Water's Price
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6/12/23
I have been doing so much better lately with posting regularly to keep everyone in the loop, and then I went and vanished for an entire month! Sigh. I admit I've been very busy, and spring has definitely kept me on my toes. My sister is getting married this summer (soooo excited!!!), so the last few weeks were the bridal shower and bachelorette party. Plus, I had a business trip for my 9 to 5 and I went to the beach for Memorial Day. And this entire last week has been sniffles and coughing. Covid test was negative, but I still felt nasty. After about ten hours of sleeping three nights in a row I'm starting to feel better, so I appear to be on the back end of this spring cold. Blah. Here's everything else I've accomplished over the last month: The Chef is complete! I've dotted my Ts and crossed my Is and set it aside to rest for a while. I was right that it wasn't going to beat Magnified as my longest story, but it came really close! To all my readers who have mentioned they "love my stories but wish they were longer", The Chef is for you! It taps out at a whomping 59k words, which is easily double the length of most of the rest of my stories. My plan is to pull The Chef out of hibernation sometime in August or September, give it a last read through, and submit it to NSP for their consideration. That is a lot longer than I normally give my stories for their resting phase, but The Chef is part of a series whose overall plot will continue between the books. Right now, the second book, The Prince, is entirely dependent on events that occurred in The Chef. If something in The Prince isn't flowing correctly, I need to be able to go back into The Chef and make changes, which means The Chef is going to be delayed. I expect by August to have gotten far enough into The Prince where that won't be an issue any longer. Another problem is I haven't come up with a series name yet. I might go simple and call it Kingdom of Toval, which is one of the locations in the book, but I'm not sure yet. Also, I have some vague ideas for a third book in the series, but I don't really see how it can fit into the current plot. I'm contemplating making it a short story set in the world, but that would depend on how The Prince ends up. I have seen the first draft for the cover of Witch, the third and final book in my Witch's Circle series, and it is glorious! I can't wait to share it with you. I don't have an official release date yet to share, but it is with the proof reader at the moment (the final step before ARCs), so I should hear more very soon. Aside from that, the only fun thing is my garden is starting to sprout. It looks like I will have beans, peas, green peppers, and lettuce fresh on demand all summer! I can't wait!
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. |
Coming Soon
Gifting a Dragon's Heart
March 19, 2024 Soul Bond
January 30, 2024 Twin Elements
October 17, 2023 Witch
April 15, 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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