SPFBO

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
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
Reality is Overrated.

Reality is Overrated.

I think that says it all. Reality is overrated, and I’m going to hide in a fantasy world with a guaranteed happy ending for a while. It’s better for my heart.

Not saying I’m not going to do anything. Voting is something. Raising money is something. (The Romancing the Vote auction starts today, and you can win a full set of Heir to the Firstborn.) But it’s still weird and scary out there, and I’m trying to stay informed while not overloading myself to the point of rocking in the corner.

I sat down and did my review of the first half of the year, and I’m doing pretty well in this year’s goals. But I noticed that there’s something I’ve been saying I’m going to do for over a year, and I still haven’t started. I have had on my plan to do a read-a-long of Written in Water, reading a chapter a week on Tiktok. And for some reason, I keep putting off getting started on that. Not sure what’s going on my head that’s causing the mental roadblock, but it’s time I figured that out. Maybe I just need to set a date to start and let the deadline override the roadblock?

I’m trying very hard not to let the Covert Saloon overtake my entire writing world — it’s shiny and new and it wants to be a real live book RIGHT NOW. But it has to wait — right now the work in progress is King of Swords, and the progress is going very well. I still have to have the first two books open to refer back to, but that’s more because it’s been eleven years since the other books came out. The characters are still very familiar, and I’m enjoying the process of writing their story of fighting back against a fascist government…

What can I say? Your output comes from your input. And I said I’m hiding. I didn’t say I wasn’t paying attention.

Work in Progress

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

10006 / 90000 (11.12%)

Promotions

Support Democracy and get cool stuff! The Romancing the Vote auction starts today!

In and among all the other cool stuff is a COMPLETE set of Heir to the Firstborn in paperback. The bids are still low, so it’s a steal! Click the image to go right to the item in the auction.


The Smashwords Summer Sale is live! And, because of reasons too silly to go into here, I have two author pages. You can pick up my entire catalog on sale here and here.


Counsel of the Wicked is still a contender for SPFBOX, so it is STILL on sale, but because of the Smashwords sale, it’s even BETTER — it’s FREE!!!

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, FL

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, accountability, Counsel of the Wicked, Covert Saloon, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, politics, progress, promotions, SPFBO, Tales from the Arena, upcoming books, upcoming work, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments

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.

Posted by EASchechter in 2023 plans, 2024 plans, accountability, Balance of Power, Best laid plans, Best planned lays, Cavalcade of Authors, Counsel of the Wicked, Draft by the Solstice, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, Hidden Things, ICFA, Imaginative Anthropology, Iron and Silk, Planning, progress, promotions, publishing, research is fun, SPFBO, The Sea Prince, The White Raven, Tower of Light, upcoming books, upcoming work, WIP, wordcount, Written in Water, 0 comments

No More Peopling.

I had a blast at Necronomicon — the Writing Sex panel was awesomely fun, and next year I’ll be pitching a panel I’m calling Mystery Science Sex Scene 3000, where we have audience members read snippets of our work, and identify the authors for fun and prizes.

I love conventions. Honestly, I do. But I spend the week after a convention recovering and avoiding talking to people. Partly because my throat is usually shot by Sunday — talking through an N95 mask is hard. (I did have a small air purifier for panels so I could unmask, but three days of talking is about two and a half more than I’m used to.) The rest of the reason is that I’m not an extrovert. I just play one at conventions. So by the time we get home, I’m ready for no more peopling for a while. My brains are spongy.

Today was a mellow day (see, spongy brains above). Only the essentials have been unpacked and most of the convention stuff is still stacked in the living room. I reconciled inventory records, paid taxes, and got somewhat caught up on things I missed over the weekend. No real writing yet today, and there may not be, but I did discover that there’s been a setting turned off in Scrivener for The Sea Prince, and it wasn’t tracking new words!

The Sea Prince
(The Coral Throne, Book 1)

62021 / 120000 (51.68%)

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

27250 / 90000 (30.28%)

In other news, I’ll be doing another Cavalcade of Authors promotion in October. This one runs from October 13-15, and you’ll need to check every day because there will be new books EVERY day of the promotion! Click the graphic to sign up for more info. I’ve put Forged in Fire into this promotion.

Also, as of 5:19 Eastern on September the 25th, Written in Water is still in the running at SPFBO. It’s getting nervous over here…

And I think that’s about all I have the brain for today. Go sign up for the giveaway!

Posted by EASchechter in 2023 plans, appearances, Balance of Power, Cavalcade of Authors, conventions, giveaway, Heir to the Firstborn, Necronomicon, public displays of geekery, SPFBO, The Sea Prince, WIP, wordcount, Written in Water, 0 comments