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5/5/23
...and I'm sneezing. The flowers are pretty, but behind that beauty lies a nefarious evil. LOL I live where I get to experience four distinct seasons because I love it. The anticipation as winter comes to an end, knowing warmth and sunshine and the beach are just around the corner is only matched by my anticipation in August that the oppressive heat of summer will soon be tempered by snow. The dopamine boosting cycle of anticipation and fulfillment is exactly why I never want to go anywhere else. That said, spring is probably my least favorite season, mostly because I spend a lot of April and May, and sometimes into June, fighting off sinus migraines, runny noses, and general blah. I always find my writing suffers because of this; if I have a major headache, the last thing I want is the bright lights of a computer screen. Luckily, I seem to be doing okay so far this year. The word count for The Chef continues to steadily grow. I passed 50k last week, making this officially the second longest single story I've ever written. Only Magnified is longer. I'm certainly happy with how much I've been able to put into this one new story. All that's left to write is the final battle and the wrap up, so fingers crossed this story will be done soon. If you pre-ordered Hunter from NSP, make sure you go download your copy to read! Hunter is officially released there. For every other retailer where Hunter is sold, May 9th is only a few days away! I can't wait for everyone to get a chance to catch up with Kana and and Ember, and Kana's familiars, and see where this new adventure brings them! I have also started working on the first round of edits for Twin Elements, my high fantasy stand alone about a pair of twins trying to survive some difficult political mechanizations all while falling in love with the people who come to save them. Twin Elements is such a fun bit of world building and character development. I loved writing it, so revisiting this story in edits has been wonderful. That's basically everything I've been up to this past week. I'm starting to plan my garden for this year, which is mostly veggies, and I'm mentally preparing for my first, inevitable sunburn of summer. I'm also starting a new paint by numbers project that will likely take a few months to complete (I chose a really complicated one this time), so I'm excited about that. Otherwise, it's just work, figuring out what my chef in The Chef will cook next, and sneezing. So. Much. Sneezing. Summer, here I come! This blog post was originally sent out via my email newsletter. I'm sharing it here two weeks later. If you want to receive my newsletter, feel free to sign up on the form on my website! Like most authors, my Google search history raises some red flags. Writing fantasy and paranormal leads to very interesting searches. Here's some of the fun things I've researched recently:
For Hunter:
Hunter comes out on May 9th, so you don't have to wait too long to see the results of those (and more). For Water's Price:
Sharing any of the other fun things I researched would spoil the book, so that's all I've got now. Water's Price comes out on June 27th, so after that I might be able to share more! For The Chef:
I have about 10k words left to write in The Chef, after which it will need edits and polishing. I hope to have it submitted to a publisher for consideration toward the end of this year, so keep an eye on my blog for more information. I promise I will have more ridiculous searches to share from this book in the future. Is there a bit of plot or some factoid in one of my published books you're curious about? Let me know and I'd be happy to elaborate! Hunter is available for preorder at most major retailers! You can reserve your copy today. Check Hunter out at these links, or go to your favorite ebook retailer: If you buy with NSP, you can read Hunter on May 5th. Everywhere else, Hunter will be in your hands on May 9th! You can also read some of the prologue from Hunter at NSP's site. Only a few more weeks to go!
4/14/23
It has been far too long since I wrote a blog post. I've been trying to do better this year about posting, but somehow this past month just slipped through the cracks. Getting ready for Passover, then Passover itself, probably contributed, but I also haven't had much to share. I need to come up with something fun I can post semi-regularly for those lulls. Let me know, do you want something about my writing style, how I come up with my books, or something totally different? I want to share things you're interested in! Luckily, the lull is over! I have great news to share: You Can't Sell A Dragon's Heart has been accepted for publishing at NSP! The contract is signed, so I'm hopeful this time next year you'll be able to read my quirky sci-fi/fantasy crossover story with dragons and magic and futuristic technology. You Can't Sell A Dragon's Heart is one of those stories that practically wrote itself. I didn't have long pauses or breaks to figure out plot, so it flows really well. I think you'll like it as much as I do, so I'll be sure to share any updates as this story moves through the editing process. Speaking of updates, Hunter, the second book in my Witch's Circle trilogy has gotten some excellent ARC reviews! The book is apparently an excellent continuation from Coven, book one. If you missed it, Coven is available at most major retailers. Hunter comes out on May 9th (less than a month away!!!) and should also be available for preorder at most major retailers soon. If you preorder from NSP, you can get your copy four days earlier than everywhere else. My last update is some of my writing is going really well. The Chef, my story about a chef trying to survive and cook in some difficult situations, is almost completed. I have two more major plot points to write, with some minor stuff mixed in between. This includes the build up to the final fight, the fight itself, and the aftermath. I had initially thought this book would reach 60k words. Then the first half of the story didn't expand as much as I anticipated so I moved the expected count down to 50k. However, the Chef currently stands at 44k, so I think a goal of reaching 55k words is achievable. That said, the overarching plot of the story is nowhere close to being completed. Plus, I realized Char, my main character, is not the correct person to be resolving those issues. This means a sequel is in order! It's going to be called The Prince. I know who the two main characters are and I've plotted out the opening scene, but I can't delve into it more until The Chef is completed. I haven't written anything in any of my other stories, which is sad, but I believe The Chef is good enough to warrant my full attention. Fingers crossed I finish writing The Chef soon, so I can start digging into The Prince and see where this series might take me, and then I can return to some of my other stories as well!
