Mell Eight's Writing Blog

News: Procrastination is Going Well

6/24/2017

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6/24/17

I received the edits for Gathering the Hoard, the Dragon's Hoard short stories, and for Justified and I did start working on them both, but then the next thing I knew I had somehow managed to write 5k words for If A Butterfly Don't Fly and hadn't touched my edits in a week. That was not my intention in the least bit, especially since both sets of edits are already running a bit behind schedule. My plan to bust my butt this weekend and see if I can get the edits for Gathering the Hoard done and get a good chunk of Justified completed too has so-far been successful. Gathering the Hoard was just returned to LT3, so if I can get a lot accomplished in Justified, I can stop feeling guilty about procrastinating from edits by writing.
Speaking of If A Butterfly Don't Fly, that story is going amazingly well. I've added 5k words and I think I've figured out an extra twist that will make the story longer and will also help to strengthen the romantic elements. Right now there is a romance, but it's a little stilted, and the twist will hopefully help to iron everything out. I hope to reach my goal of 40k soon.
The reviews for Dragon Home have been beyond amazing. Everyone seems to have really enjoyed reading it, which I am so ecstatic to hear. The next step for this series is Dragon Spy, which is slated to be released this October. I'm hoping to have the next book in this series mostly written by that point, but that's only going to happen if the edits stop coming in so quickly. Since I still have three more stories I haven't seen edits for just yet, I have doubts on my ability to get book seven completed before book six is released. The good news is, I think I've come up with a title for book seven. What do you think of Dragon Trick? That's still subject to change, of course, but it fits with how the story is writing so far.

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Out Now: Dragon Home

6/21/2017

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Dragon Home

With Rios happily mated and planning an entire future, Aqua can't help but feel left out. The brother that had always been his chief playmate and best friend is going to leave him behind, which isn't at all acceptable. The obvious answer is to leave first, so Aqua packs a bag to go on an adventure. But this adventure isn't anything like his last one and the chances of him returning home alive dwindle every moment.

Buy it Now

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News: I'm Way Too Busy

6/18/2017

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6/18/17

I feel a bit like I'm drowning under edits. It's my own fault because I submitted so many books right on top of each other, but the edits are hitting me one after another without a real chance to catch my breath. So far this month it's been books 1-3 of my Dragon's Hoard series. Then right after that I got book 4. I returned book 4 to LT3 and not even a day later the short stories and Justified arrived. All of my free time has been spent editing. I didn't even notice I had forgotten to put together my goals for June until June was half over. There isn't even a reprieve on the way, because once I've finished with Justified I'm expecting the first round of edits for Dragon Spy to get sent my way. This is absolutely insane for me, but in other ways it might be a bit of a blessing. Since I've been working solely on edits for so long, I won't have a dozen stories ready to submit this year, which means next year I won't get buried under edits again.
That said, I have managed to fit some writing into my schedule today. I added about 3k words to If A Butterfly Don't Fly, the second story in my Out of Underhill series. Right now it's looking like the story will only need 10-15k more words. It'll be shorter than Kelpie Blue, which I didn't really want to happen, but I can't magically force the book to be longer than the plot is calling for. Maybe I'll be able to come up with another twist, but at the moment I'm working on the beginning of the big final battle scene and I really can't see a way to expand the story any more.
I can't forget to mention that Dragon Home is coming out next week! So far the pre-release reviews have been wonderful. If you preorder your copy from LT3 before June 20th, you can get it for 32% off thanks to the big sale LT3 is holding in honor of pride month.

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News: Edits and Books Going Out of Print

6/3/2017

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6/3/17

The edits for the first three books of my Dragon's Hoard series are back with LT3! (And I got them back on time for once...) I should be getting the edits for book four of the series and the short stories soon. I also returned the second round of edits for Dragon Home. Those were late because I got distracted by my Dragon's Hoard, but hopefully LT3 will still be able to get the story out in time.
For those of you that receive LT3's newsletter you probably already know this, but a few more of my stories will be going out of print soon. On June 15, 2017, My Truest Love (from Rocking Hard V. 2) and Hearts Tournament (from Won't Back Down) will both be going out of print.
As always when one of my stories goes out of print, I have to decide whether I want to reprint. At this moment I'm fairly certain I will not be resubmitting My Truest Love, which means you only have a few more weeks to get a copy before it'll be gone forever. I'm less certain about what to do with Heart's Tournament. I really enjoyed writing that story, but my readers weren't so enthused. I need to read through Heart's Tournament and see if there are sections I can edit to try to smooth out some of the issues. If I'm happy with what results, I'll resubmit, but I can't make any promises.

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News: So Many Edits

5/23/2017

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5/23/17

I expected this to happen, given how quickly the various deadlines are approaching, but I've been buried in edits. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but I didn't expect the rewrite edits for my Dragon's Hoard series to be quite so involved. I've received the edits for the first three books in the series and have begun working on them. I knew there had to be some grammar and spelling issues given that it was my first full series, but I assumed the overall content would be fine. I was wrong, particularly with Stealing the Dragon, which has one of my minor, but still important characters needing a bit of an overhaul. I started with that story, since it needs the most work, but it's definitely going to be a bit of a struggle to get all of it done in time. (I should probably get to work instead of writing this...)
What I'm really amazed with is how much my writing has changed over the years. Back in 2010 and 2011 when I wrote my Dragon's Hoard series, I was definitely a novice and these stories do show a little of that. I definitely wouldn't have been capable of writing something so involved as Justified way back then. And yet, at the same time I can see glimmers of the growth I've since had in some of the twists and turns my characters go through. In many ways, going back through these older stories is a reminder of where I started, but it's also a lesson in understanding where I've since gone and I think my writing ability will be improved because of it. I can't wait to see what will happen as I keep on writing!
Speaking of editing, I finished writing my Rapunzel story and now I need to give it a quick edit before I set it aside. I want to fix the glaring mistakes now when I know what I meant to write. I also think I might need to bump up the romance a smidge as so much of the story is focused on the tower itself rather than the characters. Of course, this story will have to wait until all my other edits with actual time limits are completed.
Those edits also include the second round of edits for Dragon Home, which I am now remembering I never returned to LT3. I am clearly failing at being a good author at the moment, so I'll stop writing this and will get back to doing the work I would very much like to get completed before the looming due dates.

