2/11/23
Thank you to everyone for your words of support after last weekend's unwanted adventure with the burst pipe. I am happy to say after calling approximately 15 plumbers, I was able to get the pipe replaced and the water turned back on. Apparently everyone and their uncle had a burst pipe, so all the plumbers were booked solid. I literally had one ask "can you wait until next week?" No word yet from my insurance company, but I'm sure it's a similar problem to with the plumber. I'm probably going to need to remove the ceiling to replace the soaked insulation, so more work still needs to be done. While I want to clear any projects with my insurance first, I have scheduled a fix-it company to come next week to give me an estimate. I'm trying to be patient since it's not an emergency, but if I don't hear anything soon I get to start making more phone calls. Ugh. I'm a millennial. It should be illegal to force us to use a phone for calls. LOL I have made progress on writing, which is a nice change. Those of you who receive my newsletter have already learned about the new story I'm working on. For everyone else, guess what? I'm working on a new story. It's titled The Chef, and it's about a very talented chef who gets accidentally recruited to join a bunch of fighters on a quest. Some political intrigue, a slow burn love story, and lots and lots of cooking. It's a ton of fun to write. I'm not actually certain how long this story will be, nor am I certain it will be stand alone. There are going to be two parts to this story, but I don't yet know whether they would be better served as one 60k word book, or split into two 30ks. I'll have a better idea once I get further into the story. I've written about 8k so far, so there's still a long way to go. I have also been making more progress on Vivary Tales. It's reached 10k, so there's also a lot still to write, but I am incredibly happy with the world building. I think it's my most intricate creation since I built the monastery in The Oracle's Flame. What's also really amazing is there's four stories in this first book, and there's still so much more room to grow in this world. Ideas for a second book are already percolating. I am going to keep plucking away at this book, and will hopefully continue to make progress! For those of you who also live in the US, I can't decide which team to root for in the Superbowl tomorrow. Should I go with the Eagles, who have had an amazing season, but are relative unknowns, or should I go with the Chiefs, who have a bunch of players I know can carry the entire team to a win. Let me know what you think and/or who to support!
0 Comments
9/5/22
This past month has been crazy! I went on a trip to South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Botswana for two weeks, which was absolutely amazing. I saw so many animals and unique places, some of which you might see in a future book. Lol Taking a break from everything--no work and (since we didn't have WiFi or cell service) also no writing--was therapeutic. I definitely came home ready to hit the ground running again. At the beginning of this past month, NSP and I started releasing my Oracle series, of which the first five books are reprints and the sixth is brand new. Those first five are the last of the many, many reprints I've been working on. When The Oracle's Current, the sixth and final book in my Oracle series, is released, we will have officially completed revising my older material! I expect Current to be released at the end of 2022, so keep an eye out for it. I am excited for these to come out, and to be able to switch focus to working on exclusively brand new books. Which isn't to say I haven't been working on new material in the interim. Coven, the first book in my Witch's Circle Trilogy, is currently undergoing copy edits, which means there's a good chance it will also come out this year! I have not yet seen a draft for the cover, so there is still a ways to go, but I am very excited for you to meet Kana and his magic. I really think you'll like him and his story. The latter two books in the series have been contracted, so look for more information about them early next year. I am also still writing! I have two current projects I'm very happy with. The first is completely written, but I need to do a thorough clean up. The working title is Fire and Water, which needs to be changed. As soon as edits are completed and I've thought of a title, I will send it to NSP for consideration. (If you can think of a title based off the summary, please let me know! I'm always open to suggestions.) The second story I'm currently writing is called You Can't Sell a Dragon's Heart. The story can't decide whether it wants to be 30k or 40k words. Sometimes the characters want to jump off into a lengthy adventure, and other times all they want is to curl up together around a fire. Right now they're doing the latter, which is why I'm leaning toward 30k, but we'll see where it goes in the end. Once the reprints are complete, I'm hoping to be able to focus on my waiting to-do list. The next few months as we inch closer to that point are going to be very interesting! The Oracle's Flame
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! 3/11/22
I know it's been a while since I've posted anything. It's also been a while since I had a book come out! Let me fill everyone in: NSP is reorganizing their release schedule to provide dates that allow for more promotion and such. During that process, my last few reprints were shuffled around, and got bumped from their original proposed release dates. The new process is once a book has completed copy edits, it will be added to a schedule, and only then will I know a tentative release date. I have just finished a ton of copy edits, so I'm hopeful my next post will have a bunch of information on when they'll be available for purchase. For now, here's where all of my books that NSP has accepted for publishing stand: Books with completed copy edits right now include:
I expect to have more information to share on all those stories really soon. On a happier note, I have been writing a bit. Mostly in drips and drabs. I've been so busy with real life (and copy edits) that squeezing writing in continues to be an adventure. However, as you can see from above, I am almost done with all the reprints, which means I will definitely be able to return to writing really soon! 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. 8/26/20
I have tentative dates for when more of my books are going to come out! They are subject to change (they've already been changed once already), so don't go setting them into stone. I can almost guarantee the dates for the releases in 2022 will very likely be changed as more of my submitted manuscripts are accepted and woven into the release schedule. Still, it's good to know in terms of planning ahead, so I'm sharing them with you now:
As you can see, it's going to be very busy. There's a lot to do in a short time frame, but I'm looking forward to getting all my books re-released for you. In case you were wondering, the brand new, never before published books, are in bold. Fingers crossed I can finish another book and add some more bold lines for 2022! I'm also being lazy and not putting links for more information into this post. Instead, please go here where I've been adding the links as I get them. I will definitely keep you in the loop as these dates come closer, and if any dates are changed, I'll let you know that too. The next few years are going to be a wild ride, but it's so nice to see so much progress already being made! 8/17/20
Things are happening at an incredible pace right now. Every time I try to write a blog post, something new comes up and I have to scrap what I've written. I'm hoping to get this one posted before that happens again! Let me break all the news up into readable sections: Accepted Manuscripts
|
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
All
|