Category: Gathering The Hoard

Out Now: Gathering the Hoard

7/12/2017

Gathering the Hoard

Return to the world of The Dragon's Hoard in a collection of short tales about bored dragons and the trouble they can find, the fears of time and aging, painful memories of terrible times, sweet moments with good friends, and more...

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And don't forget to check out the rest of the series, which has been re-released as newly edited reprints: https://lessthanthreepress.com/books...

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News: What's Next?

7/9/2017

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7/9/17

I completed writing If A Butterfly Don't Fly. I gave it a few days to rest and then read through it and formatted it for submission. Normally I would let a story sit for a month before reading through it again, but this story is a bit different. Because it's so old, I've read through it dozens of times at this point as I tried to keep writer's block at bay. Aside from the ending I wrote a few days ago, this story has been edited to heck and back. My worry is that if I let it sit, I'll start nitpicking, and then it'll get really messed up and might not ever be submitted. On the other hand, letting a story rest for a good while (more than the bare week I've given this story right now) provides a level of distance that allows me to better evaluate the editing I'm doing. I'm trying to decide what would be best for this story and right now I'm leaning towards a compromise by giving it another week of rest, rereading it again, and then submitting it. What do you think?
Nitpicking is exactly what happened with Ground of Insurrection. I knew when I finished writing it that it wasn't quite right, so I sent it to a beta reader who very helpfully pointed out where those issues were stemming from. I fixed it, but by that point the story had been stuck with a terrible label, a miasma of "something isn't right". Despite knowing the problem was gone and the story was good, I couldn't quite make myself hit the submit button. I kept poking at it, changing little things that only reinforced the false impression in my head that the story wasn't ready yet. I needed some sort of emotional boost if I was ever going to get this story submitted, so while I was running on the excited high of having finished writing Butterfly, I gave Ground of Insurrection another read through. As I thought, the story was good and the issues were fixed. So I submitted it! Finally, after two long years of the story languishing on my computer, I plucked up my courage. Now it depends on whether LT3 also likes it.
Now that Butterfly is completed, it's finally time to move on to another story on my to-do list. The question is, which one? I know many of you are yelling at your computer screens, trying to tell me "more Lumie!", but I'm not certain the next Supernatural Consultant book is ready to be written. I still have some more planning to do first. Others of you are demanding Part Two of Ge-Mi, but again I have the same answer: more planning first. That leaves me with far too many other options. I would like to finish The Coup and The Prince, which is short and sweet and whose writing time has dragged on a bit too long. I would also like to return to my fairy tales. I was making good progress with them before Butterfly reasserted itself. In fact, since I totally forgot to do goals for July, maybe I'll make both of those stories my goals list.
Don't forget my Dragon's Hoard series is coming out this week on July 12th. If you haven't read the first four books before, now is a great time to get a copy as they're all on pre-order discount at LT3. Gathering the Hoard is completely new and fans of Tori will really enjoy it, so make sure you pick up your copy today.

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News: Procrastination is Going Well

6/24/2017

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6/24/17

I received the edits for Gathering the Hoard, the Dragon's Hoard short stories, and for Justified and I did start working on them both, but then the next thing I knew I had somehow managed to write 5k words for If A Butterfly Don't Fly and hadn't touched my edits in a week. That was not my intention in the least bit, especially since both sets of edits are already running a bit behind schedule. My plan to bust my butt this weekend and see if I can get the edits for Gathering the Hoard done and get a good chunk of Justified completed too has so-far been successful. Gathering the Hoard was just returned to LT3, so if I can get a lot accomplished in Justified, I can stop feeling guilty about procrastinating from edits by writing.
Speaking of If A Butterfly Don't Fly, that story is going amazingly well. I've added 5k words and I think I've figured out an extra twist that will make the story longer and will also help to strengthen the romantic elements. Right now there is a romance, but it's a little stilted, and the twist will hopefully help to iron everything out. I hope to reach my goal of 40k soon.
The reviews for Dragon Home have been beyond amazing. Everyone seems to have really enjoyed reading it, which I am so ecstatic to hear. The next step for this series is Dragon Spy, which is slated to be released this October. I'm hoping to have the next book in this series mostly written by that point, but that's only going to happen if the edits stop coming in so quickly. Since I still have three more stories I haven't seen edits for just yet, I have doubts on my ability to get book seven completed before book six is released. The good news is, I think I've come up with a title for book seven. What do you think of Dragon Trick? That's still subject to change, of course, but it fits with how the story is writing so far.

