7/8/23
I have been getting a ton of writing done in The Prince, the second book in my still unnamed series. Is Tales of Toval as a series name confusing, or do you think I should go with it? Princes of Toval? Adventures in Toval? Anyway, I've started writing chapter 6, so I'm making decent progress. Except, none of the chapters have reached my minimum word count goal. I should be well over 15k words at this point in the story, but I've barely scraped past 13k. I am hoping when I go back and edit, I'll find places where I can expand, but for now I'm starting to wonder if I'll even make it to 50k, let alone the 60k I'm aiming for. If I'm lucky, chapter 6 or 7 will blast past my word count goal and set this story back on track, but we'll see. I can only write what my characters ask of me. If you'll remember, I said the reason I wasn't submitting The Chef to NSP for consideration was I needed to wait until I was far enough into writing The Prince to be certain I don't need to go back and change anything? Well, I'm actually having the opposite problem. I couldn't remember what I named the mountain range in The Chef, so in The Prince I wrote MOUNTAINS in uppercase, to remind myself to go look up the Spikehorn Mountains. There was a character in The Chef who appeared in one scene, and he appears again for a larger scene in The Prince. Right now I have NAME there as a reminder to figure out what I named him. Sigh. Clearly I need to go back to writing stand alone stories (I have two coming out sometime soon). Unfortunately for me, I currently only have series in my hopper. LOL I have figured out the two main characters for The Spy (or The Baker, I haven't decided on a title yet), the third book in my aforementioned unnamed series. I was also poking at Dragon Spy, which will be the last book in my Supernatural Consultant series. One of my hang-ups was figuring out who the main character was, and if there's a new love story, or whether the story simply continues the relationships from previous books. I finally decided to let the story and the characters dictate, and have ended up with multiple points of view, including Alloy, who will have some sort of romance brewing. Vivary Tales took a backseat while I focused on writing The Chef, but I will return to writing that series soon. I have an idea for a dungeon-style/post-apocalyptic story with dragons (yes, I read and loved Solo Leveling and am very excited for the upcoming anime!!!), but I have too much on my plate right now. It's begging me to write it, but so is The Prince, and I have to prioritize completing something I've already started. None of the rest of my stories are speaking to me right now. I get an occasional poke from Codified, from my Magnified series, asking why I haven't taken a look at the third book in a while, but I am so stuck on where that story is going right now that it's easier to focus on what's actually writing. Hopefully, that will change and I will be able to complete some more off my to-do list soon!
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1/23/22
Two years of pounding out reprints, desperately trying to ensure my readers don't miss out on any of my books all while working a full time job, has taken its toll. I'm definitely feeling the burn out. It's not just that I haven't been able to write nearly as much as I would like; I've also not been posting on my blog as much either. I truly enjoy interacting with my readers, but it has been months since I had the time or energy to put together something and post it. With all that said, I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Just last week the final book in my Dragon's Hoard series, Melting the Ice Witch, was re-released. The only series yet to be reprinted is my Oracle series, and The Oracle's Flame, book one, should be arriving really soon (release date to come). In fact, my editor and I are already working on The Oracle's Sprite, book four, which means there is only one more reprint after that! Now is the time to start looking toward the future and what's next for my writing. Right now, I have two brand new books accepted for publishing at NSP: The Oracle's Current, the sixth and final book of my Oracle series, and Coven, the first book in my Witch's Circle trilogy. In addition to that, Hunter and Witch, the latter two books in that series, are ready for submission as soon as NSP is ready. I also have a fairy tale I'd like to submit to NSP's "Shorts" collection, but am waiting for my editor to have time to breathe before I send her that too. 2022 is therefore set in terms of what books will likely come out. My focus therefore must be getting books ready for 2023. That sounds like a long way off, but in the publishing world it really isn't. Over the last few weeks I've written small bits in Codified and Dragon Spy, and the aforementioned fairy tale will be part of a new collection I'm also working on. I can't make any promises as to what I might finish next, but I am looking forward to being done with reprints so I can focus exclusively on my new stuff, and can write blog posts about it much more often. 9/15/21
