Update on everything.

Yep.  Thought it was time for an update, so here goes.  I’m on page 86 of 257 pages.  So far, I’ve rewritten the bulk of it from scratch, and I believe I might be almost done with that.  And then it should move quicker.  I hope.  My deadline is December 1st.  Which is approaching quickly. We’re pretty much into fall now.  Soon, it’ll be November and Thanksgiving and my deadline.

Health-wise, I’m doing okay.  I have good days and bad days with my eye.  I have an appointment with my neuro next week, so we’ll see what he wants to do.  I’m also a bit sleep-deprived these days because I had to change my schedule at work which requires me to get up at 6:30am.  Yeah, not real fun.

Been reading like a fiend.  Will do another WWW Wednesday soon.

In anthology news, I’m just shy of 50 downloads.  It is still free, and will remain free indefinitely.  The link is here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/349458

I’ve also been giving some thought to what project comes after Grave Touched.  I want to say Darklight, cuz it’s the most logical one, but I promised myself a whack at both the Flamebound Rewrite and Survivor.  And there’s Fey Touched book #3, Ever Touched.  I’ve also been thinking about how many books I want to write for the Fey Touched series, and I think I will cap it at 5 at the most.  Because that’s about 5 years and it’s a good run.  And I don’t want to beat it into the ground.

Covenant has been tugging at me, as well as Queen of Wolves (formerly Alpha Female).  It’s just a matter of finding the time and getting it done.  And that’s only a sliver of my Priority List on projects…

Also been trying to relearn French, which is something I challenged myself to do.  It’s been going pretty well, for someone who was really fluent in it, lost about 90% of it, and is older and it is sticking a lot slower than when she was young.  Um.  But it’s been a lot of fun.  I’ve been immersing myself in it — free classes, apps, games, podcasts, an audio course.  I think it’s really important to keep the momentum going, so I decided to do some type of studying every day, even if it’s just going through flash cards or verb conjugations.  I’m still working on present tense.

So, that’s what’s up with me.  How about you?

There’s a witty title here, I swear!

It’s been awhile since I posted, and I thought I’d post an update.

Four months ago, I started having excruciating pain in my left eye.  I thought, oh, I must have hurt it somehow (which I have done before), so I went to my eye doc who proclaimed my eye totally healthy but sent me to a specialist just in case.  The specialist proclaimed it fine, but wanted to run some tests.  All came back normal.

At this point, I’d stopped writing because of the pain.  I had the Grave Touched revision due on April 1st, and on March 3rd, two days into my preliminary read-through, I determined that I wasn’t going to be able to finish in time.  Without pain, revision is tough.  With pain?  Impossible.  So I had to tell my TDP people that I wasn’t able to make my deadline and I would be giving up my August 1st release slot.

So, Grave Touched has been tentatively slotted in for 2014.  That damn near broke my heart, but there comes a time when I have to think of the greater good — and my future as a writer.  Plus, I wouldn’t have been able to turn in my best work.  I knew that.  So I opted to let it go.  It created a hole in the publishing schedule which we are trying to fill, and although they have been super supportive, I still feel like I screwed everything up.  But! Health first.  I tend to forget these things.

So I started wondering if I had one of those ongoing migraines, as I suffer from migraines and have had week-long migraines before.  I decided to see my neurologist about it.  He ordered an MRI of my brain but ruled out a migraine.  When the MRI came back with something on it, he ordered a second one to check it out.  Turns out it was a glitch in the Matrix and nothing to be concerned about.

I’m still in pain, and we’re working on getting a diagnosis.  Meanwhile, I’ve finally got some medication to help with the pain.  Nothing would work before.  But this stuff I’ve got is very helpful.

Not writing was tough, and it was making me nuts.  I blogged about that here and here.

In the second half of May, I decided that if I didn’t write, I’d go insane, so I decided to set a super-low goal and try to meet it, but no pressure.  That worked so well that I wish I would have thought of it sooner.  I’ve been working on Darklight, the book I set aside to write Fey Touched.  I also took a free class on flash fiction and have been working on a little flash anthology to offer for free.  Turns out, I really like it because it’s so short and easy — nothing huge like a novel, you know?  And it’s so much fun!  So stay tuned for that!

