writing

Jun

2021

Brain Weasels

Heir to the Firstborn(Heir to the Firstborn, book 5)

115201 / 150000 (76.80%)

Okay, Liz. What the heck is a brain weasel?

That’s what I call anxiety. The brain weasels.

(Occasionally, I’d call them Dementors, but I haven’t been doing that much recently because reasons.)

Anyhow, brain weasels. This is still a relatively new thing — they moved in a few years back, and decided my brain was comfy and entertaining, and decided to stay. Used to be, the brain weasels were nice and quiet. But over this past year, it seems to be that they’re active a LOT more often.

(As an aside did you know that increased anxiety is a sign of menopause? Yeah, me either. Why do they only talk about the hot flashes?)

Now, for those of you who don’t know what anxiety is like… have you ever ridden a roller coaster? You know that feeling of dread you get in the pit of your stomach, the one where you’re questioning yourself, your sanity, and all of your life choices that led you to this moment that you can get right before you go over the top of the big hill?

Imagine that on feeling on sustain. There’s no big hill. There’s no scream and it’s over and when can we do that again? There is only complete, total, unending dread, with no release.

It’s exhausting and brain numbing, and because mental health is not a priority in this world, we’re supposed to function through it. Or medicate it away.

I’m not medicating it. Not yet. My doctor and I aren’t sure if this is brain chemistry or menopause (or both) and there’s no clear pattern of triggers that let us say “Oh, it’s hormonal, and we can do HRT instead of anti-anxiety drugs to address it.” So for now, I keep track of the days when it’s bad, and what’s happening around me that might be a factor.

In writing news, I’m plugging away at Heir to the Firstborn, and I’ve sat down to read Metropolis so that I can get started on planning out that queer steampunk retelling that a former editor challenged me to write. I have the audiobook, too, and the restored version of the original movie is available on YouTube. So I’ll have a research day at some point (the restored movie is two and a half hours!)

Pen to Paper opens to participants today, and we’re plugging along behind the scenes with revisions from our valiant team of development testers. The program opens in August, and spots are limited, so if you’re unpublished and interested, go check it out!

And I’m getting ready for the RWA Retreat in two weeks. Not going to lie, this may be part of what’s got the brain weasels riled up. (OMG, I’m getting on an AIRPLANE and I’m going to spend several days in a HOTEL with people I don’t KNOW!)

The retreat will be fun, once I’m there. I’m pretty sure of that. It’s the anticipation, just like at the top of the big hill. And when it’s done, I’ll be asking “When can I do that again?”

May

2021

Wait… June? Where did May Go?

It’s June tomorrow. Was it just me, or did May just fly on past?

Granted, I’ve been busy. Between my own writing and Pen to Paper and RWA stuff and every other thing, I’ve barely had time to blink. And now it’s JUNE?

Write faster, Liz! There’s so much left to do!

Heir to the Firstborn(Heir to the Firstborn, book 5)

95828 / 150000 (63.89%)

I hit the pivot point on Heir to the Firstborn last night. And there is an entire chapter written that comes after that pivot point, so while this book is going to be another monster of a book, it’s not going to be an 180K word monster.

I don’t think. And we’ll see how much gets trimmed (or excised entirely) in edits.

Gonna be a thick book, though!

My brain knows that this is the end, though. So it’s starting to look at the rest of the “Eventually, I’ll Write This” list and pick things. I may take another stab at The Willow Sword and rework it as a serial once Heir to the Firstborn is done. And at that point, the question will be do I take it over to Amazon Vella, or keep it on Patreon? And once I rework Blood Bound and get it back to Circlet, then it might just be time to take up that steampunk retelling of Metropolis that’s been knocking around in my head for ages. (That one will be called Tower of Light, for anyone keeping score. And it’s all Lon Sarver’s fault.) Which means my 2022 plans are looking to be recover and rerelease the Rebel Mage trilogy, release The Chronicles of John Zebedee with the rest of the Wild West Paranormal boxset, and get something started for a new serial. Maybe get The White Raven: Morrigan’s Wrath started, depending on what happens with Circlet.

