Writing Update: July 2016

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daindreth's assassin, fanged princess, my writing, the chalice of malvron, the secrets of the vanmars, writing update

Summer: when Texas gets hot as the guts of Mt. Doom and the mosquitoes are everywhere.  People become suddenly hard to get a hold of and the only good thing is it’s light out when I wake up. Regardless, the Muse has been hard at work.

Behold!

You all might have noticed that The Secrets of the Vanmars has been polished and re-released with a new cover. It’s exclusive to Kindle right now, but come September will be returning to all platforms. Yay!

Otherwise, I’m trimming some body fat (aka profusive adjectives, unnecessary characters/subplots, and dialogue tags) from The Chalice of Malvron while the cover designers tweak the new face for it. Getting these damn covers made has been a saga unto itself and I’ve come to intimately understand the phrase “good help is hard to find.” But that’s a story for another time.

We did have some grand excitement last week when The Key of Amatahns hit #1 on the Amazon lists during a free promotion. Whoo-hoo! Happy reading to everyone who downloaded.

Baby’s taking over the world, folks.

Fanged Princess will also be getting some new covers in time for the third novella’s release and when that happens greatly depends on when this mess with Janir’s books clears up. Regardless, I do plan to have something to show you around October. That would be fun, right? A Halloween cover reveal party? The possibilities are endless…

Daindreth’s Assassin has been out querying to agents and I’ve gotten a message from another Pinterest follower expressing eagerness for that story. There are one or two factual things that need correcting (e.g. Amira kind of walks off a severe head wound in chapter #2), but I’m excited to see what will be happening there.

In other news, I’m moving into the dorms of Concordia University Texas this fall. No, I have no clue who my roommates will be, but I’m looking forward to a fresh start. I’m getting together my hangers and lamps and other fun stuff and putting together some quotes for the corkboard over my desk.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some search and destroy—er—search and delete to do.

Writing Update: April 2016

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argetallam saga, daindreth's assassin, fanged princess, gif, my writing, the secrets of the vanmars, writing update

Writing this blog post is, in great part, a procrastination tactic for the arduous task of blurb writing. What blurb, you ask? Why, the blurb for the sparkly new, remade cover edition of The Secrets of the Vanmars. After more than a year, it is at last making its way into the world. Cue the celebratory dancing!I’ve been working on this baby covertly off and on for the past few months weeks. I just didn’t want to announce anything until I was sure I would be releasing it. But as soon as I get a workable version of the blurb, TSOTV mark 2 is off to the printers for final proofreading. The revamped cover reveal is April 22nd of this month and assaulting shelves May 24th. I am consuming semi-toxic doses of caffeine and writing like mad to make sure this happens.The third book’s re-release (and first-ever print release) should be emerging around late July (cover designer’s schedule permitting). If  everything works out with the designer and if I don’t drop the proverbial ball, I will get the fourth book out in December. (And yes, I know that’s the one you all actually want.)Daindreth’s Assassin is now officially querying to agents (yay), but the Fanged Princess novellas are on hold for the moment. I wanted to have the fourth novella at least partially drafted before I released the third, but Haddie is not being cooperative. Ideally, I’ll be releasing that third novella before the end of the year, too. (Yeah, yeah, I know you’re thinking “she said this last year.” Kindly don’t remind me.)It only seems fair to tell you the whole truth of why my writing has been so slow lately. Is this not the girl who boasted 3k quotas per day? The fact is that between my obsessive workouts, day job, school, and taking care of the clan, things have been pretty rocky. Also, I’ve been struggling for months now with some icky emotional stuff that I won’t whine about here, but that’s been a huge part of my slacking. And come fall, I will be moving out on my own for the first time (into a dorm, but still) and with that comes the impending student loans along with the realization that I’ll be 21 this year. So that’s your update. Now back to that damnable blurb and my latest Creative Writing essay…

Writing Update: January 2016

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argetalla saga, college, daindreth's assassin, fanged princess, new year, star wars, writing update

Have I not posted since November? Over a month? Oh, I am a bad little blogger, me.