The incessant editing is finally starting to slow down now that more of my books have been re-released, which means I actually have time to focus on my writing. It's a very nice change, and it's really making me look forward to when the reprinting process is done and I can return to a more normal writing schedule. I was able to complete Witch, the third and final book in my Witch's Circle trilogy. The original epilogue grew too large, so I turned it into another chapter instead. That meant when I started working on the new epilogue, I was able to keep it short and sweet. Witch will now sit for a while to marinate, after which I will give it an edit and format it for publishing. Hunter, the second book in the trilogy, is ready to be submitted to NSP. As soon as I have a free moment I will send it in for consideration, however my schedule for the next few weeks is insane so that probably won't be until October at the earliest. Given the first book in the trilogy, Coven, won't be available until mid to late 2022, I'm not in a rush to get the last two books submitted. I added a large chunk to Dragon Spy as well. I was finally able to get two of the main players to meet, which means the drama can really begin. Spy has a long way to go, but it's been so long since I was able to work on it I'm taking even this little bit of progress as a victory. I have decided to trim it down to two points of view, instead of the three the original outline had, which makes it flow a lot better. You'll hear from Nickel and Alloy, and it's Alloy whom I'm going to put through the ringer. Nickel's POV is needed to help with the overall plot, and he'll have an adventure of his own, but poor Alloy's story is going to be center stage. The only other book on my active to-do list is Shiver and Quiver from my new attempt at a fairy tale anthology. The entire story is plotted out, I just have to find the time to write it. It's growing in bits and pieces and I'm probably about halfway through, but it's still going to take a bit more time. Once this story is complete, I'll get to work on the second story in the group, but, as I said in an earlier post, it will very likely be years before this anthology is done and in your hands. For anyone who celebrates Yom Kippur, I hope you have a g'mar chatima tova, a good and meaningful fast. 7/1/21
The past few months have been crazy with book releases. One after another, until I could barely keep up with my promotional posts. I finally have a bit of a break, so instead I want to let you know about everything else I've been working on. Editing: I can't believe how much editing I've gotten done. We're well past the halfway mark for getting all my books re-released, and we're also finally getting to some of my older stories. As you saw last month, Finding the Wolf, my OG book, was re-released. We've also started working on the edits for Breaking the Shackles, book two in The Dragon's Hoard series. One of my other early series, Road To, is also in the editing process. Road to Revenge is almost ready for a July release and I expect to start working on the second book's edits soon as well. Don't worry, my editor and I have been working on some of my newer stuff too. We've made a lot of progress editing Ground of Insurrection, so that will be ready for release in August. That also means the book I know a lot of you have been waiting for, Ground of Resurrection, has also started the editing process. I am almost done with the first round! (For those of you who remember, Resurrection was supposed to come out the day before LT3 closed, so readers have been forced to wait an extra two years to get their copy.) Writing: I'm still writing, but not the books I need to be focusing on. I have finally come up with a series title for the circle stories I've been working on. I'm going to be blatant and call it the Witch's Circle Series. I submitted Book One, which I've decided to title Coven, to NSP. I hope to hear yea or nay soon. Book Two, which I've tentatively titled Hunter, still needs to be edited one last time, but it's close to being complete. I was working on what I thought was the epilogue for Book Three, tentatively titled Witch or Wolf (I haven't decided which yet), but it's gotten so long I think I'm going to make it another chapter instead. This means I still have to finish the final chapter and write the epilogue, but the story is turning out really good, so I'm excited to be finished with the trilogy. Similarly to many of you, I love rewritten fairy tales. (Hence why A Little Fairy Dust exists.) I recently came up with an idea for two more stories, and have decided to therefore start a brand new anthology. The first story is a Beauty and the Beast rewrite set in the same world as Red Apple Witch. I have the basic idea fleshed out, but I haven't figured out the villain yet so this story is still in the planning stages. The other will be the title novel for the anthology, called Shiver and Quiver, My Little Tree. Although I wrote a number of Cinderella stories in Fairy Dust, they were all based on Perrault's version of the story. This one will be loosely based on The Brothers Grimm version instead. I'm a third of the way through and loving it so far. That said, A Little Fairy Dust took me five years to write and two of the stories were reprints. It will definitely be a while until you see the final product. What about Dragon Spy, you ask? I haven't written anything more just yet, but it is definitely next on my to-do list. Hopefully I'll get to it soon! 10/12/20
I'm sure it surprises no one when I say edits are continuing. I am still working my way through A Little Fairy Dust. If It were only one story, I'd be done, but with so many together in the collection it takes on a unique set of challenges. Each individual story has a slightly different tone, which means I have to switch gears mentally whenever I finish one and start another. Completing the edits has been much harder than I expected as a result, but I'm making a lot of progress and I'm really happy with how all the stories are turning out. I'm hoping to have A Little Fairy Dust back to the editor really soon, which means I'll be able to return to working on Magnified again! Writing has been...well...sparse. I want to be working on Dragon Spy or Codified, but neither story has good chi for me right now. I need to figure out where I'm blocked so I can begin moving forward again. Instead, my brain has been poking at one of the random stories