Written in Water

Nov

2024

Now Entering The Holiday Zone

Alternate title — There Are Cookies In That Nebula.

Yes, we have entered the Holiday Zone. Thanksgiving is next week, and then… well, if you’ve been around for a while, you know what comes after Thanksgiving.

COOKIEPOCALYPSE!

(Image of three layer cookies on a clear plate. The cookies are green, yellow and red, with a white chocolate coating.)

Oddly enough, I still have no idea what sorts of cookies I’m going to make this year, other than three color to start and struffuli to end. Those are non-negotiable. Other than that? I’m going to take a poll at Thanksgiving dinner, because everyone who will be eating those cookies will be sitting at that table.

I sincerely doubt that there will be a draft before the Solstice, which is my usual rallying cry at this time of the year. King of Swords will continue until I finally hit the end, and I can no longer say how long that will take. Editing this beast is going to be all kinds of fun — how many of these too-many-words are going to end up on the cutting room floor? Find out sometime next year!

If you follow me on Tiktok, you saw that last week, I dropped off copies of Written in Water at the newest bookstore in Orlando, the romance bookstore The New Romantics. It’s SUPER cute (and, I didn’t realize, Taylor Swift themed!) They’re doing soft-openings on the weekends, with the grand opening on December 7th. If you’re in the area, check them out!

I’m starting to wind down for the end of the year. I may not blog next week because there will be cooking practically every day. I have no more shows (and resisted the urge to add one). If there are no last minute sales through my website, then I can close the book on what was a very good year.

Now I just need to finish this book….

Work in Progress

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

95866 / 150000 (63.91%)

Appearances

All done for 2024!

Nov

2024

That’ll Do, Liz. That’ll Do.

Four shows in seven weeks, done. Barring any last minute direct sales through the website, I am done with 2024. That’ll do, Liz. That’ll do.

I do still have some housekeeping to get taken care of. Quarterly taxes in late December (I could do it now, but I already had to refile quarterly taxes once already this year because a direct sale slipped in last minute.) I need to repack the boxes and take inventory, but that can wait until December.

I’m not ready to blog about last week and the ~~heartbreak~~ elections. I spent most of last week in an anxiety whirl, and then went right into a show, which helped me break out of the death spiral (fake it ’til you make it is REAL, y’all. I was by necessity projecting happy and upbeat and cheerful all weekend, which gave my brain a hard reboot.) Now that I’m thinking more clearly, I need to figure out what the next step is.

I’m not stopping what I’m doing. I’m still going to write. As I wrote in my newsletter last week, I’ve got a manuscript to finish. I’ve got another book to edit. I’ve got work to do to tell stories about people who love unreservedly and with their whole hearts. I’ve got queer fantasy and science fiction to write and I WILL NOT let anyone tell me that I cannot.

Tomorrow, I ‘m going to sit down and go over consignment agreements for two new stores in my area, and decide which books I want where. I’m going to research Tiktok shops and see if I want to start one up for book sales. I need to keep working on King of Swords, which just had another wordcount bump. I also need to finish the outline for the Covert Saloon series, and decide which series I’m going to start as a serial on THEO. And I need to start uploading Written in Water to THEO, too. Oh, and get started on a slow clean of the house for Thanksgiving.

But for now, I need to rest. I’m more wiped out than I’ve been in a long time.

Things To Remember

You’re not alone.

We’re here.

We’re together.

What do we do when the hope is gone?

We make more.

Let’s make some hope.

Work in Progress

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

91626 / 150000 (61.08%)

Appearances

All done for 2024!

Sep

2024

Give Me The Coffee And No One Gets Hurt…

Otherwise known as the Monday after a convention. Today is definitely a “give me the coffee and no one gets hurt” kind of day.

We found out Thursday night that Necronomicon was going to happen, so Friday morning, we packed up and headed out. The normally two hour trip to Tampa took us over three, but the hotel was lovely as always (except in a few places where it was… not. No functional elevators while trying to load into the room was not fun.) The area of Tampa where the convention is held is on the eastern side of Tampa near Busch Gardens, and you don’t have to cross the bridges to get there. Which is good, because when we hit Tampa, all the bridges were still closed. We didn’t see any of the flooded areas, but the convention was feeling the effects of the storm — the halls were empty, and panels that were usually packed had maybe six people in the audience. Entire panels and games were cancelled because people simply could not get to the convention.

