9/28/23
I usually take some time off around the holidays to spend at home with my family. The holidays themselves are very hectic. Rosh Hashanah was multiple big dinners with family and friends, and synagogue. Then Yom Kippur was a 25 hour fast (sundown to sundown), much of which was spent in synagogue. And then about 30 people came over to my parents' for Break Fast, which is a large, buffet-style meal to help recover from fasting for so long. I went a touch crazy with baking. I made apple bread, pumpkin bread, zucchini bread, blondies, mixed berry pie, lemon bars, gluten free plum cake, and hermit cookies. It was a ton of fun, of course, and now that the holiday is over I'm spending the rest of the week hanging out with my parents. What all that means is I haven't had much time for writing. At all. The Prince reached 39k words and I've added 1k to Hadash Aviv, but that was last week. This week has been nothing. I guess you could say it's been relaxing, and when I return to the real world of work and responsibilities I should be refreshed enough to tackle the rest of these stories. The Prince will probably not reach 50k as I hoped. All that's left is the finishing touches, which is probably only 5k more. I'm hopeful I'll be able to add more during the editing process, but we'll see. Hadash Aviv is also a toss up as to whether it'll reach the 15k minimum. I would need to add 6k more, which is a lot for a story that was originally purposefully short and sweet. If I get to at least 10k, I'll ask whether NSP wants it for something else. I've seen the draft for the cover of Twin Elements, and it's glorious, but I can't share it with you yet. I'm hopeful the preorder will be up soon, so I can share that too! And that's everything I've been up to the last few days. Like I said in the title, I don't have much to share. Maybe next week things will pick up again!
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9/17/23
Right now I'm celebrating the Jewish New Year, called Rosh Hashanah, which translates to "head of the year". It is a lunar new year, since the Jewish calendar is lunar. We celebrate by having large family dinners featuring apples and honey, and attending synagogue for special services where the shofar (carved rams horn) is blown. I baked apple bread and traditional honey cake and had a great time celebrating with my family. For anyone who celebrates, L'Shanah Tovah! May you have a sweet and happy New Year! Next we start preparing for Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which comes ten days after Rosh Hashanah, and is the most important holiday in the Jewish tradition. I have a few days before that, though, so I'm trying to get some writing done! The Prince has reached 32k words, which is excellent! I have some really fun scenes left to write, and then an epilogue that will hopefully help set up book three. I do think I'll reach 50k, but it'll be close. However, I am hoping that when I go back and edit, I'll be able to increase the word count by expanding some scenes. I'm still only on the first draft, with two or three editing rounds to go before I will send it for submission, but I'm really liking how it's turning out so far! Speaking of editing to increase word count, there's a call for spring-themed stories and I immediately thought of my short story Hadash Aviv, meaning New Spring, that was never republished. Hadash Aviv is one of my few contemporary action/adventure stories. I've always really liked it and was very disappointed I couldn't figure out a way to republish it. Of course, the call is for stories a minimum of 15k words, and Hadash Aviv was originally written for a call for stories less than 10k. I have begun expanding this story, with a couple of new scenes and more description in the existing story. I basically need to double the length of the story. So far, I've added over 1k, so I only have 6k more to write before I can decide whether it's worth submitting. I'll keep everyone updated on my progress! I got to see the first draft of the cover for Twin Elements, which comes out in exactly a month on October 17th, and my jaw dropped. I can't wait to share it, because it is amazing! Aside from that, it's been a quiet week, but I hope to have more good news to share very soon. 9/3/23
