My Luck Ran Out

I've managed not to contract COVID-19 for the last four years, but my luck ran out this week. DH brought it home with him from the Buick Nationals.

And now I have it.

COVID-19 brain is making any thoughts a little fuzzy. So, any writing done for the rest of this week will be a major accomplishment.

I hope everyone else is staying healthy this week!

News May Be Intermittant

I've had more than a few readers ask about when the next release will be for their favorite series. The only definite one right now is Feline Navidad (Millersburg Magick #4), which will be out December 1st. The only reason that one is definite is because I was roughly a quarter of the way done with it before I realized I needed to make some large changes to the ending of Magick and Murder.

So, what's going on? Really, nothing but writing and organizing since I got the taxes done last week. I've been bouncing between Death Goddess Walking (The Books of Apep #1) and A Cup of Conflict (Justice #10) plus working on some short stories for submission.

Unfortunately, I'm not a speedy writer like some of my friends. Nor do I use AI. (I have my own thoughts on the use of AI, even though I know too many people using it, but we won't discuss that subject here or now.)

Also, I'm what is referred to as a "plantser". I usually have a rough idea of which direction a story will take. However, I don't know exactly what will happen, and I'm often surprised by which choices my characters make.

What can I say? The peeps living inside my head keep me on my toes.

As for the organizing part, Genius Kid will be deployed during the third quarter of the year. (If you want to know where and why, keep up with international events.) He wants to store his belongings here, which is totally fine. But I haven't unpacked our boxes yet. Yeah, yeah, I know. We moved into this house roughly three and a half years ago, but I've been busy writing books!😼

So, yes, I will post here when something is completed, when it goes up on pre-order and/or has a Kickstarter campaign scheduled, and when it is live on the various retailers. I just don't want to give y'all false expectations.

Like Tiffany Stephens says in the Bloodlines series, Murphy is the one true god. And he likes to mess up my plans in this universe, too.

Writing More than Showing On the Stats

Over on the side ribbon (if you're looking at the fullscreen version of this blog, I keep a list of stats on current and future writing projects. Right now, it doesn't look like I'm doing much of anything. My NaNo project is an Alter Ego book, the first in three(?) years. 

Also, I'm double-checking for typos in Magick and Murder after finding a few I missed in Fae and Felonies while proofing the paperback. Also, there's the annual Christmas short to write. I need to have everything done before DH and I set out on our first real vacation since GK was born. (The treks to Ohio to visit family do not count as vacations because they definitely weren't relaxing. Neither were the staycations to fix house stuff.)

After we return from our trip, I've got two eye surgeries scheduled in December to fix the cataracts I have thanks to the tamoxifen. Like I told my oncologist, if there's a weird side effect to a drug, I'll have it. Merry Christmas to me.

But that also means, my writing may be limited until my body processes the new bionic lenses, as my buddy Jo would say, and we figure out if I need glasses or just reading glasses or *fingers crossed* I don't need anything at all. By January, I should be able to drive al night again.

Can I now? Technically yes, but I don't feel comfortable doing it.

This is just one of many things a person deals with on the way the big 6-0. Yet, I still want Barbies for my birthday, and I plan on hitting my favorite comic book shop when I'm in Houston. I feel very paradoxical at the moment.

However, I will be taking Baby Blue with me on vacation. DH no longer flies so the drive to our destination will allow me to only write. While technically a laptop, Baby Blue isn't much more than a glorified tablet with a keyboard. She only has WORD and EXCEL loaded, and the wi-fi remains turned off unless there's a dire emergency that my phone can't handle. And there isn't much a smart phone can't handle these days. However, I only have my personal e-mail on the phone.

If all goes to plan, I should have a few giant updates on stats at the beginning of December. Then, things will be quiet until the beginning of January.

P.S. The entire Justice series is currently on sale at all retailers (or it should be) until December 10th. Pestilence in Pumpkin Spice (Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse #1) is $0.99 until Deember 31st!

Back in the Saddle Again!

I've been on the new drug regimen for a full month now, and it hasn't been as bad as I feared. Hot flashes are up, which was expected and makes me wish longingly for snow. (And I'm not a big fan of the white stuff! LOL)

The side effect most unexpected was the change in my taste buds. Salty things taste saltier. Sweet things are sweeter. And some foods are simply "off", like steamed broccoli and pizza.