Now I’m looking at working on the Grave Touched revision.  I started reading over my notes and have been slowly re-introducing myself to the world and the book itself.  It’s not going to be easy, but I want this book finished and out there so I have to put in the work.  I believe I’m capable of that, just a bit slower than I used to be.  In some ways, it feels as if I’m starting over from scratch. 

It’s been rough, especially since I have a day job and no painkillers would touch this.  I have a very high-stress, complicated job.  Luckily, my bosses and co-workers have been very supportive.  The meds I have now make me loopy and dizzy so I’ll just have to suck it up during the day.  But hey, it’s not like I don’t know how that feels.  I’ve learned quite a bit about strength and perseverance.  I have an extremely high threshold for pain, and this is about at my limit of what I can handle.  I hope my neurologist comes up with an answer soon.  And maybe even a solution.

I am no stranger to this process.  Ten years ago, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia after looking for an answer for a year.  I saw a ton of specialists and had test after test after test.  It wasn’t pleasant, but it lead to an answer, so it was worth it.  This, too, will be.  I just need to believe that it’s going to happen. (If you feel inclined, check out my chapbook, Life as a Moving Target, for the whole story).

So things are moving along, albeit slowly.  I’m happy to be writing again and producing and living my life the only way I can.  More to come.  This story is not over yet!

Also, just a friendly reminder: Turtleduck Press is seeking new members!  You must have a polished sci-fi/fantasy manuscript ready.  It’s fun, it’s unique, and you’d get to join a bunch of cool people who want to shake things up in the world of publishing. 

Stay tuned for updates.

Almost there.

I’ve been hard at work on Fey Touched, revising and editing and getting things ready for its release on August 1st.  So much to do!  And there’s more coming!  But it’ll all be worth it to bring Fey Touched out of my little world into the real world.  I can’t wait for people to read it!  I’m very, very excited.

(Also, if anyone reading this is interested in getting a pre-publication copy for review, let me know!  I’m looking for people to give honest reviews.  The pre-publication copy will be available sometime in July).

I’ve also been working on Grave Touched, the sequel to Fey Touched.  I actually started it earlier this week but have since realized that I started in the wrong place.  Normally this wouldn’t be such a big deal (yet), but for me, I need to start strong or I get distracted.  It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it needs to excite me.  And I’ve been bombarded by my precious muse with all these ideas for Darklight, and well…I need to work on Grave Touched.  But Darklight keeps pulling me back.  It’s been a struggle.  But I will persevere.  Even if I have to write a few hundred words a week on Darklight just to keep my muse happy.

What’s really funny is that this time last year, and into October, I worked feverishly on the original version of Darklight.  And then I just…stopped.  I think I lost interest with it.  And then the idea for Fey Touched hit me hard and fast, and I was a goner.  But this new premise has me excited, so hopefully it will work better.  (Also, it’s now dark fantasy vs. horror.  Yeah, I don’t even know…)  All I can say is this: I blame Adam Lambert’s video for “Better Than I Know Myself.”  Glamberts, I’m sure you know what exactly inspired me.

I’m also on vacation next week from the day job, so I plan on doing some serious writing then.  It’s been a yearly tradition for the past few years to see how much I can write during that week.  So far, my record is 17,000 on Flamebound in 2008 with severe burstitis of the shoulder.  Yes, I am insane.

I’m technically participating in Camp NanoWriMo for June and August.  It’s been fun so far, even though I’ve only written 1,150 words.  *shify look*

I’m also working on a big life change, which I discussed a bit on the Turtleduck Press blog.  It’s a big step, and I’m not sure I’ll succeed, but I’m giving this a shot.

What else?  My third wedding anniversary is on the 27th, and it seems like forever since hubby and I said our I dos.  We’re stronger than ever, happy, and so much in love.  *sighs happily*  I wish everything else in life was this easy.

I’ll have a new feature on the blog soon called Spooky Sunday.  Since I’m a huge fan of all things creepy and scary, I thought it would be fun to talk about them.  Get ready to hear about ghosts, conspiracy theories, scary movies, myths, ESP…and anything else my twisted mind can come up with.  We’ll start with two Sundays a month and see how it goes.  It should be fun and maybe even a bit…scary.  *cackles and rubs hands together in glee*

So that’s what’s been happening in my crazy life.  Keep your eyeballs peeled for a giveaway or two of Fey Touched closer to release.