Twin Elements has a release date! October 17th! That's really soon, much sooner than I expected. I haven't seen a draft of the cover yet, which is a really big step in terms of getting this book ready for all of you to read. I therefore didn't expect to see a release date until November or even December. October 17th is a very pleasant surprise. I will let everyone know when Twin Elements is available for preorder and will definitely share the cover as soon as I get to see it myself. In more great news, as I promised, I took The Chef out of hibernation and gave it another read through. I fell in love with the story again as I was reading, and as I was editing I somehow managed to expand it just enough that it squeaked past 60k words, which was my minimum word count! The Chef is still my second longest story; Magnified is longer. However, I'm really, really happy with how The Chef turned out! So happy, in fact, I've gone ahead and submitted it to NSP for consideration. I don't expect to hear whether NSP says yes or no for a while, but I'm excited to move this story on to the next step. Writing for The Prince, the second book in my Princes of Toval series, is going really well. The new scenes I'm adding after getting my characters down from that cliff have really helped this story flow much better. I have resigned myself that this book will likely tap out at 50k words, rather than the 60k I originally wanted, but I think 10k words fewer is better than forcing this book to expand when it doesn't want to. That would make the story feel tough and stilted, rather than the fun flow I'm going for. I still have a lot left to write, but I'm hopeful this story will also be ready for submission before too long. Aside from that, I haven't done much else with my writing. I have started some planning for book three in Princes of Toval. I'm calling it The Spy. I know who the main characters are and have been figuring out some of the major plot points. The main conflict still needs some work, but overall this story is in good enough shape that I can start writing as soon as The Prince is complete. I also have a vague idea for a fourth book, but it's entirely dependent on one of the plot ideas for The Spy going well, so I make no promises just yet. 8/26/23
First off, I am amazed at how positive the response for Witch has been. Every review has had something good to say. I'm sad that Kana's story is complete because I loved writing him so much. Unfortunately, Kana doesn't have much more to say. He has his newfound family and his community and his happily ever after. Maybe one day I'll be able to write another story set in this world with a different main character, but for now I'm happy to focus on new characters running off on totally different adventures. Speaking of which, I have been on a roller coaster writing The Prince these last few weeks. I was so certain I had reached the middle point of the story, where all the build up was done and I could move into the final battle and the climax. And then I wrote myself and my characters into a literal corner. Or, well, up a cliff if I'm actually being literal. I could not figure out how to get them down from the top of said cliff, and if they weren't on ground level I couldn't start any kind of battle. Rewriting everything also wasn't possible as the setting for this scene was codified in The Chef (book one) pretty much from the first page. I had zero idea how to fix this. Luckily, my sister got married. For a long, wonderful weekend I got to watch her be happy and I only thought about family stuff. The ceremony was beautiful and now she's off on a well-deserved honeymoon. And I returned home with my characters still at the top of the dang cliff. Except, the time away somehow allowed the story to percolate and when I sat down to start writing again I had a thought. "What if this isn't the climax at all? What if this is the last bit of the puzzle I need before my characters reach the climax?" Epiphany. They're finally down from the cliff and the plot is moving forward again. The best part is this change will require at least another full chapter of preparation, possibly even two. The final battle also promises to be even more epic so will take even longer to write. For a story that has consistently fallen short of my word count goals, this is great news! There's a ton still to write, but I finally feel like I'm rounding the final turn and the homestretch is definitely going to be worth it. In completely different news, Twin Elements, my upcoming standalone story, has completed proofreading. There's only two steps remaining before this book is ready for publishing: a cover and ARCs. What this means is it's very likely you'll see this book in 2023, probably in the last quarter. My best estimate is November or December, which will be here before we know it. The editing process for my next book, You Can't Sell A Dragon's Heart, should begin around the same time, and I really hope to have The Chef submitted for consideration at NSP by then, so things will continue to move along in my writing world. 8/7/23
