10/15/22
For the past three years, it feels as if all I've been releasing are reprint after reprint after reprint. I know I've peppered in some new material here and there, but it really felt like the process of re-releasing older books would never end. I have loved revisiting beloved characters and worlds, particularly my earliest works that helped me grow into the writer I am today. However, I have missed the process of crafting new things. That is why I am very happy to say that with the release of The Oracle's Prophecy (renamed from The Sentinel's Prophesy) on October 11th (buy here), I am done with reprinting old material! It is an incredibly exciting milestone! I really appreciate everyone who stuck with me through what has been a very long road. Re-editing and getting 29 reprints available again for you all to enjoy took a lot out of me (and out of my wonderful editor!), and greatly reduced my writing time for new material. Thankfully, I had written some new stories prior to starting the reprinting process, so you were able to enjoy brand new material like Wounded Alpha, Ground of Resurrection, and the new fairy tales included in A Little Fairy Dust while you were waiting. Still, I know there is a hankering for more new books from me. Which brings me to what's next. I was able to finish writing the sixth and final book in The Oracle series, The Oracle's Current, in between all the editing. Current has since been waiting for the rest of The Oracle series to be reprinted. When Current is released on October 25th, it will officially mark the start of my only publishing new material from here on out. You can already pre-order from NSP! As the reprinting process slowed throughout 2022, I have been able to spend more and more time focused on writing. I recently completed a trilogy of books called Witch's Circle about a witch, his familiars, a werewolf, and the difficulties they encounter while navigating the supernatural world. The first book, Coven, could potentially be released at the very end of this year, but certainly no later than very early 2023. The latter two books in the trilogy, Hunter and Witch, will definitely come out next year. Plus, I completed a short story called Water's Price about some mermaids, which you should also see in 2023. But wait, there's more! Lol While that is everything NSP has currently contracted with me to publish, I have a few other things I've been working on that I hope to submit for NSP's consideration within the next few months. I have finished writing and am editing a stand alone fantasy story with the (very tentative) title of Fire and Water. As soon as I come up with a better title, I plan to submit it to NSP. I have also passed the halfway point in writing another stand alone fantasy/sci-fi crossover story called You Can't Sell A Dragon's Heart. I still need to write the major climax scene and tie the HEA off with a pretty bow, so there's still a lot to do, but I definitely think I'll have this story completed soon. Plus, now that I'm done with reprints, I should have more time to focus on my oversized to-do list, upon which I hope to begin making progress again very soon! I look forward to keeping everyone in the loop as I continue to work on more of my new stories and get them ready for you to read.
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6/10/22
I have a bunch of good things to share with you all! Let's start with upcoming releases. The reprints of Space Stars and The Oracle's Flame have both completed the proofing stage of the editing process. I have seen both covers, and they're amazing. All the books need are ARCs and a release date, which means they should be ready very soon. The remaining five books in my Oracle's Series are all with a proofer right now, so they're only one step behind. This includes the brand new final book in the series, The Oracle's Current. Aside from completing those proofs as they come in, I will have a bit more editing to accomplish this summer. I have been informed the first book in my brand new Witch's Circle trilogy is with an editor! This is the first step in the lengthy process of getting it published, but after a long wait, I'm incredibly excited to see Coven moving forward. I expect to have more good news to share about this story soon. And here's that good news! The latter two books in the trilogy, Hunter and Witch have been accepted for publishing at NSP! In NSP's response, they said they really liked them and that the trilogy as a whole was excellent. I will keep everyone in the loop as these two stories progress through the publishing process. In addition to that, NSP also accepted my mermaid fairy tale Water's Price for their NSP Shorts collection, so I'll keep you appraised of that story as well. My last bit of good news is that I have been writing! Unfortunately, it's not any of the stories on my to do list, but as far as I'm concerned, writing is writing. I don't have a title for it yet, but the premise of the story is the king gets poisoned and his identical twin has to step in to keep the kingdom from collapsing all while desperately trying to find a cure. In comes the handsome prince from the neighboring kingdom, and...drama. I've written approximately 10k words so far, so I've reached the drama portion of that explanation. There's also a lot of lava. I'm 50/50 on whether this story will be a stand alone, or whether I'll put it in with my second fairy tale anthology. If it ends up being longer than 30k, it'll be a stand alone, but there's too much for me still to write to be able to estimate the final word count just yet. Once I know that (and have a working title), I'll get it up on my Current Projects page. 5/22/22