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News: Hadash Aviv and Writing

3/28/2017

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3/28/17

LT3 saw my last post and offered to work with me regarding Hadash Aviv. There is a lot of work to do, but man, oh man, did I jump for joy when I got that email. Hadash Aviv is the first story I wrote where every word I put on the page meant something to me. There's a lot of me in there. Hadash Aviv went on to be nominated for M/M Romance's Member's Choice Award for Best Law Enforcement, which was the very first story I ever had that received any recognition. There's a special place in my heart for Hadash Aviv and that's why I wanted to get it reprinted so badly. Of course, because I love Hadash Aviv so much, editing on my own when I'm so close to the story is probably impossible. Working with an editor will be painful, but it's absolutely necessary to get this story perfected for reprinting. I can't wait to see how it turns out!
I've been getting a lot written in my Rapunzel-themed fairy tale. It's kind of quirky and I doubt anyone's reworked the original tale quite as much as I have for this story, but it's a ton of fun to write. I've gotten the prince up the tower and now I need to introduce the witch (in this case a wizard) into the equation. There's still a romance to plan and after that is the big battle and the reconciliation, so there's plenty to write, but this story is growing nicely. Hopefully I'll come up with a title soon too.
I think I've figured out where I was stuck in A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes. Originally this was just going to be a Cinderella themed story, but I think I need to tie in some aspects from Sleeping Beauty (or another fairy tale with an incapacitating issue) so the villainous plot makes sense. I also need to change the title. There's some copyright issues since it's the title of a song from the Disney movie, plus it doesn't entirely fit with the overall theme of the story any more. Titles are hard, but something should come up as I keep writing. My plan is to finish my Rapunzel story first and then return to this one next.
Speaking of title issues, The Dragon's Hoard Short Stories finally has a real title. LT3 rightfully intervened and together we came up with Gathering the Hoard. What do you think?

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News: Release Dates

3/22/2017

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3/22/2017

There are many reasons why I shouldn't guess potential release dates for my upcoming books, the main reason of which is that I'm usually wrong. In this most recent case, I was very wrong. LT3 has provided me with all the upcoming dates they were able to schedule this far ahead of time and pretty much all of my guesses proved to be way off. Here's the official dates (which are subject to change, but should be mostly accurate at this point), so mark your calendars:

Dragon Adventure: May 17, 2017
Justified: June 21, 2017
Dragon's Hoard Reprint and Short Stories: July 12, 2017
Dragon Home: August 9, 2017
Dragon Spy: October 11, 2017

The only book that LT3 has accepted for publishing that is not on that list is Kelpie Blue. If I might guess (and at this point you've hopefully realized that my guesses aren't worth much), I would say December 2017 or January/February 2018.

In other news, Dragon Soldier, Dragon Detective, Dragon Adventure, and Dragon Home will be released in print in Supernatural Consultant Volume 2. This print compilation continues from where Volume 1 left off and should be released around the same time as Dragon Home in August.

Supernatural Consultant Volume 2 is also being considered for release in audio. The decision hasn't been made just yet, but I have been told it is on the list of potentials.

And the last bit of release news is that once the edits for the reprint of The Dragon's Hoard series are complete, the series will be submitted for translation into Spanish.

