thirty

Finished things and Things in Progress

John Zebedee and the Heir of Elfland

37123 / 40000 (92.81%)

***
Wings of Air
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 4

30376 / 95000 (31.97%)

There’s a little of both today. A finished thing, and some things in progress.

John Zebedee and the Heir of Elfland (formerly Echoes of Light, formerly John Zebedee and the Elf-King’s Son) is DONE.

Sort of.

John and Ethriel have sort of moved into my skull, and there’s more to their story. So there will be a series of John Zebedee novella-length paranormal westerns set in the 1870s. Not sure yet how many novellas there will be — I need to work that out.  That’s one of my things in progress.

While that’s percolating, I’m working on Wings of Air. It’s going to be a long one, I can already tell. I’m nearly a third of the way to my projected wordcount, and the first major plot movement hasn’t happened yet. It’s coming, but so far there’s been a lot of little movement and a lot of character development that I didn’t realize needed to be done first.

Also in the back of my brain is The Sea Prince — something that I started a while back, stopped, started again, and stopped again. I’m going to attempt to restart it. Again. Which might require a scalpel. Or a machete. We’ll see.

There are other things currently wandering around the dark recesses of my creative mind: the series plan for the Flesh and Blood books (which may stay on hold until I sell Blood Bound.) The second White Raven book (also on hold, until I sell the first one.) It’s never really quiet in there. Always someone yelling for me to tell their story.

And in other, writer-but-not-writing-related news, I’ve declared my candidacy for the RWA National Board elections for the upcoming year. Yes, I’m running again. No, I have not lost my mind. Well, not much. I just want to see the work we’ve started continue. The best way to do that is to keep doing that.

Not much else going on in my wide, weird world. My son was fitted for his first pair of glasses today (so he joins the rest of the spectacular family — the only immediate relative he has who doesn’t wear glasses is his six-year-old cousin).  We’re holding on and staying in, and watching Florida go ever more insane — today the Governor redefined how to count occupied ICU beds — instead of all ICU patients, they’re just supposed to count the ones who need intensive care.

Ummm… Doctor Bashir, help me out here?

Nope, doesn’t make sense to Julian either.

Needless to say, we’re staying in.

Here’s hoping the world makes more sense in your neck of the woods. Stay safe, all.

 

 

 

Posted by EASchechter in 2020 plans, accountability, Heir to the Firstborn, John Zebedee, progress, Ta-da, thirty, to-dos, Wings of Air, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments

Work in Progress and Completed Work!

Bones of Earth
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 3

109904 / 95000 (115.69%)

Echoes of Light

2765 / 30000 (9.22%)

I gave Bones of Earth a final push yesterday, and finished it last night with a daily word total of 4,303 words. Which means today I’m going to take it easy.

Stop laughing.

Last week, I started the work that I’d been calling John Zebedee and the Elf-King’s Son.  The new working title is Echoes of Light, which means I’m in a titling rut — (something of something else). It also resulted in me spending about an hour finding out if there were fireflies around the Sea of Galilee in Biblical times. The answer? Umm… maybe? There are eight varieties in Israel, but nothing I could find said definitively yes, there’s a variety around the Sea of Galilee. Which means I’m going to do something I don’t normally do — I’m going to wing it.

No, that was not a pun.

Okay, it was, but I didn’t mean it to be.

I’m working on the synopsis for Wings of Air, and will probably be starting to write that in a week or so. Wrapping up Bones of Earth threw some curveballs at me, so I need to work those into how things resolve.  I need to see who is going to be my focal characters in this one. I knew going in that Aria was going to be the primary focus, but Treesi was SUPPOSED to be the primary focus of Bones of Earth, and Owyn sort of took over. Again. Because he’s a brat. So I need for him to take a seat so I can focus on someone else for a change.

(insert Owyn here: “Hey, it’s not my fault you love me so much!”)

(Sit down, Owyn!)

So that’s the plan for now. Work on the synopsis, work on Echoes of Light. Set up the preorders and the ad campaign for Bones of Earth, and get the final polish done. I’m planning on a May 26th release, but that might get pushed back a week or two, depending on edits. We’ll see.  I want to have copies on the table at KeiserSupercon in June (assuming KeiserSupercon happens in June.) There are a couple of other irons in the fire, too, but they’re still written in warm Jell-O. For now, this is what it is.

See you all next week. Virtually, anyway.

Wash your hands! Stay home if you can! And wear your mask!

Posted by EASchechter in 2020 plans, accountability, appearances, Bones of Earth, conventions, Echoes of Light, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, John Zebedee, Keiser SuperCon, new books, presales, promotions, publishing, Release date, Ta-da, thirty, upcoming books, upcoming work, Wings of Air, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments

Work in Progress, week Eighteen. Bones of Earth

Blood Bound
Flesh and Blood, Book 1

85635 / 84000 (101.95%)

***

Bones of Earth
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 3

48584 / 95000 (51.14%)

I realized sometime around Thursday that I never did go back and post the weekly roundup after announcing that Blood Bound was DONE. Umm… oops.

