New TDP Release: Flame Isfree and the Feather of Fate by KD Sarge

I’m a bit late posting this (my bad!) but I’m just in time for Christmas! Full disclosure: I copy edited this book for KD. Regardless, I’ve found that I’ve enjoyed every one of KD’s books that I’ve read. So check it out!

Bucking thousands of years of tradition, Flame ran away from her elven heritage, her glorious destiny, and her arranged marriage. Now she’s an expert treasure-finder in the human world, one job away from buying out her indenture and setting up a tower somewhere full of pretty things and pretty men.

Just one more job–but her employer doesn’t know exactly what they’re questing for, and also the world has changed since his map was drawn. Flame can handle all that with her usual sarcasm and skill, but when her intended husband turns up at the fateful meeting of the moons, ready to fulfill his destiny and help her save the world, she really just wants to run again.

All Flame really wants to do is nothing, but failure in the quest means a price on her head. Failure in the world-saving would be even worse.

Why can’t everyone, fate included, just leave her alone?

Get your copy here!

#ROW80 Final Check-in 3/20/19

Oh, wow, I was actually able to post on a Wednesday! Holy crap!

Just kidding. It’s Tuesday. I wanted to get a jump on it. Since I hardly updated this round, I wanted to at least do the final check-in.

As you probably know, I am recovering from my foot surgery. This Friday will be 3 weeks, halfway through. It’s been feeling like forever, and I can’t wait to walk again. The pain isn’t too bad, but today I had to take some motrin because it was a bit worse than the past few days. It fluctuates.

The surgery more or less killed the quarter/round for me, but I was able to get a fair amount done and I am very happy that I got anything done at all. I’ve been working, but I’ve also been very tired—more so than usual. So that effected things as well.

Here’s the rundown:

~Loosely plot Immortal I kind of abandoned the How to Think Sideways stuff for the time being. I pretty much know the set up and the main plot. But not much else which is not necessarily a bad thing as I like to have mystery.
~Book ads for Gain with Pain, Reaper Girl, and Fey Touched. Put together a tracking system. Up to April on ads. Been getting some sales from the ads and newsletter swaps. I think I’m up to 30 sales this month, whereas I’d be in a huge slump at this time of the year. So, win.
~Start manifestation journal (first entry: 1/5/19)
~Put together modified Kanban board for Q1 Abandoned the Kanban journal and will be repurposing it after I’m walking again. I’m not spending much time in my bedroom (except to sleep) so I haven’t updated it at all. Will be starting with a Kanban board as soon as I can use my office again.
~Purchase Energy Oracle deck. Started strong but petered out toward the end. They aren’t feeling the same as Tarot cards, which is not a bad thing, but it’s an adjustment.
~Progress on Oubliette or finish ~1,103 words. I’m calling that progress.
~Do All The Things related to TDP Anthology (to be released sometime in Q1) ~Yes! The anthology, Love Shines Through: A Fractured World Anthology, is out now! Grab a copy here. My story, Of Poison and Promises, is a f/f story about best friends who become something more while fighting for their lives.
~Begin rewrite of Survivor. Continue working on it on Sundays. ~Never happened, but I am very close to starting.
~Catch up up on ARCs:
Go Manifest Yourself
Cure for Chaos
The Ones Who Left ~Still reading
Hell’s Hinges
Queen Takes Camelot
Alpha Legacy 1-5
~My Fair Millennial books 1 & 2 ~Started #2
~Take Sundays off work when possible ~Tried really hard to do this. Mostly worked, though, or worked a half day.
~Start back on MyFitnessPal. Log food 5x a week minimum. ~Nope, didn’t log beyond the first few days. I did lose those 8 pounds though.
~Water 5x a week 

Accountability partner: This worked out very well for me. I’m big on accountability.  My partner is really nice and talking to her every week was fun. 🙂 I missed a few Fridays due to my surgery, but as of last week we are back at it. I vote we continue this for sure. 😀

So I think I did okay, all things considered. Will definitely be back for Round 2/Q2.

Final chocolate consumption report: Chocolate cupcakes, Andes Mints, Oreos, hot chocolate, chocolate “mug” cakes, chocolate chip cookies, mini Junior Mints, Regular-sized Junior Mints, Hersey’s minis…is that enough? 😉

#ROW80 Check-in 2/3/19

It’s been a busy few days. I’ve been trying to carve out time for writing, and I did manage a bit, but I want to write daily again, even if it’s 100 words.