The Lady and the Sword released last week, with a wonderful release day review and some nice sales. I’m pretty pleased with the release. Ashes and Light in July, and Table of Stone in September!

And on top of all of this, two weeks ago, I submitted my name to run for reelection as a Director at Large for the RWA Board. Last time, I promise! (It has to be the last time — term limits are a thing for directors, and I’m not running for anything on the Executive Board. No. You can’t make me.)

We’ve decided that we’re taking a week off once I get back from the RWA retreat. Which is a good thing, because I think I’ve forgotten how to downtime. It’s been a LONG time since I last did downtime. (umm… last vacation was 2017? I think? Our financial advisor yelled at us. We’re under orders to do something FUN. So, we’re going to!)

I am looking forward to that retreat, though! I’ve never been to Tennessee, except for once when I was in the airport because we had to change planes. I don’t think that counts. And Nashville? The Grand Old Opry is on my list of things I want to see! (It’s a short list. One thing. I won’t have a car, so I’m sticking to things I can get to on foot, and the Grand Old Opry is five minutes from the hotel!)

I do need to finish my retreat presentation, though. One more thing to add to my to-do list!

May

2021

How to Get an Whole Week into One Day…

First, start with a Monday…

Today has been a very productive day, in all ways but one…

Got Teen Boy off on time to his second to last day of finals. (okay, I made sure he was in front of his computer…)
Worked out
Had a brief training on how to conduct an interview via Zoom — best video settings, that sort of thing.
Scheduled three Zoom interviews.
Prepped three different sets of questions for those interviews.
Reviewed Units 6 and 10 of Pen to Paper for two of those three sets of questions
Sent the interviewees out best practices for Zoom interviews.
Scheduled a meeting to discuss (REDACTED)
Scheduled three doctor appointments
Backed up the computer
Wrote the weekly blog (hi!)
Picked up groceries
Did my daily Tarot draw
Wrote this blog post

Notice what’s missing?

I haven’t written a durned word for Heir to the Firstborn today!

Good thing I had an exceptional writing week last week!

Heir to the Firstborn(Heir to the Firstborn, book 5)

91772 / 150000 (61.18%)

I wrote out of order last week. There was a scene that needed to be written, even though I’m not there yet — I just needed to get it down before I lost it. Which means that I wrote two chapters and a bit last week. And I’ll hit the pivot point in the chapter I’m just about to start, and the pace is going to pick up dramatically.

I’m wondering how much of the first half of the book is going to get cut when I get to edits. It’s slow. It’s all necessary, but it’s slow. So maybe I can tighten things up.

Or maybe not. I never made any claim to being concise.

I’m also starting to wonder if I’ll actually make the self-imposed deadline of a November release. It’s the end of May, and I’m only halfway done. Heir to the Firstborn might just end up being my first book of 2022 at this rate. Which isn’t a problem, really. But it means that I missed out on my feat of publishing 6 books in a year that will NEVER EVER HAPPEN AGAIN I MEAN IT!

Ahem…

Tomorrow The Lady and the Sword releases in KU for ebooks. Print should follow along shortly (it’s in review because I forgot to hit publish yesterday.) And I discovered something. The Term of Service for Kindle Unlimited only cover EBOOK distribution. It says nothing about exclusivity of print.

So The Lady and the Sword will go wide in paperback next week (on June 1st).

Preorders for paperbacks of the rest of the series are loading to all major retailers now, and will release when the ebooks release in KU (In July for Ashes and Light, and in September for Table of Stone.)

And that’s about all here. Time for me to run off to my next thing — making dinner.

Then… maybe some words? Maybe?

We’ll see.

Apr

2021

It’s being a Monday.

I’m not sure why I always blog on a Monday. I mean, they get so Monday-ish and then here is it past 4PM Eastern and I’m just writing my first lines.

BOY, has it been a Monday!

There are days when you feel like the only adult in the daycare. And you’re not quite sure how anyone around you manages to tie their shoes, and you know the only reason that they can walk and breathe at the same time is that breathing is an involuntary reflex. If they had to think about both… well…

Yeah, it’s been a day.

