7/7/20

Dragon Dilemma is available for preorder at NSP.  It comes out on July 20th, but if you buy from NSP you can get it three days earlier!  (FYI, if you already own Dragon Dilemma, not much has changed in this re-release.)  I have also seen the first draft of the new cover and it's as amazing as the rest of the series.  I can't wait to share it too. 

Road to Revenge and Road to Home were both accepted for publishing at NSP!  I very rarely write contemporary, but I loved writing both of these spy stories.  In fact, prior to my writing Magnified, I think this series was my favorite.  I don't know when they'll reach edits, but it should be a fun process when they do!  For now, you can check out the series on my website and I'll let you know when they start to move towards publishing. 

I successfully closed on my house, so now I need to focus on getting packed and getting moved.  As I write this, a child is screeching in the hallway and someone is blasting music from their car in the parking lot.  I cannot get away from this apartment fast enough and am looking forward to having my own, quiet place to finally get some writing done! 

The cover for Dragon Deception, the second book in my Supernatural Consultant series, is amazing.  Bright and happy, as all the covers are, yet also showing a pivotal scene from the book.  Those that have read it before remember the fateful picnic Lumie cooked, and those who have discovered this series for the first time have a glimpse of the kit-caused chaos to come. 

Dragon Deception comes out June 22, 2019 at all major retailers, but you can preorder it now from NineStar Press and get your copy today: https://ninestarpress.com/product/dragon-deception/ They also have an excerpt if you want to check it out!

6/20/20

These days it seems like all I have to talk about in these blog posts is editing.  Yes, editing for my Supernatural Consultant series continues at a good pace, and we're ahead of schedule, but there's more to my writing world than that and I want to share it with you. 

I've submitted two huge projects to NSP: 

• First was my fairy tale collection.  I'm calling it A Little Fairy Dust and it's a collection of every single fairy tale story I've written to date.  It includes Cleanly Wrong and Cinder-Elle, which went out of print before some of my newer readers could get them.  I can't tell you how many people have begged to know when one, or both, of those stories might be available again.  A Little Fairy Dust was just submitted, so it'll be a few months before I hear yea or nay, but step one is complete. 
  
• Second was the entirety of my Oracle series.  I went through and edited the first five books, including making changes to some of the content to adhere to NSP's rules (particularly for the first book).  The overall plot, setting, and characters did not change, but now they will hopefully be acceptable for NSP to publish.  I also finished the edits for The Oracle's Current, the sixth and final book in the series, and submitted all of them together.  Again, it will likely be a while before I hear anything, but the series is finally done so those of you who have been anxiously awaiting the last book will hopefully soon have it in your hands.  
  

I have added 2k words to Dragon Spy, the next book in my Supernatural Consultant series.  (For new readers of this series, by next I mean not previously published.  There are seven previously published books, all of which have been/will be re-released by NSP in 2020.  Dragon Spy is book eight.) 

• I realized the reason I was stuck was I couldn't figure out who to focus the book on.  I needed a new romance and a new perspective, and I found it with Moonstone, the newest dragon to fly across the pages of this series.  I think you'll like him, but I'm trying not to give away any spoilers here so I won't say anything more. 
  
• Adding the new character allowed me to focus where the plot of the book is going.  I now know the mystery and the romance.  All that's left to do is figure out how Moonstone is going to be introduced to the crazy family, and then to put it all down on paper. 

In other news, I bought a house.  It's my first house so I'm super nervous.  Closing is in a week and a half, the moving truck is scheduled to come soon after that, and my apartment is currently stuffed with boxes.  I foolishly thought packing my books would be the easiest place to start, however, I've filled four boxes of just books (and I know about weight limits, so they're not overfull), but have only taken about a third of my books off the shelf.  Luckily, I'm moving close by.  I'm going to have to take those full boxes over myself, empty them, then bring them back to fill again for the movers to take.  If someone can explain how books multiply so quickly, I'd appreciate it. 

6/16/20

I've been getting a bunch of questions from my readers about a number of different stories and topics.  I thought I ought to post some answers in a central location where everyone can read them.  If I missed your question, or if you have more questions, feel free to reach out to me (comment on any of my blog posts, on Goodreads, on Facebook, or Twitter) and I'll definitely answer it. 

Q: You said Alloy is going to have a story with the crazy territory leader in Texas.  Where is that story? 
A: Quite frankly, I've realized I just don't know enough about Texas to write a story with a main character from there.  I don't understand the cultural references that would make a character a fully-rounded individual.  No amount of research is going to get me to a place where I feel comfortable writing that character.  While I still like the idea, unfortunately I think the best option for everyone is going to have to be scrapping it.  That said, I have another idea for Alloy that I think will incorporate the parts I liked from the previous plan, and will likely flow better overall.  (I'm not giving anything away yet to avoid spoilers, but you should see the first hints of this in Dragon Spy.) 

Q: Will there be a Ge-Mi: Part Three?
A: Short answer is no.  The long answer is much more complicated.  Book One was Ge-Mi.  Book Two is Di-Na.  Book Three doesn't have a name yet.  I'm not done writing Nevada and Taylor just yet, but chronologically (both in my writing and in the timeline of the story) Di-Na: Parts One and Two must come first.  I haven't decided whether Nevada and Taylor will have cameo appearances in Di-Na: Part Two, or whether I want to hold off on their involvement until book three.  Rather than writing Gi-Mi: Part Three, my plan is to write Book Three under a new name, but with all the main characters from the previous books coming together. 

Q: I have been waiting for years for the sequel for X story.  When will it be released? 
A: Every single one of my series, and even some of my stand alone books, have received some variation of this question.  There are three possible answers. 

