Notes From the Writer Cave I

So far this month I have gone from extreme optimism to extreme pessimism. I trust you won't be shocked to learn that this is entirely normal for me, in relation to writing and publishing. It is the BEST and WORST parts of my life.

But I'm writing! And your Orc Saga short has become a novella of 17,000 words and counting, with a title! And also a cover, which I'm going to hold back on sharing with you until it is Newsletter time. (Have you signed up for the Amaliad yet? I didn't even send one in December because nobody needs another email during the height of holiday season, let's be real. That's how considerate I am of your inboxes! Also you get to see things first like snippets of Works in Progress and cover art! And you'll get the Orc Saga novella FREE when I release it ONLY through my newsletter.) But the titlework is a go at last and if you follow me on facebook you probably already got a glimpse:

I've also been doing some reorganizing of my life/books/workspace, in the spirit of getting a fresh start with the new year.

Also my desk was a fire hazard. Literally, because I have a candle on it and sometimes I light it and it was getting to be a really questionable life choice with all the papers crowding around it. It is probably STILL a little bit of a fire hazard, if I'm being honest, but far less of one at least, now, and I have a place to keep the books I need at hand for easy reference and some of my earliest arcs, to remind myself how far I've come, and some fun action figures and figurines because who doesn't need a place for that? And a much less likely to be knocked off and smash on the ground location for my back-up harddrive which somehow is approaching 50% capacity even though it's a full terabyte and I really do not understand how this is happening.

That last part, the I really do not understand how this is happening--that could probably be applied to a lot in my authorlife. Alongside I really do not understand how this isn't happening, probably, in equal measure. But sometimes something not happening is the clearest sign that it's the wrong thing--like this scene I've been plodding through for three days in TQahBH. (I'm not sure I love that, I think I will probably just keep calling it the Orc Saga Novella instead because nothing that starts with TQ is something that is going to flow out of my fingers.) A lot of times, when I'm writing, the biggest clue that the scene I'm writing is bad--as in, begins in the wrong place or addressing the wrong plot point--is my plummeting daily wordcount. When I go from thousands of words to hundreds, or tens, or find myself writing a blogpost like this instead of tackling it again the next day, that means I messed something up somewhere, and my brain is trying to figure it out, and maybe even trying to keep me from throwing good words after bad and getting in deeper when the mistake somewhere behind me is going to make it all moot anyway.

Sometimes, it takes me a couple days of stifled frustration to get the point, like this time. Other times, I figure it out on the same day, a few hundred words in, and am able to cut and course-correct pretty quickly. But it's never reliably one way or the other, and no story-writing experience is ever the same as the last, either, and 2018 is my year to forgive myself for not getting it right always on the first try, rather than letting it turn into a thousand pound monkey of recrimination on my back.

So to soothe you, and me, here is a picture of my TBR pile, all one one bookshelf, unmixed with already read books, as I have dreamed it should be--a glorious triumph of this new year's organizational expeditions.

I hope you are having a satisfying and productive first weeks of 2018 as well! Or at least that you are enjoying it in good health and/or happiness. I promise to keep keeping you posted on this Orc Saga not-so-short. And if it makes you feel any better--I originally thought I'd have finished it more than 1084 words ago. But uh, my estimate was not even close.

Oh! I almost forgot-- DAUGHTER OF A THOUSAND YEARS is on sale for just $1.99 this month on Amazon, for kindle. And I'm pretty sure it's also on sale over at Amazon UK, too. I'm still super proud of that book, and I hope if you haven't, you'll grab yourself a copy and see what it's all about. Especially if you love Fate of the Gods! DAUGHTER is just as full of Thor Love, in both the past and the present.

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Amazon | Barnes&Noble 

Amazon | Barnes&Noble