Worldbuilding

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

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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
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
Flowers Outside My Window

Flowers Outside My Window

There are flowers outside my window. Purple ones. They’re on the crepe myrtle tree we got from the city for Arbor Day a couple of years back. I can just see them from where I’m sitting, because the tree is just finally tall enough to be seen from my desk on the second floor. It’s nice — a pop of color among the green that is my yard. I can see iris buds, too, so I’ll have some white and purple irises sometime in the next few days. Sadly, something ate the deep pink cranberry hibiscus that I could see from where I’m sitting, so I have to move if I want to see the sole survivor of the wall-o-hibiscus that was the back of that bed. (Said sole survivor is attempting to be a wall all by itself. I have a hibiscus with ambitions.)

If you think I’m trying to focus on the pretty and innocuous, you have much to go on.

Things are scary out there. And turning to writing stories helps, but at the same point, I write steamy, sexy books… and there are threats to my livelihood on the horizon. Now, I’m not changing what I’m doing. I’m still going to write my stories, and they’re still going to be about people falling in love, and about the many ways love can be found. But it’s still scary out there.

Flowers help. Games help. I haven’t finished Tavern Talk yet. It’s GOOD. It’s really good. Although the cozy isn’t as cozy, and the what just happened here? moments are getting more frequent. I’m about halfway through Act 3, and there are only 4 acts in the game, and I’m starting to worry for some of these characters. (Honestly? I thought that cozy meant… well… COZY. But I’m invested and I need to know how the story ends.) I think my next game will be something lower stakes, like Vampire Therapist or Capybarista. The art in Vampire Therapist is very nice. And honestly, using cognitive behavior therapy on vampires amuses me. as for Capybarista? It’s about capybaras who own a coffee shop. What’s not to like?

It’s thundering outside my window now — late afternoon Florida storms are rolling in. Time to get back to making words so I can wrap my writing day before dinner. I have a game to finish.

Work in Progress

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

18649 / 90000 (20.72%)

Promotions

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 (only on Smashwords)!!!

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

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, Counsel of the Wicked, politics, product endorsement, promotions, Tales from the Arena, upcoming work, Updatey things, Waiting-for-the-other-shoe, WIP, wordcount, Worldbuilding, 0 comments
Outside Hates Me

Outside Hates Me

Seriously. Outside and I are not friends. Usually, the outside tolerates me, but sometimes… well, the results can be explosive.

(AHHH-CHOO!)

Yes, I have allergies. Lots of them. When I was allergy tested prior to being treated, they gave me the list of allergens. Usually, they take a highlighter and mark the things you’re allergic to. On mine, they marked the things I was NOT allergic to because it used less ink.

Technically? I’m allergic to outside. I’ve been doing allergy therapy for years, and I’m getting to the point where I don’t react anymore, but there is something new outside that wants me to know that it hates me especially. Which means I’m in an antihistamine fog, and I’ve been staring at the screen for thirty minutes trying to think of what to write.

This does not bode well for my daily wordcount.

I’m enjoying the new WIP, and who Teren, the main character, is at the start of the work, as opposed to who he needs to become by the end of it. The growth cycle is going to be fun.

I did some other, non-writing writing work, and now have a press kit. This is one of those things that no one tells you that you should be doing when you start writing, so you have to put in major effort to put one together later. Now that it’s done, I’ll be turning my non-writing writer brain to revisions of The Sea Prince. Darling Editor pointed out one MAJOR plot point that I might have gotten away with when I first started this book some fifteen years ago, but that I absolutely cannot go forward with now, so there’s going to be a big rewrite early into the book. If I do it right, you’ll never know. But that means actually doing it. The plan is revisions, then another editing pass before I turn my thoughts to how this is going out into the world.

As part of my “I’m taking care of myself” plan, I’m trying to take time away from the keyboard, and part of that time has been spent playing Tavern Talk. It’s a visual novel video game where you are an Innkeeper in a fantasy realm, with a revolving cast of colorful characters who are incredibly fleshed out and beautifully rendered. If you want a hack and slash first person shooter, this is not your game. If you want something involving stories and puzzles and multiple different possible paths and endings, grab this game! (It’s on Steam, and it’s available for the Switch.) I’m enjoying it because writer brain has NOT been able to figure out where it’s going, so everything has been a surprise!

