Writerly Goals for 2015

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So I know I'm two weeks behind on posting about this -- and I don't normally post about this stuff anyway, but this year is going to be busy for me. SUPER busy. I've got HELEN OF SPARTA's release April 1st, and I've lined myself up to attend two conferences already: The Historical Novel Society's conference in Denver, and the World Fantasy Convention in Saratoga Springs.

And that's not all! On top of the travel, and the book releasing, I've got books to write, and I thought you might be interested to know what's on my docket for 2015 -- and not just because it might help me to stay on task if I make it public, though I'd be lying if I said that wasn't PART of why I was writing this post.

Let's do this in list form!

New Words, New Manuscripts:

• Another Bronze Age historical (which I will leave vague for the moment though I do know exactly what I'm writing and I'm looking forward to diving in!)
• Orc Saga 3
• Finish my PNR novella featuring Ullr, Thor's stepson (it's about 2/3rds done)
• Finish my Fate of the Gods novella featuring Ra and Athena (it's about... 1/4th done. maybe.)
• Finish Marcus's story, whatever that turns out to be (another Fate of the Gods potential novella)
• And if I can finish all that, then I'll work on the next Bronze Age historical, which may or may not have to do with Theseus and Antiope. We'll see!

Editing/Revising/Releasing:

• Orc Saga 2 needs a round of revisions -- though the cover art is well on its way, and I am super stoked to share it.
• Hippodamia and Pirithous aka TAMER OF HORSES, the bronze age historical I wrapped up in 2014 as part of NaNoWriMo will need some revisions, too.
• And of course, HELEN OF SPARTA is hitting shelves!
• I'm tentatively hoping to release BLOOD OF THE QUEEN (Orc Saga: Book Two) in the fall/winter!
• And an Audiobook of FORGED BY FATE is coming!

Yeah. Basically I've got my hands full and if I can manage to finish all of this before 2016 blows through town, I'll be shocked and amazed, but I might as well dream big! As long as I get one of the Fate of the Gods novellas done along with my two full length novels, I think I'll be pretty pleased with myself, and any progress made in the others will put me ahead next year.

And I have a fun FICTION interlude for you blog readers coming up next, before I get back into the bronze age/myths/Helen/Theseus business again for Helen's release -- it's called Imaginary Friends, and Part I posts on Thursday!

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Milestones

(Crossposted)

These are the books I have written and have been or will be published:

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I have written roughly 2,000,000 words* of fiction, all told.  Including 4 additional novels which have not yet found a home.  (It is likely at least one never will.)
Today was the first day that I didn’t feel like an impostor when I confirmed to a family friend that yes, I am an Author. 
*That two million words does not include words written for blogposts or papers or essays of any kind. It probably doesn't even include all my fiction, for that matter, but I tried really hard to make a comprehensive list of my projects, drabbles, short stories, novellas, and novels.

Once Upon a Time, I Met a Tiger

TRUE STORY. In college, there was a cabinet maker who had a tiger as his company mascot. One of the girls on my floor knew him, and knew that I loved tigers and my lifelong dream was to work with them as a zookeeper (while writing, of course), so she took me to go see him/his tiger.

We got there, and the tiger was pretty friendly. It chuffed hello and came up to be pet -- he kept it on a really long chain inside a warehouse, in the evenings, and during the day it had an outdoor enclosure, but I mean, it was obviously a well-taken care of, well-loved animal -- and I let it lick my hand, and scratched behind its ears, and it was pretty much nirvana for me, because OMG PETTING A TIGER!!!!! It rubbed its head against me, and then, before I could even blink, wrapped its jaws around my thigh.

Thankfully, I'm a fool, and don't have even the sense God gave little green apples, because I have absolutely 0 fear of being eaten by a tiger, and so, instead of flinching, I just stood there like "oh, no big," and the tiger let me go, and I proceeded to keep petting it because I am really that ridiculous. Or maybe that smart, because if you flinch in front of a predator like that, it is pretty much a signal that you're prey and its time for them to give chase. But anyway. This is how I became covered in tiger saliva (and got it all over my coat) and pretty much immediately after I happened to touch my face, and my eyes started itching and my nose started running and thus, I learned, I am pretty Intensely allergic to tigers.

I remember getting home, just on cloud nine, and thinking "I could die happy tomorrow."

But did you know there are only an estimated 2000 Bengal tigers left in the wild? And only 3200 wild tigers of all subspecies, total? Did you also know that if a population drops below 1000 individuals, the necessary genetic diversity to maintain a healthy population (to breed them back, for instance, if such programs existed for the reintroduction of tigers into the wild) is lost forever?

For tigers, it's now or never.

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The Sixth Annual No Kiss Blogfest is Here!

And I've brought Thor and Eve to the party for your enjoyment! A fabulous almost kiss from BEYOND FATE -- which is available for your reading pleasure, along with the rest of the Fate of the Gods trilogy, now COMPLETE! Thanks so much to Amanda Byrne for hosting the event this year!

So just a quick little introduction to set the mood: Having at last been granted the freedom to reveal himself to Eve, Thor is beginning all over again with the courting. And he's pulling out all the stops. Including clearing her out a bedroom of her very own in Asgard. Should she choose to ever wish to spend the night...

“If you desire to spend so much time in Asgard, it seemed only right that you should have a space of your own in Bilskirnir.” He nodded to the bed. “You can sleep here, undisturbed, if you wish it.”

