Tag Archives: The Eyes of a Doll

Catching Up

Lots of stuff happening around here.

First, I just published a second edition of A Lake Most Deep. If you bought the first edition in ebook form, then you can speak to Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/clicktocall or
http://www.amazon.com/clicktochat
You just need to ask for the updated content and they’ll send it to you for free.

Second, the draft for the first book of The Kreisens, book 3 in Shijuren, was sent off to the editor last week. I’m hoping for a release date around 1 June.

Third, there’s progress on the audiobook front. I’m hoping for September for A Lake Most Deep. I will probably do a Kickstarter in May for that project.

Fourth, I’m on the road in Canada right now. I had a wonderful time at the coronation of Nigel and Adrielle. Talked to a bunch of old friends, made some new ones, and promoted the next edition of A Lake Most Deep as well as showed off The Eyes of a Doll. A fun and useful day.

I’m headed to Ad-Astra this upcoming weekend, so if you’re in the Toronto area come join us. I’m in four panels, plus a reading. They are:

Friday 7pm Richmond B
The Relationship Between a Self-Publisher and Their Editor
Vanessa Ricci-Thode,Jennifer Jaquith, Beverly Bambury, Charlotte Ashley, Rob Howell

Friday 9pm Richmond A
Food Drink and Cuisine in Speculative Fiction
Costi Gurgu, Erik Buchanan, Rob Howell

Saturday 4pm Markham A
Book Signings Conventions and Festivals: Navigating Opportunity as a Self-Published Author
Sarah WaterRaven, Rob Howell, Mark Lefebvre

Sunday 1pm Markham B
Marketing and Promoting Your Self-Published Novel
MJ Moores, Sarah WaterRaven, Beverly Bambury, Rob Howell

Sunday 3pm Oakridge
Fantasy Reading
Brandon Draga, Cameron Currie, Rob Howell, Catherine Fitzsimmons

Exciting times.

Excited

Map Achrida

I’m so excited to announce that Adam Hale has drawn us all a map of Achrida.

This is just one of the changes that have kept me so busy that I haven’t had a chance to blog.

The map is merely one of the updates to a forthcoming First Anniversary, Second Edition of A Lake Most Deep. These have been submitted to Amazon in both ebook and paperback format, and are in the process of getting reviewed. Hopefully both will be active in the next day or so.

The changes to the second edition are mostly minor. The map is a big change, of course, but mostly it’s cleaning of some mistakes I made publishing my first book and editing to fix some typos and grammatical errors I found. Also, to make it more consistent with The Eyes of a Doll, I had Kellie edit A Lake Most Deep.

Also, I had Patrick change the cover to make it match the much better setup on my second book. This is more obvious with the print version, but people such as Cedar Sanderson who pointed out that my name needs to be in big, bright letters can now simply laugh at my inability to self-promote instead of laughing and asking when I’m going to fix that.

As a side note, I want to thank all of those who took the time to tell me that one thing. I’m getting better, but I’ve never been good at putting myself forward.

In any case, the one substantial change is an addition requested by Romaine Spence. He pointed out that I never answered what happened to the Notes of Naum. In response, I added a few paragraphs. He’ll also get an autographed copy of the new edition for his help.

What will this mean to those who bought the first edition? Well, a total of 125 of the first edition were printed. When I become the biggest fantasy author on the planet, these will be worth something. So tell your friends about me, and consider it an investment in your future.

For ebooks, I had hoped that Amazon would allow people to download the new edition for free. Unfortunately, they will not. I suppose I understand that, from the perspective of things that routinely get new versions, but that doesn’t help us.

What I will say is that if you bought the 1st edition of either version of the book, I will send you an email with the map and the extra paragraphs. It’s not ideal, but I’m afraid that’s what it is.

But wait, there’s more!

Not about A Lake Most Deep, but about the next book. I’m getting very close to sending the first book in an epic fantasy set in Shijuren sent to Kellie. Edward is a minor character in this one, and it talks about some of his experiences in Ivan Yevgenich’s izba.

More to come about that project soon.

I want to thank all of you who bought the first edition. I feel bad that, in a sense, I am not being fair to the ones who were there for me at the beginning. I can only say that I’m learning, trying to get better, and I want to continue putting quality product out there.  And that I thank you for your patience and forbearance.

Enough for now, I have to go save Valentin, one of the characters in the next book.