Time to go make words so I can play later.

Work in Progress

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

13327 / 90000 (14.81%)

Promotions

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, Florda

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, product endorsement, publishing, Tales from the Arena, The Sea Prince, upcoming books, upcoming work, Updatey things, WIP, wordcount, Worldbuilding, 0 comments
The Mondayist not Monday Around

The Mondayist not Monday Around

Today is technically the middle of my week, I think. I didn’t have a weekend — I had a reading on Saturday, and a book signing at a local bookstore yesterday. So my brain doesn’t think it’s Monday, which means that I’m writing this rather late in the day because blogs only happen on Monday, and it’s not Monday, but wait, it really IS Monday! So that makes it the Mondayist not Monday around, I suppose.

It’s also the weirdest Monday I’ve had in a while. I mean, it’s not every day that someone does a U-turn so that they can flip you the bird from EVERY possible angle. (I didn’t do anything, I swear! I was waiting at a red light to make a left turn to go to the grocery store, and this person LITERALLY made a right turn to flip me off, then made a U-turn to do the same from the other side of the car! And I have no idea who they are or why their bad day is my problem!)

So, we’ve determined that I’ve had a strange Monday. This follows after a fantastic weekend, though. I had a live reading of my SPFBOX entry on Saturday evening. You can still see it here

On Sunday, I had a signing at The Writer’s Block, which is an independent bookstore in Winter Park, right near one of my favorite museums — the Morse Museum. Because I had limited time and space, I just brought the Heir to the Firstborn books with me, and I had a wonderful time! (And nearly sold out of Written in Water! I went home with one copy.)

Unless something else comes up, that’s it for my appearances for the rest of the summer. Which is good, because we have a list of “Things To Do Before College,” and I have some revisions to do in The Sea Prince. I’m also still tinkering with what will either be The Covert Saloon books or The Crossroads books — I haven’t decided on the series name yet. But I did learn something really cool — the Oklahoma Panhandle wasn’t part of the state of Oklahoma until 1890. Until then, it was just a void of space in between several states, and claimed by none of them. The Homestead Act didn’t apply, so people who lived there were living there illegally, and it wasn’t really part of the United States, even though it was completely surrounded by it. It was called either the Cimmaron Territory or No Man’s Land. It was a liminal space… and where better to set a Weird Western?

So I need to do some research in that area during 1870, so I have an idea of what I’m talking about. I also need to research the Gullah Geechee people of that time period (one of the characters who already walked out of my subconcious), the US Marshals, and how people traveled in that time and in that particular part of the country. If you think that I fell down a transportation rabbit hole again, you know me too well. (However, this time, it won’t be trains! It’ll be a stagecoach — there wasn’t a train that ran through that area until much later. However, the Santa Fe Trail runs very close to where I’m thinking the fictional town of Crossroads will lie. I just need to find out how long it would take to get from the start of the Trail to that point. That requires math, so I’m putting it off for now.)

Oh, and I need to write King of Swords. Which I should get to, since it’s after 9PM and I haven’t written a WORD today.

Work in Progress

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

6599 / 90000 (7.33%)

Promotions

Counsel of the Wicked is still a contender for SPFBOX, so it is STILL on sale! $.99 until it gets knocked out!

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

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, appearances, Counsel of the Wicked, Covert Saloon, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, progress, promotions, public displays of geekery, reality-is-stranger-than-fiction, research is fun, Tales from the Arena, The Sea Prince, upcoming books, upcoming work, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?, WIP, wordcount, Worldbuilding, 0 comments
Back to Work!

Back to Work!

Vacation is over. So is vacation recovery (and all the laundry is finally done and put away.) Time to get back to work!

I will admit, I did get back to work last week. I started (and finished) a revision of The Sea Prince, and now I’m handing it off to Darling Editor for his first read through. Once he’s done, I’ll read it through on paper for the first time. Given how long this project has been in the works, and how much I’ve changed as a writer between writing the opening line and writing “the end,” making sure the voice is consistent throughout is part of the editing process.

