writing

Jan

2025

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

***

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

Jan

2024

Release Week!

The time has come — it’s release week for the final book of the Heir to the Firstborn series. Look at them!

Image of the seven books in the Heir to the Firstborn series. A small, stuffed Highland Cow plush looks over the covers. — (Coo and Boo approved)

And there we have it — the complete Heir to the Firstborn. And when I say complete, I really mean it this time. No more story here. It’s done. REALLY, it’s done.

Which is… a little bizarre, to be honest. I started the series on Patreon in June of 2018 with an outline for four books. Now, five and a half years and seven books later, I just announced on the Patreon that the page will be going dark at the end of February, and will stay dark until I have something new to share there. (Which, I think I do, but right now it’s just an opening scene. It needs more fleshing out.)

Seven years isn’t the longest I’ve spent on one series, I don’t think. I mean, Tales from the Arena isn’t done yet, nor is The Artificer (which started with House of Sable Locks). But neither of those was intended to be a series. Heir to the Firstborn was always planned out as a series, and it just sort of kept going. But it’s the longest I’ve worked on a single creative project continuously, because I was posting a chapter a week every week non-stop for the first six books.

Getting those characters out of my head after all this time? Takes a complete change of subgenre… so I’m currently working The Sea Prince as a palette cleanser (I described it to someone last week as a sort of fantasy-steampunk Master and Commander. Except it’s Age of Sail, so timing-wise that might be candlepunk? I don’t know. If you do, let me know!)

The Sea Prince has been in my queue since 2009 — it’s almost old enough to drive in this state. There have been a lot of false starts and a lot of putting it back on the shelf before I finally figured out where the story was broken. Now? I’m on chapter 23, and starting to pull this book toward a close (and how many of you are gasping in shock because didn’t I just get started on this again less than a month ago? Yes, yes I did. The words have been FLOWING. I’ve written five chapters in three weeks. That’s roughly 15,000 words.) I think there may be between 25K and 50K words left, but I can see the end from here, and I like it.

Then, of course, I need to write the second book in this series…. hopefully, it won’t take me as long as it took to write the first one!

Preorders

Coming TOMORROW to all your favorite bookstores — Valley of Shadows (Heir to the Firstborn, Book 7)

Print preorder is now available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, which means you should be able to order the paperback at your favorite brick and mortar bookshop.

Works in Progress

The Sea Prince
(The Coral Throne, Book 1)

78426 / 120000 (65.35%)

Nov

2023

The Prep Begins

T-minus-10 days until Thanksgiving. The prep begins. I started today with the baking of the pumpkin pie. Why start so early? Because I want to enjoy my Thanksgiving, thank you very much. I started today with cleaning a room, and baking a pie. Tomorrow, I have to get my ~~head~~ eyes examined, so I’m not cleaning, but I am going to get all the shopping done, and I’ll be making candied ginger because I need it for the cranberries and for the turkey, and I can’t find candied ginger without a wheat warning anywhere. I’m also starting sourdough rolls (technically I started today because I fed the starter, but I make the actual dough tomorrow.)

I actually sat down to make a schedule of what gets cleaned and/or cooked on what day covering every day between now and Thanksgiving. Every day has a room to clean or shopping to be done, and a dish to prepare. This early, things will head to the freezer, which will leave room in the refrigerator to defrost the turkey that I’ll be brining next week (I use Alton Brown’s turkey brine from Good Eats.)

My plan is that by the time Thanksgiving comes, all I have to do is get up, have breakfast, watch the parade, and put the bird in the oven. Everything else (with the exception of whatever fresh vegetables I make) will be done and just need to be warmed. That way, I can have a relaxing time with my house full of people. It’s a plan that’s worked very well for a very long time now.

I haven’t given much thought yet to Cookiepocalypse. One holiday at a time, right? But Cookiepocalypse is coming, and I’ll be taking requests from the young people in my life as to what cookies they want. And from the older people in my life, too. Once I know what I’m making, I’ll make a schedule for baking that allows me to also keep working on Balance of Power.

