Category: The Red Apple Witch

News: Writing Plans

3/6/2017

3/06/17

As promised, this past weekend I worked hard on my Dragon's Hoard short story collection. I'm happy to say that after five long years it's finally complete! I'm really happy with how it turned out. Some of the stories are really short and a few are a bit longer, but overall I do think it comes together perfectly. The next step is to start editing, which I will try to do next weekend. Once that's done, I'll go ahead and submit it to LT3.
I've also gotten a lot done in The Sentinel's Prophesy. I haven't worked on it since I switched focus to the short stories, but I do still feel good about where this story is going. I should be able to return to it and continue from where I left off. I also want to finish writing The Oracle's Current, the final book in the Oracle Series. That's another story I never meant to linger this long on. So much of my writing time has gone into my Supernatural Consultant and Magnified series that my unfinished series like the Oracle haven't been completed like I planned.
There are two other stories on my to-do list that are really old. The first is If A Butterfly Don't Fly. That story is about four years old. It's required a lot of research to get right, but I think it's time to finish with it. Besides, if I don't get it published soon after Kelpie Blue, a lot of the nuances between the two books in the series (which are both stand alone, but rely on each other a bit) might be lost.
After that I need to work on my fairy tales. I have two fairy tales that are currently out of print that I want to get reprinted: Cinder-Elle and Cleanly Wrong. The Red Apple Witch, a mishmash of fairy tales, is also the next oldest story on my to-do list. I'm thinking if I combine all my fairy tale stories into one compilation, I can get them to you much faster. Once I finish writing them all, I'll ask LT3 what they think is best and either the fairy tales will come out as one book or be released separately.

I got a lot accomplished this month, except I wasn't able to tick off every item on my goals list like I was supposed to. Instead I let my muses take me where they would. Luckily for me, that was my number three goal, so it wasn't like I was completely deviating from my to-do list. I just wish I was able to do more. Here's how I did:

The Oracle's Current. Saying I couldn't get inspired to work on this story isn't correct. The problem is that I was more inspired to work on some of my other stories this month. No matter how badly I wanted to get Current off my to-do list, the last thing I wanted was to force it. Current would turn out really bad if I did that. I know I'll return to working on this soon enough.
Anthologies/Collections. Okay, I didn't do too badly here. The Case of the Wandering Wolves has been submitted to LT3. I was able to go through everything the beta readers had left me and I think (hope!) I fixed it all. I should hear from LT3 soon. My Roughhouse Raiders story exploded this month. I came up with a title, Elemental Ride, and wrote over 15k words. I should have it ready to go well before the deadline. Third on this list was working on The Red Apple Witch, the story I want to submit to LT3's Fairytale call. I wasn't able to get anything done in that story. I'm stuck on a transition scene, which I struggle with, so until I figure that out this story will remain stagnant.
Other Writing. This is where I did really well this month. Dragon Spy continued to grow, as I hoped it would. The story is at the halfway point where it needs to transition over to the action part, but I struggle with transitions so Spy will take a little longer to get going again. I began working on Dragon Adventure, a fun little mini-book to help bridge the time gap between the end of Dragon Soldier and the beginning of Spy. I also started work on a Hanukkah story. I haven't written contemporary in a while, so it's a nice break from everything else I'm working on.

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News: My To-Do List

10/23/2015

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10/23/15

My to-do list is constantly in flux. The story that is on the top of the list one week, drops to the very bottom a week later. Sometimes a story I haven't touched in months becomes the number one thing I have to work on. I have learned not to question or fight with the process; I'm just glad to be writing at all. This week has seen some interesting changes to my list that I wanted to share.
First on my to-do list if figuring out what to do about The Case of the Wandering Wolves. I had originally thought it only needed a quick edit, but now I'm not so certain. Does anyone have any advice on what I should do?
Next is my entire anthology/collections to-do section. The stories in this section have firm due dates so they generally live near the top of the list. As promised, LT3 put together a call for a holiday themed collection that my Hanukkah story would be a perfect fit for. However, that is four anthology/collection stories I am currently working on, which is a lot. Admittedly, The Case of the Wandering Wolves will be off that list by the end of the month (regardless of what I decide to do with it), which only leaves three, but that's still a large number. Those three are LT3's Roughhouse Raiders call, the Fairytales Slashed Volume 7 call, and the Sharing the Seasons call.

Elemental Ride, my story for the Roughhouse Raiders call going great. I am unbelievably happy with how it's turning out and I really want to submit it as part of the call. However, it's such an interesting story that I am currently trying to decide if I want to submit it as a standalone instead. As the due date comes closer I will have to make a final decision, but I'm going to keep working hard on this story over the next few months.
The Red Apple Witch is my story for LT3's Fairytales call. To be honest, this is the story I'm considering dropping. The story is still stuck at a very important transition scene and I'm not entirely certain I'll be able to complete it by the due date. Also, LT3 is known for their fairy tales and I do expect that the call for Volume 8 will go out within the next few years. This story can very easily be set aside until then and hopefully at that point my to-do list will be much smaller.
My Hanukkah story is going to get written. I decided that and I'm going to stick with it. It's going to be short and sweet, a contemporary (which I haven't written in a while), and is going to be fun to write. Hopefully I'll be able to complete it by the due date.

Last on my to-do list is everything else I'm working on. Justified is growing slowly, I have three stories I'm working on in my Supernatural Consultant Series, two stories I'm working on in my Out of Underhill Series, and I need to keep working on The Oracle's Current. It's a lot to do and I enjoy working on all of them. I'm really hoping to have at least one or two completed by the end of the year.

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News: Good, Better, Best

9/8/2015

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9/8/15

The good news is all about writing. Round two of the edits for Dragon Deception are sitting in my inbox. I haven't had a chance to look at it yet, but as soon as I post this I'm going to get to work. I need to return it to LT3 this week before the high holidays start sapping away my free time.
LT3 has also put out a new anthology call for Fairytales Slashed Volume 7. I was working on a short fairy tale called The Red Apple Witch before LT3 pulled their serial page and it's the right length for the call. I'm hoping to shine it up, finish writing it, and submit it, which will finally remove something else from my to do list.
The better news is I am halfway through writing Kelpie Blue. This story has taken me at least two years to reach this point and I'm hoping to have it completed within the next few months. That does, however, rely on how quickly I'm able to get all the anthology stories I'm working on completed. In addition to the fairy tale, I need to get The Case of the Wandering Wolves finalized. I haven't even had a chance to look over the edits my second beta reader gave me. I need to do that and get the story completely ready for submission in time, which means this story takes top priority at the moment. I've also started working on my Roughhouse Raiders story. The call is for urban fantasy, which I absolutely love, so I have to put something together. I'm just worried that the due date might creep up on me since it's only a few short months away.
The best news is that I'm done with my summer job! My poor feet are going to be an aching mess for at least a few weeks more, but I don't have to go back there for another year and if I get the full time job I've been working towards I won't have to go back at all. I honestly can't tell you how ecstatic that makes me feel--mostly because I'm too tired for any big displays of emotion right now.
Some other best news is I should be getting my new car this week. In fact, I could get it today. I'm just waiting on the email or phone call to let me know it's off the shipping truck. Then I've got to discuss payment and all that other blah, but I'm finally getting my car!

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News: Writing Plans

October Goals: Results

News: My To-Do List

News: Good, Better, Best

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News: Writing Plans

October Goals: Results

News: My To-Do List

News: Good, Better, Best

Coming Soon

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