I did do some writing on the cruise — the Disney Fantasy has the best little coffee shop in the adult only area, and I sat in there one afternoon with my notebook and pen, and I got started on writing King of Swords. It’s been an age since I last played in this world, and I did reread the books before starting, but I still feel a little bit like I’m visiting a place I haven’t been in years. Which, I suppose, is true in a sense — I’m going back to Tyese and Aakar some eleven years after I first wrote those books

Something else I appear to be going back to are Weird Westerns — last week, while watching Tasting History (a YouTube series I highly recommend,) I had new characters walk out of my subconscious. the episode was on Old West saloons, and before the end of the 25 minute episode, I had a cast of characters. No plot yet, but there was a Sidhe, a dhampir, an Irish werewolf, a human medium, and a Root Doctor, who all live in the Covert Saloon in a small town called Crossroads. I’m fairly certain that it’s not related to The Chronicles of John Zebedee, but it might be. We’ll see where this one goes.

That’s about all that’s going on right now. I’m waiting to hear on edits for the White Raven books, and I have a bunch of appearances coming up — two this weekend! The first is a live reading on YouTube — I’ll be reading from my SPFBOX entry, Counsel of the Wicked. And I’ll be having an in person signing of the Heir to the Firstborn series at the Writers’ Block bookstore in Winter Park on Sunday afternoon. More information on both can be found below, or on my Appearances page.

Work in Progress

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

2688 / 90000 (2.99%)

Promotions

Counsel of the Wicked is still a contender for SPFBOX, so it is STILL on sale! $.99 until it gets knocked out!

Appearances

My upcoming appearances — I don’t have graphics for most of these yet, so right now it’s just a list.

Live Reading for SPFBOX!
June 22nd, 2024
5:40 PM

***

Writer’s Block Books
June 23rd, 2024
3pm – 6pm
Winter Park, Florida

***

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

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, accountability, appearances, Counsel of the Wicked, Covert Saloon, Heir to the Firstborn, John Zebedee, promotions, Reading, Rebel Mage, Tales from the Arena, The White Raven, WIP, wordcount, Worldbuilding, Writer on the Go!, 0 comments
What Am I Forgetting?

What Am I Forgetting?

I know I’m forgetting something. What is it? What am I forgetting….?

Oh.

So now you know why today’s blog is so late. I plain forgot it was Monday. To be fair, I’m a little distracted. Edits for Morrigan’s Heir came in on Friday, and I’ve been going through them. The initial edits are minor — mostly house style changes and a couple of corrections. The actual work I’ve been doing has been making the the small changes I need to make with things that came up during the writing of Morrigan’s Wrath. That’s going nicely.

Right now, the plan is to make all the changes and updates. Then I’m going to go back through Heir from the start and transition right into a first read-through for Wrath. Why first? Because when I finished writing Wrath, I printed it out and put it aside to wait. I haven’t reread it since I finished it, which means that any edits that need to be made will jump off the page. I hope. Once I reread it, then I’ll update Wrath for any changes I need to make. Then I will send both manuscripts in to my editor so that he can read them both back-to-back.

And once those manuscripts are sent, and after the Indie Book Bazaar at Spellbound Books on April 27th, I’m off until mid-June. Except I might still keep working on the worldbuilding for “Frog and Fae are Friends,” at least until I know what the title REALLY is. But starting at the end of April, it will be all prep for graduation and vacation — cleaning and getting things in order for house guests, then packing and getting everything in order for a long-postponed vacation.

It’s been a while since I took an extended time off. I’m not sure I know how to do it anymore. I’ll report back in mid-June as to how I did.

Appearances

Join me on April 27th at Spellbound Books for Independent Bookstore Day! I’ll be part of the Indie Book Bazaar from 2 – 3:45PM, but Independent Bookstore Day is a full day event. If you’re not in the area, check out your local independent bookstore to see what they’ve got planned!

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, accountability, appearances, edits, Frog and Fae, Planning, progress, Revisions, silly, The White Raven, upcoming books, upcoming work, WIP, Worldbuilding, writing-mom, 0 comments
Monday, Monday…

Monday, Monday…

Monday, Monday, can’t trust that day…

I have to admit that I like Mondays best when they’re not quite so… Mondayish. And today Monday is being an overachiever. Nothing I can share, mind, but beating my head against the wall would be a welcome respite, if only because I could STOP.