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News: A BIG Change

5/9/2017

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5/9/17

Dragon Home is available for preorder at LT3. You can get your copy HERE for a 15% discount. Some of you might be surprised to see it up before Justified. I know I was, and then I saw the release date and got very confused. Turns out, the releases of Dragon Home and Justified have been switched. Here are the new dates:
- Dragon Home: June 21, 2017
- Justified: August 9, 2017
At my best guess, this happened because Justified is running behind in the editing process. It's a big book with a lot of nuance, which requires more time to edit, and it definitely wouldn't have been ready for release next month. Dragon Home, on the other hand, is short and sweet with minimal edits. I am almost done with the second round and it will be back to LT3 with more than enough time for June 21st.
Dragon Adventure is coming out next week! I'm so excited to share the first half of Aqua and Rios' story. It's a fun little interlude before we hop back into the main story with Dragon Spy in October. If you want to get 15% off, make sure you preorder before Dragon Adventure comes out.

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News: All the Things

5/6/2017

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5/6/17

I drove all the way back home last weekend to pick up my new glasses, except when I tried them on I couldn't see out of the left eye. Turns out, they ordered the wrong prescription and now have to send them back to the manufacturer to get it replaced. I got the frames fitted, so this time they're going to mail them to me, but I am not pleased. I had to take time off from work and I have to pay for all that gas with zero result. At least I got to spend time with my parents.
A giveaway for Dragon Adventure is up on LT3's Goodreads page. All you have to do is leave a comment to enter: https://www.goodreads.com...giveaway---dragon-adventure-by-mell-eight
Two books have been posted on Goodreads: Dragon Home and Justified. If you like putting them on your to-read list, go check them out.
I have been writing, but not as much as I would like. If you read my goals postings you know I wasn't really successful in April. I'm hoping to do better in May. I'm still working on the same Rapunzel story, which I'm steadily picking away at. Hopefully it will be completed soon so I can finally move on to something else.
What do you think of the new website design? It was time for a change and I think it turned out well.

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May Goals

5/1/2017

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Given my lackluster success at last month's goals list, I'm going to be a bit more broad this month. Since there aren't any major holidays this month, I should have three solid weekends for writing. The last weekend is my cousin's wedding, so I'll be traveling for that, but that's the end of the month and I'm really hoping to have all my goals completed by then. Here's the plan:

Writing. Any writing at all will accomplish this goal, but I'm hoping to complete my Rapunzel story this month.
Editing. It's getting to be crunch time for some of my stories. The release of Justified is coming very quickly in June and I haven't gotten the second round of edits yet. Plus, the reprint of my Dragon's Hoard series is this July and I haven't gotten any edits for them either. I'm certain there will be a lot of edits to complete this month.
Planning. Two of my stories need more planning before I can really start writing: Book Seven of my Supernatural Consultant series and Book Three of my Magnified series. If I can finish this, I hope to be able to start writing next month.

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April Goals: Results

4/30/2017

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Passover kicked my butt more than I thought it would. During the week itself I was too busy to get any writing done and the week after I was so exhausted I needed every moment to recover. Then I had to drive home again, which killed any weekend writing time for this last week in April. Basically, I was successful at my goals for the first half of the month, but the latter two weeks were a wash. Here's how I did:

Work on The Sentinel's Prophesy. I did not get a chance to work on The Sentinel's Prophesy like I wanted to. I just need to find time to sit down and get this completed, and this month it wasn't happening.
Work on my Fairy Tale stories. The only story I was able to work on was my (still untitled) Rapunzel story. I made a lot of progress and all that's left to write is the end of the final battle scene and the epilogue. Hopefully I'll get it completed next month and be ready to move on to the next fairy tale.
Work on Book Seven of my Supernatural Consultant series. I didn't get much written in this story, but I did get a lot of planning done, which means I'll be ready to get back to writing it soon.

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News: I'm Being Lazy

4/22/2017

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4/22/17

I got the edits for Dragon Home back to LT3. I asked for them to go for a second round since I needed some things clarified by the editor. There hasn't yet been any word on the rest of the books I'm expecting edits for, but they could arrive any day now.
After the long week of Passover, running around nonstop the entire time, the long drive back to my apartment, and then having to wake up early again for work, I'm exhausted. I've been going to bed early every night this week and I haven't had the energy to work on any of my stories. I did figure out where I was stuck on a story not on this month's goals list, so I have to decide if it can wait to get written down or not, but aside from that everything is currently sitting stagnant on my computer. I'm really hoping that next week the writing bug will bite me, but I have to take the long drive back home to pick up my new glasses at the end of next week, so who knows.

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News: Procrastination is Going Well

Out Now: Dragon Home

Dragon Home

News: I'm Way Too Busy

News: Edits and Books Going Out of Print

News: So Many Edits

News: A BIG Change

News: All the Things

May Goals

April Goals: Results

News: I'm Being Lazy

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