I’m starting to think that Balance of Power may need a new title. I’ve gone far enough away from the original outline that Balance of Power no longer quite fits the story. The current front runner in my head is Valley of Shadows. I think it fits better. We shall see what the Patrons think.

In other news, I found out the other day that Morrigan’s Heir has been pushed back to early 2024. As soon as I have a date, I’ll share it.

And that’s all the news that’s fit to print. It’s much later in the day than I usually post to the blog, but it’s been a busy day! And there’s another busy day tomorrow.

Catch you all next week.

Works in Progress

Balance of Power
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 7

55575 / 90000 (61.75%)

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.

Then, on Cyber Monday, the sale continues! The Cavalcade of Authors will be holding a huge Cyber Monday sale, and for that sale, I’ll be adding in Forged in Fire AND Bones of Earth! To know when the link goes live for this one, you need to sign up for my newsletter. (I usually only put out one newsletter a month, although if there’s a new release or a big event, there might be a special edition.)

Nov

2023

The Plan is Afoot

The plan is afoot, a phrase that’s always attributed to Sherlock Holmes, but which he never actually says anywhere. Planning for the end of the year, and for next year is ongoing. I did my annual business planning seminar last week (and I highly recommend Amber McCue’s Planathon for anyone who is looking for business plan scaffolding. This was my third time, and I learn something new every time. The Planathon is free, and her other courses are pay-to-play.)

I wrote a little last week about my plans for next year, but I never really went into how I plan. And honestly, I plan like it’s my job — I have to. Things of which I am currently keeping track:

My writing schedule
My publishing schedule
the schedule from my publisher (different from the previous)
Business plans (show dates and deadlines, mileage, tax dates)
My family schedule that comes with being a Mom (doctor appointments, due dates, vacations, that sort of thing)
Various due dates that come with senior year (college applications and scholarship information)
Personal schedules like my workout schedule.

These inform things like meal planning and grocery shopping. It’s a lot, and I’ve referred to it in the past as juggling chainsaws.

I have three planners. Four, if you count the electronic one. I don’t, usually, because if I put something into the electric calendar, I will never remember it. I have to write it down in order for it to be “real.” So I have one planner that lives in my kitchen, which is the master book that includes EVERYTHING. I have one planner that gets carried around with me, which focuses primarily on business and writing. And I have a small planner that usually lives in my purse. Of the three, the only one that doesn’t get updated weekly is the purse planner, because it’s out of sight and therefore gets falls off my brain on a regular basis. I have other ways of planning, too, I’ve shown pictures of my kanban board, but it’s the paper planners that really help keep me from over-scheduling myself and getting overwhelmed.

For the business, there’s a binder that sits on the shelf over my desk. In that binder are my business plan, my marketing plan, and my financial plan. There are two versions of each — the overall plan, and the annual plan. The annual plan is the one that I’ll be sitting down to review and revise in December, and which is reviewed and revised again mid-year.

(Narrator: She did not, in fact, review and revise midyear in 2023.)

Shush, you. It’s SUPPOSED to be reviewed and revised mid-year, and as needed throughout the rest of the year.

Now, these are the things that work for me, because of the way my brain works. I have a friend who is my exact opposite — they cannot write down their plans, because if they do, those plans will vanish into the ether. Everything must be put into an electronic calendar in order to be “real.”

So this is what works for me. What works for you?

Works in Progress

Balance of Power
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 7

51789 / 90000 (57.54%)

Promotions!

The sale has been extended to Cyber Monday, and will include one final Cavalcade event for the year! Sign up for my newsletter to keep up to date and for the direct links!

Oct

2023

Keep It Simple

Otherwise known as the KISS Principle — Keep It Simple, Stupid (or whatever other s-word you want to have there. This is how I learned it). It governs a lot of forward facing properties from set design to costume design to websites. And translated into Liz Speak today, it means that I personally should not have two locations on my website to update the same information, because I will invariably forget that one of them exists.