Needless to say, today has been a heck of a long week, and most of that was before noon. Some of it was even before coffee. It will hopefully all be resolved before dinner.

Hopefully.

Edits are coming in this week — I confirmed that. So I’ll be starting work on Morrigan’s Heir soon, and then doing a readthrough and editing pass on Morrigan’s Wrath. Deadline for me is having both back to my editor by the end of April (my target is to have everything done by April 27th — the day of the Indie Book Bazaar at Spellbound Books.) And I should hopefully have a rough synopsis for “Frog and Fae are Friends” done sometime this week, too, and then i can give a bit more thought to the worldbuilding. I’m still not sure if this will be a serial or a novel or a series of shorts. We’ll see what happens when I sit down to actually write it. Which, I have to say, not sitting down and starting either this or Tales from the Arena: Dead Man’s Hand is hard! Both of them want to be started right now!

The schedule for the rest of this week is packed solid, but it will end on a high note — someone has Senior Prom this weekend. The beginning of the fun part of Senior Year is starting.

I’d better lay in tissues…

Giveaways!

This is the last week where you can download a copy of my dark fantasy romance Counsel of the Wicked FREE through the On Fire Romance promotion. (Content warning — this book is the darkest thing that I have ever written, and includes on the page explicit sexual violence. Go carefully.)

Image of a flame. Text reads "On Fire. Free Spicy Romance Ebooks. March 1-31"
Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, annoyance, edits, Frog and Fae, I really want some dull, Planning, progress, publishing, Tales from the Arena, The White Raven, Vagueblogging, Worldbuilding, writing-mom, 0 comments
Getting Ready to GO!

Getting Ready to GO!

Here it is, not quite ICFA Eve, and I am getting ready to go. Prep is starting slowly — I’ve gotten some things together to go, but the real packing happens tomorrow. As does the food prep — I usually bring breakfasts, so I don’t have to fuss with finding safe food. I’ll lay out the clothes I’m going to wear so I know which suitcase I’ll need. I’ll make sure the scooter batteries are charged…

Wait, what? What scooter?

This one:

(Yes, my living room was a mess when I took this picture. It isn’t anymore.)

That is Stitch, and he has considerably more character now (stickers. He has stickers). I’ve had a mobility scooter since last October. I had hoped to not need him this weekend, but I’m having a bad arthritis week, so I’d rather bring him just in case, and save my spell slots for actually being at the conference rather than being in pain.

Newsflash — Arthritis sucks.

What doesn’t suck is that in two days, I’ll be at ICFA, and I’ll be back behind the registration table (when I’m not attending panels or hosting them, or reading!) I really do enjoy this conference, although it is weird in a way. I tend to go by myself — no husband and no son. I’m off doing adulty things all alone, and that usually never happens!

Well… as adulty as things get when you put a bunch of geeky academics and creatives together in a hotel, anyway.

As part of my “getting ready for ICFA” prep, I’ve finished the synopsis for The Coral Throne, and yes, this will be a duology. It also may not turn out the way I think it will, but that’s normal for my synopses — once I get writing, the characters that the lead. I’m still working on the planning for “Frog and Fae are Friends,” and I’m pretty sure that they’re going to be MUCH more than friends by the end of the first part. I just haven’t decided yet if this is going to be a series of interconnected short stories, or if it’s going to be a novel. We’ll see how the planning turns out once I actually get to it. This also means that it’s not going on Patreon, because I don’t want Patreon to faint and kick me off the platform. I’m not sure where it WILL go yet, but again, we’ll see.

I also pulled out the synopsis for Tales from the Arena: Dead Man’s Hand, and got the Scrivener file set up, including entering the opening scene that I hand wrote months ago. That’s now ready to go, and I have to convince myself to wait to start it until June. (Who wants to open book on if I can do it?)

Edits should be in shortly after ICFA, so Morrigan’s Heir is one step closer to being released to the world, and once I finish the edits on Heir, then I’ll reread Morrigan’s Wrath for the first time since I printed off the manuscript. My aim is to have both manuscripts off to my editor by the end of April, just in time to go offline for graduation prep.

That’s the plan. Let’s see if the universe laughs.

Giveaways!

