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News:

6/11/2014

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6/11/14
  • Paint, Guns, Money, and Love is now available in print!  Get your paper copy today! 

  • I am seventy percent done with the edits for Heartbeat and I don't foresee that last thirty percent taking more than a week or two to complete.  I'd say I'm looking forward to not having edits on my plate for a while, but Third Time's The Charm, the free short story I'm working on eventually publishing with LT3, is still sitting there mocking me.  I will finish Heartbeat and then I'll tackle TTTC. 

  • Knoty Love has been submitted to Riptide Publishing.  I will hear yes or no in November! 

  • I am working on two other anthology submissions that I really hope to have completed soon.  For LT3's Intertwined call I'm writing Thunderbird.  I have the larger plot planned out, but putting all the smaller pieces onto paper will take a while.  It's not technically due until January, but Dragon Consultant is due around the same time and DC is a much longer and more involved story.  I'll be working on DC until the last minute, so having Thunderbird out of the way sooner will help me a lot. 
    The other anthology I'm working on is for Dreamspinner Press's Celebrate call.  They're asking for an end of the year themed short story based in another country.  I couldn't resist the lure, so I started working on it.  I don't have a title for it yet.  The call closes in August, which is an unbelievably short amount of time.  I think I can make it. 

  • My other stories are all coming along.  Magnified is attempting to become a series in my brain and I'm trying very hard to contain it into a two part story.  The Oracle Series is plucking along steadily.  I'm still hoping to have Sprite and Prophesy submitted within the year.  If a Butterfly Don't Fly is growing steadily, but my Out of Underhill series has a long way to go.  I'm writing as much as I can and hopefully they'll all be ready for publishing soon. 
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Edits, Writing, and PGM&L

3/22/2014

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3/22/14
  • After writing my rambling blog post about how I have too many stories on my plate, my to-do list has grown.  Instead of being buried under all my stories, I'm neck deep in edits!  I am still working my way (very slowly) through the edits for Third Time's The Charm, but today I also received the edits for Road to Home.  If I thought the rewrites for TTTC were tough, the editor for RtH decided to only edit the first 19 out of 73 pages because there were "too many issues" to continue.  Oy.  I've read through some of the comments and it's clear to me that while the editor does have a point in some places, in others I want to smack myself upside the head for not making some things that were perfectly clear to me also clear to others.  It's a classic editing issue of not being able to read your own work.  One of the problems is that I've described what the editor believes to be THE Department of Homeland Security in D.C., when it's really A super secret office within the DHS.  Rafi isn't exactly your run-of-the-mill DHS agent and his office isn't either. The editor did amazing work google imaging and other fun things because I didn't make myself clear.  And that's only the first issue I've messed up!  So, yes, I have a hell of a lot to fix. 

    What this boils down to is I'm not sure if the July release date I pushed for is feasible.  I have to fix a ton of issues, the editor has to edit those changes as well as go through the next 54 pages, and then it comes back to me again for more fixing.  It's going to be a whirlwind couple of months for RtH. 

  • I have been successful on the writing front, though!  I've written 3k in Lynden Leaves (I really need to come up with an actual title for that story!), 2k in The Oracle's Golem, and 2k in Magnified.  I have written more in a week, but 7k isn't a bad showing!  If I could just write that much in only one story I could have something actually finished!  Dear Muses, please let me finish writing a story soon! 

  • Paint, Guns, Money, and Love is completely ready to go!  The release date is June 4, 2014, which is when it will be finished running as a serial story.  I have my author copies of the ebooks and I've heard that the paperback may be heading to the printers in time to coincide with the ebook's release.  June is still a while away, but it's nice to have something to look forward to! 
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News:

3/10/2014

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3/10/14
  • The Oracle's Hatchling is selling well and everyone I've heard from seems to really like it!  Thank you to everyone who has read and/or reviewed. 

  • The last three books in The Dragon's Hoard Series should be arriving in audiobook stores in just a few days.  I'll keep everyone posted on when they come out! 

  • LT3 has very kindly agreed to take on Third Time's The Charm.  I'm very grateful for their help getting my short story ready for everyone to enjoy.  Of course, they just sent me back some edits and at first glance it looks like I might end up rewriting the entire thing!  The comments and suggestions are amazing and very detailed, which means I have a lot to do to get it fixed up.  I'm looking forward to the challenge! 

  • Kelpie Blue is really starting to take shape.  I'm trying to figure out just how fast I want the romance to go, especially since there are going to be some time skips.  I also need to solidify the overarching plot that will carry the story through to the end.  I would say I've never worked on something this complicated before, but Magnified and If A Butterfly Don't Fly are both as challenging.  I'm kicking myself a little bit for working on all three at the same time. 