Brought to you by the fact that I just remembered I had an Appearances page on this website, which hadn’t been updated since early 2021.

Oops?

It’s fixed now, and the Appearances widget has also been updated. I’m finished with appearances for this year, but there are two on the calendar for 2024 so far, and I’m waiting for more info on a couple of others.

Work is continuing, and I’m still waiting for edits on Morrigan’s Heir. My editor says that they are minimal, however, I don’t know how he defines minimal. Here’s hoping the turnaround will go quickly because this book was advertised for 2023, and I don’t want to let anyone down who was waiting. Once edits on Morrigan’s Heir are finished, I’ll go through Morrigan’s Wrath and make sure everything is consistent, and then send that in.

I’m hoping to have Balance of Power done by the end of the year. I just started chapter 14, and I’m starting to think this will be a shorter book than the others. My projection said 90K words, but I think it’s going to be closer to 65 – 70K. We shall see. And once that’s done, then I’ll go back to The Sea Prince and get that finished. Yes. Finished. This time I MEAN it.

And then? Well, I’m going to start the research for Iron and Silk, because my Pirate Princess is yelling at me. But is she yelling louder than Teren, the Three Day Emperor from Tales from the Arena, who finally told me his story and is just waiting for me to get it on the page? Or maybe, just maybe, I might pull out the bones of The Willow Sword and write that one — it’s started, but something wasn’t right with it, and I think it’s just that I’m not meant to write YA, and this needs to be aged up. Again, we shall see.

I do know that I’m going back to working on one writing project at a time. One in research, one actively writing, one in edits. I don’t seem to be able to balance two writing projects at a time anymore. I think I burned out that portion of my writing brain. But that’s okay. I’m still getting words on the page, and there are still so many books to write.

Works in Progress

Balance of Power
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 7

43409 / 90000 (48.23%)

The Sea Prince
The Coral Throne, Book 1

63623 / 120000 (53.02%)

Promotions!

My no longer final promo for the year is THIS FRIDAY, hosted by Stephanie Freeman. You can find more information and sign up here. For that event, you can grab free copies of The Chronicles of John Zebedee!

I’ve also decided to do that First in Series Friday for Black Friday, marking down Written in Water, Hidden Things, Counsel of the Wicked, and The Chronicles of John Zebedee. So keep an eye out for that information — I need to make graphics for it and get some ads set up.

Oct

2023

Halfway through October

Here we are, halfway through October. Not bad so far. People who have been with me for a while know that October is not my favorite month. I’ve said before that the only thing October has going for it is that it ends in Halloween. My reason? Everything bad happens in October, and this year has not been an exception to that rule (thankfully, everyone involved is fine, but dammit, October!!!)

I’ve been largely focusing on writing Balance of Power, because I am barely keeping up with my chapter a week schedule for Patreon. I’ve currently just started chapter 13, and chapter 11 goes live tomorrow for upper tier Patrons, and Friday for everyone else. That’s not a great buffer, especially with the holidays coming up. I *think* this point is the midpoint, so we’re looking at about 26 to 30 chapters total. And this will be IT. The last book! I mean it this time!

Stop laughing.

Now, this does mean that The Sea Prince is on hiatus again, but it’ll be a short one, and I did already plan for it — edits are coming soon for Morrigan’s Heir, and I was already going to put The Sea Prince on the back burner so I could get the edits turned around and back out the door, then get the revision of Morrigan’s Wrath out to my editor by the end of the year. Then it’s a waiting game to see which edits come in first — Morrigan’s Wrath, or Bonds of Blood and Steel.

Wait… what?

Last week, when I announced the tenth anniversary House of Sable Locks, I kind of forgot to mention the bonus material included with the new edits… chapter one of Bonds of Blood and Steel. The sequel to House of Sable Locks will be coming from Riverdale Avenue Books sometime next year. The manuscript is already with my editor, which is why I say I’m not sure which edits will get to me first. More information as I have it!