In the meantime, the plastic surgeon has kindly suggested I lose weight. By kindly, I mean he said, "Your current BMI is X, and for the best odds of a transplant success, it needs to be between Y and Z," instead of "You're fat, lady!" I definitely appreciated the pep talk instead of the finger-wagging I usually get from health professionals.

"Transplant?!" I hear you all saying.

Actually, the plastic surgeon said I'm a good candidate for a new technique where he would use my own belly fat and skin to create the new breast. Science is totally, fucking AWESOME!

(I say that even though ANY reconstruction means hospital time, and it's going to hurt like a son-of-a-bitch. And I'm still on the fence about what I want to do.)

In the meantime, Darling Husband has been walking with me in the evenings he doesn't have any soccer games (he runs the clock and spots for the announcer at our local high school). We've made a concerted effort to stick to healthier foods (though we definitely slipped this weekend). Our general practioner is happy with our progress over the summer. In fact, he's lowered one of my blood pressure meds.

Any long term changes need to become ingrained habits, which takes time and effort. The plastic surgeon's guidelines also means I have time to make my final decision. No intentional surgery is going to happen before the end of the 2018 calendar year.

What does that mean for the writing and publishing?

September through December is when traditional publishers put out a ton of books, mainly for holiday gifts and in preparation for the winter snuggle-down-and-read-because-the-weather's-bad. Indie releases have a tendency to get lost in the white noise of the New Hallowthanksmas season (a term coined by my former colleagues at a Houston Hallmark).

So my plan is to keep writing and editing books through the fall. The good thing is I'm getting back into my regular rhythm, and I'm almost back to my first quarter word production.

The first drafts of the first two books of the 888-555-HERO series are done. I'm roughly a third of the way through the first draft of Hero De Novo. Then I'll finish the last three books of the Bloodlines series and jump back into A Matter of Death.

I'm planning (fingers-crossed nothing else untoward happens!) to publish starting in January. So the 2019 release schedule will essentially be the 2018 schedule that was rudely interrupted.

In the meantime, I have more than a few unpublished short stories that I simply haven't had time to find homes for. A new tab will be up at the top of this page on Monday, September 10th, called Free Short Story. There will be a never-before-published short story each month, culminating with a Justice Thalia story in December.

Happy New Hallowthanksmas, everyone! And thank you for your patience!

Commas and Articles and Prepositions! Oh, My!

I'm still waiting on getting Ravaged back from my beta reader, so I started editing Sacrificed in between writing sessions on A Modicum of Truth this morning. After all these years, I still have a tendency to leave out commas, articles, and prepositions when I write. LOL

Once Ravaged goes off to the formatter, I'll start posting some teaser chapters of the new Justice book.

The pile of paperbacks I need to review is down to two. Everything except for Amish, Vamps & Thieves and Blood Sacrifice is now available at most retailers. And if you want one of my paperbacks and want to help your local independent bookstore, have your bookseller order the book from their distributor.

I'm so excited about getting caught up on old projects and releasing new books!

Status Update - August 2017

Holy Cthulu! Summer's almost over! Because I'm behinder (yes, it's a word!) than I planned, I have set up a very strict schedule for myself for the rest of the year.

The first task is getting the rest of the Bloodlines series paperbacks ready for production. Unfortunately, I'm not speedy when it comes to proofing. And my lovely formatter Jaye is much faster than I am.

If you're viewing this blog on a desktop, laptop or tablet, you'll notice that Ravaged is now marked as in the editing phase. Yes, I started on it Monday. I've learned a lot in doing the first six books, so I'm hoping I'll get faster as time goes on.

Also, you may have noticed a large increase in words for A Modicum of Truth. I promised someone it would be out by my birthday, aka Halloween. It's become a race to get the first draft done by the end of this month, or as close as possible in order to release the ebook by my favorite holiday.

And one of the interesting opportunities of participating in the Author Fair last month is putting my books in the Ohio Digital library. The state is specially putting together a local authors selection. As much as I want to jump on this NOW, I need to get the above list done first.

The ultimate goal is to have five books out by the end of the year. Y'all have been very patient, and I really appreciate it.