2/26/23
I have some amazing news! Hunter, the second book in my Witch's Coven trilogy, has completed the editing process and has an official release date! Look for it on May 9th! I haven't seen the cover yet, but that and reviewing the ARC are all that need to be completed before this story is ready for publishing. Coven (book one) had such an amazing reception. I can't wait for everyone to be able to read Hunter! Also, we're aiming for August/September to release Witch, the final book in the series. (Keeping in mind all release dates/time frames are subject to change without warning, Lol) I think that's a doable target, but keep any eye on my blog as I'll update you as I learn more. I also have a release date for my mermaid short story, Water's Price! NSP plans to release it June 27th. Water's Price is one step behind Hunter in the editing process--still waiting for the final proof--so June is a perfect date. More great news: Twin Elements, my fun story about a pair of twins forced to switch places when one is poisoned, was accepted for publishing with NSP! The contract is signed and the book now in the editor's queue. I am hopeful it will be available for purchase this time next year. I will keep you posted as I learn more, but feel free to check out the tentative summary on my Coming Soon page. As promised, I pulled You Can't Sell A Dragon's Heart out of storage and gave it a final edit before submitting it to NSP for consideration. Letting the story simmer and percolate for a couple of months helped a lot, so the manuscript looked really good (in my opinion). I do think NSP will also enjoy my quirky sci-fi/fantasy crossover story. However, this book is currently at the very bottom of their submission pile, and will likely take a while to be reviewed. I will try to be patient while I wait. Lol I promised some writing news. The Chef, my quirky story about a chef being waylaid on his journey to a new job and the ensuing adventure, has crossed the 10k words mark! I originally thought part one of the story would tap out at 30k, but it's leaning closer to 25k at the moment. That said, the next chapter begins the build up to the fight scene. The line that convinced me to start working on this book was when the character in my head said "don't drip blood in my oatmeal", however, this coming fight scene is the bit that has kept me writing eagerly. It's the first place I get to fully explore the magic in this book, and I can't wait to write it. I'm very hopeful the fight scene will help me meet my original word count hopes for part one, but either way this book is turning out to be awesome. It's been a busy few weeks, so I haven't been able to work on anything else. My insurance company came through, but I have to follow up with the remediation company to get on their schedule. The drama from the burst pipe will soon only be only an unpleasant memory. I have also been extremely busy at work, so I'm collapsing on my couch in the evenings with very little brain left to make dinner, let alone write. I do expect work to calm down again, so presumably I'll be able to return to my waiting stories very soon. 2/11/23
Thank you to everyone for your words of support after last weekend's unwanted adventure with the burst pipe. I am happy to say after calling approximately 15 plumbers, I was able to get the pipe replaced and the water turned back on. Apparently everyone and their uncle had a burst pipe, so all the plumbers were booked solid. I literally had one ask "can you wait until next week?" No word yet from my insurance company, but I'm sure it's a similar problem to with the plumber. I'm probably going to need to remove the ceiling to replace the soaked insulation, so more work still needs to be done. While I want to clear any projects with my insurance first, I have scheduled a fix-it company to come next week to give me an estimate. I'm trying to be patient since it's not an emergency, but if I don't hear anything soon I get to start making more phone calls. Ugh. I'm a millennial. It should be illegal to force us to use a phone for calls. LOL I have made progress on writing, which is a nice change. Those of you who receive my newsletter have already learned about the new story I'm working on. For everyone else, guess what? I'm working on a new story. It's titled The Chef, and it's about a very talented chef who gets accidentally recruited to join a bunch of fighters on a quest. Some political intrigue, a slow burn love story, and lots and lots of cooking. It's a ton of fun to write. I'm not actually certain how long this story will be, nor am I certain it will be stand alone. There are going to be two parts to this story, but I don't yet know whether they would be better served as one 60k word book, or split into two 30ks. I'll have a better idea once I get further into the story. I've written about 8k so far, so there's still a long way to go. I have also been making more progress on Vivary Tales. It's reached 10k, so there's also a lot still to write, but I am incredibly happy with the world building. I think it's my most intricate creation since I built the monastery in The Oracle's Flame. What's also really amazing is there's four stories in this first book, and there's still so much more room to grow in this world. Ideas for a second book are already percolating. I am going to keep plucking away at this book, and will hopefully continue to make progress! For those of you who also live in the US, I can't decide which team to root for in the Superbowl tomorrow. Should I go with the Eagles, who have had an amazing season, but are relative unknowns, or should I go with the Chiefs, who have a bunch of players I know can carry the entire team to a win. Let me know what you think and/or who to support! 2/5/23