I also didn’t have a heck of a lot to round up other than that — I hadn’t been working on Bones of Earth really at all, so that I could finish Blood Bound before school let out for the holidays (which will be this Thursday). There was also this thing called Cookiepocalypse last week…

However, the cookies are all delivered, and it’s time to get back to work on Bones of Earth. And to start my planning on John Zebedee and the Elf-King’s Son, which will be the next project. So my goals for this vacation are to work on Bones of Earth, and to write a synopsis for John Zebedee  and for Wings of Air. I won’t be writing John Zebedee yet — I intend to finish Heir to the Firstborn first.

So, those are my goals for be end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 — write two synopses, finish Heir to the Firstborn ( and decide what I’m doing with the Patreon afterward!) and then write John Zebedee. In there, I will also be deciding what to do about Swords of Charlemagne (there are a couple of irons in the fire on that front), and polishing and shopping Blood Bound around.

Looks like 2020 is going to be a busy year!

Posted by EASchechter in 2019 plans, 2020 plans, accountability, BDSM Vampires, Blood Bound, Bones of Earth, Flesh and Blood, Heir to the Firstborn, John Zebedee, Patreon, Planning, round-up, Swords of Charlemagne, thirty, to-dos, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments

DONE!!!

A longer update tomorrow. For now, I’m just here to say that it’s DONE! That’s a draft!

Blood Bound
Book One of Flesh and Blood

84870 / 84000 (101.04%)

Posted by EASchechter in accountability, BDSM Vampires, Blood Bound, Flesh and Blood, happy-happy- joy- joy, kvelling, SQUEEE, Ta-da, thirty, to-dos, yippee, 0 comments

It’s a Draft!

Table of Stone
Swords of Charlemagne, Book 4

91159 / 85000 (107.25%)
Nothing left to do but the compiling. Which will happen tomorrow.
Posted by EASchechter in accountability, happy-happy- joy- joy, progress, Swords of Charlemagne, Ta-da, Table of Stone, thirty, to-dos, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments

Mirror: Chapter 25

I just now finished chapter 25 of Written in Water.

The last chapter of Written in Water.

Now, it won’t go up here until sometime in January. So my new goal is to have the edits done and the book ready to go by sometime in February at the latest. I also need to finish writing down the synopsis for Forged in Fire (aka Book 2).

And, next week, I’ll be starting my holiday baking. So there will be cookies.

But for now? That’s a draft.

Posted by EASchechter in Adavar, Elemental Project, Forged in Fire, Heir to the Firstborn, Patreon, Ta-da, the-end-is-near, thirty, upcoming work, WIP, writer on writing, writing, Written in Water, 0 comments

Draft Completed: Ashes and Light.

Ashes and Light
Swords of Charlemagne, Book 3

88325 / 85000 (103.91%)

Began: August 12th, 2018

Completed: November 16th, 2018

Total Days: 96 days

Total Words: 88,325 words

Average Words per Day: 920 words

Now to let this one sit for a few days. Then I’ll read through all three books and make sure the non-linear timelines agree with each other.  I think they do, but I want a fresh reread to be certain.

And I’m now officially off (except for fun writing for Patreon) until January.

Stay tuned for Cookiepocalypse 2018!

 

 

Posted by EASchechter in 2018 plans, accountability, Ashes and Light, forthcoming works, happy-happy- joy- joy, Swords of Charlemagne, Ta-da, the-end-is-near, thirty, to-dos, upcoming books, upcoming work, yippee, 0 comments

Draft Completed: The Lady and the Sword.

Began: February 15th, 2018

Completed: May 25th, 2018

Total Days: 99 days

Total Words: 83,963 words

Average Words per Day: 848 words

Now to let this sit while I edit Hidden Things. Then I’ll read through it again and send them both off.

 

Posted by EASchechter in accountability, edits, forthcoming works, happy-happy- joy- joy, Hidden Things, SQUEEE, Swords of Charlemagne, Ta-da, The Lady and the Sword, thirty, to-dos, WIP, wordcount, yippee, 0 comments

Complete: The White Raven: Morrigan’s Heir

That’s a draft. The White Raven: Morrigan’s Heir is done. I’m going to let it sit for a bit before I reread it and send it out to the beta-readers. But it’s done.

Total wordcount: 88,910

Total days: 112 days

Average words per day: 793.8

The White Raven: Morrigan’s Heir
Sequel to Princes of Air (2011)

So, what now? Now, I’m taking a few days off. I’m cleaning my house this week, and prepping. On February 15th, I’ll be starting in on The Lady and the Sword, book 2 of The Swords of Charlemagne.

Posted by EASchechter in accountability, Princes of Air, round-up, Swords of Charlemagne, Ta-da, The White Raven, thirty, to-dos, WIP, wordcount, 0 comments

That’s a Draft

Bonds of Blood and Steel
Sequel to House of Sable Locks

It’s short, but I’m calling it a draft.

Posted by EASchechter in happy-happy- joy- joy, Sable Locks, Ta-da, thirty, 0 comments