Magnified started as an experiment.  Most of the books I write fall within the 20k to 40k word range, and I wanted to know what a story I wrote in the 60k range would be like.  I also wanted to know whether I was capable of writing a novel-length story.  From that desire, I crafted Magnified. 

Learning how to elongate the story with additional scenes of drama, pulling the story together around a pair of budding romances, and creating an enemy threatening everything they stand for was unlike anything I had ever written before.  Or since.  Magnified took a lot out of me to write, and challenged my abilities in ways I hadn't dared try before.  The results awed me, and to this day Magnified remains one of my personal favorites of the stories I've written. 

I admit, after writing Magnified I was happy to return to the world of happy dragons and simple romances, but I soon returned to the challenge to write the sequel, Justified, and will return once more to write the last book in the series, Codified.  The challenge teaches me new techniques that I then bring to my books about happy dragons, so I am pleased whenever I have the time and energy to focus on Magnified once again. 

Fun Fact: 
I wrote the prologue for Magnified first and submitted it to LT3 as a 10k word short story.  LT3 liked it, but told me it didn't have enough romance for their press.  They asked me to rewrite it and try again.  The ideas for adding werewolves and wizards to the vampires I had already introduced blossomed, and the challenge of creating a novel-length book bit me.  Over a year later, and an additional 50k words written, I resubmitted Magnified.  I told LT3 the story was a bit different to last time, and they responded with: A bit?  The rest, as they say, is history, and now NSP is republishing Magnified so a whole new set of readers can enjoy this wonderful story. 

Magnified comes out on March 1st in ebook and print at most major retailers.  You can pre-order it today from NSP and get it three days early! 

If you're a reader like me, while you enjoy ebooks, there's something about the feel of a print book.  If I can, I prefer to buy books in print, so I want to take this moment to highlight some of my own books that are available in print right now, or will be available in the very near future: 

2/8/21

Fingers crossed, but I haven't had any home issues in the last week!  I'm running out of big ticket appliances to replace, which hopefully means there's less available to go wrong.  Not worrying about my house does mean I have more free time to focus on writing! 

Circle Y, the second (untitled) book in my (also untitled) series about a witch and some werewolves, has reached the halfway point.  I've introduced the bad guys, set up the main drama, and am ready to get the ball rolling.  FYI, if anyone has any suggestions regarding what you think I should title the books or the series, I am definitely open to recommendations.  I'm not in a rush to decide, since I won't be submitting these stories to NSP until the end of 2021 at the earliest, but it would still be good to have something to actually call them. 

I have also reached the point in book two where I need to start thinking about a book three.  I'm not certain there needs to be a third book, but I'm loving these characters and want to keep working with them for a few more books.  The problem boils down to: is there enough plot to carry more books?  I am hoping as I keep working on the latter half of Circle Y, I'll be able to come up with an answer. 

On a different note, I have begun work on the first round of edits for Justified, book two in my Magnified series.  Magnified comes out in March (only a few short weeks away!), so I don't want to spoil anything for first time readers by talking too much about Justified right now.  Let me just say the edits are going smoothly and I expect Justified to stay on schedule for a May release. 

Here's a quick status update for my books being released in the next few months:

• March: Magnified
  • Completely edited with a lovely cover.  Will be released on time.
• April: If A Butterfly Don't Fly
  • Working on copy edits and awaiting the cover.  On track to be released on time.
    
• April: Wounded Alpha
  • Awaiting copy edits and the cover.  On track to be released on time.
• May: Justified
  • Started first round of edits.  Technically too early to say, but appears to be on track for release on time. 
• May: The Coup and the Prince
  • First round of edits should be arriving as soon as I'm done with Justified's.  It's too early to know about being on time for proposed release date. 
    

1/30/21

Every time I mention I'm having an issue with my house, someone invariably nods sagely and says "the joys of home ownership".  Every time!  I'm wavering on whether it's actually joyful.  I bought a house because I couldn't stand to stay in my noisy, smelly, and annoying apartment, and I don't regret that decision at all.  However, to date I have had to replace every single appliance in my kitchen, my furnace, my AC, and now my water heater.  (Finding water leaking into my basement Wednesday morning was less than ideal.)  I'm waiting for that moment where home ownership is stress free, when I can simply enjoy having my own space without worrying something else is going to go wrong.  At this point, I don't think I'm going to reach that stage until after I've rebuilt the entire house from scratch, but one day I know I will achieve the elusive joy of home ownership. 

On a happier note, I have seen the first draft of the cover for Magnified.  It blew me away!  I can't wait to share it.  Also, all the edits are done for Magnified, so it is completely ready to go for its March release.  I have also completed the second round of edits for Wounded Alpha, so that's on pace for an April release. 

