else to add. I’m working on business planning, and collecting resources to do research on the non-fiction project over the summer. Working on finishing The Way Home before the end of May, which is a big push because I’m thinking I have maybe ten chapters left? That’s 30K words, roughly. Which means… go write all the words, Liz!

Catch you next week!

Rebel Mage

February Musings

Monday? Why Does It Have To Be Monday?

Rabbit, Rabbit!

Recovery

This Is Getting to Be a Habit

In The Blink of an Eye…

Relaxing… sort of…

And Here We Go!

A World of Blurry Dilation…

New Server, Who DNS?

Works in Progress

Appearances

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