Worlds Begin

Making It!

Making It!

It’s Maker Faire Week and we are making it! Making what? Well… words. And making it to Maker Faire. I found out this morning that we will be in the Spirit building, in space SF6. According to the map, this appears to be Writer’s Row — we’re one of three authors in that aisle, and we’re next to a bookshop. So come and check us out and read all the things!

Tomorrow is Election Day. You’ve voted, right? Or you’re voting tomorrow? Remember, it’s important!

According to my wordcount, I am just over 75% done with King of Swords. According to the story… not even close. It might be closer to 50%, with the hinge coming in the next chapter. Which may mean this is two books. I hope not, but we’ll see. I’m just going to keep going until the story is done, and then I’ll decide when I edit if I’m breaking it up or just having having the third book be bigger than the first two combined. I’d like to see this book done by the end of the year, but… yeah, we’ll see how that goes. I’m not going to rush it — there needs to be some resting in and around the rest of the end of the year things.

Last week saw the first for me. Worlds Begin was #1 in two separate categories! (And, for the record, it still is! I took this screenshot two seconds ago!)

I have never before had a #1 in a category of anything — best I’ve ever seen was #2.

Once Maker Faire is over, I’ll be starting to reserialize the Heir to the Firstborn books on THEO. It’ll take me a bit to get all of the books uploaded, but once I do, they’ll be available to read the way I originally wrote them. (Mostly — the original serial wasn’t fully edited. Remember, the chapters were originally going live as I wrote them, with minimal edits. On THEO, you’ll be getting the finished and polished chapters.)

And that’s about all from my neck of the woods. Remember, if you come out to Maker Faire, let me know you saw this post and you get a discount on books!

Work in Progress

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

90396 / 120000 (75.33%)

Appearances

Maker Faire Orlando
November 9-10th
Orlando, Florida

Posted by EASchechter in 2024 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, Heir to the Firstborn, Maker Faire, politics, public displays of geekery, Tales from the Arena, THEO, upcoming books, upcoming work, WIP, wordcount, Worlds Begin, Writer on the Go!, writing-mom, 0 comments

Back to School… Sort Of

I decided that even though someone doesn’t start classes for another week, I’m getting back to work on the actual school schedule. So when the high school went back to school, I went back to work. Balance of Power and The Sea Prince are both underway. Chapter one of Balance of Power went live on the Patreon last week, I’m currently finishing up chapter three, and Danielle (my co-author) and I are underway with The Sea Prince.

The Sea Prince
(The Coral Throne, Book 1)

48284 / 120000 (40.24%)

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

9027 / 90000 (10.03%)

As a reminder, Brave New Worlds is still ongoing for another two weeks, which means that you can still grab up to 50 Science Fiction and Fantasy novels and enter for a $20 gift card. You can grab a copy of Written in Water there, just for signing up for my newsletter.

I realized (at the urging of a colleague, that I really needed to get around to updating the cover for Worlds Begin, the Heir to the Firstborn creation myth, so that it matches the rest of the series.

I got the new cover the other day, and It. Is. GORGEOUS!

Cover for Worlds Begin. A wreath of green leaves and flowers, surrounding the title Worlds Begin in gol

(Reminder — Worlds Begin is a freebie everywhere EXCEPT Amazon, who refuses to set books permanently free. If you want it on Amazon, please price match. Or download from Smashwords and use Send to Kindle.)

I’ve also seen and approved the 10th anniversary cover for House of Sable Locks, but I haven’t yet been given permission to share it. Yes, my “modern erotic classic you’ve never heard of” (according to the now-defunct Cliterati website), is now ten years old. I can’t believe it either. (At some point, you all will see the sequel. It’s written. I promise. And there will be another, but that one is a title and a vague idea.)

There isn’t much else happening at the moment. Waiting on edits to come in, waiting on new books to arrive for Necronomicon in September — I will have copies of Princes of Air on the table! But for now? Time to go make some more words!