And yet, it was still a good convention. Smaller audiences made for more intimate panels, with better opportunity for discussion. The opportunity to connect with fans and with other writers were increased. New friends were made.

It was a good convention.

Edits for Morrigan’s Heir should be hitting my inbox any minute now, and I can’t wait! One step closer to having you all meet Lorcan! Hopefully, we’ll be able to get this turned around for later this year. Cross your crossables!

I was eliminated from SPFBO right before we left. Honestly, I was expecting it — the judge who was assigned my book is very upfront about not liking erotic or dark, and Counsel of the Wicked is both. I’m not sure she even finished it. Which… again, it’s not a surprise. That book is A LOT, and I’m starting to debate if it’s worth it to keep it in print. I may pull the series at the end of the year. We’ll see.

Now, I’m prepping for my next show, the Not So Spooky Hallowfest in Deltona, Florida. I’ll have an abbreviated catalog with me — it’s a family focused event, so I’ll have Heir to the Firstborn and The Chronicles of John Zebedee and that’s all. If you’re in the area on Sunday, come and check out the show, which is going to be from 10AM to 4PM at The Center at Deltona, 1640 Dr Martin Luther King Blvd, Deltona, FL 32725-2912. If you come out and tell me you saw this blog, you get a discount!

Work in Progress

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

71118 / 120000 (59.27%)

Promotions

I’m 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!

Coming up on October 11th, I have Chains of Light available for free in So Queer To My Heart, a spicy queer romance event.

Finally, 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!

Appearances

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

Sep

2024

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

Aug

2024

A Long Day

Any Monday that starts with a visit to the dentist is by definition a LONG DAY. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Thankfully, it was a routine visit, but still. Long day is LOOOOONG.

It’s currently 7:22 PM on the East Coast, and I’m just now sitting down to write this. I have written perhaps a grand total of 50 words in King of Swords, and if I make it to 500, it’ll be amazing. I’m not sure I will, though. The next part of this involves a ritual, and I need to write it.

Maybe I’ll write another scene, just to get words on the page. Maybe. Or maybe I won’t push myself too hard on what’s already been a long day, and stop wherever I stop. That’s more likely, to be honest.

I have the DNC on in the background — I thought it started at 8PM, but it actually stared at 6:30 PM, so I missed a bit. (And you thought I wasn’t going to talk about politics!). Remember to check your voter status. And if you’re not registered, remember to do that. Do you have a primary tomorrow (or soon?) Remember that the down ticket elections are equally as important!

All right. Time to get some words on the page.

Work in Progress

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

45654 / 90000 (50.73%)

Promotions

The Narratess Indie Book Sale is this weekend, and you’ll be able to grab a copy of The Chronicles of John Zebedee for $1.99 (down from $8.99) There are over 300 books in this sale, so make sure you check them out!

Counsel of the Wicked is still a contender for SPFBOX (I’m at the point of holding my breath and looking very much like the Kermit the Frog meme where he’s chewing his fingernails). Counsel is still on sale wherever ebooks are sold.

Starting on August 1st and running through the entire month of August, Written in Water will be on sale via Kobo! For all of August, start the series for only $1.99. (And because I’m fond of you guys, the sale will be wherever ebooks are sold, not just Kobo.)

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

Nov

2023

Changes in Altitude

This week’s blog is being written in my family room instead of my second floor office, which is why the title today is changes in altitude. I didn’t say they were BIG changes.

I’m downstairs because I’m monitoring the pumpkin crisp that I’m making for Thursday and Thanksgiving. (And I wish you could smell it. It’s AMAZING. Hrm… I know what recipe I’ll be putting in the next newsletter!) I’m on the last few bits of prep. All the shopping is done, the turkey is in the fridge and (I think) defrosted. Tomorrow I’m making apple pie bars and apple muffins for breakfast while we watch the parade, and I’ll take the sides I made and froze last week out of the freezer. Wednesday I’ll be putting the turkey into the brine and making stuffing. On the day, the turkey will get roasted, and the sides will all be heated up (the only one that’s actually going to be cooked on the day are the roasted green beans.)

Surprisingly, the writing has been going well, even in and around shopping and cooking and cleaning and way too many other things. And given where I am in the story, I’m projecting maybe another four chapters before I bring Valley of Shadows and Heir to the Firstborn to a close.

Wait… Valley of Shadows?