1. I'm still writing it.  Given how slowly I write and how many different stories are in progress at once, I can't provide an estimate as to when I will finish a specific story.  The best thing you can do is follow along on my Current Projects page, which I update with approximate word counts regularly.  
2. It's with my publisher.  Obtaining a release date from a publisher is contingent on a number of things.  The biggest ones are when the editing and cover art are done, and when there's an available spot in the release calendar.  I can guesstimate (and you'll see those guesses in some of my blog posts), but until those conditions are met, no one can provide an exact date. 
3. There isn't a sequel.  Some of my series are complete.  Some of my individual books were written as stand alone stories for a reason.  At the bottom of every series page is a status report, and if that report says complete then I have zero plans to write more.  If a story is listed on the Stand Alone Works page of my website, as the title implies, there are no more stories to be written in that world. 

Q: When will Y story be re-released with your new publisher?
A: See #2 in the previous answer for part of the explanation.  The rest of it is: I sent NSP 30 books.  I have effectively buried them in manuscripts.  So far they've released three, one is due to come out next week, three are in the midst of the editing process, seven more have been accepted, and the rest are still in the assessment queue.  Everyone involved with the process of re-releasing all my books must be patient.  It's not a fast process, but NSP and I will continue to move forward with it until every book is back on the shelves. 

Q: But what about your out of print books?  When will you re-release them? 
A: The ones that can be re-released will be.  There are restrictions I have to follow regarding story length, content, and quality that means six of my previously published books are not acceptable by NSP's standards.  The most pressing issue is story length; LT3 accepted shorter word counts than NSP, so unless I can figure out a way to add a few thousand words to some of my old stories, NSP will not accept them as is. 

5/10/20

I've been working diligently on The Oracle's Current these last few weeks (in between all the editing) and I've made so much progress.  The story went from being stuck at the beginning, with me desperately trying to figure out how to get the characters started on their journey, to almost being complete.  I was on such a high with how well the writing was going.  Yesterday was a great day for writing.  I added a ton and was halfway through writing the final battle scene, and I was getting really excited.  This story has waited so long to be completed and all I needed to do was put the finishing touches on one last scene and write the epilogue.  Or so I thought. 

I looked down at my word count and realized I needed to add another 2k words to reach my minimum.  Enter a moment of total despair.  There I was, thinking I was almost done, and now I had to come up with another 2k worth of plot!  I abandoned writing for the day and put on a movie instead. 

Except, as the movie was playing, my nerve started to come back.  So what if I needed to figure out another 2k.  I just had to write.  Finish the one scene I was working on, write the epilogue, and then see what turned out in the process.  Well, that one scene I thought only needed a few finishing lines suddenly kept going.  And going.  I struggled to find a way to actually end it, and when I did, somehow the word count matched exactly what I needed.  It's weird that things magically seemed to work out, and I don't know why.  If I knew why, I'd replicate it for some of my other unfinished stories. 

Because, The Oracle's Current is complete! 

After approximately five years of writing (including a long pause while I wrote The Sentinel's Prophesy instead), I have finally finished.  I did a little happy dance when I typed the final period.  It's an amazing feeling to know the book and the series is complete.  Now comes the next steps.  I'll put Current aside until June, at which point I'll pull it out again to give it a thorough edit.  After that, it's up to NSP whether they'll accept it and the rest of the series, but I'm excited to see how it goes! 

5/8/20

I have so much news about Ge-Mi that I'm bursting at the seams!  First, an official release date for Part Two: May 18, 2020.  The best part is, you can preorder it right now from NSP, and if you do, you can get it three days earlier than from anywhere else!  Here's the link: https://ninestarpress.com/product/ge-mi-part-two/ I'm certain it will be available for preorder or to buy from other retailers soon, but three days sooner is awesome. 

Next is the cover, which is a companion to Part One's cover.  It looks similar, but is different enough (I hope) to stand alone.  It's very pretty and has red wolf's fur to signify this is Taylor's book.  What do you think? 

Ge-Mi will be released in print!  Parts One and Two will be combined into one lovely print version.  NSP is working with the cover artist right now to get a print cover completed.  It will take a few extra weeks, but sometime after Part Two is released, the print version will also become available.  I will let everyone know when I have more information, but it's something more for you to look forward to! 

5/03/20

I have a bunch of books coming out in the next few weeks, so I wanted to update you on where they stand:

Ge-Mi: Part Two

This story is completely ready to go.  I finished the proofreader's final edits and have seen the draft of the cover.  All that's left is for the ARCs to go out, which will happen soon.  Part Two is scheduled to come out in May, and I expect to have a firm date once NSP posts it for pre-order on their website. 

I am incredibly excited for this story to come out.  Not only have readers waited literally years for it, but it is the first brand new story of mine NSP is releasing.  I'm super excited to see how a new book does with my new publisher. 

Dragon Deception

Book Two in my Supernatural Consultant series is starting to take shape.  I have completed the copy edits for the story, which means all that's left is the proofreader.  I have seen a draft of the cover, and it is as awesome as the cover for the first book.  It will 100% be ready to go by June. 

Given the amazing reception Dragon Consultant has been getting, I'm certain Deception will also do really well. 

Dragon Dilemma

Dilemma is also making great strides in its journey towards reprinting.  I just finished the second round of edits and the story turned out really well.  The editor likes the story, which means all my new readers will like it too!  I have also submitted the cover form, so that's in progress too. 

There's still a lot to do for this story, but I think we're ahead of schedule for a July release, which is good.