2/23/20

It's been a very long February for me.  Some unhappy family issues pulled me away from writing for about two weeks, and I'm only now caught up.  That said, a lot has happened recently that I want to fill you in on, so I'm going to write another long post full of fun information.  Read on:

Submissions to NineStar Press:

• Wounded Alpha, Kelpie Blue, If A Butterfly Don't Fly, Magnified, and Justified were all accepted for publishing at NineStar Press!  I'm super excited as I really love these books.  As soon as I have concrete information on release dates, I'll share more, but it won't be until August at the earliest.
  
• I have officially maxed out NSP's release calendar for 2020.  What that means is NSP can't assess any more of my submissions until they create their calendar for 2021.  Everything else I've already submitted to them will therefore have to wait, and I won't be submitting anything more until they tell me it's okay.
  
• I also submitted my Dragon's Hoard series (minus the short stories as I'll have to add one more to get to the length requirement), Elemental Ride, The Coup and the Prince, My Truest Love, and Wings of the Stars.  They're going to have to wait, along with my Road To series, for the 2021 calendar. 
  

Writing:

• I have fixed my Oracle series!  It took a bit of finagling, but I made the changes without having to significantly alter the plot.  The series is officially ready and waiting to submit when NSP gives the okay.  I have also added 1k words to The Oracle's Current, the sixth, and final, book in the series.  The real drama is just starting, and I'm about to introduce the love interest, so I'm really excited about where the story is going.  I'm hoping I can get it completed before The Sentinel's Prophesy is released by NSP (should they accept it, of course).
  

Editing:

• I was able to complete the second round of edits for Dragon Consultant.  I got them back to NSP late because of my family issues, so I don't know if that will effect the release date.  I'm hoping April is still far enough away that it won't, but we'll see.  Next for Consultant is copy edits, which will hopefully arrive soon. 
  
• I am working on the final proofreader's edits for Ge-Mi: Part One.  There's not a lot to do, so I'm hoping to have them completed and back to the editor by today.  That should be it for edits for this book, so I don't foresee any issues meeting the March release date.  I will hopefully have an exact date available for you soon.  The first round of edits for Ge-Mi: Part Two should also be heading my way in the near future as well.
  

Book Covers:

• I have seen the first draft of the new cover for Ge-Mi: Part One and it's really nice!  It's simple, but lovely, and is definitely more safe for work than the original cover. I can't wait to see the final draft, and then share it with all of you!
• I have been asked what I want for the new cover for Dragon Consultant.  I think I want to go with something simple again, but still bright and happy, and focused on kit-level destruction. I'm really looking forward to what the artist comes up with, and I can't wait to share it with you. 
  

That's it for news for February.  I know there's a lot going on, and it's probably going to continue being a fire hose deluge of things to do until at least this time next year.  I'm enjoying it, though, and I'm so glad you're all sticking through it all with me as we all patiently wait for all my books to become available again. 

1/31/20

I can't tell you how many blog posts I've written this month where, just before I was ready to post, I got more news and had to rewrite.  I think this is my third or fourth attempt to get out a blog post, but there's so much to tell you I'm just going to post what I have, and I may end up writing another blog post tomorrow. Either way, this post is really long, but I promise there's exciting stuff inside.  Read on:

Submissions to NineStar Press:

• Both Ground of Insurrection and Ground of Resurrection have been accepted at NSP!  The editor really seemed to like them.  I'm so excited Resurrection will finally be available for you to buy.  I can't estimate when a release date might be, but I'd like to think sometime in 2020.   
• I am still waiting to hear about Wounded Alpha, but I'm very hopeful.  I know the editor has it in her queue, so it's moving along in the submission process. 
• This editor asked me to submit all the other stories I had ready, so I have submitted six more books to NSP.  All the completed books from my Road To, Magnified, and Out of Underhill series have officially been submitted.  The editor will evaluate them all and will let me know whether NSP is interested. 
• My Dragon's Hoard series, The Coup and the Prince, and Elemental Ride are next on my list.  I need to get them formatted for submission first, which will take a little longer for The Dragon's Hoard as I'll need to read through to make sure all the page breaks are correct and such, but I hope to have all of those books submitted by next week. 