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News: Coming Soon

3/19/2017

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3/19/17

The next three books on my coming soon list are starting to come together. First were the covers, which if you missed you can check out HERE. Next are the release dates. Dragon Adventure will come out on May 17, 2017. Mark your calendars for this short story.
I was also given a tentative date range for Dragon Home of sometime in June or July 2017. That date can't be finalized until LT3 and I are through with my Dragon's Hoard series rerelease process. The series will most likely be released in the same time frame as Dragon Home (barring any unforeseen editing snafus). This matters because LT3 isn't going to want to release Dragon Home too closely to my Dragon's Hoard series. This could be as simple as one comes out in June and the other July, but that determination can't be made until Dragon Home and my Dragon's Hoard series have completed the editing process.
Adding to that is Justified, which will also need a release date. It's far too soon to even guesstimate when Justified might be coming out. It is currently in a long line waiting to go back to the editor for a second round. Once it's through the line and the editor's time, I still need to complete those edits. Then it's off to the copy editor. Only at that point will the story be far enough along to start thinking about dates. If you give a month for each step in the process (March for the editor, April for me, May for the copy editor, June for formatting and other considerations) we're looking at a potential for July, August, or September, but again that date would be dependent on when the Dragon's Hoard series and Dragon Home are released.
After that it's impossible to guess anything. Dragon Spy is presumably next on the list, followed by Kelpie Blue, which was accepted by LT3 this past week. Those are months and months away from being published. Fall or winter of 2017 or even early 2018 is the best guess I could give. It's really exciting to me to see all these books slowly fall into place and, as always, I'll keep my readers updated as I learn more.

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News: Writing and Ge-Mi

3/14/2017

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3/14/17

If you haven't seen any of my (rather obsessive) posts about Ge-Mi: Part One, the story is up for book of the week at Love Bytes Reviews. All you have to do is vote. They don't need any personal information, you don't have to comment, and it only takes a few seconds. If you feel like this is something you can help me out with, please vote for Ge-Mi. Thanks so much! http://lovebytesreviews.com...book-of-the-week-poll-march-4th-10th-2017/
My Dragon's Hoard Short Stories are complete, including the edits. I have submitted it to LT3 and hope to hear yes or no soon.
I have heard back from LT3 regarding Dragon Adventure. Instead of going back to the editor for round two, it has instead gone straight to the copy editor. Luckily, I don't think Adventure needed considerably more edits. Mostly I just had a few questions for the editor to clarify things and the copy editor should be able to handle that just fine. Skipping the round of editing is why I haven't gotten any updates on Adventure in months, so it's nice to know it's still moving along. I don't know when I'll get the first round of edits for Dragon Home, the next book in the series.
I also don't know any release dates for my accepted stories, just the rumor that Dragon Adventure might be coming out sometime in May. I've asked for tentative dates twice and haven't received any response. I really do hope to learn release dates soon. If the May rumor is correct, I should start getting covers and blurbs for Adventure within the next two weeks. Since I don't know the potential release dates for Justified or Dragon Home, I can't speculate when I'll start getting anything for them. Again, I hope to learn more soon.