It's hay fever season. From the end of July and throughout August, things bloom. I sneeze and sniffle and generally hate life. And then Saturday morning I was brewing a cup of Jasmine Green tea. I always forget to check the clock, but it's a potent tea so wafting the steam lets me know how brewed it is. I couldn't smell it, but my half awake, uncaffeinated brain insisted it just hadn't brewed long enough. I gave it a few more minutes and went to taste...and all I could taste was a vague, muted bitter aftertaste of over-brewed tea. A light bulb went off and I went to get a COVID test. Positive. Yay. Shockingly, this is my first bout with COVID. (That I know of.) I'm quarantining a few more days, and then masking for about five more after that. Following all the CDC guidelines like a good human being. Since I can't leave my house, I've been catching up on some reading and trying to write. I keep getting distracted from both though, so I haven't gotten much done. I have a couple more days, so I really hope to get some writing done. At the very least, I'm able to sleep in and try to recover my energy, so when I return to work at the office I won't be as drained. In case you were wondering, this morning (Monday) it was literally like a light switch getting flipped. I was done eating a tasteless breakfast and relaxing with my usual tea. I took a sip and thought "wow, I brewed a really good cup today." And then the caffeine kicked in and I took another sip to savor, because I could definitely taste it. I'm still sniffly, but it's amazing how much of a psychological boost it is being able to smell and taste again. Oh, and don't forget, Witch is coming out in a few short days! If you preorder with NSP, you can read it on August 11th, and it should be available at other major retailers very soon for when it officially releases on August 15th. I can't wait! 8/4/23
Happy August everyone! Summer is really flying by. The crazy humidity is finally taking a break, so the weather isn't too bad. To be honest, it feels like autumn, which makes me worry I'm in for another slam of crazy weather sometime soon. Summer, particularly a summer like this one has been, isn't going to go away easily. I'll enjoy this lovely break while it lasts. Has writing been going well? I really wish I had an answer to that question. I finished writing chapter 10 of The Prince today. It was longer than the word count I wanted, which is good, but I'm still behind on the overall word count for this story. I've reached the halfway point in the plot, where I finally get to pull all the threads I've been building together as we head to the final battle. I'm incredibly excited to write it, but I'm also aware I'm probably going to be about 10k words shorter in this book than in book one, The Chef. I'm hoping I get some inspiration that will allow me to expand somewhere, but the opportunities for that are dwindling the further I get into the story. Luckily, I really, really like how the story has turned out, so, length issues aside, I'm happy with it. I have figured out the major plot points in the third book, which I'm calling The Spy. I am currently planning for it to be half the length of the other two, but am open to it growing if the plot calls for it. I'm still thinking up my working blurb, so there's not much else to share just yet. First, I have to finish writing The Prince, of course, but I'm looking forward to starting this book too! I mentioned I had an idea for a dungeon-style story with dragons. I wanted to give the idea a go and wrote most of the prologue and some of the first chapter. I can already tell this story is going to be amazing. I have the main character fleshed out, the post-apocalyptic setting, and some of the plot, but I'm missing the main conflict. I plan to peck at this story when I need a break from The Prince, but until I get a better handle on the bigger picture this story is still just a dream. 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! 6/12/23
I have been doing so much better lately with posting regularly to keep everyone in the loop, and then I went and vanished for an entire month! Sigh. I admit I've been very busy, and spring has definitely kept me on my toes. My sister is getting married this summer (soooo excited!!!), so the last few weeks were the bridal shower and bachelorette party. Plus, I had a business trip for my 9 to 5 and I went to the beach for Memorial Day. And this entire last week has been sniffles and coughing. Covid test was negative, but I still felt nasty. After about ten hours of sleeping three nights in a row I'm starting to feel better, so I appear to be on the back end of this spring cold. Blah. Here's everything else I've accomplished over the last month: The Chef is complete! I've dotted my Ts and crossed my Is and set it aside to rest for a while. I was right that it wasn't going to beat Magnified as my longest story, but it came really close! To all my readers who have mentioned they "love my stories but wish they were longer", The Chef is for you! It taps out at a whomping 59k words, which is easily double the length of most of the rest of my stories. My plan is to pull The Chef out of hibernation sometime in August or September, give it a last read through, and submit it to NSP for their consideration. That is a lot longer than I normally give my stories for their resting phase, but The Chef is part of a series whose overall plot will continue between the books. Right now, the second book, The Prince, is entirely dependent