Monthly Archives: July 2017

Changes

So I didn’t get to sell at the Farmer’s Market yesterday. It was very windy, and my books were flying off the table, literally. And then my canopy tent flew off and snapped in four places. It was wrecked.

I have to wait until Friday to get a new canopy, because for the Loof Festival on August 12, I promised to have a canopy tent. We have a local seconds store and they’re cheap there. But it’s an unexpected expense.

I spoke to the publisher and told him I really wanted to do Grim 2 instead of War Mage. War Mage is just not happening. I don’t feel it. (It might be that one-star review that’s biting at the edges of my imagination.) So we switched it up–Grimaulkin Tempted is going to be December.

Set free from the bonds of War Mage, the muse is having a field day. I already had 19K words going into Grimaulkin Tempted, and I had an idea of where it was headed. So now we’re in sync. What a great feeling. I did 2K words yesterday.

Podcast to come out tomorrow. I promise. That’s what I’ll work on in between writing.

And Water is set for August 15. Maybe I’ll do Earth for NaNo.

 

 

Mysteries

So. Since I missed last week’s podcast, I’m just going to do one podcast on the 30th. Maybe it’ll be longer than the usual 5 minute blurbs.

War Mage is up to 7K words. I’ve been lax at writing during the week, so I do most of my writing on the weekend. In addition, I can’t see what I’m writing because my reading glasses aren’t strong enough, and my prescription glasses are messed up. It’s terribly frustrating to read.

I am going to come at War Mage from a different angle. Instead of worrying about the military details, I’m going to worry about the mystery plot. Most of the story takes place at Camp Blessing. A couple of scenes take place in the field. I think what I will do in this “first” draft is get down the mystery elements, and then fill in the military details, nor not even bother with the military details. I’ve got a few side “mysteries” going on so far already.

I received two readings for the Grimaulkin audio book. He’s got Scott down. Mike isn’t bad–I hear him in my head with a gruff, slightly Maine/New England accent. Frank is pretty good; sounds like he has smoked way too many cigarettes and is jaded and slightly angry. Frank does not suffer fools gladly, so it fits.

Water is expected out August 15. I will start Earth next.

And lastly, I will be at the Richmond Farmers’ Market on July 29, rain or shine!

What a relief!

My publisher and I had a bit of a talk, and War Mage has been pushed to December. It seems to have taken a big weight off my shoulders, and I did do a little bit of writing on it yesterday.  I think I’m going to write out the first draft, see how long it is, and if it’s not long enough, then combine it with the The Dark Prison, so War Mage will end up being a stand-alone.

I have a calendar for my appearances on my website, both the Grimaulkin and Dark Mystic Quill sites.

My podcast is going to be late. I’ve been feeling under the weather this past week, and can’t seem to write out what I want to discuss. I’m not good enough to wing it yet, so I have to write down what I’m going to say.

Water is expected to come out on August 15. There will be an omnibus called Water, and then novellas of the different water signs: Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces. The prologue is a freebie (there’s no sex in that). What’s next, I think, is going to be Earth. That will be next year…maybe May (around Taurus). Grimaulkin Tempted is in stasis while I concentrate on War Mage, though the muse really wants to write Grimaulkin Tempted.

 

 

Chugging along

I have to come up with a topic for next week’s podcast. It’s a choice between “What kind of magic do I do?” and “How Journaling is Word Vomit.”

War Mage is up to a stupendous 4K words. No way am I going to get it done for September. Unless I dictate, and even then, I need an outline, and the outline I have sucks. So I’m pantsing the thing and hoping the muse blesses me with more than 1200 words a day. I may end up combining what I was considering books 1 (War Mage)  and 2 (The Dark Prison) into it, like I did with Grimaulkin–I thought Grimaulkin had two separate storylines that were combined into one. Nobody else seems to have noticed. If I combine the Brent stories, it will definitely take care of the word count, and it will be a good stand-alone. Because right now, at 4K, I’ve given up a reveal.

And Brent is no detective, so I’m trying to let the readers kind of scream at him saying, “Can’t you see that so-and-so is lying????” Will that piss off readers and make them put down the book, or let them think that they’re smarter than the protagonist? It’s a fine line I’m walking here.

Water is being final-proofed, and should be out in August.

I don’t know how Grim’s selling…and I don’t want to know until I get the royalties (If any).

 

Self Defense and book sales!

Had a successful book sale on July 1. Three sold books, mostly because people wanted card readings. Might have had more if I didn’t take so long reading cards. Had to buy a bigger table.

My next appearance is going to be on July 29 in Richmond, RI (Exit 3A off I-95 in RI).

“Self Defense” is available on instafreebie for the next 30 days. After that, it’ll be on Amazon and other places.

I sent Water back to Zarra Knightly Publishing, so hopefully that should be out next month.

I finally started writing War Mage. It’s like pulling teeth, though, even with the outline. Or maybe it’s because of the outline. I’m not an outliner. It did work for me once, but it’s not working for me right now. It’s still not the story I want to tell. The theme is something like, “Friends can be found in the most unlikely places” or “What might seem to be an enemy may be a friend”. Tyrath and Olron are keys to the theme. Makrah is like an aging hippie that loves democracy and the USA (I’ll have him come from the Rockies). The story is about control and freedom, how friendship and loyalty can overcome anything. Yes, I know that’s not my usual type of story, but I want to present something happy here.

Maybe that’s the other thing that is bothering me–a happy ending.

The War Mage cover is going to be a lie…I got rid of the riders.

Oh, and episode 3 of Dark Mystic Quill is out. This is all about Grimaulkin and why he stayed in my head these last 10 years.