The Oracle series:

• I know many of you reached out to me asking for The Oracle series to get republished as well.  I inquired with NSP as to whether it was possible to republish The Oracle's Flame as-is, and the answer was the expected no.  However!   I have an idea that will fix the issue without substantially changing the plot or too much of the characterization.  I just need to find the time to actually get it written.  If I'm able to make that change, NSP is willing to assess the entire series, so I will have to find the time somehow. 
• Of course, this means Heart's Tournament will not be reprinted.  There's no way to soften the same issue within that story as it's integral to the plot.  Until I figure out whether it's worth trying to self-publish it, that story will have to remain out of print. 

Editing:

• The copy edits for Ge-Mi: Part One are complete.  I have sent them back to the editor.  I don't know whether NSP has one more editing step before it gets turned into an ebook, but it's closer to being ready to go. 
• The second round of edits for Dragon Consultant have arrived.  What about the first round, you ask?  That was one of the things I wrote in a previous blog post that never got published, but I finished those too.  I should have the second round complete within a day or so. 
• The Supernatural Consultant series as a whole will be marketed for a YA audience.  That means a few things will have to be changed to make it suitable for a slightly younger audience, but I promise there are no changes to the overall plot and characterizations.  Lumie will always be Lumie, and I don't think there will be any changes at all in the later books. 
• Once I finish the second round for Consultant, there will be copy edits.  I'm also expecting to see the first round of edits for Ge-Mi: Part Two, which I'm super excited about.  I'll try to let you know when those arrive. 

Writing:

• I completed The Beast from my fairy tale project.  That just leaves A Heart's Dream to finish and then the anthology will be complete.  As always, this is a time issue.  I need to find the time to sit down and write it, and this was at the top of that to-do list, but has been supplanted with fixing The Oracle's Flame. 
• Aside from that, I haven't had the chance to get much writing done.  I don't know I'll be able to write more as long as edits keep appearing regularly, but I'm going to do my best to keep on writing as much as I can whenever I can. 

2/28/18

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything, but I have a good reason.  The third round of edits for Kelpie Blue arrived and I had to focus on getting those done.  There were a lot more edits than I expected for a third round and the due date came and went far too quickly.  I have finally gotten the edits back to LT3.  Kelpie Blue comes out in less than a month and I can't wait!  Make sure you pre-order your copy today so you can get a 15% discount: lessthanthreepress.com/books...

Heartbeat, a story I submitted to LT3 as a reprint, was accepted for republishing.  It was previously published as part of LT3's Satisfaction Guaranteed anthology and is the prequel to my Trickster's Eye series.  I don't know what the editing process will bring, but as of right now I can say nothing substantive has changed from before.  I can't promise it will stay that way as edits always tend to be more involved than I expect.  I will keep you updated as I learn more. 

I am in the process of renewing the contract for The Oracle's Flame, the first story in my Oracle series.  It would have gone out of print next month, but now the run will be extended.  There shouldn't be any changes to the cover and I don't know if there will be any edits completed.  I recommended a round of edits for Road to Revenge when that contract was renewed, but I haven't heard anything about that happening.  I don't know that it will happen for Flame either.  I will let you know as I learn more.  

I don't have any news about any of my upcoming stories.  I'm expecting the second round of edits for Ground of Insurrection and the first round of edits for If A Butterfly Don't Fly any day now.  I also don't have any potential release dates to share, although I expect Insurrection to be scheduled for May or June, Butterfly for sometime from June to September, and The Coup and the Prince for fourth quarter 2018.  I'm hoping LT3 will be able to give me more information soon.

I have been working on The Oracle Series for a year now.  It's been a lot of fun creating the world of the Monastery and the magic of the Castes and the Dragons.  Recently I've been trying to expand the world too.  I've made a lot of progress and I thought I might share it with you:


The Oracle's Flame began as a story for an anthology call, but when LT3 asked me if it could be released as its own separate ebook I agreed.  There was potential for a series there and I wanted to try writing it.  This book introduced the world I was exploring and the magic of the Castes.

The Oracle's Hatchling added depth to the post-war world of the Kingdom of Altnoia.  It also introduced some of the major issues plaguing the Monastery.  It was a bridging book which ended the plot leftover from Flame and introduced the plot for the rest of the series. 

The Oracle's Golem is the book I just finished writing.  It tells the story of the Dragon of Earth, but it also shows a lot more of the Monastery than I've ever written before.  There is some corruption that needs to be addressed as well.  I think readers will really like learning more about the Monastery as a whole and about the difficult job the Oracle has.  I don't want to give too much away, but I really enjoyed writing this book. 

