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.

Self-Defense short available soon

Ok, first, my foot. I didn’t have glass in it. I had an attack of gout. I can see you wincing, It really wasn’t that agonizing, at least from what I’ve read, but it did hurt like hell. I’m not going into the litany of medical issues I have; this isn’t the place for that. According to one of those Facebook quizzes, I’m 83 years old.  Yeah, go figure.

With that out of the way, “Self Defense” booklets arrived in the mail yesterday. OMG. They are SO COOL. The outside is a composition book, and the inside has lines and handwriting. And you get it free at my appearances! (And also at Paper Angel Press.com as a .pdf. starting July 1) But the .pdf is not as cool as the booklets.

I now have a calendar on my website (grimaulkin.com and darkmysticquill.com), so you can see where and when I’ll be appearing. Thank you, so much, web Guru Steven for doing this all for me.

I’m working on Water’s edits. My plan is to get them done by July 4 (I have a long weekend). Then comes the albatross, War Mage. Also on or around June 30, I will be dropping episode 3 of Dark Mystic Quill. It’s going to be about writing this time.

Check out my goodreads profile if you get a chance, and if you want, leave a message. I’m presently reading a book by the Dalai Lama–not my usual fare, but it’s actually really good. I’m also researching for my next witchcraft podcast on spell work.

Podcast, and more books!

Episode 2 of DMQ is up. So proud of myself–it only took me a few hours as opposed to a few days to get it ready. Even with breaks due to my refrigerator running.

I have injured myself. Somewhere, in my foot, is a sliver of glass. I went to the urgent care and they couldn’t find it. In the meantime, my foot is swollen like a balloon, and I can’t put any weight on it. They suggested I go to get it x-rayed to see if they can see the sliver and take it out. I have to go see my PCP tomorrow to get the x-ray because I’m sure not going to the ER for something as stupid as this. It hurts like hell.

Okay, so that was probably TMI, but that’s what’s bothering me the most today.

I’m supposed to set up the tent that we bought for my first appearance this season in Scituate on July 1. I’m also supposed to make tent weights out of old water jugs, bungee cords, and kitty litter. Yes, it’s a Yankee jury-rig, but it should work. In theory. But it’s raining. So no tent set-up today.

I don’t know how Grimaulkin is selling. I don’t want to know just yet. I want to be (hopefully) pleasantly surprised. One person I know read it and really liked it. The short, “Self Defense”, is going to be ready (hopefully) for July 1. If you’re interested in that, it’s a freebie on paperangelpress.com.

Water was edited, and I’ve been working on it for the past couple of days. After reading a few gay-themed short stories, I’ve noticed that I’ve put WAY too much sex in mine. The other short stories have usually one sex scene. In almost all of mine, I have at least three. So you get your money’s worth!

War Mage is still…I don’t know. I keep thinking about it, trying to turn it over and over in my head to try and get things going with it. Whenever I sit down to start writing it, I end up staring at a blank page and doing nothing. Or I write crap. Or I rewrite what I wrote before. Something’s just not in me to get this story out, and I don’t know why.

Well, I have one idea why–I don’t want to insult the people who were there in Afghanistan. I know, I just know, I’ll get the details wrong. Some Afghan vet is going to write “FOB Blessing wasn’t set up that way” and I’ll just hang up my pen and not write any more because I would have been seen as a hack, a fraud.

I have to get past that, saying to myself, “Your FOB Blessing didn’t look like that, but mine does.” Hell, if you’re suspending disbelief about there being magic in the military, can you get past the fact that Quonset huts were in rows and not a star-shape? (Though I’ve only seen a few pictures of FOB Blessing, I have no idea how the huts/containers were set up.)

I also have an outline. I hate outlines. I used to trace pictures before coloring them because I would allow myself to color outside the lines. I found outlines to be good for me when I’m stuck on a deadline, especially when I did it that one year for NaNoWriMo when I had two weeks to write the novel. I stuck to it, but I also dictated the novel, which made it, um, novel and interesting. Now, typing it, no fun. And dictating–no fun revising. Trust me. I have until August to get off my duff and get War Mage finished. It’s already the last week of June, and my appearances are ramping up.

I’m going to see if I can get a web page for my appearances only, so you don’t have to look back for the post with it.

Grimaulkin available!

It’s available on Kindle, Amazon, Smashwords, Google, iTunes, and Nook.

The prelude to this book will be available as a freebie soon (and it’s going to look great!)

Working on War Mage. There will be an extensive rewrite.  I mean extensive. But I have a pretty good outline.

There’s also an interview of me out there somewhere. I’ll link to it when I can find it.

Podcast live; Books on order

My podcast is live, on darkmysticquill.com. 

My books for Grimaulkin are now on order, and should be coming in by June 15. Hardcovers are $24.95, trade paperbacks are $14.95.

I’ve added another date, July 1, at the North Scituate Farmer’s Market. Other dates may show up as available (usually on a one-day notice), so watch Twitter or Facebook for updates.

I’m working on War Mage. Damn if I don’t get that book up and running soon. With the Revise Your Novel class I’m taking, I’m getting a lot of ideas. I know now what to pull out, what makes no sense, and why it looks like a Frankenstein monster. I’ve explained nothing about the world, explained nothing about Brent’s knack (either in the book previous or this one). This book has no plot. Well, it will by the time I finish rewriting it. Because, as usual, I start with a murder.

 

Eh.

Finished the final proof of Grimaulkin, so it should be in my hot little hands on or about June 1, ready for launch date!

Unfortunately, the only local place I’ll be attending is the Richmond Marketplace on July 29.

Got the cover art for Grimaulkin’s short story–it’s perfect.

Now I’ve got nothing. I’ve been plowing through War Mage to try and figure it out. I’ve gotten a few ideas that I wrote down, but I have to rewrite this wreck of a book.  Every time I read it, I just want to toss it out and start again. but I have to go through this class (I’m on week 6 for two weeks now).