sitting on my to-do list. It's untitled and there's no summary (see Spirit Story on my current projects page), yet my brain has been coming up with ideas for the next scene. Spirit is supposed to be a slightly darker detective story. I want it to be more horror-style than my usual happy dragons (think Magnified, but with less traditional forms of magic), but I've got to be in a certain mood to write (my style of) horror, which hasn't happened lately or Codified would be flowing better. The other story that has been bugging me lately is one of the stories I never got around to writing ten years ago. A witch, exiled from his coven because he's male when all witches should be female, is forced to visit the den of vampires and werewolves by the news station he works for. That fateful meeting sets the carefully rebuilt life the witch had made into a tailspin. I've wanted to write the story for years, but haven't had the time with all the other stories on my to-do list. Suddenly my brain keeps replaying the opening scene over and over again, to the point that I need to write it down. I am hoping once I finish the two sets of edits on my plate I'll be able to get some writing in. Whether it will be for the two stories I need to be working on, or the two stories my brain is insisting I work on instead, I can't tell you. All I know is I'll be glad for any writing I do accomplish. 10/4/20
Happy October everyone! The leaves are changing, there's a nip in the air, and my AM alarm keeps going off before the sun rises. After the hectic holidays, I'm looking forward to the chance to relax in the calm of autumn where the only thing I have to worry about is how much candy to buy this Halloween. Of course, I just bought a new house, so figuring out how to get it ready for winter is still stressing me out. I had a long telephone call this morning with a prospective oil company (my heat is oil and there's a massive tank in my garage). The poor lady had to explain where the gauge is to tell me how much oil is in my tank, and that the big red switch that says EMERGENCY is actually my burner switch. As long as it's in the on position, just setting my thermostat will do all the work. Phew. Turns out, the only thing I need to worry about in regards to my oil is keeping an eye on that gauge, and when it gets too low, give the company a call. I also have to figure out where the turn off valves for the outdoor spigots are, but I think that's going to be a conversation with the neighbors sort of adventure. Aside from that, my house is in good shape. The new blinds were finally delivered (first ones delivered were wrong, so I had to re-order them) and will be installed this week. The only other project I need to do is figure out how to anchor my new pantry to the stud in the wall, and then this house is as perfect as it's going to get! Which leaves me much more time to focus on my writing. I didn't get as far as I would have liked in Dragon Spy. The prologue is done and the chapters renumbered, but I need to get cracking on the next scene. The story is going to abruptly switch to Alloy's perspective, which I have been looking forward to writing for months, but everything else going on in my life keeps getting in the way (like calling oil companies this morning instead of writing). Also, edits keep popping up. Today's addition to my editing pool is the first round for A Little Fairy Dust, my fairy tale anthology. While the individual stories inside aren't too long, combined this is the largest single book I've ever written. I have no idea how much time it's going to take to finish the edits, so working on them is my priority at the moment. Which means Magnified, which I have the pre-edits for, is getting pushed aside again. Hopefully I'll be able to finish both sets of edits soon, so I can return to writing again. 9/24/20
To anyone that celebrates, I hope you had a happy new year and have an easy fast! The response for Dragon Soldier has been beyond amazing. Readers really seem to love it, and that has me so excited! I was incredibly busy the last few weeks, so I never got around to posting the new cover, but it's as wonderful as the rest of the series. You can check it out here! Dragon Adventures, the next book in the series is completely ready to go. All we're waiting on is the cover, but the editing is done. I hope to have the official release date for you very soon. Sticking with news about my Supernatural Consultant series, I have been writing Dragon Spy again. I finally figured out one of the reasons the story wasn't flowing correctly was because the prologue really needed to be chapter one instead. I started writing a new prologue, which introduces a new dragon, and it's already looking so much better! There's still a lot of little plot details to work out, but overall this story is really starting to take shape. I have also finally finished the preliminary round of edits for Kelpie Blue, which is still slated to come out in January. The prelims were a beast to get through, and it took me a lot longer than I had hoped, but I did it and the story looks so much tighter because of it. I'm also super excited to start working on a different series. As much as I love my dragons, taking a break to play with a feisty kelpie was awesome. Next on my editing to-do list are the prelims for Magnified. I think I got into a groove with Kelpie Blue, so I'm hoping to carry that forward and blaze through Magnified. I am also expecting the first round of edits for A Little Fairy Dust, my fairy tale anthology. It's a huge book, so it will take a little longer to go through the editing process, which is why I'm expecting it to land in my inbox any day now. 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:
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.)
