Tag Archives: Publication

January ’18, Briefly

01 Thursday Feb 2018

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A Couple of Announcements

— I’ve recently finished a poem called ‘Ode to Coffee’ to give you an idea where my brain’s been recently —

— The publisher for my DaSunder Chronicles, Loose Id, has announced they are shutting their doors come May of this year. This means that at that point both Shatter by Glass and Murder in Color will have a short period where they will no longer be available. I have begun work to make sure to keep this time frame as short as possible and plan to have paperback versions also available upon republication —

— Paperbacks of Those Bloody Christmas Elves, Haunt of the Wilds and Song for the Wilds are now available. I’m in proofing stage for two more. This was one of those projects that kept seeming more and more impossible until I actually did it. And then, it was super easy, especially now that I have a template created for the formatting. –

–I’ve been in blog-prep mode lately. Scheduling out posts ahead of time so I can focus on my longer projects. Still knee-deep in this mode with about half a dozen shorts in some sort of progress from outline to editing —

Hope your resolutions are still going strong!

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Publication Day! (Those Bloody Christmas Elves)

14 Tuesday Nov 2017

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I guess an early Merry Christmas is in store because it’s Publication Day for Those Bloody Christmas Elves! Available now for $2.99.

As always, here are a few tidbits about the writing of. This story is just shy of 40k so there isn’t quite as much about it as there are others, but here goes…

1.  Origins :)

Obviously this story came directly from wanting a holiday idea. It had to be contemporary, of course, but I wanted to do something different, something you didn’t see much of but that also included fantastical elements. Thus all the typical Christmas magic comes into play, but turned on its head so I could have an actual antagonist.

Please note: I am not against Christmas or lying to your kids about Santa. I do it myself :) I just thought it would be fun to mess with the idea.

2. Rebuilding

This story started out as 1st person to be written solely in Taylor’s POV. He’s pretty much against Christmas for some pretty understandable reasons, but that makes his beginning POV seem a little harsh despite all the good he’s attempting to do.

Because of that, and because I came up with a twist that required Greg’s POV, I did an overhaul of the beginning, altering the tense from 1st to 3rd and adding alternating chapters from Greg’s POV. This also allowed me to explain things smoother since Greg was the ignorant one who needed to ask the questions.

3. Search History

Yes, I now know how to make home-made smoke bombs and caltrops. This knowledge will likely never come in handy XD

4. Secret Scene!

So I had this scene I really wanted to write. A tiny one that would deal with an issue Greg has to handle on his own. Thing was, it didn’t truly fit into the narrative, wasn’t part of the romance and stood beyond the adventure aspect. So you got a secret scene at the end of this book because I wanted to write it anyway. :) Make sure you go past all the back matter to find it!

5. It’s Not Over Yet!

This is technically the first of three holiday stories. The plan is to write and publish the following two stories about Taylor and Greg in 2018 (Rise of the Snowmen) and 2019 (Christmas is Cancelled).

Because Santa isn’t happy…

July ’17, Briefly

01 Tuesday Aug 2017

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This past month I didn’t keep as good of records of my hours spent working unfortunately, partly due to the fact my computer decided to die on me. Hard drive seemed fine and backups had already been made so all my work was completely good. I’ve learned that lesson already. However, I was bumming computer time for a couple of weeks. I’m actually typing this up on a brand new computer that finally came in yesterday :)

1) Bridle the Unicorn Published

Still need to finish up my New Release Alert newsletter and send that out by the end of the week. Given how a few distributor platforms work and a couple other experiences with unavailable links at first publication, I decided giving a habitual week leeway after publication for the newsletter would be beneficial for certain publications in the future.

2) Outlined and Began a Novelette

This WIP I started because I didn’t have my main files with me at the time, but there’s always a notebook. It’s steampunky/metalpunky, with a sports feature.

3)  Worked on Pup Games (A Houndmaster Novel)

Yes, you read that right; Pup Games has officially become a novel :) Still due out early ’18.

Here’s another teaser from chapter one that introduces La’vii’s pack.

~ ~ ~

I crouched and wrapped an arm around Sed, her light brown coat long enough it’d been picking up debris all day from her time in and out of the soggy edges of the marsh. The rest of my pack–Ris, Mit and Aim–still sniffed around the bushes, searching for a recent trail. They sent flashes through our collective consciousness, reminding me the hares were more numerous further in, away from the salt and tang of the marsh.

“I know,” I said as I pressed my cheek against Sed’s dirty coat. “We have to check everywhere though, you know that.”

Then they sent me images of Co’mil from the night he’d bested El’mik. As if I needed their help to remind myself how he’d looked. Like a dog blessed by the ancestral bitch herself, his hair holding the tiniest hint of red as it curled in an unruly mop on his head, his eyes a piercing gray I wouldn’t have minded staring into as he’d thrown me to the sand.

~ ~ ~

Bridle the Unicorn Published!

28 Friday Jul 2017

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Happy Publication Day!

I always reveal a couple of neat tidbits about the writing of a novel on publication day. I figure that’s better than just saying Whoo-hoo! or something to that effect.

1) Bridle the Unicorn was never meant to be a novel. Though this happens so much to me I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise when characters in a short story start waving their hands and shouting about how they are most definitely not finished. In this case, it was Ari. Roan probably wouldn’t have cared had I stopped his story after chapter one, though I think he’s far happier having it told in its entirety.

2) Bridle the Unicorn takes place in the town of Mattateque. This is the setting for the three short stories, Kiss. Mouth. Red., Aura of Happiness, Aura of Love, and Wish Delivery. It was also the main setting for the trilogy featuring Clay and Jacob: Alley, Grave and Dream.

That being said, only one character (from Wish Delivery) made an appearance in the first draft of Bridle the Unicorn, though I added another small mention of another later.

3) I didn’t know any of the reveals/twists when I started, since it was only going to be a single short story. I had to figure out where I was going by adding details that ended up being clues, both for me and for others.

4) This one is a little more personal. I caught a lovely case of pneumonia and fractured a rib while writing this particular novel. I think I went two months barely writing anything at all. I’ve never had that long of a span where I didn’t write, not since 2008. And then, of course, I finished Murder in Color first since I’d begun to feel guilty that poor Salain had been left in limbo for almost two years.

5) This story has sooo few characters. If you’ve read any of my other novels you’d think I use every letter of the alphabet twice over to start names. This one, not so much. This is mostly because Roan is anti-social by choice and the plot itself is quite narrowly focused on him and Ari most of the time.

So if you prefer more contained, micro-oriented romantic stories over sprawling adventures and/or a dozen suspects in a murder mystery, then Bridle the Unicorn would be more your kind of book.

And like always…

6) My favorite character is Ari Nix. He was a blast to write from Roan’s perspective.

I’ve obviously done some from Ari’s perspective on his Tour, but I seemed to have difficulty catching his personality from the inside since now you (and I) know exactly what he’s thinking and how he gets there. It’s like watching a magician’s tricks from behind where you can see exactly how he does everything. Makes it all less…magical.

Bridle the Unicorn is now on sale at Amazon for 4.99. The novel is also available through Kindle Unlimited. If you have the time, I would greatly appreciate reviews :)

And if you want first crack on my newest novels in return for your honest reviews, please consider signing up for my ARC Team via my newsletter!