Yes. The Patrons have spoken, and the new title of Balance of Power is Valley of Shadows. The Patreon will still say Balance of Power, because I’m not going back to change all the previous chapters or the tags, but it’s all good. When the book comes out, it’ll be Valley of Shadows. And since it may very well be done before the end of the year, I’m going to rethink that March/April release date and move it up to something closer to the end of January/beginning of February. We’ll see how the editing goes, especially since I may be juggling Cookiepocalypse, edits for Valley of Shadows AND edits for Morrigan’s Heir!

Speaking of the Patreon, last week I got the sad news that one of my original Patrons passed away after a sudden illness. They had been a friend for years, even before I started Heir to the Firstborn, and they were part of the Patreon since I started the entire thing and it was still all called “The Elemental Project.” Valley of Shadows will be dedicated to them.

The final bit of news this week is that copies of Written in Water are back in Spellbound Bookstore in Sanford, FL. They’ve just reopened in a larger space, closer to the historic district. If you’re doing holiday shopping in the Sanford area, shop small and local, and check out Spellbound!

Works in Progress

Valley of Shadows
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 7

59057 / 90000 (65.62%)

New Release!

Wait, a new book on a MONDAY? I thought books dropped on Tuesdays!

Usually? They do. Because I can’t read a calendar, you get a new book a day early!

Snowbound — because brown paper packages aren’t the only things getting tied up…

Preorders are live wherever you buy books

Promotions!

First in Series Friday is THIS WEEK! 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. There will be one blast email on the morning of the 27th, letting you know the link is live.

Oct

2023

Closing In On The End.

Here we are, closing in on the end of 2023. Halloween is tomorrow, and then we get into November and the slow slide toward a new year. Yesterday, I hit the halfway point on Balance of Power, which means I’m well on my way to finishing the book by December, just in time for Cookiepocalypse. Planning for 2024 has started (slowly, but it has started), and I’m looking forward to closing the book on 2023.

It’s been a good year. A weird year, but a good one. I’ve learned a lot, and I’ve come to a lot of realizations that will change how I work going forward. What, you ask? Well, working multiple projects at a time isn’t something sustainable for me anymore, to start with. I have to focus on one thing at a time in each category — planning, researching, writing and editing. If I try to do more than one in each category, then none of the others get done. Time to adjust so I can accomplish more by doing less.

I forget if I let you all know that Written in Water didn’t make the finals for SPFBO. It had a fabulous review, though. You can see the finalists here, and there’s still one more to come (by tomorrow, I think!)

So what’s in the cards for 2024? Keeping in mind that things are still in the squidgy, warm Jello stages of planning, 2024 holds at least one convention (possibly three — I applied to present at ICFA, and I’m in the waiting list for a convention that I’ve never done before), more events with the Cavalcade, at least one but possibly two books from Riverdale Avenue Books (Morrigan’s Heir is still on the roster for this year, but they have Bonds of Blood and Steel, and I will be sending them Morrigan’s Wrath once I finish the Heir edits.) There will be at least one self-published book — that would be Balance of Power, and getting research done for Imaginative Anthropology and for the worldbuilding for Iron and Silk.

So, if I keep with the categories, here’s my 2024 starting lineup.

Planning:
- ???? (at the moment, I have a pile of story outlines ready to go. So this with either stay empty for a bit, or just be business planning.)
Research
- Imaginative Anthropology
  - Iron and Silk research when done
Writing
- The Sea Prince
  - ???? when done (Either Tales from the Arena: Dead Man’s Hand or Tower of Light.)
Editing
- Balance of Power
  - Either The Sea Prince or whatever comes back first from RAB.

I’m looking at perhaps a March or April publishing date for Balance of Power, but that will depend on several factors (how long edits take, how long cover creation takes, and what other books I have releasing and when.)

On a personal level, someone who lives in my house and is taller than I am now graduates in the spring of 2024, and starts college in the fall. All the applications are in, applications for scholarships have started, and we do the financial aid paperwork in December. Then we wait…

Oh, and there’s a two-years-postponed vacation in there somewhere. I really can’t wait for that!

Works in Progress

Balance of Power
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 7

47097 / 90000 (52.33%)

The Sea Prince
The Coral Throne, Book 1

63623 / 120000 (53.02%)

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.

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

Tenth Anniversary!

I have to lead with this gorgeous thing — the tenth anniversary cover for House of Sable Locks…

Isn’t he LOVELY???

This went live sometime over the weekend, and I missed it until this morning, when I received a spam email from a book promoter about my “new book” House of Sable Locks.

