#ROW80 Check-in 4/14/19

It’s Sunday, which means it is time for #ROW80.

First, I am doing pretty well with the walking. I still have pain, but it’s mostly minimal. I am hoping to be able to wean off my boot. I see my doctor on Tuesday.

Here’s how I’ve been doing on my goals:

~Participate in Camp Nano with a modest goal of 10,000 words. I’ve got two projects competing for my attention: one is Immortal (which may be called Eternal) and the other is a contemporary romance idea that’s been gnawing on me for awhile. Need to make a decision. Or do both. I’ve done that before. ~Not yet. I had some issues with the beginning and brainstormed with a writer friend who asked me some brilliant questions. So, I have a direction. I also decided to change the title to The Vanishing. Now, I just need time to start!

~Continue placing ads for 3 of my books each month. Also, do a free run with Reaper Girl. ~Yes. Placed an ad for May. Have not scheduled the free run yet. Still thinking about the timing.

~Progress on more sane work hours. Includes taking Sundays off. :laughs: No.

~Start Survivor Rewrite ~Nope, but I am still thinking about it. 

~Chocolate consumption report: Mini Hersey’s bars, chocolate mug cakes, hot chocolate

Not fantastic, but okay. I think this round is going to be a slow progress round. With work getting busier, my time is limited. But I will persevere!

Where have I been?

Dang, it was August when I last posted. Fireborn’s release.

Usually I’d be in #ROW80 and posting away, but these past few months have been crazy. I want to jump back in, but there hasn’t been enough time. I hope to get back into it in the new year, or later this quarter if things slow down a bit.

Oh my God, check out what I’ve got on tap:

Writing: Been trying to carve out time to finish the 2nd round edits of my secret project. I have it on this quarter’s schedule. Just need to, um, do it. I also have Oubliette’s final 15k (if I can hold myself to it) and Reaper Girl #3, tentatively titled Immortal. I am also writing a short story for an anthology, due on the 15th. I’m about 3k in.

Freelance stuff: I just got 2 new clients. I am having a blast. I am doing work that I enjoy, and I work with such wonderful people. I am truly blessed. I have been very busy with work and am still trying to figure out a good routine. I am so glad I decided to go this route for a career. Being home has taken off a lot of the pressure I was under before, and I can plan my time and my day the way I want it. And I’m making money, and I’m happy, and I’m so glad I kept the faith. 🙂

I am trying out a new system of planning. It’s a quarterly system. Writer Sarra Cannon recently opened up a 3-day bootcamp to learn her methods. And wow, even though I’m a bit behind, this is already doing me so much good! I can’t even believe it. I will continue to do this in the new year for sure!

Well, that’s my little update for now.

TL;DR I’m still alive, just busy!

 

New release: Fireborn

Yay, today’s the day! I am so excited to finally have this book published. It started its life in 2015 when I found myself with a bit of time to fiddle around and no deadlines. The idea hit me hard, but I I struggled to finish it due to several factors, one being my health. When a publication shot opened up at Turtleduck Press, I decided to expand it (it was only 23,000 words at first—not enough murder, lol) and publish it this year. It is my first real mystery, and I am thrilled to be writing in the Reaper Girl world again. I am in the process of planning episode #3, tentatively titled Immortal. Stay tuned!

Once again, here’s the blurb:

Former Grim Reaper Leliel and her new husband Rick have settled into a routine of normalcy after their life-changing trip to the Underworld. They can finally relax and be married and deal with mundane problems, like money and learning to use all the modern-day technologies that are new to Leliel. But they’re up for the challenge.

Until Leliel starts having frightening visions of people on fire. The fires appear to be suicides—young adults—but something isn’t right. She senses that they were forced to act against their will. This isn’t their time to die. Even though she’s no longer a Reaper, she needs to fix it. Somehow.

When she and Rick investigate, they encounter resistance from not only the police but also the families and friends of the dead. Complicating factors are the Tarot cards left at the scenes, the mysterious happenings at the college that all of the dead turn out to have attended, and the disturbing new abilities that Rick is developing.

And then Leliel’s own Tarot deck turns up the Death card—twice—and she realizes that she’s gotten the attention of something evil…something she must face without Rick by her side.

Meanwhile, the deaths are mounting…

Buy links:

Amazon
Nook
Kobo
iTunes
Print edition – forthcoming

Also, just a reminder: Reaper Girl, Episode 1, is on sale for 99c!

 

 

 

Cover reveal: Fireborn

I am so excited to show you the beautiful, awesome cover created by Molly Phipps. 🙂 Fireborn releases on August 1st from Turtleduck Press.

Former Grim Reaper Leliel and her new husband Rick have settled into a routine of normalcy after their life-changing trip to the Underworld. They can finally relax and be married and deal with mundane problems, like money and learning to use all the modern-day technologies that are new to Leliel. But they’re up for the challenge.

Until Leliel starts having frightening visions of people on fire. The fires appear to be suicides—young adults—but something isn’t right. She senses that they were forced to act against their will. This isn’t their time to die. Even though she’s no longer a Reaper, she needs to fix it. Somehow.

When she and Rick investigate, they encounter resistance from not only the police but also the families and friends of the dead. Complicating factors are the Tarot cards left at the scenes, the mysterious happenings at the college that all of the dead turn out to have attended, and the disturbing new abilities that Rick is developing.And then Leliel’s own Tarot deck turns up the Death card–twice–and she realizes that she’s gotten the attention of something evil…something she must face without Rick by her side.