on events that occurred in The Chef. If something in The Prince isn't flowing correctly, I need to be able to go back into The Chef and make changes, which means The Chef is going to be delayed. I expect by August to have gotten far enough into The Prince where that won't be an issue any longer. Another problem is I haven't come up with a series name yet. I might go simple and call it Kingdom of Toval, which is one of the locations in the book, but I'm not sure yet. Also, I have some vague ideas for a third book in the series, but I don't really see how it can fit into the current plot. I'm contemplating making it a short story set in the world, but that would depend on how The Prince ends up. I have seen the first draft for the cover of Witch, the third and final book in my Witch's Circle series, and it is glorious! I can't wait to share it with you. I don't have an official release date yet to share, but it is with the proof reader at the moment (the final step before ARCs), so I should hear more very soon. Aside from that, the only fun thing is my garden is starting to sprout. It looks like I will have beans, peas, green peppers, and lettuce fresh on demand all summer! I can't wait! 5/5/23
...and I'm sneezing. The flowers are pretty, but behind that beauty lies a nefarious evil. LOL I live where I get to experience four distinct seasons because I love it. The anticipation as winter comes to an end, knowing warmth and sunshine and the beach are just around the corner is only matched by my anticipation in August that the oppressive heat of summer will soon be tempered by snow. The dopamine boosting cycle of anticipation and fulfillment is exactly why I never want to go anywhere else. That said, spring is probably my least favorite season, mostly because I spend a lot of April and May, and sometimes into June, fighting off sinus migraines, runny noses, and general blah. I always find my writing suffers because of this; if I have a major headache, the last thing I want is the bright lights of a computer screen. Luckily, I seem to be doing okay so far this year. The word count for The Chef continues to steadily grow. I passed 50k last week, making this officially the second longest single story I've ever written. Only Magnified is longer. I'm certainly happy with how much I've been able to put into this one new story. All that's left to write is the final battle and the wrap up, so fingers crossed this story will be done soon. If you pre-ordered Hunter from NSP, make sure you go download your copy to read! Hunter is officially released there. For every other retailer where Hunter is sold, May 9th is only a few days away! I can't wait for everyone to get a chance to catch up with Kana and and Ember, and Kana's familiars, and see where this new adventure brings them! I have also started working on the first round of edits for Twin Elements, my high fantasy stand alone about a pair of twins trying to survive some difficult political mechanizations all while falling in love with the people who come to save them. Twin Elements is such a fun bit of world building and character development. I loved writing it, so revisiting this story in edits has been wonderful. That's basically everything I've been up to this past week. I'm starting to plan my garden for this year, which is mostly veggies, and I'm mentally preparing for my first, inevitable sunburn of summer. I'm also starting a new paint by numbers project that will likely take a few months to complete (I chose a really complicated one this time), so I'm excited about that. Otherwise, it's just work, figuring out what my chef in The Chef will cook next, and sneezing. So. Much. Sneezing. Summer, here I come! This blog post was originally sent out via my email newsletter. I'm sharing it here two weeks later. If you want to receive my newsletter, feel free to sign up on the form on my website! Like most authors, my Google search history raises some red flags. Writing fantasy and paranormal leads to very interesting searches. Here's some of the fun things I've researched recently:
For Hunter:
Hunter comes out on May 9th, so you don't have to wait too long to see the results of those (and more). For Water's Price:
Sharing any of the other fun things I researched would spoil the book, so that's all I've got now. Water's Price comes out on June 27th, so after that I might be able to share more! For The Chef:
I have about 10k words left to write in The Chef, after which it will need edits and polishing. I hope to have it submitted to a publisher for consideration toward the end of this year, so keep an eye on my blog for more information. I promise I will have more ridiculous searches to share from this book in the future. Is there a bit of plot or some factoid in one of my published books you're curious about? Let me know and I'd be happy to elaborate! |
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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