I had my whole weekend planned out. When I was going to the grocery store, when I was writing, when I was working on my current paint by numbers project; all of that was supposed to be fully structured this weekend. I even factored in how to get all that done around the crazy weather we've been having. And it was working! I added about 1k words to Vivary Tales before bedtime, and I knew I'd be able to pick it back up in the morning. And then at two AM I'm woken up by a WHOOMPH coming from the direction of my en-suite bathtub, followed by an ominous whooshing sound. No water leaking in my bathroom. I sprint downstairs. No water puddling anywhere on the main floor. Sprint down another flight of stairs. No water in my basement. I open the door into my garage, and my car is getting a shower. Water everywhere! I turned the water off to the house and then had a moment of "what do I do now?" The answer: call my mom, of course. Lol. There's a smoke detector in my garage, right underneath where the pipe burst. Apparently smoke detectors and water are not a winning combination. The whole system goes off, blaring and deafening throughout the entire house, and I'm still shocked my neighbors whom I share a wall with didn't come running. Picture me, in pajamas at dark o'clock, on the phone with my poor mother, trying to get the smoke detectors on four separate floors to shut off, all while my garage ceiling continues to forlornly drip onto my car. Yeah. I don't want to picture it either. So that leaves my Sunday plans absolutely destroyed. I moved my car into my driveway, got the ladder out so I could remove the smoke detector--dropped it onto the concrete floor, so I have a trip to the hardware store in my future--and now I wait. I submitted an online claim to my insurance, but I can't contact a plumber until the sun rises. No water, which means I can't shower, which nixes the grocery store run. I can't clean paintbrushes either, so no painting. No laundry, and I can't wash dishes. That means the only thing left on my to-do list is to write, so maybe Vivary Tales will take off, distracting me while I wait for a verdict from the plumber. One can hope. 1/21/23 I sent this out with my newsletter last week, so this may be a repeat for some of you. I wrote up a short history of how Coven, and the rest of my Witch's Circle trilogy, came to be. Check it out: ![]() It might not seem like it, but Coven is actually one of my oldest stories. Waaaay back in 2010, when I was still mostly writing fanfiction, I had an idea for an original story about an awkward reporter being forced by his nasty coworkers to go interview some vampires. I started writing. The main character reached the front gates of the vampire house, and then I hit a conundrum. An ordinary human wouldn’t survive a vampire encounter! I needed to figure out that aspect of this story before I could move forward. About a year went by while I thought about it. Could the love interest be a vampire, willing to help the main character survive? Except, the vampires were supposed to be evil in this book so that idea went nowhere. (The failed idea for the love-interest vampire is what helped me create Shannon, a secondary character who plays an interesting role in the latter two books.) I realized the main character had to be powerful in his own right. However, that led to a major problem: if the main character was so powerful, why would his coworkers treat him so poorly? My initial thought was the coworkers were family who hated him, and the main character was desperate to get away, but that felt rather flimsy and didn’t go with the “powerful MC” idea. Also, what sort of powers should the main character actually have? I couldn’t figure it out. Besides, I was distracted. A cute baby dragon had bounced across my desk, insisting I write his story instead. First Nyle, then Tori, and all the dragons, wolves, and other creatures in my Dragon’s Hoard series came to life. Coven fell so far onto the back burner, I almost completely forgot it existed. Fast forward to 2020, almost ten years later. COVID, working from home, waist deep in reprints, and I was exhausted. I desperately wanted to write something new, but was struggling to come up with an idea that felt viable. Burned out was an understatement. I don’t know what prompted me, but I started digging through my older, long-forgotten material. Some only have one line, some close to 20k words, but all very, very dead. Also, my writing way back then was…yeah. Let’s just say I hope I’ve improved a lot since. Unfortunately, that went nowhere. Or so I thought. About a week later I was at work when I had a sudden thought: What if the MC was a male witch? Since witches are stereotypically female, that would be a reason for the conflict! However, a male witch wouldn’t be sent maliciously to interview vampires by cruel coworkers, since if the coworkers knew about his powers they knew he would survive. The idea that his coworkers were ignorant was born. Which meant I needed a new backstory. When I got home after work that afternoon, it was research time! I looked up types of witch powers, the function and structure of a coven, and fell into the age-old idea that werewolves were the daytime protectors of vampires. I decided on the feminine-sounding Kana for the MC’s name to hammer home the fact that he had been born male into a female-dominated society, and suddenly I had it! On the run from his coven because he was powerful, Kana ended up by coincidence in the same city as the vampires and their werewolf protectors. One werewolf in particular having rather nice shoulders. LOL The story, and the entire trilogy, bloomed from there. So, there you have it. Coven almost wrote itself at that point. The following books, Hunter and Witch, flowed easily. Burnout gone. I can only hope my next projects go so smoothly. You can buy Coven now at most major retailers. Hunter has completed editing at NSP, so I should have a release date and more to share very soon.
*If you liked hearing about the history of one of my books and want to know the history of a different book or series, let me know and I’ll be happy to write another post for you! |
Coming Soon
Hunter
May 9, 2023 Water's Price
June 20, 2023 AuthorMell Eight is an author writing with NSP. For more information about Mell and her writing, please visit her website: http://melleightfiction. Tags
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