I just realized how long it's been since I've posted! My books are all moving along, so I keep thinking I'll have something significant to share really soon. And then I never end up posting anything... Anyway, all six books in my Oracle Series are basically ready for publishing. I'm waiting on ARCs for the first few and final proofs for the last few. The new covers are gorgeous, so I'm very much looking forward to posting about them. I expect The Oracle's Flame will be available for pre-order in the very near future. Once I learn more, I'll definitely share it, because I know you all have been anxiously waiting for this series as much as me. In other news, I submitted three brand new books to NSP for their consideration. The latter two books in my Witch's Circle trilogy had been sitting around for a while, so I was glad to send them in. Hopefully NSP likes them both! I also decided to submit one of the fairy tales I recently finished writing. It's a Little Mermaid rewrite (of sorts) that is too short for traditional publishing, but is perfect for NSP's Shorts collection. It's one of the stories I'm planning to include in my second fairy tale anthology, but I thought it might be nice to give everyone a hint of what is to come. On the writing front, things have been less successful and I unfortunately don't foresee that changing this summer. I have been so busy at work, that by the time I get home I'm totally burned out. Then I need the entire weekend to recover. I've been fitting editing in, but that's about it. My summer is going to be crazy too. I am hoping things will calm down by autumn. In the meantime, I'll try to keep up with my blog posting a little better! 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. 7/17/21
Coven, the first book in my Witch's Circle series, was accepted for publishing at NSP! We haven't officially signed the contract, but I'm super excited. By the time Coven is released (best guesstimate is the end of 2022), I will be done with reprints. I can't wait to return to a more normal writing and publishing schedule, and Coven is the first step in that process. Hunter, the second book in the series, is also completely written. I was in the process of giving it one last edit before I format it for submission, but I had to pause temporarily because I received more edits. I hope to have Hunter submitted for consideration with NSP within the next few weeks. I am still writing Witch, the third book. I am stuck on the final sentence for the book, and then I have to write a quick epilogue, which I already have planned out. Hopefully I'll be done writing it soon! Unfortunately, that's it for the writing front. I haven't had time to work on anything else. June was incredibly busy both at work and in life, and I've spent the first half of July catching up on all the little things that fell by the wayside, i.e. laundry. The latter half of July is mostly open, so I hope to finish Witch and return to working on some of my other languishing works in progress. However, that depends on what edits I receive. I recently completed the second round of edits for Ground of Resurrection. That means editing for all my upcoming releases through October are in progress. I am waiting on edits from the proof reader and copy editor for all those books, which is a good sign they are on schedule for their respective release dates. Road to Home is currently scheduled for November, so I expect to start working on the first round of edits for that book soon. As long as the edits continue to go smoothly (and as long as my real life isn't too busy) I will hopefully be able to get in some writing time as well. Maybe by the end of 2022, my publishing life really will be back to normal! 2/8/21
Fingers crossed, but I haven't had any home issues in the last week! I'm running out of big ticket appliances to replace, which hopefully means there's less available to go wrong. Not worrying about my house does mean I have more free time to focus on writing! Circle Y, the second (untitled) book in my (also untitled) series about a witch and some werewolves, has reached the halfway point. I've introduced the bad guys, set up the main drama, and am ready to get the ball rolling. FYI, if anyone has any suggestions regarding what you think I should title the books or the series, I am definitely open to recommendations. I'm not in a rush to decide, since I won't be submitting these stories to NSP until the end of 2021 at the earliest, but it would still be good to have something to actually call them. I have also reached the point in book two where I need to start thinking about a book three. I'm not certain there needs to be a third book, but I'm loving these characters and want to keep working with them for a few more books. The problem boils down to: is there enough plot to carry more books? I am hoping as I keep working on the latter half of Circle Y, I'll be able to come up with an answer. On a different note, I have begun work on the first round of edits for Justified, book two in my Magnified series. Magnified comes out in March (only a few short weeks away!), so I don't want to spoil anything for first time readers by talking too much about Justified right now. Let me just say the edits are going smoothly and I expect Justified to stay on schedule for a May release. Here's a quick status update for my books being released in the next few months:
1/30/21
Every time I mention I'm having an issue with my house, someone invariably nods sagely and says "the joys of home ownership". Every time! I'm wavering on whether it's actually joyful. I bought a house because I couldn't stand to stay in my noisy, smelly, and annoying apartment, and I don't regret that decision at all. However, to date I have had to replace every single appliance in my kitchen, my furnace, my AC, and now my water heater. (Finding water leaking into my basement Wednesday morning was less than ideal.) I'm waiting for that moment where home ownership is stress free, when I can simply enjoy having my own space without worrying something else is going to go wrong. At this point, I don't think I'm going to reach that stage until after I've rebuilt the entire house from scratch, but one day I know I will achieve the elusive joy of home ownership. On a happier note, I have seen the first draft of the cover for Magnified. It blew me away! I can't wait to share it. Also, all the edits are done for Magnified, so it is completely ready to go for its March release. I have also completed the second round of edits for Wounded Alpha, so that's on pace for an April release. I haven't had much time for writing these past few weeks. My untitled Circle stories are still going well, which is nice, but I haven't had a moment to dig into any of my other works in progress. I am thinking of scraping the third book in my Wizard Wars series. I'm not sure the overarching story warrants a third book, and my efforts to force one to happen anyway aren't going well. Maybe that will change once the first two books are released again, but for now I'm setting it aside to focus on more pressing books. Now that my home ownership issues have (presumably) been solved, I plan to focus my free time on writing rather than on calling plumbers. Wish me luck! |
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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