Hubby and I saw Bohemian Rhapsody today! I’ve always been a fan of Queen and Freddie Mercury (and now Adam Lambert), so I really wanted to see it. And it was AMAZING. My mind is still racing from it all. I highly recommend it. (I might do a movie review at some point so I can properly talk about it and not just “it’s AMAZING” and  “the music rocked!” and “I love Freddie and Queen!”

Ahem.

Ankle report: Weaning process not working. Lots of pain. I find out on Tuesday what the next step will be.

I also have an idea for a romantic suspense novel (a first for me) so I am going to try to do some loose plotting on that as well.

~Loosely plot Immortal Faeborn ~Starting this week. Running it through Holly Lisle’s How to Think Sideways method.
~Book ads for Gain with Pain, Reaper Girl, and Fey Touched. Put together a tracking system. Finished booking February ads. I am also toying with the idea of newsletter swaps (mentions of books, NOT lists which is illegal)
~Start manifestation journal (first entry: 1/5/19)
~Put together modified Kanban board for Q1 ~Turned it into a journal instead; also added a section for Tarot readings. Been keeping it updated.
~Purchase Energy Oracle deck. Pulling but not journaling.
~Progress on Oubliette or finish ~1,103 words
~Do All The Things related to TDP Anthology (to be released sometime in Q1)~Turned in copyedited story to author on 2/1. My deadline to send mine for formatting is 2/15.
~Begin rewrite of Survivor. Continue working on it on Sundays.
~Catch up up on ARCs:
Go Manifest Yourself
Cure for Chaos
The Ones Who Left
Hell’s Hinges
Queen Takes Camelot ~Started
Alpha Legacy 1-5
~Take Sundays off work when possible ~Took today and most of Saturday off!
~Start back on MyFitnessPal. Log food 5x a week minimum. Nope, but I have lost 8 pounds so that’s a win.
~Water 5x a week 

Chocolate consumption report: Andes mints, Ho-Ho’s, S’mores hot chocolate.

So how’s it going with you?

#ROW80 Check-in 1/27/18

The past two weeks have been a bit crazy, but things are calming down, finally. I am able to finally take a Sunday off, whoohoo!

I haven’t mentioned this before, but I recently tore a ligament in my right ankle. I’m not even sure how or when this happened; I actually found out by accident while investigating Achilles tendonitis. I’ve been in a boot for just over a month now, which means I’ve been working upstairs instead of in my basement office. 😦 My pain level is considerably low when in the boot. I am supposed to be weaning myself off it and unfortunately, I’ve had pain each time I’ve tried to go without it. My doctor initially said  I may need surgery on both the ligament and my Achilles tendon. I am hoping that doesn’t happen. 😦 Anyway, this week was an extremely frustrating week with my ligament. I am hoping things get better.

Here’s the rundown:

~Loosely plot Immortal Faeborn ~Calling it Immortal to prevent confusion with my Fey Touched books
~Book ads for Gain with Pain, Reaper Girl, and Fey Touched. Put together a tracking system. ~Created a spreadsheet in Google Sheets. Booked January ads and 1 ad for February.
~Start manifestation journal (first entry: 1/5/19)
~Put together modified Kanban board for Q1 ~Turned it into a journal instead; also added a section for Tarot readings. Been keeping it updated.
~Purchase Energy Oracle deck. Start pulling cards daily and journaling.~Been pulling/journaling hit and miss.
~Progress on Oubliette or finish ~I plan on writing some today
~Do All The Things related to TDP Anthology (to be released sometime in Q1)~Finished revisions on my own story; need to copyedit another story by 2/1.
~Begin rewrite of Survivor. Continue working on it on Sundays.
~Catch up up on ARCs:
Go Manifest Yourself
Cure for Chaos
The Ones Who Left
Hell’s Hinges 50% in, due 2/28. I am going to be late, ugh
Alpha Legacy 1-5
~Take Sundays off work when possible ~I am taking today off!
~Start back on MyFitnessPal. Log food 5x a week minimum. Started; been logging hit and miss.
~Water 5x a week 

Chocolate consumption report: Dark chocolate Dove hearts (from hubby), Mini York peppermint patties, chocolate/peppermint cookies, s’mores hot chocolate, chocolate cupcakes….yeah, I haven’t exactly deprived myself, regardless of my decision to try to limit candy/chocolate/junk food.