Catch you next week, hopefully with a new cover to show you!

Posted by EASchechter in Balance of Power, conventions, cover art, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, Necronomicon, Patreon, Princes of Air, Sable Locks, The Sea Prince, WIP, wordcount, Worlds Begin, writer on writing, Written in Water, 0 comments

“Time is a concept and I don’t believe in it!”

One of my son’s favorite things to say is “Time is a concept and I don’t believe in it!”

He holds this truth so strongly that he is not, in fact, a high school senior.

He’s a college student. His last high school class was done last May. He’s taking all college courses from this point on, and when he graduates high school this May, he will also be receiving his Associates degree.

I’ll admit, this whole “earn a two year degree in high school” concept is still a little bizarre to me. I mean… he’s starting school ten days after his peers, and won’t actually have to GO to the high school unless he’s meeting with his counselor or attending a school function. What sorcery is this?

And, of course, it’s going to do strange things to my writing schedule. I’ve been writing to the school schedule for ages. And now… that’s not the schedule anymore. So I’ll figure it out.

I have set up the first chapter of Balance of Power to drop on my Patreon tomorrow for Early Access tiers, and on Friday for regular tiers. And that will be the pattern as we go. I don’t have much of a buffer yet, so it’ll be a little hectic going forward. But the story starts tomorrow, and new subscribers can get in on the ground floor.

I’ve also gotten a new cover for Worlds Begin, so that it matches the rest of the series. I saw the final proof today, and it’s GORGEOUS! I should have the files tomorrow, and I’ll get things uploaded tomorrow or Wednesday.

And work should start back in on The Sea Prince this week or next. Some of the work that was done already hasn’t really been touched in 12 years, and… well, it shows.

The Sea Prince
(The Coral Throne, Book 1)

43823 / 120000 (36.52%)

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

6445 / 90000 (7.16%)

There are some other things in the works right now as well, but I can’t say anything more until I know more. Just know that there might be some excitement coming down the line.

Brave New Worlds is still ongoing as a promo, and there are 55 books to choose from! Go check it out!

Posted by EASchechter in 2023 plans, a-writers-life-is-never-dull, accountability, Balance of Power, forthcoming works, Heir to the Firstborn, Patreon, The Sea Prince, upcoming books, upcoming work, Vagueblogging, Waiting-for-the-other-shoe, WIP, wordcount, Worlds Begin, writing-mom, Written in Water, 0 comments

Free for your social distancing reading

Things are really weird right now. And not in a happy, fun way. When all of us geeks said that we wanted to live in the future, we were thinking rocket cars and space travel, not global pandemics.

We meant Star Trek, guys! Not The Stand! And definitely NOT The Andromeda Strain!

I’m reading the news, and trying to keep things normal for kids who know full well things are NOT normal. This was was supposed to have been Spring Break, and school was supposed to be back in on Monday. The theme parks are closed, they closed restaurants today, and we did NONE of the fun things I had planned. Monday, instead of going back to school, we start week two of being home. Online school starts the following Monday, and they MIGHT go back to school on April 15th. Maybe.

Personally? I doubt we’ll see the inside of a school again this year. Which sucks for J, who is graduating middle school and was supposed to have the 8th grade graduation trip and the graduation dance.  The trip was supposed to be April 10th. We’ll see what happens about the dance.

So what do we do?

Well, if you’re me, you throw some books out into the wild for free. Here. Have something to read.

I’m still working on Bones of Earth — it’s a little slow going. Finding the time to write during the day is… challenging.  But it’s coming along, and will be finished soon.  Then on to Wings of Air.
So I’ll keep making the words. You keep reading them. And we’ll get along that way.
Stay safe. And go wash your hands.
Posted by EASchechter in a-writers-life-is-never-dull, Best laid plans, Best planned lays, Bones of Earth, giveaway, Heir to the Firstborn, Wings of Air, Worlds Begin, Written in Water, 0 comments