I haven't had much time for writing these past few weeks.  My untitled Circle stories are still going well, which is nice, but I haven't had a moment to dig into any of my other works in progress.  I am thinking of scraping the third book in my Wizard Wars series.  I'm not sure the overarching story warrants a third book, and my efforts to force one to happen anyway aren't going well.  Maybe that will change once the first two books are released again, but for now I'm setting it aside to focus on more pressing books. 

Now that my home ownership issues have (presumably) been solved, I plan to focus my free time on writing rather than on calling plumbers.  Wish me luck! 

1/15/21

The installers got to my house a little after eight this morning, worked all day, and by 4 PM I had a new furnace!  Right now my house smells like whatever crud is burning off the new furnace, but that toasty marshmallow/acetone smell is still better than the burnt oil stench I've been enduring the last few months.  Once everything is burnt off, I'm hoping I won't even notice when my furnace is on. 

I have received the first round of edits for Wounded Alpha.  This is a brand new, never before published story, so I'm incredibly excited it's moving closer to being released!  My amazing editor really likes the story too.  I am hoping to finish this round of edits this weekend so the story can continue moving along in time for its April release date. 

I have also had a lot of success on the writing front.  My witch/vampire/werewolf story is complete.  It needs a lot of edits.  I started writing the sequel, which is when I realized I needed to fix a couple of things in book one to ensure I had proper continuity.  After I fix things in book one, I'm going to set it aside until the sequel is also done, just in case I find something else I want to change.  At some point I will also have to come up with book and series titles, but for now I'm just going to enjoy writing again. 

12/31/2020

I hope everyone has a very happy new year and I'm wishing you bright things to come in 2021! 

So far my writing in 2021 is looking good: 

For my upcoming books, A Little Fairy Dust will be released on the 4th (you can pre-order it HERE), Magnified is in excellent shape for a March re-release, and we have begun the first round of edits for If A Butterfly Don't Fly, which is currently scheduled to come out in April.  Once this first round of Butterfly is complete, I should receive edits for Wounded Alpha, which is also scheduled for April.  This is excellent progress on both re-releases and for some brand new material! 

I am excited to continue moving forward with getting all of my old stories available again, but I'm also really happy to offer brand new books for my longtime readers.  Right now I have three completely new books coming out in 2021: A Little Fairy Dust (which does reprint Cleanly Wrong and Cinder-Elle, but also has seven additional new stories), Wounded Alpha, and Ground of Resurrection in September. 

I am really hoping to fit in some writing in 2021 as well.  I already know editing my re-releases will be a constant, just as it was in 2020, but I am going to try my best to try to continue to work on brand new books.  I have made good progress on the start of my brand new (currently untitled) series about a witch having some difficulties with vampires and werewolves.  I'm hoping to complete at least the first two books in that series over the next year.  Of course, I also want to spend some time with Lumie (as his stories in Supernatural Consultant series aren't done yet), and I want to make progress on the third and final books of my Magnified, Out of Underhill, and Wizard Wars series. 

And now it's time to watch the ball drop and get 2021 started! 

12/26/20

My next re-release with NineStar Press is a book called Kelpie Blue.  It is available for pre-order right now at NSP, and comes out on December 28th.  You can pre-order, check out the official summary, and read an excerpt HERE. 

Kelpie Blue is the first book in my Out of Underhill series, but it wasn't supposed to be.  When I first started writing about Underhill and the chaotic overlap between the worlds of fae and human, I was working on a book titled If A Butterfly Don't Fly.  Butterfly was supposed to be a stand alone novel, but after starting to dig into the story I came to a realization: there was too much content without full backstory!  Basically, Butterfly was reading like a sequel.  Luckily a happy kelpie came frolicking by at just the right time.  Blue was a loveable, flesh-eating kelpie who just wanted a hug and to maybe take a large bite out of your shoulder.  He also wanted his story, and he wanted it now.  I couldn't say no. 

Kelpie Blue took a long time to write.  I had to do a ton of research about horse racing and rearing.  I had a massive chunk of plot written and was about to move onto the next section when I thankfully took a moment to look up horse gestation and had to quickly add a few months into the story.  The Celtic magic and creatures were also really interesting.  Blue's character and personality evolved a ton the more I learned, but I also changed a lot about Rin too. 

Fun Fact: Rin's name was originally Brin.  My first editor said Brin and Blue sounded too similar, and they recommended I change one.  Brin therefore became Rin. 

Kelpie Blue will be coming out in just two days, and you won't have to wait too long until If A Butterfly Don't Fly comes out in March!  Don't forget to pre-order Kelpie Blue today at NSP, and it will be available at all major ebook and print retailers on December 28th.