Category: Justified - Mell Eight's Writing Blog

News: Submissions and Writing

8/19/2017

8/19/17

I read through both stories I completed last month and they have ended up in totally different directions. The Coup and the Prince was first and I quickly realized that the story wasn't ready yet. I made a bunch of changes and have decided to let it sit for another week or two. At that point I'll pick it up again. I then took a look at If A Butterfly Don't Fly and I am super happy with it! I went ahead and submitted it to LT3 and I'm hoping they like it too. I will let you know what LT3 decides.
There still hasn't been any word on the stories I'm waiting on. I submitted Ground of Insurrection almost two months ago, so I'm hoping to hear whether LT3 accepted it any day now. I also haven't had any news about Kelpie Blue in five months. I don't know what LT3 is thinking about for release dates, but I could have the first round of edits in my inbox tomorrow or two months from now. The reprint of Hadash Aviv is in a similar position to Kelpie Blue: no projected release date and edits that could appear at any time. I am hoping to have some news to share for all three stories soon, so keep an eye out for my post about it.
The reviews for Justified have been stellar. Readers are liking it even more than Magnified. I really enjoyed writing Justified, so it's wonderful to hear how much you all are also enjoying it. Codified, the third and final book in the series, still has a ways to go before it's completed. I'm hoping to have it ready sometime next year.

Out Now: Justified

8/9/2017

Justified

The world of vampires and werewolves is in upheaval. The magical community is under attack by a great evil power trying to destroy them all and their strongest fighter is oblivious with his nose glued in a spell book. Yani has given up hope in getting Aaron back on track. He knows he instead has to focus on his own future and the lives of those he loves, even if it means losing Aaron, the love of his life, forever.
Yani's life isn't the only one in flux. As the battle heats up and lines are drawn, the rest of his friends must fight for their own survival in a world with no answers to the terrible magic attacking them.

News: Writing Continues

7/5/2017

7/5/17

I got the second round of edits for Justified back to LT3 within plenty of time. Hopefully this means the release date won't need to be pushed back again. It's available for pre-order at LT3, so make sure you get your copy before it comes out on August 9th.
If A Butterfly Don't Fly has been going amazingly well. I am still on track to complete it this month. I only have 3k words left to write to reach my goal of 40k and the epilogue (which is all that's left to write) should get me there. I'm looking forward to finishing this story after three long years of writing it.
Of course, I had firmly told myself that the two books in my Out of Underhill series would be it for the series. Each book takes a huge amount of research and planning to put together, which, while an important aspect to every book I write, takes away a considerable amount of time and energy from my other stories. I wanted to be done with Underhill so I could focus on the rest of my rather extensive current projects list. Then I got an idea for a third book that will tie the entire series together. It's a book that has to be written, so right now I'm very firmly looking at a trilogy. It will be my second trilogy series--Magnified is my first--and I'm looking forward to writing it. I'm not looking forward to all the research I have to do first, so I'm probably going to work on some of my other stories before starting to tackle this one.

News: Covers, Edits, and Writing

7/1/2017

7/1/17

For those of you that follow me on Facebook, you probably saw that I added all six new covers for my Dragon's Hoard series. They're absolutely amazing. I loved the old covers, of course, but these are super special too. Six covers is too much to share in a blog post, so if you want to check them out they're on Facebook and they're on my website.
Finding the Wolf, the first book in my Dragon's Hoard series, is available for pre-order. If you purchased it in the past, DO NOT bother buying it again (unless you want to for some reason). There have been edits, but it is basically the same book. What you can do, is when the series is re-released you can dig through LT3's rather difficult purchased page and find your original download. As far as I'm aware, you should be able to download the new version from that page. I don't know what to do if you purchased your copy from Amazon or another ebook site. If you are a brand new reader of the series, then make sure you DO get a copy now while it's on a preorder discount. The reprints of the entire Dragon's Hoard series as well as the new Gathering the Hoard short story set should all be available July 12th.
I have been plugging away at the edits for Justified and I am almost finished. All that's left is a final read through--which I've already started--and then I'll send it back to LT3. Justified is available for preorder, and you can always go onto Goodreads and add it to your to-read list. It comes out really soon too on August 9th, so get your preorder in now.
I have also been able to get a lot of writing done this past week. If A Butterfly Don't Fly has passed 30K words, which means I have less than 10k left to write. The twist I added has turned out amazingly and I'm really happy with how this story is progressing. The plan is to have it completed in July so that by the end of August I can start getting it ready for submission to LT3. By then I'm hoping to have more news to share about Kelpie Blue, the first book in the series. Kelpie Blue was accepted by LT3, but aside from that I don't know anything else about its progress. Of course, the next set of edits I should be getting are for Dragon Spy, which I know my readers are excited about since Lumie is the main character. After that is when I'm expecting to start getting word about Kelpie Blue.