Random Stuff

I’m in a weird position in terms of writing right now. Kellie, my editor, has her hands on both A Lake Most Deep and the first Irina novel and I can’t work on either.

For A Lake Most Deep she is re-editing it to match the editing style from The Eyes of a Doll. I am getting low on physical copies of ALMD and I am going to order more before Gulf Wars. I’ve been planning to issue a second edition to reflect the things I’ve learned in publishing both ALMD and TEOAD. Mostly, this means revising the cover, changing the font, and the formatting. However, I’m also going to take the time to get it re-edited so it and TEOAD are the product of the same hands.

The first Irina novel, as I may have mentioned, is a much more complex novel, with a large number of threads and perspectives. This is my first foray into such a complicated structure and I’m not sure if what I’m doing is working. Kellie’s looking at it to see what I’m doing right and wrong. I’ve been waffling on titles but for now I’ve decided to call it A Mind-Song of Motherhood. I like that title quite a bit, and it might end up as the title of the trilogy.

What this means is that the top two things on my to-do list are out of my hands. So, I’m focused on other projects.

I’ve started laying out the third Edward novel in my head. I know the hook, the basic background of the story, heck, I even know the title, Where Now the Rider. However, as usual, I don’t know the main villain until I write it. I’m a pantser, what can I say. I’ll start writing the opening chapters tonight or tomorrow and will have a few thousand words ready to go when I turn back to finishing Irina 1.

More importantly to me is my other project, which I’ll keep mostly mum on for now. Suffice it to say that for all of you who will read the Shijuren series of novels, this will be a wonderful and ongoing thing.

It’s this last project that I’ve pounded my head on for the last couple of weeks. I’m getting there, and if I weren’t so paranoid I would have been able to announce it by now, but there you go.

I’m getting more and more excited about the upcoming con schedule. One big reason is that I’ll be more involved. It looks like I’ll be on panels at both Ad-Astra and LibertyCon. Also, I’ve a table at both Planet Comicon and Mid-Americon II here in KC. I’ve also got a line on some smaller regional cons. By the end of the year, hopefully I’ll be more well-known.

The more I read, the more confident I am that I can write. I’m awful at self-promotion, though. Working on it, though.

I think that’s it for now. Have a great day, everyone.

Two Months

OK, that’s ridiculous. I should not take two months to update this blog. I do apologize.

However, here’s what I’ve done the past two months. I published The Eyes of a Doll, I’ve had some sadness with my family, I survived the holidays, took charge of my health, and wrote most of I Am a Wondrous Thing, the first of a trilogy starring Irina, the former Velikomat, or Great Mother of Periaslavl.

My writing processes are improving, and I’m getting faster, meaning I have no excuse not to update more frequently. In fact, next week, I will pick a day where I always update the blog each week. Probably Tuesday.

I’m starting to really like the way the Irina story is shaping up, after having a number of, not false starts, but incomplete starts. This is my first attempt at writing a trilogy, and also a larger epic fantasy novel.

With the first person Edward novels, there aren’t as many threads I need to weave into the story. Part of my incomplete starts was my lack of realization that I need to include more people. This is a 300k plus word story. Irina isn’t the only major figure, and I realized I needed more protagonists. Plus, I want to write what the bad guys are doing too.

Oh, and if you’re interested in the workings of the magic, you’ll understand completely how Love Magic works by the end of these, plus quite a bit with Line Magic. If it’s any consolation, I will too. I’m a pantser and while I have been planning the physics behind the magic system for 20 years, I am discovering that the magic is just like another character, it tells me how much more it wants to be involved.

Anyway plan is to finish the first draft of I Am a Wondrous Thing next week, and then go to ChattaCon while Kellie tells me exactly where I screwed up 🙂 I’m still aiming for April 1st release date so I can have some when I go to Ad Astra in Toronto.

I’ve also started laying out in my mind some of the challenges and faced with the next novel, which will center around the Readers and lore magic.

In the meantime, back to the grindstone.

A Busy Fall

Greetings all

It’s been a very busy fall. I am finding that writing the next books keeps me from doing a good job here. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

The good news is The Eyes of a Doll final manuscript is at the editor. I’ll be creating the appendices and add-ons over the next week or so. The art is almost done too. When I have a final version of the front, I’ll post it on my Facebook page. All this means the 1st of December is becoming increasingly likely for a publish date.

I’m working on the third novel and will hopefully have a draft to my editor in December. This one is different in that it is a fantasy novel without so much mystery in it, though there’s quite a lot.