Writing has been going well this week, and I’ve had a sudden case of the real world creeping into the writing. Because suddenly, there’s an outbreak of mountain fever in Adavar, and this was not in the outline. And since it wasn’t in the outline, I’m not sure yet how it will play out. But if you’ve read the early books, you know that mountain fever is something serious… and we’ll see where this goes.

Heir to the Firstborn(Heir to the Firstborn, book 5)

61458 / 150000 (40.97%)

I’m still working on page proofs for Table of Stone, and trying to figure out why there are blank pages between chapters. That’s an odd layout glitch that, if I can’t fix it, at least won’t hurt anything. The rest of the book seems fine. Hidden Things comes out of KU on the 25th of April, and goes wide on the 27th. So if you’ve been wanting Hidden Things but you buy your books from Barnes and Noble or the Apple store, the wait is almost over!

Tomorrow is two weeks since my second COVID shot, which means I’m about as vaccinated as I’m going to get. I’m hoping that the CDC approves Pfizer’s request for permission to vaccinate 12-15-year olds, because then everyone in my house will be vaccinated. Fingers crossed on that front!

In RWA news, the National Conference has been moved to be virtual, and will happen in November. More information on that as it comes. The July dates will now be a much smaller retreat, in person at the Gaylord Opryland, and again, more information as it comes in.

The SOOPER SEKRIT project isn’t much of a super secret anymore. I spoke about Pen to Paper at the RWA Town Hall last week. However, the marketing starts soon, so I’ll save the big announcement here for after the official announcement comes out from RWA.

And I think that’s just about everything. Time to go check and make sure people are still able to walk and breathe.

Mar

2021

Release Day! Release Day! Release Day!

Tomorrow.

Wings of Air drops tomorrow(but maybe the paperback will drop tonight on Amazon. Depends on their systems.) If you preorder right now, you’ll have the book on your device in the morning. Amazon is here, and most of the other booksellers are over here. Smashwords is here, Google Books over here, and Eden Books is here.

I’m hard at work on Heir to the Firstborn (the final book of the series. Yes, this time I mean it.) I’m fourteen chapters and about a third of the way into the book.

Heir to the Firstborn(Heir to the Firstborn, book 5)

47875 / 150000 (31.92%)

Yes, I said fourteen chapters and only a third of the way in. This is going to be another monster book. Which may mean that I switch up Heir to the Firstborn with Table of Stone on my publishing schedule, and push Heir to the Firstborn back to a November release. We’ll see how things go as I work, and as things start to open up and I actually (gasp!) start to travel again.

Travel is, I fully admit, not something at the top of my to-do list. There are a couple of events on my calendar, but to be completely honest? If they don’t happen, or if they happen virtually? I’ll be okay with that. Somewhat. I like virtual events. I like being able to talk to people half a world away without having to fly there. But I really can’t wait for the in person events. I miss the hugs.

It’s hard, not knowing which way is up. Not really being able to plan because we’re not sure if the things we’re planning for are actually going to happen, and if they do happen, what form they’ll take. Prepping for a virtual event is very different from prepping for an in-person event. It’s harder to focus on a virtual event, at least for me, simply because I’m not removed from my regular space — there are still dishes and laundry to do, and all my stuff is right here. At an in-person event, it’s easier to be on, easier to be “Writer Liz” as opposed to “Mom Liz.” The act of putting on the appearance clothes and the makeup (which I usually don’t wear) helps put me into the headspace. But if I put on the appearance clothes and the makeup for a virtual event, it’s more like just dressing up, because it’s out of context — I’m really still in my office.

And I can’t hug the people in my screen.

But, this is the world we live in right now. And, since I plan on living in it for a LOT longer? The hugs are going to be as virtual as the conventions.

Stay safe, everyone.

Feb

2021

A Day Off? What’s That?