A Deep Breath and Moving On

Three weeks ago, Darling Husband's mother passed away. Unfortunately, DH and I ended up shouldering a good deal of the responsibility in the aftermath.

FYI: It's a lot harder to write an obituary for a family member than to write a 100,000-word novel.

And thanks to my own chronic health issues, the stress caught up with me and landed my butt in the ER the night after the funeral. *sigh*

But I'm back in the saddle (or in my case, alternating between my recliner and my desk chair), and things are getting done. While I was recovering, I focused on getting the Seasons of Magick series and the Bloodlines shorts reformatted and new covers on them. Okay, I mainly played traffic cop.

Jaye Manus of QA Productions does the interior work. Elaina Lee of For the Muse Design has redone the covers for the entire Bloodlines series and designed the covers for the Justice series. Don't these ladies do a fabulous job?

In between their e-mails, I started proofing the print copies of the first four Bloodlines novels that have been sitting on my desk for two years. Not to mention, I still haven't delivered Blood Sacrifice to Jaye for reformatting for the e-book as well as formatting the paperback version. I want to get those finalized before I start editing Ravaged.

And Thursday, I finally got back to writing.

Things are going a little slower than I planned. We still need to spend some time with DH's father as he makes the transition from married for 60 years man to single guy.

But the writing and publishing are inching forward, and that makes me feel pretty good.

Where Are the #(%*@ Books!

The last eighteen months haven't been the greatest for me and my family. We had plans. Plans that would be best for each of us to fulfill our personal goals. And the great god Murphy laughed maniacally and did everything he could to fuck those plans up.

As I write this, I'm sitting in a hotel room hundreds of miles from our new home, waiting for my car to be repaired. Yep, Murphy has been so good to me lately. (If you couldn't tell by the dripping sarcasm.)

But all the problems doesn't mean I haven't been writing! However, it does mean that the 2014 production schedule has been officially shredded into more pieces than Iran-Contra documents.

So here's the 2015 plan:

The Bloodlines Series
I'm writing the last four books as we speak. In edition, I've re-proofed the first three books, and I'm half-way through re-proofing #4. I've already talked with someone about contracting her to format the entire series for both e-book and print starting in January. I'm also on the search for a new cover artist so there's a unified theme and style for the covers. The plan is to re-launch the entire series late winter/early spring.

To give you readers a taste, I'll post a chapter of each of the new books once a week, starting with Zombie Goddess on Monday. I'm thinking to post the first six chapters of each book.

The Justice Series
I've thought long and hard about how I want to launch this series. There's a particular artist I want to hire for Justice Anthea's stories, but he's expensive which means I need to save my pennies. Also, I don't want leave you all hanging between books, so I plan to release the first three books, A Question of Balance, A Modicum of Truth, and A Matter of Death, hopefully around next Halloween.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Series
I'm collaborating with another ex-attorney/fantasy writer, Xxxxx Yyyyyyy. (P.S. I highly recommend her book, Iiiiiiiiii!) This is my first time working with someone, and I'm really enjoying it! It's about a couple of attorneys who handle the legal problems of superheroes. Our projected release date for the first book is May 1st.

All the credit for the series tagline goes to Xxxxx:

Franklin & Winters, Attorneys at Law — You saved the world. Let us handle the cleanup. For a free consultation, call 888-555-HERO.

Seasons of Magick Series
If I have any spare time next year, I plan to do a collected edition of the Seasons of Magick series.

That's all the news I have. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Latest News on the Latest Novel

I've had lots of people checking to see if Blood Sacrifice is done.

In two words, "Not Yet."

But since y'all have been so incredibly patient, I'm going to start publishing chapters on my blog once a week starting April 1.

And no, that's not an April Fool's joke. But it is incentive for me to get this puppy done if I'm publicly accountable for output like this.

See ya back here in twelve days!

Productive Thumb Twiddles

I'm still waiting for a prop to arrive so DH can shoot the cover for Amish, Vamps & Thieves.

In the meantime, I've been writing my butt off. Season of Magick: Autumn is close to being finished. I hope to have it to my editor by the end of the week. Also, a good chunk of the first draft of Zombie Confidential, the solo Sam Ridgeway story, has been written.

Thank goodness this is Spring Break week. I can usually make some writing headway when I'm not lecturing on stuff like Olmec culture and exponents.