For the month of March, you can download a copy of my dark fantasy romance Counsel of the Wicked FREE through the On Fire Romance promotion. (Content warning — this book is the darkest thing that I have ever written, and includes on the page explicit sexual violence. Go carefully.)

Image of a flame. Text reads "On Fire. Free Spicy Romance Ebooks. March 1-31"
Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, accountability, Frog and Fae, ICFA, Planning, progress, Tales from the Arena, The Sea Prince, The White Raven, Worldbuilding, 0 comments
At Loose Ends

At Loose Ends

Finished. The Sea Prince is FINISHED. After 15 years, and I’m not even sure how many starts, stops, revisions, rewrites and just throwing the manuscript under the virtual bed because this thing is broken, The Sea Prince is finished. Which means… I’m at loose ends until Morrigan’s Heir edits come in.

Now, being at loose ends doesn’t mean I’m not doing anything. I’m figuring out where The Coral Throne is going to go, and deciding if this is going to be duology, or if I really want to tackle The Mancer Regent (answer to be determined during the writing of The Coral Throne, I think?) I’ve started the worldbuilding for Frog and Fae are Friends (I love this placeholder title, but at some point, I should name this baby.) I’ve finished one book for research for Children of the Swords, and I’ve got another sitting next to me ready to go, and I’ve been noodling with a synopsis for The Seer, which is book one of Children of the Swords. And I’m prepping for ICFA, which includes sewing a dress.

So… yeah, at loose ends doesn’t mean the same thing for me as it might for someone else. I’ve never been very good at downtime. Although I’m trying! I’ve been reading more, and I finally started playing a Switch game that my son gave me for a present. (Granted, I’ve had it for a few years now. But I started it! That counts for downtime!)

So, when will you see The Sea Prince? I’m not sure yet. I won’t be looking at it again until mid-June at the earliest. Then edits and revisions will happen. And then…I don’t know if I’ll be shopping it around, or if I’ll be taking it to Vella, or if I’ll just go ahead and publish. I do know that it won’t be a Patreon project — my Patreon is current unpublished because there’s nothing going on there, and this is a complete manuscript, so it doesn’t fit my serial stunt writing model for Patreon. The next Patreon project will probably be Frog and Fae, to be honest. I just need to get the worldbuilding a little more clear in my head before I start the story up. Again, probably not until mid-June. also in mid-June, I’ll be making the call on what my fall project will be — my plan for 2024 says either Tales from the Arena: Dead Man’s Hand or The Iron Virgin. I’m thinking it will probably be The Iron Virgin, since I’ll be going from one adventure on the high seas to another, but I haven’t yet started the research for that project, so maybe not? (What research? The society will largely be based on Venice and Venetian traders, and I haven’t done any reading on that yet. I have the books, but osmosis doesn’t work with worldbuilding.) However, if Blood Bound gets picked up before then, then I’ll be starting on Blood Brothers.

Who knows? By mid-June, something entirely new may have shown up. Flexibility is key, after all.

Works in Progress

The Sea Prince
(The Coral Throne, Book 1)

100187 / 100000 (100.19%)

Giveaways!

For the month of March, you can download a copy of my dark fantasy romance Counsel of the Wicked FREE through the On Fire Romance promotion. (Content warning — this book is the darkest thing that I have ever written, and includes on the page explicit sexual violence. Go carefully.)

Image of a flame. Text reads "On Fire. Free Spicy Romance Ebooks. March 1-31"

Sales!

The Smashwords Read an Ebook sale is this week, and all of my books are on sale! Now, given that Draft2Digital still hasn’t finished merging legacy Smashwords accounts, I have two links for you.

You can find the first six Heir to the Firstborn books and the collected Swords of Charlemagne here.
You can find book seven of Heir to the Firstborn and the rest of my books here.

Cartoon image of a female presenting figure with long hair, reading a book. Text reads "Smashwords. Your Ebook, Your Way. Read and Ebook Week. Smashwords.com/shelves/promos"
Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, accountability, BDSM Vampires, Blood Bound, Children of the Sword, Content warnings, Counsel of the Wicked, Frog and Fae, ICFA, promotions, Tales from the Arena, The Iron Virgin, The Sea Prince, thirty, WIP, wordcount, Worldbuilding, 0 comments