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Upcoming Events

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If you’ve been following me on Facebook or Instagram (think it went to Twitter also), you saw the announcement of the next title I did at Library Comic Con last weekend. If not, here it is:

2017-08-26 09.34.28

I have a few more events lined up for this year and I’m excited to announce some new ones.

September 16th
Boise Book Fest
I’ll also be doing a Facebook takeover on September 13th at 7pm.

September 18th
Local Author Monday at Rediscovered Books
This one will be a YA panel. That’s about all I’ve got right now.

October 7th
Death Rattle Book Fair at the Death Rattle Writer’s Festival
The whole event is 4 days, but this is definitely where you can find me.

October 14th
Indie Author Day at the Boise Public Library

That’s it for now. I’ll post updates to my Facebook page as I get them. I’m working on creating a newsletter and I’ll let everyone know when I get it up and running so you can sign-up for the mailing list.

Revisiting old work #IWSG

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March IWSG Day Question: Have you ever pulled out a really old story and reworked it? Did it work out?

Yes, and it was torture to some extent. I really liked the concept of the short story and wanted to rewrite it and see if I couldn’t do more with it. Since it’s a side project, I haven’t put too much effort beyond a full rewrite, showing it to a couple of critique groups, and some minor editing after that.

I think eventually it’ll work out. I have another short story that follows these characters that also needs a rewrite along with old notes I found for a third. So it’ll be fun to dabble with in between my major projects.

The hardest part was taking the original from third person present tense to first person past tense. I have a really hard time writing in third person for some reason. Either I want to tell everything or I withhold way more than I would in first person – there’s no in between. Eventually I broke down the original into something of an outline so I could keep the sequence of events roughly the same.

Me and outlines generally don’t play well together either, but for something short I can put up with it.

For now it’s tucked away to be poked and prodded another day. I’m working on the final edits for Shattered Illusions which of course takes priority. My deadlines are looming quickly and I haven’t gotten as much work done with it in the past week or so due to a change in my schedule and trying to catch up and finish my February writing challenge. And being sick. I didn’t know it you could get sick off of too much protein (also didn’t realize it was too much).

See, this is what happens when I try to be healthier about things.

Also getting nervous and excited for my event at Rediscovered Books on Saturday. I’ll be there from 11-1.

Habits

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In going through the editing process, part of it is making sure my characters maintain their particular habits such as Silver toying with his braid. It’s something he does and doesn’t necessarily realize he’s doing it.

And then I start to laugh at one of my own: having my sunglasses on my head whenever I’m out. Either on my face or up on top of my head. I just grab them with my keys on my way out the door and don’t really ever think anything of it.

Until now of course.

What are some habits you have? Or habits of characters you like?

Where will I go? #IWSG

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I know I usually do more than answer the question of the month, but I’m afraid I’m not much in the frame of mind to do so. There’s just been a lot going on.

And now for this month’s question: In terms of your writing career, where do you see yourself five years from now, and what’s your plan to get there?

Er…I have no idea and thus no plan. I’ll probably try to keep to the schedule I’ve set for myself and primarily keep working on Terra Chronicles novels (and side stories). There’s other projects I’ll want to tackle along the way, but I’m usually wary of the best-laid plans and try to factor for some flexibility.

Kind of why I haven’t announced a specific release date for my next book – I have no idea if I’m going to have a ton of work ahead of me or not when it comes back from my beta readers at the end of the month. Just like I’m unsure of what I wrote for the first draft of book 3.

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It has begun…again #IWSG

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nanowrimo_2016_webbanner_participantIt’s NaNoWriMo season once again and I’m off on drafting out book 3 in my series. The last few years I’ve approached this challenge with a strange mix of excitement and trepidation. I blew the challenge for 5 years in a row and even with 3 “wins” under my belt since, I still grow concerned that I’ll return to that trend.

And with how much I dragged my feet with side projects in September and October, I can only hope I gain enough momentum early on to power through like I have the past couple of years.

Why is this challenge so important to me? I’m not sure. I like connecting with other writers, but honestly, the little achievement awards make me happy (plus I’m a gamer – achievements just make me happy XD). I have something I can measure my successes and failures against easily. And I need to get a story down and out and I might as well do it during a time that lots of other people are so we can cheer each other along.

Now onto the #IWSG question of the month: What is your favorite aspect of being a writer?

Watching a story take shape. Some aspects can drive me mad, but from getting the first draft down to seeing what the final version looks like – it’s like watching magic and most of the time I forget that it came from me. I just get so caught up in watching a story evolve.

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Time? #IWSG

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This month’s IWSG question is: how do you find the time to write in your busy day?

I stopped and went “what time?” as I’ve been mostly ignoring it for the past couple of weeks. And as much as my schedule increased in terms of how busy it got this year with the little one starting preschool (among other things), I’m sitting in trepidation at how much busier next year will be.