Meanwhile, the deaths are mounting…

I really enjoyed getting back into the Reaper Girl Universe and telling more of Leliel and Rick’s story. I have episode 3 mostly planned, so stay tuned for more.

Want to catch up? Reaper Girl is on sale for 99c right now and free in Kindle Unlimited.

Dying for a peek? Check out the Fireborn teaser here.

 

2017 Year-End Review and 2018 Goals

Time has been flying! Holy cow! It’s almost 2018 already, and and and —

Okay, I’m a bit early. I don’t expect much to change drastically in 3 days, so here we are.

So how did I do?

~Release 1 book (besides Ever Touched) ~NOT DONE, although I got a new cover for In Flames and put Reaper Girl into KDP Select. 
~Publish Ever Touched (set for May release)~DONE! 
~Start revision of Pirouette/Death Dancer ~NOT DONE, but had an interesting idea the other day about Alisia’s lineage. 
~Finish Covenant ~NOT DONE, but it’s at 24k now. Wanted to hit 30k before the new year, but I’m not sure that’s possible now. 😦 
~Start Elysium ~NOT DONE. At all.
~Finish and release Fireborn ~DONE. Rewrote it and submitted it to TDP for publication next year.
~Outline book #1 in Fey Touched spin-off series ~NOT DONE. May toy with this next year.
~Get on a consistent, simple exercise plan and STICK WITH IT ~NOPE. 
~Eat healthier/Gluten-free ~NOT DONE.  😦 Well, made the attempt, anyway…
~Get back into darkroom when hands are better ~NOT DONE.
~Add in a second writing session twice a week (8 minutes)~NOT DONE. Have been fighting pain and exhaustion.
~Try to write more short fiction ~DONE! Fireborn (55k) and When She Sleeps (projected 60k) 
~Continue with FYFB class (so behind right now!)~NOPE. Downloaded everything that’s available that I haven’t gotten to.
~Start working on Survivor Rewrite outline again ~DONE! Not finished due to wrist issues.

This year has been roughly for me physically. I have been exhausted more, and the trigeminal neuralgia flared up again so we’ve been trying to find the right combination of meds to control the pain. So far, we haven’t been very successful.

I was also laid off from my job in August, so there’s been some upheaval there. I have been working on my freelancing/virtual assistant business to try to bring in more money. Things are kind of up in the air, and it has been wreaking havoc on my productivity.

I have decided to buckle down and make things happen in 2018!

Goals:

~2nd round of edits/release secret project (early 2018)
~Revise and release Fireborn
~Get serious about exercise and DO SOMETHING
~Take pictures regularly (once a month, 1 a day for x amount of days, etc)
~Get moving with dictation again
~Progress on Covenant
~Progress on When She Sleeps
~Start Survivor Rewrite for reals this time
~Do something with Death Dancer/Pirouette
~Get better with planning
~Start writing every day again, even if it’s 100 words
~Figure out Reaper Girl #3, Faeborn

I’ve written roughly 80k this year, which is down from last year. Would like to hit 100k and more in 2018.

#ROW80 Check-in 8/23/15

I’m doing some better. Still having vertigo, but I no longer want to curl up and hide somewhere, so that’s good, right?

I made some progress!!!

997 words on Fireborn and I think I’m unstuck. And, I have an idea for a spin-off series. Thanks, muse!

I’ve been thinking about revision, and decided to go back to Holly Lisle’s How to Revise Your Novel class, which I took waaay back in 2008. It has been invaluable for figuring out where I messed up and where I didn’t, which is really cool. So I printed off the first lesson worksheets and will be working on them once Fireborn is done.

I also have been inspired (by Holly Lisle) to shift my focus a bit to shorter works. And I’ve thought about it before, but never really considered it for reasons I don’t know (too many novel ideas?). She says that the more you have out there for purchase, the more traction you get with sales. I would love to go full time with this, but I need a certain amount of money to make the leap, and sadly, it hasn’t happened yet. I’ve got two books out and two poetry chapbooks and a free anthology. I’d like to get a few more shorter works (novellas primarily) out there. Part of why I decided to write Fireborn was because of that, actually. But I’d like to put out a few more novellas, like novella #3 in the Reaper Girl universe, Flamebound (which was a novella, then I planned an expansion to novel length, and am now planning it as a novella. Crazy!) which has been languishing far too long and is on my priority list of projects. I have a few novel ideas that could be serialized (as long as there’s a complete story per installment — I’m not a fan of having incomplete stories and forcing people to buy three installments vs one novel, but that’s my opinion) and a few longish short story ideas that are lower on the list but are intriguing. Might be some possibilities there. So that’s my main focus at the moment.

As for actual writing since the last check-in, very little. I’ve had a few Real Life things happen and I’ve been feeling a bit stuck. Now that I’ve worked on Fireobrn again, I feel pretty confident I can start again.

I will try to work a bit on Survivor after I finish this post.

And the fanfic-turned-original idea When the Stars Fall is still hounding me.

Noodling on Covenant, but no words.

Chocolate consumption: WW Sundaes (1 per day), chocolate sugar-free pudding (today), chocolate caramel thingies, Kit Kat minis, and some form of chocolate donut tonight.