Why are days off so much more busy than the days when I’m scheduled? Answer? Because I try to cram everything I can’t get done on the days when I’m working into the days when I’m nominally not working. Because the truth of the matter is that I’m never not working. I’m a mom, and an independent business woman, and I run a household. I’m never not doing something, and I’m not sure I know how to sit and do nothing. Even when I do yoga, my mind never shuts off. Today’s post is much later than I usually post, because today I got up, exercised, ate something, went to Trader Joe’s (and encountered my first maskhole being escorted from the premises for refusing to wear his mask properly), came home, showered, had lunch, had a conference call, had another conference call, made dinner, redid two covers (The Lady and the Sword and Wings of Air) because page proofs arrived and showed that I screwed something up on BOTH covers, and now I’m writing this post. I might get more proofreading done on Wings of Air before bed, but I still have edits to do on Ashes and Light, and I haven’t written a word on Heir to the Firstborn. There are some social media things I need to do for an RWA chapter, and those won’t be getting done until tomorrow, and I’m putting off some things for the Super ~~SEECRIT~~ Spiffy RWA project until tomorrow, too. Hrm… no wonder I’m tired. Heir to the Firstborn is progressing. Heir to the Firstborn(Heir to the Firstborn, book 5)

28828 / 150000 (19.22%)

I wrote a scene the other day and posted it to my Facebook, and it’s a nice example of how a scene really does change between the time it flows from my fingers and the time the reader gets it. The initial scene, as written, was this:

Othi’s jaw dropped. He looked at Owyn, then shook his head. “I… I don’t think I’ve heard you swear like that. You didn’t, when we were out in the deep. Or did you, and I just missed it?”

“Probably missed it,” Alanar said. “Owyn is very sweary.” He smiled fondly at Owyn. “One of these days, love, I should wash your mouth out with soap.”

“You and what army?” Owyn growled.

Alanar laughed and turned toward him.“If I get you in the right position, you’ll ask me for the soap,” he purred, and Owyn turned pink.

“Enough of that,” Aria said. “We have to leave, and we cannot wait for the pair of you to crawl back into bed.”

Alanar straightened and turned to face her. He smiled. “Oh, I wouldn’t be the one crawling.”

It’s a good scene. But that last line bothered me. It was out of character for Alanar. It was right… but why did he say that? So I let it percolate, and the finished scene still includes this exchange, but it’s very different from the original. And I’m not showing it to you because spoilers. You have to wait for Heir to the Firstborn. Today, for the first time, I started thinking about what will come next. Once I’ve finished publishing Swords of Charlemagne and Heir to the Firstborn, what’s next year going to hold? There are the plans to republish the Rebel Mage books, and I’ll need to design new covers for those, but what new fiction is coming? I’m honestly not sure yet. The White Raven: Morrigan’s Heir is over with Circlet, as is Blood Bound, Sapphires and Gold, and Bonds of Blood and Steel. I don’t have any information on where those are in the process, so not data on them. The Chronicles of John Zebedee are off with the publisher putting together the box set, and those should be out in 2022. I need to write the second White Raven book, and I need plan out the rest of the Flesh and Blood series. I think the series plan may be what I focus on once the edits are done for Swords of Charlemagne, while I’m finishing Heir to the Firstborn. As for the Patreon, once Heir is finally wrapped, I may try to resurrect The Willow Sword, and do that one next. Too many things. Not enough hours to do them.

Jan

2021

Happy Book Day Eve!!!

It’s Book Day Eve!

(What? Liz, is that even a thing?)

Sure, it is! It’s the day before a book release! Tomorrow, Hidden Things goes live!!!

After all this time, it’s kind of hard to think that the day is finally almost here. One more sleep ’til Book Day!

How long? Last week, over on Facebook, I had a memory pop up.

That exchange is in chapter 4 of Hidden Things. Written six years ago!

So what am I doing to celebrate Book Day? I’m leaving the house! (but only for a little while). I’ll be editing The Lady and the Sword (Swords of Charlemagne, Book 2), and writing Heir to the Firstborn. And working on my Super Spiffy RWA project.