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News: Writing Plans

3/6/2017

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3/06/17

As promised, this past weekend I worked hard on my Dragon's Hoard short story collection. I'm happy to say that after five long years it's finally complete! I'm really happy with how it turned out. Some of the stories are really short and a few are a bit longer, but overall I do think it comes together perfectly. The next step is to start editing, which I will try to do next weekend. Once that's done, I'll go ahead and submit it to LT3.
I've also gotten a lot done in The Sentinel's Prophesy. I haven't worked on it since I switched focus to the short stories, but I do still feel good about where this story is going. I should be able to return to it and continue from where I left off. I also want to finish writing The Oracle's Current, the final book in the Oracle Series. That's another story I never meant to linger this long on. So much of my writing time has gone into my Supernatural Consultant and Magnified series that my unfinished series like the Oracle haven't been completed like I planned.
There are two other stories on my to-do list that are really old. The first is If A Butterfly Don't Fly. That story is about four years old. It's required a lot of research to get right, but I think it's time to finish with it. Besides, if I don't get it published soon after Kelpie Blue, a lot of the nuances between the two books in the series (which are both stand alone, but rely on each other a bit) might be lost.
After that I need to work on my fairy tales. I have two fairy tales that are currently out of print that I want to get reprinted: Cinder-Elle and Cleanly Wrong. The Red Apple Witch, a mishmash of fairy tales, is also the next oldest story on my to-do list. I'm thinking if I combine all my fairy tale stories into one compilation, I can get them to you much faster. Once I finish writing them all, I'll ask LT3 what they think is best and either the fairy tales will come out as one book or be released separately.

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Dragon's Hoard and More

3/4/2017

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3/4/17

Some of you may remember my telling you that my Dragon's Hoard Series will be going out of print this June and that I was working with LT3 to renew the contract. I have finally gotten confirmation from LT3 that this is going to happen. All four books in my Dragon's Hoard Series are undergoing edits right now. Once the editing process is complete and a new contract is signed, my Dragon's Hoard Series will be reprinted.

What does this mean? Honestly, since this is the first of my books I've renewed a contract for, I'm not entirely sure. I know the series is being re-edited, but I don't believe there will be any substantive changes to the overall story. I'll be able to say that for certain once I see the edits, of course. I don't know if there will be new covers for the series, if there will also be a reprint of the print book, or how the new version will be made available to readers that own copies of the old version. It looks like I will find all of that out as it happens, so check my blog postings for additional information as I learn it.

What I do know right now is that I promised my readers a short story collection for this series four years ago and I have yet to deliver. There couldn't be a better time to debut those stories than when the reprint goes live. I've therefore put aside everything else I've been working on in order to focus exclusively on getting the short stories completed. At this point, I have finished writing four of the six stories. The last two are the two most difficult ones. The first is focused on how White and Eldest met, but I haven't started writing it yet. The second is about the long-awaited day when Tori is considered an adult. I've written about 2k words for it, but am a bit stuck on how to keep the playful vibe when Tori wants to grow up so badly.

If I can get both stories completed this month, and get the entire set edited and ready for submission, hopefully these stories will be in your hands not too long after the reprints come out.

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Any Goals For November?

11/3/2016

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11/03/16

My life got crazy what with my new job and moving to a new city. I couldn't keep up with the writing schedule I had been following previously, and setting writing goals each month was just adding onto my stress levels. Now I feel like I'm settling in and figuring out my new writing schedule. I want to start planning my goals again, but I still feel like I have a ways to go before I'm that organized. That said, I do have two things I want to get completed before the year is out:

LT3 has a collection call named For The Hoard. It's about dragons and their hoards, and the things they treasure most. I have a great idea for a story that I really want to write. It's a mix of dragon hoarding lore and Cinderella. Think: "A dream is a wish your heart makes." Besides, the call is about dragons and I can't help really wanting to contribute. I'm starting to run short on time to write for this, so I need to get to work.
Speaking of dragons, my Dragon's Hoard Series will be going out of print early next year. It should be reprinted and I want my long-awaited short story collection to be released with it. The only problem is I still have two stories to write and one more to finish. That's a lot of work to get accomplished.

My goal for November and December is to make a lot of progress in both of those stories. Yes, if I write for anything else on my to-do list I won't be upset, but it's good to have some goals to focus on. Hopefully by the time the new year rolls in I'll be that much closer to writing regularly again.

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Out Now: Gathering the Hoard

Gathering the Hoard

News: What's Next?

News: Procrastination is Going Well

News: Hadash Aviv and Writing

News: Release Dates

News: Coming Soon

News: Writing and Ge-Mi

News: Writing Plans

Dragon's Hoard and More

Any Goals For November?

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