She considered the bed again, and Thor swallowed against the absent thought that rose in her mind, of how much more easily they might share it than the bed in her dorm. And then her gaze caught on the table beside it, and Thor smiled, watching the play of emotion as it spilled into her aura. Surprise so intense it bordered upon shock, and then, as her fingers closed upon the ivory bracelet he had left there, wonder and delight. He allowed himself to enter the room, then, and stand at her side. The better to see her face.

“You kept this,” she said, looking up. “All this time?”

“It was what I had of you, of our marriage and the life we shared.”

“It looks exactly the same,” she said, her fingers tracing the vines he had carved and filled with gold so carefully. The blisters had been worth it, to see the way her eyes had lit. A bridal gift fit for a chieftain’s daughter. Fit for a goddess.

“As it should,” he said. “While it was here, it did not age. And I kept it safe.”

“Thor, this is…” She shook her head, her gaze falling back to the bracelet, and he smiled. Wordlessly, he took it from her, then slipped it over her hand and onto her wrist.

When she lifted her face, her eyes searching his, he tucked a soft curl behind her ear.

“It is still my gift to you.”

She caught his hand, pressing it to her cheek. “Thank you.”

He searched her eyes, drinking in this moment. She was his Tora, his Eve in a way she hadn’t been in centuries, and this time, he would not make the same mistakes. “So many times, I’ve wondered what our lives would have been if I had trusted you in that life with my secrets, as you trusted me with yours. I wish I had told you everything. I wish I had truly stolen you away, as you asked, taken you all the way to Asgard when we left that beach. But I was too afraid you would turn from me if you knew me for a god. And I was too selfish to risk the truth, to risk losing you.

“I am so sorry, Eve. If I had known how long we would be parted, how much pain you would suffer between that life and this…”

She pressed a finger to his lips, stopping him. “If you had told me then, asked me to follow you to Asgard, I’m not certain that I would have agreed. We would have lost that lifetime together, completely, and I cannot see how we would be standing here, now.”

He lowered his head, resting his forehead against hers. She made a soft sound, pleasure and desire mixed together, and her eyes closed. Their noses brushed, her breath against his lips, making him ache, and the scent of sunlight on her skin, of summer and cream, filling his head. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to do more than kiss her. He wanted to remind her, body and soul, of everything they had shared together, every gift of love they had given to one another.

But he did not dare. She was still so fragile, and when she was ready, when she knew her own mind, she would come to him.

She would ask it of him.

He let his hand fall from beneath hers, rubbing the memory of her skin, rose-petal soft, from his fingertips, and stepped back.

“I should leave you to your reading.”

Eve let out a breath, her cheeks flushed and her eyes half-dazed with need, naked and hungry. When she looked at him that way—he clenched his jaw against his own desire and left her, before he changed his mind.

Don't forget to visit the other participants and get your fill of Almost Kisses to start your new year off right!

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No Kiss Blogfest, Part 6!

Are you ready for some No Kiss Action? The sixth annual No-Kiss Blogfest is coming on January 2nd, and if you haven't, you should 100% absolutely sign up with your favorite UST-y almost-kiss scene!

So, the RULES:

1) Sometime between now and Jan 2, 2015 write a post about the No Kiss Blogfest to let everyone know you are participating and that they should, too. Make sure you link back to this post!

2) Sign up for the No Kiss Blogfest by filling in the form below. Because we like forms. Oh yes we do.

3) Tweet about No Kiss Blogfest, using the hash tag: #nokissblogfest

4) After you've recovered from New Years Eve, write a blog sharing your Almost Kiss, No Kiss Blogfest entry. This can be from a WIP, an upcoming release, something you made up on the spur of the moment. Hell, it doesn't even have to be yours. You could post a scene from your favorite book or movie - just make sure you credit it properly. And don't forget to link back to this post!

I'll be serving up some #ThorLove here, and I can't wait to read what everyone else has to offer!

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS from Santa Herc! (Now with bonus Cover Art!)

Santa Herc thought he'd drop by to give us a little present here at Good to Begin Well -- the reveal of the COVER ART for HELEN OF SPARTA for your pleasure and enjoyment! (I know I'm pleased, anyway! More than pleased!!)

So Feast Your Eyes on the beauty! And feel free to pre-order your paperback or kindle ebook (you can pre-order the paperback from Barnes and Noble, too, if that's your preference!) HELEN OF SPARTA will be available April 1st!

Santa Herc himself does not make an appearance within the pages, though I've heard he's a close personal friend of Helen's father, Tyndareus. A point of great pride to the family, I'm sure, and no doubt accounts for his interest in her fabulous cover art!

(and don't forget you can grab your copy of Postcards from Asgard, now, too! Or get the whole Fate of the Gods trilogy in paperback from World Weaver Press for a bargain price, if you prefer! But either way, do consider giving the gift of Thor this holiday season!)

Ready for the cover art?

Long before she ran away with Paris to Troy, Helen of Sparta was haunted by nightmares of a burning city under siege. These dreams foretold impending war—a war that only Helen has the power to avert. To do so, she must defy her family and betray her betrothed by fleeing the palace in the dead of night. In need of protection, she finds shelter and comfort in the arms of Theseus, son of Poseidon. With Theseus at her side, she believes she can escape her destiny. But at every turn, new dangers—violence, betrayal, extortion, threat of war—thwart Helen’s plans and bar her path. Still, she refuses to bend to the will of the gods.

A new take on an ancient myth, Helen of Sparta is the story of one woman determined to decide her own fate.

Happy Holidays! And I'll be back on the blog in January!

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