2018 Year-in-Review and Q1 2019 Goals #ROW80

So here I am with my end-of-year review and a new goals post. I have switched to quarterly planning, which works so much better for me than yearly goals. Thank you, Sarra Cannon, for showing me the way!

This year was HUGE for my virtual assisting/freelance editing business. I landed several new clients in very quick succession which was absolutely awesome. My workload increased a lot, which required adjustments and better planning. However, I am ecstatic that I was able to make this happen. That was my biggest goal: increasing my client base and by extension bringing in more money.

I have also learned so much from my clients, stuff that I can apply to my own publishing efforts. So it’s a win-win.

Health wise…ugh, a lot of stuff went wrong this year. Not going to get into it, but suffice to say it was tough and stressful. However, I’ve survived it and I am looking forward to a new slate.

Since it’s my intention to jump back into ROW80 again, I figured I would put everything into one, handy-dandy simple post.

But first, let’s look at what I did (or didn’t do) this year:

~2nd round of edits/release secret project (early 2018) – DONE. Except it was delayed by unavoidable issues until 12/7. Very happy to have it finally out in the world! 
~Revise and release Fireborn – DONE. Released August 1st.
~Get serious about exercise and DO SOMETHING – Nope. I remain a couch potato. 😦 
~Take pictures regularly (once a month, 1 a day for x amount of days, etc) – Nope, and I really wish I could have.
~Get moving with dictation again – DONE. Not dictating currently, but I did purchase the latest version of Dragon Naturally Speaking and I also bought a digital recorder for transcription. Just need to actually start doing it.
~Progress on Covenant – DONE. I don’t have the exact figures handy, but I think I got it up to around 25k.
~Progress on When She Sleeps – This has been put on hold.
~Start Survivor Rewrite for reals this time – Nope, but one of my goals for Q1 is to JUST DO IT.
~Do something with Death Dancer/Pirouette – Nope. But as soon as I can, I’ll start working on this. I have Plans. 
~Get better with planning – My mom bought me a planner for Christmas last year, so I used that for deadlines/appointments/modified bullet journal. It worked great, so 
I asked for another one. And got it. Also, Sarra Cannon’s quarterly planning system worked wonderfully as well. I believe this planning system is the only reason why I was able to release the secret project this year. I was focused in a way I haven’t been in awhile. Being that I am a head planner (that is, I do all my planning in my head), this is a HUGE accomplishment.
~Start writing every day again, even if it’s 100 words – Nope. Time seems to get away from me sometimes.
~Figure out Reaper Girl #3, Faeborn – DONE. I have a premise. And apparently I’d forgotten that I’d called it Faeborn. Oops.

As for how many words I wrote this year: 75,000, which was my modest goal. I was hoping to write more, but given how busy I was and how awful my health was at times, I’ll take it. 🙂

Alrighty, so what’s on tap for Q1 and #ROW80? I’m glad you asked.

~Loosely plot Immortal Faeborn
~Book ads for Gain with Pain, Reaper Girl, and Fey Touched. Put together a tracking system.
~Start manifestation journal (first entry: 1/5/19)
~Put together modified Kanban board for Q1
~Purchase Energy Oracle deck. Start pulling cards daily and journaling.
~Progress on Oubliette or finish
~Do All The Things related to TDP Anthology (to be released sometime in Q1)
~Begin rewrite of Survivor. Continue working on it on Sundays.
~Catch up up on ARCs
~Take Sundays off work when possible
~Start back on MyFitnessPal. Log food 5x a week minimum.
~Water 5x a week

I think that’s it for now. 🙂

Links to the books:

Gain with Pain on Amazon
Fireborn on Amazon 

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.

 

New Release: In the Forests of the Night by KD Sarge

It is my sincerest pleasure to announce that KD Sarge, my fellow Turtleducker, has released the second book in her Seize the Fire trilogy, In the Forests of the Night. I am slightly biased because I copyedited it. But still—grab it. It is amazing!

