I didn't do too badly in February.  I got a little off track with writing some new stuff, but overall I think I got a lot done.  Here's how I did:

1. Editing. The first round of edits for Dragon Detective was returned to LT3.  I received the second round of edits for Magnified too late in the month to finish by today, but I will have them done soon. 
   
   
2. Supernatural Consultant.  Dragon Soldier is complete and I've submitted it to LT3.  Dragon Adventure and Dragon Home have both been submitted to LT3 as well.  I hope to hear whether they like them soon.  I've also poked at Dragon Spy at bit and it's coming along nicely.  Alloy's first book also has a large chunk of planning completed, but I won't start writing it until Lumie's story is complete, which might require multiple books.  
   
   
3. Justified.  I have completely edited and formatted Justified and I'm really happy with it.  I'm in a bit of a conundrum about whether to submit it and could use some advice. 
   
   
4. Writing.  I did a lot of writing this month, although not exactly in the stories I had hoped to focus on.  My Coliseum story is starting to come along and I've resurrected an old story about an incubus called Ink.  Both are very interesting to write, and I didn't mind working on them, but I would have preferred to focus on my works in progress instead of starting something new.  Still, I can't complain about writing no matter what the story. 
   

I think it's a new world record for me.  Here I was, thinking it would take me the rest of the month to finish writing Dragon Adventure, and I ended up completing it in two days.  I'm very excited to have another story in this series done, but I'm just a little flabbergasted at the speed.  I have set it aside and in a few weeks I'll pick it up again to edit and format for submission. 

Considering the fact that I now have two more weeks to work on something else, I started thinking about what my next project should be and I quickly realized that Dragon Adventure was a bit lopsided.  Aqua and Rios are two water dragons you'll meet in Dragon Dilemma (coming out June 1, 2016).  They're very minor characters, but they are adorable ones.  I wanted to write a fun short story set in the series, but not affiliated with the overall plot, and Aqua and Rios fit the bill perfectly.  Dragon Adventure was born, but it ended up focusing almost exclusively on Rios with Aqua taking a nap through much of the actual adventure.  I quickly came to the conclusion that Aqua also needs a story of his own.  Dragon Home is the tentative title for Aqua's story.  It's only going to be 10k words, just like Dragon Adventure, and be mostly fluff and filler, but it will be a ton of fun as well.  I am going to start working on it as soon as this blog is posted. 

I think I needed this short story interlude as an author, not just to give the series a break.  Dragon Soldier is a very plot heavy book as it brings the first arc of the series to a close and I struggled with it for a while.  Writing the pure fluff in Dragon Adventure turned into a mental health break for me before I dive into Dragon Spy, which opens up the second arc in the series.  I think Dragon Adventure helped clear my head and get me refocused on this series and I'm hoping Dragon Home will get me prepared to return to Dragon Spy with a vengeance. 

I also need to figure out where the series is going next.  I am planning on more books after Spy, but I don't have any firm plot ideas put together just yet.  I know Lumie is going to need another book and that Alloy will get two of his own as well, but I have some ideas of also returning to Nickel and Platinum for a book or two.  It's all still a bit of a jumbled mess, to be honest, which is yet another reason why taking a break with Adventure was good for me.  I need more time to figure out my next steps, especially since Dragon Spy will need to provide the proper setup for everything that comes next in that arc. 

The plan right now is to submit Dragon Soldier and Dragon Adventure to LT3 at the end of the month.  If Dragon Home is completed by then too I'll submit that as well.  If LT3 accepts them, they won't be released until 2016 or even 2017.  I just wanted to let my wonderful readers know that there's much more to come in this series.  I really hope you're looking forward to Aqua and Rios as much as I am and I'll definitely keep everyone up to date as all my stories in this series move through the publication process. 

2/16/15

• Dragon Deception is a hit.  It reached number 17 on All Romance e-books' best seller list!  The reviews have also been positive and everyone seems to be enjoying it.  Thank you so much to everyone who purchased a copy. 
   
  
• I have also seen the numbers for books sold last quarter.  Dragon Consultant's sales utterly shattered the previous sales record set by Stealing the Dragon.  It was amazing for me to see.  I won't know if Dragon Deception matched or beat Consultant's record for a few months, but I think it's close. 
   
  
• The entire Supernatural Consultant series is being considered for translation into other languages.  I don't know which languages or when they might be released, but I think it's really cool.  I'll keep you updated as I learn more. 
   
  
• I have been working diligently on Dragon Soldier.  There's only 4k words left to write, which at this point is basically the wrap up and the epilogue.  I'm planning to have it submitted the first week of March.  The battle scene I just finished writing is totally awesome, so I'm really looking forward to getting it started on the path to being published. 
   
  
• Next on my to-do list for this series is Dragon Adventure.  It's supposed to be a short story to bridge the two arcs of the series and therefore needs to be released before Dragon Spy, book six.  I'm also hoping to have Adventure submitted the first week of March, but there's still a lot to do. 
  

February has to be the month of completing things.  There are so many stories on my to-do list that have been sitting there unfinished for years.  This is the time to get them all completed. 

1. Edits.  At this moment I only have the last bit of editing for the first round of Dragon Detective to go.  I should have it done quickly, but given what happened last month I have a feeling I'm going to get hit with more edits soon.  I'll need to get all of them done this month. 
   
   
2. Supernatural Consultant.  I only have approximately 8k words left to write in Dragon Soldier.  Basically I have to put together the final battle and the aftermath.  I can definitely finish it this month.  I would also like to get Dragon Adventure written, since it's supposed to be only 10k words. 
    
3. Justified.  This story needs a major round of editing.  I would like to get that done this month so I can get it formatted and ready for submission. 
   