For now I’m trying to use the short time she’s in school to get something done, though lately it has been other things demanding my attention first. I think once the dust settles and I get used to the new routine, it’ll even itself out.

But honestly, I’ll grab whatever time I can. I don’t have a set schedule and I’m certain I’ll be making good use of the iOS version of Scrivener and my Dropbox syncing (since before Scrivener for iOS was released I would bounce between computers).

Writing on the run is hard, editing harder, and with as much as this post might be disjointed I think I can make it work.

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What just happened?

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IMG_2979.JPGIt’s been a pretty busy time period. Little one started preschool. Needing to get her signed up for her other activities such as dance class. The hot air balloon festival (the picture is actually from last year’s festival – haven’t even downloaded the ones from this year yet never mind edited them). Husband’s extended family members in town who want to do a quilt-a-thon. And it goes on.

Needless to say my writing time has been limited lately.

Preschool…well, I am grateful for a drama-free drop-off. She was like “bye!” and happily went into the classroom even though she was the first one there. I’m left just standing there wondering where my shy little girl went.

While she’s there I’ve been trying to get some stuff done. Finish up the changes I need to make before going into beta. Updating other files. Figure I can really get to work on those side stories I want to post here. Just got to get used to all the new things.

For my own entertainment

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Not long ago, I was asked if I tried to pair my characters up to real life people. I don’t normally do so unless it strikes me as that person pretty much walked out of my head, but according to my character notes I’ve done that once.

I do, however, build them in video games as closely as I can. Why? It amuses me and I can run around as said character.

Let me shoKetayl Travere 06/08/2016 09:11:24w you my main. She might look a little familiar to those who have had the chance to critique/beta Twisted Magics. Don’t mind the pose too much – I was going a
little screenshot happy (finally figured it out on the PS4, though I usually play on PC) with the new patch and grabbed this from a cutscene.

Gear is usually the worst in trying to manage and I don’t get too picky about it. It changes often enough and I’m too lazy to try and build my perfect set through glamours (referring to specifically FFXIV here).

Hair styles are another one. I swear I’ve seen a bun on another race, but they haven’t given it to the female Elezen yet. The ponytail has been the hair style on her since I was able to get it. Occasionally I try something else, but always end up going back.

Why not a better shot? I haven’t taken one. At least not one that won’t spoil some of the story that my husband has yet to catch up on it at the time of this post. For now I get to sit back and rub my hands in anticipation of watching his reaction to the new story. [insert evil, maniacal laughter here]

Have I tried designing my characters in other video games that will allow it? Yes. FFXIV has gotten me the closest so far and I didn’t think to screenshot those at the time. Or if I had, I don’t remember where I hid the screenshots.

All in all, it’s just a bit of fun and purely for my own entertainment.

Twisted Magics

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Twisted Magics will be available in 3 weeks on June 21st. In the meantime, I’ve linked to several places that pre-orders can be placed below.

To add to the fun, I will be taking questions from the comments that I will answer in my post next week.

I suppose I can also give an update to the next book (yeah, I know, the first one isn’t even released yet). I’m still making a mess, but it’s definitely in better shape now overall. Still haven’t fully settled on the title, but the one I’m currently using seems to have stuck. I’ll give it a little longer before officially announcing it. At least I’ll let Twisted Magics be released first.

 

3D Mock Up

And now the information on how to get a copy of Twisted Magics!

Ebook versions are available for pre-order through Amazon, Smashwords, B&N, iBooks, and Kobo.

Print copy pre-orders are available through my online store. I will begin shipping these on June 14th. If you would like me to sign/write something inside the book, please mark it in the special instructions.

Hair pulling levels of frustration

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I’ve gotten both copies of the print version in as proofs, but the excitement from that is far overridden by the frustration that my tax information keeps getting kicked back as invalid by both Createspace and KDP.

That and my husband sitting next to me and reading one of them is kind of weirding me out. Especially when he starts snickering. He’s being kind and going through it one last time for any changes that might need to be made.

I haven’t announced a cover reveal or a release date yet due to the tax information problems. I’ve had an accountant that likes doing tax stuff (my husband) look at it and he’s at a loss. Contacted one of the companies only to be told to contact the IRS. Geez, Smashwords didn’t give me any trouble.

To counter this frustration, I’ve been working on book 2 fairly heavily the last few days. Writing new chapters from where I had decided I ended the book too soon. Worrying that I’m not starting my book in the right place. Thinking about how much editing I’ll have ahead of me on this new stuff – the current scene (yes, scene) has already hit 5K and shows little sign of stopping.

With any luck, it’s just that my company information is new and thus is the problem and will be cleared up shortly. For now, I’ll go back to the scene that will never end.