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. 4/28/19
Those of you that follow me on Twitter already know that I successfully submitted Ge-Mi: Part Two to LT3. For everyone else, Ge-Mi: Part Two was officially submitted to LT3! I got confirmation that they received it, so now it's just a waiting game. LT3's website says it's a 6 to 8 week waiting period while they evaluate the manuscript. If they accept it, I should be signing the contract sometime in June and the book should be released anywhere from 9 to 12 months after that. So what's next? Editing, of course. I'm still working on the edits for the reprint of My Truest Love. After that I'm expecting the edits for the reprint of Wings of the Stars. The Coup and the Prince might have a copy edit or galley coming my way in the next few weeks, and then the second round of edits for Ground of Resurrection will arrive. Editing continues to take the bulk of my writing time, but once that list is done, I'm expecting to have a few months without any edits. Which means, I finally get to write again! Di-Na: Part One is, of course, high on my to-do list, but that list is incredibly long right now. I think I need to focus on the stories that have languished the longest. I really, really want to finish off my Oracle series and The Oracle's Current, so that's on the top of my list, and I also want to finish my fairy tale project. There's also Codified and Dragon Spy, which are both patiently waiting for a bit of my attention. There's so much still to do and I'm looking forward to finally having the time to actually do it! 8/21/18
Despite the constant edits, I have managed to squeeze a little writing in. There are so many stories I want to get complete, but finding time to work on them has been difficult, especially when so much of my writing time has been stuffed full of editing. Here's what I've been able to accomplish the last few weeks: I added a few more drips and drabs to Dragon Spy, book seven of my Supernatural Consultant series. Mostly I'm trying to figure out the balance between Nickel's role and Lumie's role to the overall plot. They're both big personalities that demand focus and attention, and giving it to them both without losing the essence of the series is going to be an interesting task for this particular book. I also added about 1.5k words to Ground of Resurrection. I've said this before, but all I need to finish writing this story is time. There's about 4k more to go and it's all planned out, so it's really just about finding a few stolen moments to work on it. As soon as I'm done with edits, I expect this story to be the next add to my completed list. LT3 also posted a new collection call named Bound by Nothing. It's about shifters and injuries that I thought was really interesting. I've got an idea for it and I managed to write about 3k words, but I don't know if I'll be able to complete the story by the deadline. It's due at the end of January and it's only asking for a minimum of 20k words, but I have so much else to do that this story might unfortunately not get there in time. Which doesn't mean I'll abandon the story, of course. It wouldn't be the first time I've missed the deadline for a call and later published the story anyway, but I would like to try. You can check out my tentative summary on my current projects page and I hope to have a title to share soon too. But what about Ge-Mi: Part Two, or the fairy tales I keep insisting I'll work on? I fully admit, I've gotten distracted from these two endeavors. Ge-Mi is another story that I just need to find free time to work on, but because the story is so involved, it's got to be more than a few brief moments stolen here and there. Usually that's all I have, which is perfect for all the other stories I've mentioned so far, but not for Ge-Mi. That's going to take a few weekends of no other distractions to really get into and right now that time is being spent on edits instead. As for the fairy tales, I've got two left to complete and one still to rework. I can work on them in the stolen moments, but I'd prefer to finish Resurrection first, so once that story is done I know I'll return to my fairy tales. |
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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