   
4. Writing.  Anything else I work on will fall into this category.  I want to write, the more the better, and maybe I'll manage to finish one of the stories that still needs a lot of work. 
   

My Supernatural Consultant series continues to grow.  I never expected to write this many books in one series, nor did I want to create something so involved.  Yet, that's what my characters asked for and I'm running with it very eagerly.  It's far more fun to work that way than to try to force my dragons into the box I had originally planned for them.  I still can't believe that what was once going to be a quick, three or four book series is now headed towards ten books with no signs of stopping.  What's even more amazing is the fact that I'm already seeing amazing success with readers. 

How the series stands right now: 

• Dragon Consultant, book one, will be released on December 9, 2015.  It hit number 35 on ARe's bestseller list and is purportedly doing very well in pre-sales everywhere else.  I am really looking forward to Consultant finally being in my readers' hands so you can all know what I'm so excited about too. To preorder your copy today, click HERE. 
  
  
• Dragon Deception, book two, will be released on February 10, 2016.  It is also available for preorder.  All it needs is a cover and this book will be 100% ready to go.   To preorder your copy today, click HERE. 
  
  
• Dragon Dilemma, book three, is in edits.  The first round is back with LT3 and I expect to see the second round sometime near the end of the month.  Dilemma probably won't be released until May 2016 at the very earliest. 
  
  
• Dragon Detective, book four, is in LT3's hands.  They're not going to do anything with it until after Dilemma is completely edited, so I won't see it again for a while. 
  

What I have planned next for the series:

• Dragon Soldier, book five, is next on my to-do list for the series.  Detective ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, so I want to have Soldier ready to go to keep my readers from lynching me.  Given the amount of time I have, I'm not worried. 
  
  
• Dragon Adventure is next.  I'm not entirely certain if this will pan out into a full book or whether it will stay short and sweet, which is why I'm hesitating on saying it's book six.  Right now it feels more like book five and a half.  It might end up being only five thousand words (and therefore a freebie) or it could grow all the way to thirty thousand words and rightfully be called book six.  I guess I'll find out as I continue working. 
  
  
• Dragon Spy is currently listed as book six, which may change to book seven depending on how Adventure grows.  This is the book that introduces Plot B, the next phase of the series.  Plot A was completed in Soldier and any/all future books will hinge on Plot B running smoothly. 

How the series is going to keep growing: 

• There's two directions I want to go with this series.  Both of which will, of course, be tied to Plot B, but they're such different directions that I'm not entirely certain how I can hook them together properly to keep the series one cohesive whole. 
  
  

1. My first idea stems from some issues raised in Dragon Dilemma, which are then reiterated in Dragon Adventure.  This idea would give a dragon that hasn't had a story written for him a stronger voice and would help tie Plot B back to things that happened during Plot A, thereby making the series feel like it all belongs together. 
   
   
2. Idea number two is to continue rolling with Plot B as far as it will take me, which can go two ways.  If the plot and characters in Dragon Spy need another book or two to tell their story, I'm not going to stop them.  This would continue with Plot B nicely, no doubt expanding on it with each successive book.  The other direction returns to the main characters from Dragon Detective and Dragon Soldier.  Writing with an established couple is always fun, but they would be working within the parameters of Plot B. 
   
   

• I honestly want to write all of it, and I don't see why I can't.  Idea one would give me the cohesiveness I was looking for while both parts of idea two give me space for the series to grow.  I just need to find a way to make them balance each other properly.  Right now that means an additional 3-6 books to write both ideas. 

I can't believe how much I've been able to accomplish in this series so far and I'm even more boggled by how much more is still in the planning stage.  There is no denying that this has been and will continue to be quite an undertaking.  The important thing for me to remember is that I have to keep having fun with it.  If I don't have fun, my characters will turn dour, and my readers won't have fun either, which is unacceptable.  I hope everyone will stay with me over the next few years as each of these stories is written, submitted, edited, and finally released for you to read! 

To stay informed as my Supernatural Consultant series continues to grow, please visit my current projects page on my website. 

I got a lot accomplished this month, except I wasn't able to tick off every item on my goals list like I was supposed to.  Instead I let my muses take me where they would.  Luckily for me, that was my number three goal, so it wasn't like I was completely deviating from my to-do list.  I just wish I was able to do more.  Here's how I did:

1. The Oracle's Current.  Saying I couldn't get inspired to work on this story isn't correct.  The problem is that I was more inspired to work on some of my other stories this month.  No matter how badly I wanted to get Current off my to-do list, the last thing I wanted was to force it.  Current would turn out really bad if I did that.  I know I'll return to working on this soon enough. 
    
2. Anthologies/Collections.  Okay, I didn't do too badly here.  The Case of the Wandering Wolves has been submitted to LT3.  I was able to go through everything the beta readers had left me and I think (hope!) I fixed it all.  I should hear from LT3 soon.  My Roughhouse Raiders story exploded this month.  I came up with a title, Elemental Ride, and wrote over 15k words.  I should have it ready to go well before the deadline.  Third on this list was working on The Red Apple Witch, the story I want to submit to LT3's Fairytale call.  I wasn't able to get anything done in that story.  I'm stuck on a transition scene, which I struggle with, so until I figure that out this story will remain stagnant. 
    
   
3. Other Writing.  This is where I did really well this month.  Dragon Spy continued to grow, as I hoped it would.  The story is at the halfway point where it needs to transition over to the action part, but I struggle with transitions so Spy will take a little longer to get going again.  I began working on Dragon Adventure, a fun little mini-book to help bridge the time gap between the end of Dragon Soldier and the beginning of Spy.  I also started work on a Hanukkah story.  I haven't written contemporary in a while, so it's a nice break from everything else I'm working on.