Heir to the Firstborn

(Heir to the Firstborn, Book 5)

11742 / 150000 (7.83%)

Heir has been going slowly — last week was a month long, I swear. And this week promises to be just as long — my son has been doing virtual high school, because of the obvious reasons. But he has to be on campus twice this week for testing — the PSAT is tomorrow. (That’s why I’m leaving the house.) There’s also another major test he needs to take on Thursday.

So of COURSE we get the email this morning that there was someone on campus last week who has since tested positive for COVID. Of course we did.

Not entirely a happy Mama here. But… well, Florida, where living goes to the highest bidder.

Wow. Enough of that. Book Day! Tomorrow is BOOK DAY!!!

Jan

2021

Better Late than Never?

It’s Monday evening. I’ve been BUSY today, and this is my first chance to sit and get to work on the blog. So this will be a very short update.

Heir to the Firstborn

(Heir to the Firstborn, Book 5)

7302 / 150000 (4.87%)

Usually, this past weekend would have been the Central Florida Highland Games, and I’d have been away from my keyboard all weekend. This year, the 44th annual games went virtual, so there was no sitting out listening to bagpipes and playing with babies that aren’t mine. It was for the best, really, but it’s still disappointing.

Instead, this weekend was RWA meetings (the super spiffy project I’m leading, that I can’t tell you anything about yet except to say it’s super spiffy and exciting. Watch this space!), and gardening. And learning that if this whole writing this doesn’t pan out, I can be a barber — I gave 14-year-old J his first haircut in over a year. There was enough hair on the porch to make either a full wig, or three small tribbles.

I also set up the preorder for Wings of Air, which will be available March 23rd everywhere ebooks are sold.

Amazon

Eden Books

Everywhere Else

Hidden Things comes out a week from tomorrow, so you can still get the preorder in. This one is only on Amazon for the launch.

Amazon

Today has been a lot more work on Super Spiffy project, and not as much work on writing or editing. I’m editing The Lady and the Sword (Swords of Charlemagne, Book 2) and am seven chapters into it. It’s not scheduled to release until May, so I’m well on schedule. I’m also working on Heir to the Firstborn (Heir to the Firstborn, Book 5), and am currently on chapter 3, which is one I’ve been waiting to write. If you ever wondered anything about the rituals used to initiate a Smoke Dancer, this is the chapter for you!

And, I think, that’s about all! Busy, busy, busy!!!

Jan

2021

Heck of a Start!

Boy, that was a heck of a start to the year, wasn’t it? And we still have the rest of the year to go!

I would very much like some boring now. Anyone else with me?

Unfortunately, it’s likely to get more interesting before it gets boring. So I’m going to hole myself up in my writer cave and try to ignore the outside world. I have edits to work on, and a new book to write.

Heir to the Firstborn

(Heir to the Firstborn, Book 5)

3083 / 150000 (2.06%)

Heir to the Firstborn is going to focus more on Del, Treesi and Aria (as much as the boys will allow. I need to wrestle the focus of the books back from Owyn and Aven. They keep trying to take over.) It’s been slow getting started, but I’ve also been working on edits. The edits on Wings of Air are done, and I’ll be getting the preorder up this week. I’ll be starting the edits on The Lady and The Sword today, but I’ll be taking those more slowly. The Lady and the Sword isn’t scheduled to come out until May. I have a little bit of time there.

Focus is… challenging at the moment. (for example, I’ve been staring at this blog post for over an hour, trying to find the next word.) There’s been doomscrolling, and stress eating, and rather a lot of yoga to try and offset the effects of doomscrolling and stress eating. I’m trying not to engage with conspiracy theorists online, for the good of my heart (remember, the block button is your friend!). If I didn’t have books coming out that need promotion, I might go on a social media hiatus… or, you know, not. Because let’s be real — all my friends live in my computer, and social media is how I talk to them.

How do you maintain focus when the world around you is chaos? I know this has been a real issue with a lot of other creative people. After ten months of quarantine, a lot of us have found workarounds. But now things are going even weirder and focus is gone.