The Sentinel's Prophesy is a side story that I have just started writing.  It is set in the world of the Sentinel, a man set to watch over an ancient evil so he's able to protect the world from it returning.  The magical powers of his followers are affiliated with light and dark.  Its been interesting playing with it so far.  It is set at the same time as Golem and can be read before or afterwards without any spoilers, although I would suggest reading Flame and Hatchling first. 

The Oracle's Sprite is the next book in the series.  I'm currently planning it out in my head and I hope to start putting words to paper soon.  This story will be focused on the Dragon of Air, but there will be a lot of flashbacks to the war in Altnoia that occurred between Flame and Hatchling.  To those readers who complained that the fighting was missing, this story is why.  I didn't want to ruin Sprite for you! 

The Oracle's (Water) will be the last book in The Oracle Series.  I've actually written the prologue for it because the story itself has a bit of overlap with Golem and I needed to get (Water) organized in order for the events in Golem to make sense.  I won't start working on (Water) until Sprite is done. 

The Sentinel's (Dark/Light) are two potential additional books I would like to write at some point as well.  I barely have any plot planned for Prophesy and I have no idea what would go into either of these two books.  I'm hoping something will come to me and these books will become a reality.  Until then, they'll remain in my future maybe-to-write list. 


So that's The Oracle Series in brief.  If you want more information please head to the series page on my website or my current projects section.  Or, you could always buy Flame and Hatchling and find out firsthand! 

4/3/14
There are two giveaways of my books that you should all check out! 

1. Wings of the Stars at Hearts on Fire
2. The Oracle's Flame at ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWords

Good Luck!

I was writing a short story for LT3's If You're Reading This anthology call.  The theme was a message in a bottle.  My immediate thought was, what if I sent a message from beyond?  As the plot began to unfold in my head I had images of the prophetess at Delphi, breathing in toxic fumes that made her high and possibly able to predict the future.  That idea became the basic premise for the story I was writing.  An Oracle receives a message from beyond the Veil of Time about a prince besieged by treachery in need of a little help to regain his throne. 

So I had a message received, which meant I had to figure out a way for the message to be answered.  I turned again to Delphi, where heroes were given important quests to complete.  Why couldn't I do the same?  The Dragon of Fire was the perfect hero, a young man just coming of age with a thirst to prove himself.  I added in a dash of magic, some pirates, and an evil king to give the story some depth, and voila The Oracle's Flame was born.  I had written phrases like: "Message received" and "Message properly responded to" in order to fit with the theme and I submitted it to LT3. 

To my surprise, a few weeks later LT3 sent me back a rejection letter.  I'm paraphrasing, but the email basically said they liked the story, but it wasn't a good fit for the anthology and they saw potential in it for a series or at least a longer work.  I reread the email and I realized they were probably correct and my surprise was unwarranted.  The added, theme based, phrases weren't doing much for the story and I did have a possible idea for a second story set in that world.  So I agreed with LT3 that The Oracle's Flame should be released on its own, with no anthology connections. 

If The Oracle's Flame was supposed to be a series, then I thought I ought to start writing the second book, The Oracle's Hatchling.  My fledgling idea began to take shape on the page--another quest dictated by the Oracle and another hero to bring justice to the world--but I realized that there wasn't any depth to the series as a whole.  Flame and Hatchling were two disparate stories that just happened to be set in the same world, which doesn't really make a cohesive series.  By that time I had an idea about book three, The Oracle's Golem, so I set aside Hatchling to start work on Golem while I thought about how to tie everything together.  Then I got the first round of edits for The Oracle's Flame back from my editor. 

The first things that had to go in the editing process were those awkward "message in a bottle" phrases, but with those gone I didn't have any reason for the Oracle to send out her hero on a quest.  As I was trying to figure out how to fix that rather glaring plot issue, a light bulb went on.  The Oracle sent her Dragon of Fire out to combat evil, but what if his battle was only one fight in an entire war?  What if Hatchling and subsequently Golem were other battles in that war, the fighting of which could carry the series to the end?  So I started writing again.  I eventually added an entire prologue to The Oracle's Flame and little tidbits here and there to really start building the series.  With the plot-hole gone, The Oracle's Flame was ready for publishing.  It arrives in stores on November 20th and is available for preorder right now.  I hope you enjoy it!