It’s also different because it is my first foray in writing a full trilogy. The Edward novels will be a long series, but they’re episodal. This is forcing me to lay out a larger plot line than I have before. I’m curious if this means that writing the first one will make it easier to write the second and third. I’ll find out.

Well, that’s a fair update. Back to the salt mines for me. Have a great day.

Notes and Updates

Greetings all

First, I meant to announce this much sooner, but the draft for The Eyes of a Doll has been sent to my editor. Also, Patrick McEvoy has agreed to do the cover art again. We are on schedule for our planned date to publish on 1 December.

As always, I’m my own worst critic. But there’s some parts of this book I really like, so I just need to get the rest up to snuff.

While I wait on the first edited copy, I’m working on the next book, which for working purposes I’m calling I Am a Wondrous Thing. I’m making good progress and feel like it will be a fun story.

Looking through the convention list, I’m thinking I’m probably done with conventions for the rest of 2015. I’m planning on expanding the number of conventions I’ll be going to in 2016, though.

Sooooo…., if you have suggestions, especially if you can offer crash space, let me know. I don’t mind driving to just about anywhere, especially as I get better about voice writing while driving, but I’d rather spend my money on Patrick’s art than hotel rooms.

That’s enough for now. I owe you all an NFL prediction post.

I’m baaack

Sorry for the long delay since posting. I should have a chance to be more consistent until the next deadlines happen.

I can report that I have sent The Eyes of a Doll to my editor and alpha readers. I’m late because of Lilies and Pennsic this year, but I think I’ll be able to recover and get it published in early December. My goal is to have paper copies by Kris Kinder, Calontir’s shopping event the second Saturday of December. For that to happen, I need to have the book finished by 30 November at the latest, so expect to see the e-book on Amazon somewhere around then.

This journey is a process and, not surprisingly, has been filled with a few potholes. I’m learning though, and am encouraged by the future.

I have a good start to the 3rd book in the Shijuren world, and will have that draft finished by about the same time as I publish The Eyes of a Doll.

The 3rd book is about Ludmilla, though I’m thinking I’m changing her name because Ludmilja seemed the perfect name for a character in The Eyes of a Doll. This book is not set in Achrida, but starts in Periaslavl and will explore the Kreisen. It’s goal for release date will be 1 April.

I’m already planning the 4th book in Shijuren. This one will focus on a Reader learning more than he wanted to learn. I’ve been waffling on where I want to set it, so I haven’t named him yet.

That’s enough for now, expect some football posts this week. Cowboys-Giants on the 13th cannot come soon enough.

2015

Well, here we are in a new year and here’s my first post.  One of my resolutions is to post more consistently. We’ll see, I’ve said that before.

So far, 2015 has started out well on several fronts, though writing has been tough. I’m anxious to publish my first book, A Lake Most Deep. Pretty much everything is ready to go except my editor has yet to return her marked up copy. I am a good writer, but there are many times that what I write makes perfect sense to me but isn’t necessarily as clear to others. I suppose this is true of every writer.

One nice thing is that I am relinquishing one of my SCA responsibilities this weekend. I have had a wonderful time serving as the court herald for Agamemnon and Gwen, but like every other reign I’ve served with, there’s a relief at the end. Now I don’t necessarily *have* to go to events and that means a few more empty weekends to focus on writing.

My goal in 2015 is 350,000 good words. That’s about 1,000 words per day after polishing them. It’s doable, and so far I’m on track, but it’s a major goal.

My hope is to have 3 novels per year published. My first novel is set in a my fantasy world and focuses on Edward Aethelredson. My plan  is to have one book about him each year and the second, tentatively titled The Eyes of a Doll, is well along in its draft. Edward, however, is merely one of several characters I have designed for this world. My plan is to also publish another novel set in this world each year as well as the Edward series.

Eventually, I have grand plans for the world, but for now I want to focus on the characters and the life as opposed to the great happenings.

My third book is a series of space operas / military SF. Yeah, I know so many people have done it better, but I’ve got a number of fun historical events to pull from that no one has ever done. I’m guessing that people are like me, we’ve read all of those out there repeatedly and want more.

This is the one that I have been focusing on most of this year. Most of my focus has been to get the basic physics background to create a believable and useful set of tactics and strategy. A fun learning experience and one that I suspect will never end.

Anyway, there’s enough for now. I’ll leave with the one last thing.

Go Cowboys!!!