And that’s where we are today. Not everything that happens in October is bad, I suppose.

Works in Progress

The Sea Prince
The Coral Throne, Book 1

63623 / 120000 (53.02%)

Balance of Power
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 7

39128 / 90000 (43.48%)

Promotions!

My final promo for the year is on October 27th, hosted by Stephanie Freeman. You can find more information and sign up here. For that event, you can grab free copies of The Chronicles of John Zebedee!

Now, that being said, maybe I’ll do a First in Series personal sale for Black Friday. We shall see. (For anyone keeping score, that’s Written in Water, Hidden Things, Counsel of the Wicked, and maybe I’ll discount The Chronicles of John Zebedee because that’s technically a series-in-one.) Watch this space for announcements!

Jan

2023

Wait, What Was I Doing Again?

(aka what I honestly just said when I came back to this tab on my desktop….)

It’s Monday again. Who let that happen? But since it is Monday, even though I do not recall saying the weekend could be over already, it’s blog day. Which leads to the weekly question of “what am going to blather on about today?”

Which, if you think that means I’m going to blather on about deciding what to blather on about, you’ll be pleased to know that you’re wrong. I’ll save that for Tiktok — I’ll only have to blather for one to three minutes there.

Work continues on The White Raven: Morrigan’s Wrath, and the list of notes on things I need to address when I get the edits for The White Raven: Morrigan’s Heir continues to grow. For example, did you know that it was forbidden for the Flamen Dialis to handle bread? Yup, me either. Even though I researched Roman religions and the various restrictions on their priests before I wrote the scene in Heir, there the Flamen Dialis is, holding a load of bread. So I need to change that.

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

30463 / 90000 (33.85%)

Other changes involve inconsistencies with characters who have changed as I write them in the second book, characters who have come into the second book who were never mentioned in the first one but should have been, and some stylistic choices that need to be consistent throughout. Oh, and double checking that some of the herbs I have our healers using in Rome are things that they’d actually have in Rome at that time.

Yes, I’m going through a lot of trouble for a historical fantasy set in an entirely fictional, very idyllic Rome. I know that. I’m having fun with it. And there will be an author’s note that roughly says “I am fully aware that none of the history in the parts of the book set in Rome is accurate. This was deliberate. Don’t yell at me. Fantasy. Totally fantasy.”

Although… not in so many words, right?

I hope to have the edits for The Chronicles of John Zebedee finished by the end of the month, and I hope to have a cover reveal sometime in the next week. The latest cover mockup is really good, and I think we’re almost in the right place. Once this is published, I really need to start figuring out timelines and storylines for Children of the Swords — which is the series that will tie The Chronicles of John Zebedee into Swords of Charlemagne. No, I’m not sure how yet. There must be research because I know nothing about Edwardian England or World War I, and I’m not going to rely on Downtown Abbey as reference material. (Although I did use a floorplan of Highclere Castle as a reference for the Sussex estate in Table of Stone.)

Also… ah… surprise? There’s going to be a sequel series to Swords of Charlemagne. It will be focused on Margaret and Douglas’ children, and there are going to be elves in there! The series will start with Wesley, the working title of his book is Seer, and that’s about all I know at the moment.

Other irons in the fire? Getting back to The Sea Prince, which will happen once I’m done with John Zebedee edits, and getting started on either Tales from the Arena: Dead Man’s Hand or Tower of Light. Both of those are fully plotted out and just need to be written. Although I might stay in a seafaring mood, in which case I’ll start The Iron Virgin.

That should be enough to keep me out of trouble.

Stop laughing.

Jan

2023

Not a Bad Start

Week two of 2023, and we’re getting back into the swing of things. Getting up for school isn’t as much as a slog, and the 30 day yoga challenge is going nicely. And the words are flowing, although I have learned my lesson — do not save all of the sex scenes up to write them later, because then… you have to write them later, which takes FOREVER because writing sex may be fun, but it’s also SLOW.