I think the first thing is to be gentle with ourselves. Things are so far from normal that we can’t even see it from here. And honestly, there’s no way back to that normal. Nor should there be — normal is what got us here in the first place. We need to redefine normal, and we really can’t do that until the chaos factor eases up a bit and stops acting like someone mixed their Jumanji cards up with Cards Against Humanity.

So, here’s hoping that soon normal will be something other than a setting on our dryers.

Preorder now on Amazon!

Jan

2021

Jumanji!

Did anyone else go outside and yell Jumanji at midnight on December 31st? Because I totally went and yelled Jumanji out my front door when I went to ~~kick~~ let the old year out and let the new year in.

New Year. New beginnings.

Heir to the Firstborn

(Heir to the Firstborn, Book 5)

2015 / 150000 (1.34%)

***

John Zebedee Meets the Witch Queen of Elfland

62605 / 60000 (104.34%)

I finished John Zebedee Meets the Witch Queen of Elfland on December 23rd. Too late for my usual Draft by the Solstice, but I had Draft by Christmas Eve, so that was good. Edits on that and on Wings of Air are in process, and Wings of Air looks like it will be out sometime in March (I’m projecting March 23rd, but it might be sooner.)

I have a busy publishing year planned. I’ve got SIX releases on my calendar — the last two Heir to the Firstborn books, and all four Swords of Charlemagne books will be 2021 releases. The calendar looks like this:

January 26th, 2021 — Hidden Things (Swords of Charlemagne 1) — Kindle Unlimited only
March 23rd, 2021 — Wings of Air (Heir to the Firstborn 4)
May 25th, 2021 — The Lady and the Sword (Swords of Charlemagne 2) –Kindle Unlimited only
July 20th, 2021 — Ashes and Light (Sword of Charlemagne 3) — Kindle Unlimited only
September 21st, 2021 — Heir to the Firstborn (Heir to the Firstborn 5)
November 30th, 2021 — Table of Stone (Swords of Charlemagne 4) — Kindle Unlimited only

The plan at the moment is to drop the each book of Swords of Charlemagne out of KU and go wide once the next book is live. We’ll see how that goes. And the last two books might switch — it depends on when I finish Heir to the Firstborn. That is the only book listed that hasn’t actually been written yet. All the others just need edits. Preorders are up for Hidden Things, and will be up for the rest of the books soon.

Now, these are just my self-published books. There are also multiple books out for consideration, and one under contract, and THOSE might appear this year, too. Right now, the ones out in an editors pile are:

Sapphires and Gold (Under contract with Circlet Press)
Bonds of Blood and Steel (Sequel to House of Sable Locks)
The White Raven: Morrigan’s Heir (sequel to Princes of Air)
The Ice Raven (side story set in the Princes of Air universe)
Blood Bound (Flesh and Blood 1)

There’s also the chance that my first ever publishing credit, the gaming manual Psionics for SkillSkape, will be reissued this year as well. I went through and proofed the new layout a few weeks ago, and the last I heard, the mechanics were in the process of being updated. Since math and I have a disfunctional relationship, I’m not involved in that.

There are also four in-person appearances scheduled at the moment. Now, given the way things are, these dates are all tentative. But they’re on the calendar.

RWA National Conference (Nashville, TN), July 14–17, 2021

Orlando Reads Books (Orlando, FL), August 26 – 29, 2021

NecronomiCon (Tampa, FL), September 24 – 26th, 2021

Books at the Beach (Clearwater Beach, FL) October 21 – 24th, 2021

I imagine that Keiser SuperCon might slip into that list at some point, but I haven’t yet heard from them about what the new dates will be.

For the record, I’m saving the republishing of the Rebel Mage books until 2022. I’m not completely insane!)

Given all of the things going on this year, I’m going to be juggling slightly more chainsaws that usual. But it will be worth it!

Click the picture to preorder

writing

Brain Weasels

Wait… June? Where did May Go?

How to Get an Whole Week into One Day…

It’s being a Monday.

Release Day! Release Day! Release Day!

A Day Off? What’s That?

Happy Book Day Eve!!!

Better Late than Never?

Heck of a Start!

Jumanji!

Works in Progress

Appearances

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