The Fandom is strong with my family.

The ending of 2015 was extremely busy (what else?) filled with visiting grandparents, Japanese finals, college applications, and the premier of one highly anticipated film. In summary, my grandparents still love their nutty granddaughter (can’t say why), I passed all my classes (thank God), I have been accepted to Concordia University Texas (go Tornados), and Kylo Ren is my new baby (I regret nothing).

But writing, yes. I do have writing to talk about.

Daindreth’s Assassin has been entered in the Writer’s League of Texas Manuscript contest and is on track to begin querying agents in March. I’ve been working on this series for nearly three years now and I am so excited to be taking the next steps. Amira and Daindreth’s story has gone through such a massive evolution from what it originally started out as and I can’t wait to see how things develop.

I have a t-shirt, a certificate, and a PEN. It does not get much more official than a PEN.

Though, I confess, Amira and Daindreth have been my main focus lately, I have not forgotten Janir and the Argetallams.

The second book in the Argetallam Saga is even now getting a facelift and reedit, heading for the presses this spring. I have completed drafting all seven books in the series, so hopefully I will get my act together and be able to bring you the third and fourth books sometime before the next new year, right?

Right.

I feel like I’m forgetting something…

Oh, yes. The third Fanged Princess novella now has a title: Fanged Kindred. It is still marinating on my computer and I mean to get that one out soon as well. Poor Haddie has been pushed to the back burner, but I keep meaning to bring her forward. I really miss her sass.

I have high hopes for 2016 and wish you all the best in your literary and all other endeavors! Happy belated New Year!

(I shamelessly stole the Google New Year’s GIF, as you can see.)

Writing Update and Other News: July 2015

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all about me, argetallam saga, book shelfie, jadie jones, mooonlit, photos of me, writing update

Home is where my books are.

This past month has been trying and full of changes, to say the least. In the last few weeks, I have officially joined a church (for the first time in my life), undergone a massive move (for the first time in my life) and been punched in the jaw by a dog (not the first time, don’t ask).

In the move, I had thirteen boxes of personal stuff—nine of which were books. My family absolutely hated me when they had to transport them, but I handled packing, unpacking, and most the unloading, so they have no grounds for complaining. Putting away these babies reminded me of how many I haven’t read and all the reading I have to catch up on, not to mention all the sequels I still have to buy—*cough cough*—for the love of Shakespeare DO NOT tell my mother about that last part.

Speaking of sequels, I have been given an ARC of the last book in Jadie Jones’ Moonlit trilogy. I am a huge fangirl of this series, so when I got the email from Jadie asking if I would be “willing” to read and review it, I very nearly crawled through my phone screen to hug her. I can’t wait to share with you all how awesome it is (because, come on, you know it’s going to be awesome) and you had better check it out for yourselves!

Wildwood’s gorgeous cover splashed across my Kindle screen. Boo-yah!

Amid so much happiness, I must now relay the tragic news that I am no longer a teenager. Last week marks two decades since my birth and I feel the need for a moment of silence or perhaps another slice of birthday chocolate pie.

Despite the sadness, I had a wonderful birthday reading books, hanging out with my best friend, eating fattening foods at my favorite restaurant, and—wait for it—finishing the first draft of Argetallam Saga 6. Yes, you read that right. One more book to go and then Janir’s story is fully written! I am very excited about where this series is headed and can’t wait to share it with you all.

My new writing nook. Complete with surrounding bookshelves and requisite Minion cup.

Right now you’re probably shaking your heads and wanting to remind me that I still haven’t released book 2, The Secrets of the Vanmars. Well…we’ll talk about that later, how does that sound? Much later. I’m working on it—really—it’s just waiting for this person and that person to answer emails.

I am currently forcing myself to take a week-long break from writing before getting to work on Argetallam Saga 7. It’s all turning out to be SO fun, bwahaha.

On the side, I am also putting together something very big and very secret for the Argetallam Saga in September. Very big. Huge. And you guys are going to love it, I know.