That’s very much William… which is funny because that particular model is also on the cover of Infernal Machine! Clearly, the art director and I have similar tastes in steampunk cover models.

The tenth anniversary cover is still going out to all the booksellers and isn’t yet up everywhere. If you want one now, you can get it directly from the publisher.

In other news, I got the news this week that Written in Water was cut from SPFBO, and will not be continuing on in the contest. The reviewer was incredibly positive about the book, and loved the series as well. Really, I can’t complain — the entire experience has been amazing from start to finish. You can read the review here.

In and around working on The Sea Prince and Balance of Power, I’m planning out what the next book will be. Part of that depends on one thing that is out of my control — which books that are out for consideration sell. If I don’t have an answer for that by the time I finish with either of the two books I’m working on now, then I think the next thing I will write will be either The Iron Virgin (aka Pirate Princess), or Tower of Light (aka gay steampunk retelling of Metropolis). I’m not sure which, because it all depends on which one yells at me the loudest.

It’s hard to believe I’ve been doing this whole full-time writer thing over ten years now. What a trip this has been! I have to say, it’s not getting old — I love every minute of it!

Works in Progress

The Sea Prince
(The Coral Throne, Book 1)

63523 / 120000 (52.94%)

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

34357 / 90000 (38.17%)

Promotions!

A new Cavalcade of Authors promo is coming this week, from October 13th through the 15th. Again, 200 books or more free for download. For this one, I’ve put both Written in Water AND Forged in Fire into the pot.

There’s also a single day event on October 27th, hosted by Stephanie Freeman. You can find more information on that and sign up here. For that event, you can grab free copies of The Chronicles of John Zebedee!

Oct

2023

Fourth and Goal

No, I don’t watch football. Well, not anymore. I used to, but the last time I watched football really was… well, yesterday, to be honest. But it was the Funday Football on Disney+, where they did real time animation of the football game from London (it was hilariously glitchy.) No, In this case, fourth and goal doesn’t mean how far you have to go in football. It’s how far we have to go in 2023. October 1st marks the beginning of the fourth quarter. I’ve done my fourth quarter planning and my goals are up on my kanban board. It’s time to look toward bringing this year to a close.

My immediate goals? Finish Balance of Power. Keep working on The Sea Prince. Edits on Morrigan’s Heir will be in some time this month, so I’ll be turning those around to get the book out by the end of 2023. And then I have to revise Morrigan’s Wrath to get that in to the editor. The anniversary edition of House of Sable Locks will be coming out soon (how soon? I don’t know!) and there are things to be done for that. There’s research that I really should get back to doing, although that’s lower priority to closing out the year and revisiting my business plan for 2024. I’m also considering pulling some of my short stories and getting them up for sale, but that may be a 2024 goal and not a 2023 goal.

Balance of Power
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 7

30416 / 90000 (33.80%)

The Sea Prince
The Coral Throne, Book 1

62124 / 120000 (51.77%)

Work on The Sea Prince has slowed down a little, and will slow down even more once the edits come in. Co-writing is much more of a juggling act than writing a book solo, because my interruptions rarely coincide with Danielle’s interruptions, which means that one of us is usually waiting on the other to look over things. We’ll eventually get the hang of this and get this book done.

The SPFBO judges have to announce their finalists by October 31st. This means that, at some point this month, I will find out if Written in Water will continue on in the contest. I’m surprisingly okay with either option. There are so many amazing books that have been cut already so if I am cut, I’ll be in fantastic company.

Keep an eye out for a special blog post/newsletter post in the next week or so — I’ll be able to show you the beautiful new cover of House of Sable Locks!

Promotions!

A new Cavalcade of Authors promo is coming this month, from October 13th through the 15th. Again, 200 books or more free for download. For this one, I’ve put Forged in Fire into the pot.

Written in Water

Now Entering The Holiday Zone

Work in Progress

Appearances

That’ll Do, Liz. That’ll Do.

Work in Progress

Appearances

Give Me The Coffee And No One Gets Hurt…

Work in Progress

Promotions

Appearances

Prep All the Things!

Work in Progress

Promotions

Appearances

A Long Day

Work in Progress

Promotions

Appearances

Changes in Altitude

Works in Progress

New Release!

Promotions!

Closing In On The End.

Works in Progress

Promotions!

Keep It Simple

Works in Progress

Promotions!

Tenth Anniversary!

Works in Progress

Promotions!

Fourth and Goal

Promotions!

Works in Progress

Appearances

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