  • Riptide Publishing has posted new anthology prompts.  Without an invitation or an agent, being accepted for an anthology call is the only way to become one of their authors.  I have ideas for three or four of their calls so I'm going to give it a try!  Keep an eye on my Current Projects section for all the info on what I'm working on.  LT3 also has a new call out that I'm interested in writing for, so I have lots to work on!  I really hope I can do it! 
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News: Rejection and Fighting off Writer's Block

1/27/2014

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1/27/14
  • Dreamspinner Press did not accept Third Time's The Charm for their Juicy Bits anthology.  :'(   Rejection's never fun, but since it's always a learning experience I can never complain about it.  Magnified was rejected by LT3 and look at what it's since grown in to!  Now I have to decide what to do with Third Time's.  It's too short to resubmit elsewhere.  Do I try to write a part two to make it long enough?  Or, should I release it as a free story?  Would LT3 take it as a freebee, or do I need to delve into the intricacies of cover art and formatting?  Should I try self publishing?  There are too many options!!!  Does anyone have any suggestions? 

  • On the writing front I am currently fighting off the bite of writer's block.  It's not that I'm stuck, it's that I need the next bit of important plot in all of my stories.  I need to build up to an action sequence in Magnified, but since I don't actually know what action is about to happen how can I?  In The Oracle's Golem I'm trying to decide if the plot would function better from two different perspectives.  Ge-Mi needs a touch more oomph to carry it to the next big romance scene and If A Butterfly Don't Fly won't be flying anywhere without a ton more research.  In desperation, I've dusted off The Red Apple Witch, a fairytale I've been working on for ages and haven't had the motivation to write the last 5k that's been sitting untouched in my head for months.  Finishing it and thereby getting it off my to-do list might galvanize my brain into breaking free of its funk!  It's worth a try, at least. 

  • Rocking Hard Volume 2 is available for pre-order.  Don't miss your chance to get a 15% discount today.  My story, My Truest Love, is in there. 
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Writing Blues and Writing Woos

12/19/2013

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I'm working on so many different things at the moment.  My muses won't let me take a few seconds to rest and relax.  I'm unbelievably behind on my online reading, for example, simply because I've been writing so much.  I know that my readers are probably rejoicing as they anticipate the next installments of The Oracle Series, The Oracle's Hatchling and The Oracle's Golem, being ready for publication.  They're salivating over Road to Home, the sequel to Road to Revenge, or even over one of my stand alone stories, Ge-Me or Magnified.  The truth is, I've been working on every single one of them simultaneously.  For example, I'll write a thousand words in Road to Home, and then be compelled to switch over to Magnified for the rest of the afternoon instead of resting my brain and writing fingers like I had originally planned.  Toss in the fairy tale I'm working on and I'm bogged down in plot heavy stories that need careful characterization and attention to detail.  I was starting to get worried that I'd burn out and none of those stories would ever get published. 

So I forced myself to take a break.  To step back from writing and see what else I could spend my time doing.  I eventually ended up on Dreamspinner Press' website, looking for something new to read.  Then my muses kicked me again and I couldn't help looking through their submission page to see if they had any interesting calls open.  The very first entry in their anthology submissions page was perfect.  They were asking for a short story with a minimum word count of only 3,500, and for just the "Juicy Bits" of said story.  They weren't looking for plot, just good writing and lots of sex.  I hoped it would be just a bit of mindless fun to relax me and let me get back to my larger stories at a less manic pace.  Then I looked at the due date, January 1st. 

I wanted to write my Juicy Bit.  In fact, I already had an idea percolating.  But could I write and edit it in just two weeks?  It seemed my manic pace had returned through necessity, but I promised myself that while I was writing my Juicy Bit I would put aside all of my other stories.  Somewhere in the writing process I would find a way to relax and reboot and therefore be able to return to my heavier stories with a better frame of mind.  Two days later, and I've finished writing.  The story is called Third Time's the Charm.  It's short and there's a lot of sex, yet at the same time I couldn't allow the story to just be a snapshot of one day in my characters' lives.  There's a promise for more, for that eventual happily ever after, that I couldn't help including at the end.  After all, this is just a Juicy Bit, not the entire romance! 

So now I'm going to edit Third Time's the Charm and submit it.  I've never worked with Dreamspinner Press before, so I really hope it goes well and they like my story.  Should they accept it, the release date is April 2014.  I'll definitely keep you up to date on the progress of this new story and hopefully I'll be able to return to my larger works and get something ready to submit early next year. 
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    Coming Soon

    Kelpie Blue
    December 28, 2020
    Picture
    A Little Fairy Dust
    January 4, 2021
    Picture
    • March 2021:
      Magnified
    • April 2021:
      If A Butterfly Don't Fly
    • April 2021:
      Wounded Alpha

    Author

    Mell Eight is an author writing with NSP.  For more information about Mell and her writing, please visit her website: http://melleightfiction.
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