News: Procrastination is Going Well

6/24/2017

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.

News: A BIG Change

5/9/2017

5/9/17

Dragon Home is available for preorder at LT3. You can get your copy HERE for a 15% discount. Some of you might be surprised to see it up before Justified. I know I was, and then I saw the release date and got very confused. Turns out, the releases of Dragon Home and Justified have been switched. Here are the new dates:
- Dragon Home: June 21, 2017
- Justified: August 9, 2017
At my best guess, this happened because Justified is running behind in the editing process. It's a big book with a lot of nuance, which requires more time to edit, and it definitely wouldn't have been ready for release next month. Dragon Home, on the other hand, is short and sweet with minimal edits. I am almost done with the second round and it will be back to LT3 with more than enough time for June 21st.
Dragon Adventure is coming out next week! I'm so excited to share the first half of Aqua and Rios' story. It's a fun little interlude before we hop back into the main story with Dragon Spy in October. If you want to get 15% off, make sure you preorder before Dragon Adventure comes out.

News: Release Dates

3/22/2017

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.

News: Coming Soon

3/19/2017

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.

Three Cover Reveals

3/17/2017

If you follow me on Facebook, you've probably noticed the three new covers I got this week. For those of you who don't check Facebook, here they are!

Dragon Adventure

May 17, 2017

Aqua and Rios are bored, which is always a recipe for disaster. They decide that taking a trip to visit Nickel would be a ton of fun, so they hop on a boat and go sailing down the river. Niagara Falls separates the two kits from their destination, not that they're aware of that fact, and their fun adventure quickly turns into a desperate fight for survival.

Dragon Home

June or July 2017 (Tentative Date)

With Rios happily mated and planning an entire future, Aqua can't help but feeling left out. The brother that had always been his chief playmate and best friend was planning to leave him behind, which isn't at all acceptable. The obvious answer is to leave first, so Aqua packs a bag to go on an adventure. Yet this adventure isn't anything like his last one and the chances of him surviving to return home alive dwindle every moment.

Justified

More Information Coming Soon

The world of vampires and werewolves is in upheaval. The magical community is under attack by a great evil power trying to destroy them all and their strongest fighter is oblivious with his nose glued in a spell book. Yani has given up hope in getting Aaron back on track. He knows he instead has to focus on his own future and the lives of those he loves, even if it means losing Aaron, the love of his life, forever.
Yani's life isn't the only one in flux. As the battle heats up and lines are drawn, the rest of his friends must fight for their own survival in a world with no answers to the terrible magic attacking them.

News: Writing Progress

2/14/2017

2/14/17

The first round of edits for Justified are back with LT3 to start round two. I completed them early, which means this story is off to a strong start. Hopefully the second round will go as smoothly. I'm also expecting the second round of edits for Dragon Adventure to appear any day now, given it's been almost three months since the first round was completed. I have a feeling the edits for Dragon Home might be coming soon too. It's a lot to look forward to and I'm excited to get these stories polished and ready for publishing this year.
I finished editing Kelpie Blue and gave it a final polish before submitting it to LT3. In a few weeks I'll learn whether the funky formatting is good to go if LT3 accepts it. The next book in this series, If A Butterfly Don't Fly, is stuck on a tricky bit of plot. I'm working on a build up that leads to a big battle. The problem is, I can't decide if I want the big battle to be the final battle, or just one fight that eventually escalates into the final battle. The romance has also hit the rocky point in the plot and I need to figure out how my characters want to overcome this and start really falling in love. I want to have this story completed soon, but until I figure those two bits out, I'm stuck for the moment.
Instead, I've been working on two other stories. I started working on the third book of my Magnified trilogy again. I added a few thousand words to the prologue, which is starting to shape up nicely. I have some ideas for the rest of the book, but I really need to flesh out more before I can delve in. Getting the prologue completed is important because it introduces the structure the rest of the book builds off of, so I'm glad to be working through this important first step.
The other story I've been working on is The Sentinel's Prophesy. You don't want to know how long it's been since I last opened the document for this story. I never meant for this story or the final book in my Oracle series, The Oracle's Current, to languish this long. I was distracted by my Supernatural Consultant series and by the travails of a new job, but now I'm hoping to figure out the rest of this series so I can get it off my to-do list and into my readers' hands. Prophesy is a side story to the series, but it is important because it explains the origins of the Oracle and her Dragons. The problem I've had with writing it is that the two main characters spend the first half of the book extremely depressed. Writing that emotion--and making sure to get it correct--is hard work. Last night I worked for hours on this story and when I looked at the word count I realized that I had only written 500 words. As soon as I get my characters through the depression phase, this story should start really moving. I've had the plot planned out for a while now; it's just been the actual writing that's been hard going. Here's hoping this story is the next on my completed list!