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

23631 / 90000 (26.26%)

I’m working my way back toward a sustainable schedule, which means that writing and editing happens during the week, research happens whenever, and administrative stuff happens on the weekends (unless it’s something I can’t put off.) So I did inventory this past weekend to count the books that I have on hand.

Anyone want to buy some books? Signed and personalized!

Funny story about that website. I was discussing doing sales through your own website and not through a third-party site (in this case, Etsy), and I mentioned that I use the Square API through my website which helps with inventory. And I gave them the link I just posted above, and went to look at the site myself.

And that’s when I noticed I’ve been using an outdated graphic for months. Out of all the covers on the old graphic, only a couple were current! And I use that graphic on the website, and on my newsletter, and on my Facebook page and… lots of places! So now there’s a nice, new, current graphic in all the places.

Next up for administrative stuff? Taxes. Once the royalty reports come in, that is.

The edits on The Chronicles of John Zebedee are coming along nicely. I could wish that the cover art revisions were going better, but… it can’t all be lightning in a bottle. I’m using the same designers who worked on the amazing covers for Heir to the Firstborn, so I was expecting something amazing for Chronicles of John Zebedee. What I got was something that read strongly as space western. Then more space western. After the third space western, I had to be clear that I’m not writing space cowboys. Not this time, anyway. The next two covers were western, hold the space. And the one I got today was… well, I’m not sure what it was, but it was not fantasy or romance. The book doesn’t come out until March. I have time. But this is getting frustrating. I can’t run ads without a cover, because I can’t set up the preorder until I have a cover image. Well, I could, but changing out the “cover coming soon!” graphic is a pain in the fundament. I have a couple of books on Goodreads that the default cover is the Cover Coming Soon graphic, and I can’t get them changed to the actual cover. (I change it, and GR changes it back!)

I found out this weekend that I wasn’t chosen as a program participant for Boskone this year, which I’m fine with. More applicants than places to put them, which I understand. I had a lot of fun last year, and we’ll see if I can get invited back another year. I’ve booked my room for ICFA, so that’s the next place I’ll be. Possibly running around doing tech again, because that was fun last year. And I haven’t yet heard when the applications open for Necronomicon, but I do want to go back. We shall see what comes of the wanting.

Catch you all next 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

Race to the Finish Line!

Here we are, with two and a half weeks left of school, and… probably about ten chapters to go in Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home. That’s roughly 30K words.

In two and a half weeks.

Ummm… this is going to be a really short blog post! I have to go make all the words!!!

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

140730 / 170000 (82.78%)

I can’t believe this series is almost done. It’s really kind of wild — this is the longest I’ve ever spent on any single project, ever. And the amount of work and worldbuilding that went on behind the scenes — well, I knew it was ambitious to write a serial in real time. I just didn’t know just how ambitious!

And at the same time, I’m really ready for this series to be done. I’ve done just about everything I can do with the characters — including some things that should have been permanent but weren’t (trying to avoid book 3 spoilers…). There might be a short story for some side characters that came into it near the end of The Way Home, but… maybe not.

Once it’s done, I’ll be taking the summer off. Well, as off as I ever get — there will be edits, and I need to finish the last part of my business plan. I have research to do for the imaginative anthropology project I want to put together, and I have so much reading to catch up on!

But first… moar words!!!

Before I forget! Counsel of the Wicked is on Kindle Countdown deal this week, because Haven’s Fall comes out NEXT week.

Now, back to making words.

writing

We’re All Gonna Be Safe…

Work in Progress

Promotions

Appearances

Release Week!

Preorders

Works in Progress

The Prep Begins

Works in Progress

Promotions!

The Plan is Afoot

Works in Progress

Promotions!

Keep It Simple

Works in Progress

Promotions!

Halfway through October

Works in Progress

Promotions!

Wait, What Was I Doing Again?

Not a Bad Start

And Here We Go!

Race to the Finish Line!

Works in Progress

Appearances

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