Here’s the blurb:

As a Keeper-Apprentice, Hiro Takai followed his master everywhere. The adept Eshan Kisaragi taught him swordcraft and spellcasting and demon-fighting, but it was only after Hiro’s Kindling that he learned what Eshan couldn’t teach him. Such as what could go wrong in a ritual that tied the soul of a human mage to a creature of elemental power. Or how quickly the Keepers could turn on their own.

Damaged and dangerous, Hiro fled, seeking the one person he knew would help—his teacher and his beloved, Eshan.

 Now, though—Hiro found Eshan, in the midst of a battle he could not win and would not lose. Now Eshan’s body lives but lies withering, while his soul clings to the elemental tiger…somewhere. Hiro can feel it to the south, in lands his studies never reached, where demons are unknown but spirits walk the paths of the Forests of the Night—and sometimes wander out.

 Hiro has one chance to save his beloved. If he can find the tiger, if he can retrieve Eshan’s soul before his body fades, a way may be found to make his master whole.

 With a failed priest and a possessed boy as guides, with a mad phoenix in his soul and a growing understanding of just how little he knows of magic, Hiro will follow wherever the tiger leads.

 As Hiro searches for his lover’s soul, Eshan, more than half-mad from the sundering of his being, meets a child fleeing both his family and himself. Together, they stagger across the continent, in need of aid that only Hiro can give…if he can find them in time.

 

You can buy it here.

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#ROW8 Check-in Nov. 6th

I’ve been so busy, and I’ve some big things go wrong. Which is why I haven’t been around much.

First, with my short story revision. I lost all my revisions 21 pages in (3/4 of the way done!) so I had to start from scratch! I was able to finish it all in 2 days, by some miracle, and turn it in 1 day early.

Best I could figure was LibreOffice. If you don’t save in the native format, it is dicey as to whether or not your revisions/edits/changes are saved. Lesson learned.

Ever Touched revision – Finished the first pass, started the second on the 1st. I’m 39 pages in. But…my computer was making some weird grinding noises and was restarting out of nowhere…I thought, uh oh, hard drive failure, so I decided to be proactive and get it looked at. Good news: it may only be the fan, but it needs to be replaced. Will cost between $136 and $300. Bad news: It could take 7-10 days IF it can be popped out and replaced. Worse news: if the fan is soldered to the motherboard, we’re looking at possibly 4 weeks. And a blown deadline. 😦

So, I let my TDPers know and they are okay with it. But I am really upset about it, even though it’s not actually my fault. 😦

Soooo I am working in Google Docs on a slower, old computer and it’s going, well, slow. But it is progress.

FYFB class – Still behind. Couldn’t find an option for editable PDFs for awhile, but I think I’ve gotten it figured out. Slowly making progress there, too.

Water – 5x a week, for the most part.

Exercise – Nada, too depressed and busy. 😦 Will try to restart this week.

Reviews – Keeping up with them for the most part.

Weight – Lost 3 pounds. Trying to keep it off!

Chocolate consumption – WW Sundaes, WW caramel-chocolate thingies, chocolate stripes cookies, hot chocolate, ultimate chocolate ice cream sandwiches .Lots of snickerdoodles and Twizzlers (my new addiction).

Also, Turtleduck Press is releasing our anthology (the one my short story, formerly Enslaved, now called Bound is in) November 15th. It is called To Rule the Stars and the theme was space princesses. We some awesome stories in it, so stay tuned!

#ROW80 Check-in Oct. 9th

Alrighty, I almost spaced on today’s post. Been so damn busy! And, I’ve been having some issues with my knee again. Don’t think it’s from the sprain. So I need to take it easy on the exercise.

So what have I done this week?

Short story – Second revision completed.

Ever Touched revision – 51 pages revised, 1,800 new words written

Water – Every day but one.

Exercise – Housewalked yesterday! I plan on a bit of actual walking today after dinner. The weather is beautiful right now!

FYFB class – Watched lessons 1-5 videos. Have completed worksheets for lessons 1 and 2. Started worksheets for lesson 3.

Reviews – Finished 1 book and posted a review. I’m due to post another review on 10/15.

Chocolate consumption – Not a whole lot? I have an obsession with snickerdoodles. My mom made pumpkin/chocolate chip muffins and they are divine. I’ve eaten a few WW sundaes and a few WW chocolate-caramel thingies, too.

How’s it going for you?