Life Stuff
Yep, there's
definitely a change in the view of my reading nook! I've moved
bedrooms in the home--and this one I got to design myself, hence the
profusion of PURPLE! I love my new little space, with it's
view of the window (since the windows in the other bedroom were too
high to enjoy much!) and the fact that this is really the first time
I got to design a whole room myself (the little-known struggles of
living with many siblings!) and I'm especially proud of my
bookshelves--going from one overflowing bookshelf to TWO with room to
spare is pretty nifty!
Needless to say,
this bedroom project is where most of my summer went, so there wasn't
a whole lot to be said for how much I was writing... or not writing,
as the case may be...
Word count totals
for June: 18,700
Word count totals
for July: 20,803
So I'm still
staying abreast of things... Just not as much as I anticipated! Maybe
working full time was better motivation to prioritize my writing, and
thus I was able to consistently turn out the word totals I wanted.
Who knows? I'm dreadfully behind this month, but we still have a
couple weeks to go, right?
Writing
The Last Inkweaver
I tell you what
won't be taking up a whole lot of my writing time anymore: THE LAST
INKWEAVER, because I am finally ready for the last chapter! No
more subdividing chapters, no more agonizing over tricky parts--now
it's just tying up the loose ends for this story, and setting up for
Book 2! (If you don't remember me saying how the Wordspinner Chronicles is going to be a 4-book series... Head over to THE SHELF and scroll down till you see this mock cover!)
Yes,
this is going to be a 4-book series. Don't know how long it would
take me to publish them, whether I'd wait till I write them all, or
just publish this one, work on other half-finished projects and get
those running before starting a new project, or say "sorry my
dudes!" to those projects and start the new book anyway!
Certainly
The Last Inkweaver has
a while to go before it's publish-ready. At over 270 pages and more
than 170K words, I know it's hefty, and there will be things that my
beta team will tell me need to change or go away... but at least it's
done, and it is indeed better than the first draft! I'm not like
those writers who can self-beta and write many drafts back to back--I
need some feedback first, and then I can move forward.
speaking
of moving forward....
Anthology Update: Dreamtime Damsels and Fatal Femmes AVAILABLE
for Pre-Order!
Yep,
you read that right!
The
anthology for which I started writing "Red, The Wolf" is
currently live for pre-ordering on Amazon, and the official release
date is September 25--so get yours and don't miss a moment! I've
still got a bunch of teasers to post--more fun facts and excerpts
headed your way! Once those finish up, though, it will FINALLY be
time to get back to the serial! If you've missed out on the promo
posts so far, you have the choice of either scrolling down to see
them, or you can follow these helpful links!
"Nicole
Falling: A Southwestern Horror Story": [Excerpt] [Fun Facts]<--*will be posted tomorrow!
Next Up: Anthology No. 6!
That's right! Just like the Dreamtime Fantasy Authors who brought you
Dreamtime Dragons wanted to do a second anthology--guess who
else opted to do the same? The Tapestry Group, the ones responsible
for the anthology Cracks in the Tapestry! The new anthology
(working title is "Warping The Tapestry") is more of a
sci-fi theme than the fantasy theme of the last one, so I had to do
some quick thinking to figure out what I was going to use for it--but
thanks to the Flashes of Inspiration series, I had at least
one idea that would fit the theme, already started! The inspiration
for my short story is going to be the flash fiction "The Legacyof Heroes"! I will be expanding and tweaking the story since the
word count limit would be higher, so stay tuned for more info on that
one! I'm so excited! Story deadline is October, so by the time of my
next update, I should have it submitted so I will be able to tell you
more about it by then!
Wattpad Updates
Speaking of Flashes of Inspiration--I've been posting
them on Wattpad for a while now, but they don't seem to be attracting
as much attention as I hoped. I will say that there was a new flash
fiction that I wrote back at the beginning of July, but since I kind
of "ended" things on here, I'll be posting it on Wattpad,
not here on the
blog... so if you want to read a couple new "Flashes of
Inspiration", you best head on over there!
What should I do next? Maybe I'll start posting "The
Prince and The Rose" on there, see what people think of that
fairy tale twist. OR... I can start posting my contemporary adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac, which I wrote a very long time ago... What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
Reading
My favorite part
about traveling is that I get to spend as much of that travel time
and the ensuing "down time" reading! I managed to finish
three ebooks and four
print books in the last two
months alone!
I
started State of Fear byMichael Crichton with high hopes--I've really enjoyed just about
everything he's written (except Disclosure... but
for content reasons, not quality...) and I have to admire the
meticulous quality of his plots--but this one almost felt too
meticulous at the beginning!
People making references to tsunamis, environmental groups and big
corporations going at it over global warming, people going here and
there and making plans and purchases... Nothing too big and flashy,
so I worried it would be slow going.
I
should not have worried. Crichton is not a
flashy author, and that is a Very Good Thing. Once it narrowed down
to a couple characters actually coming in contact with the
antagonists' plan underway, it got really intense really fast and I
finished it in a couple days! Epic win.
Then
after that I got to read the second MYST book, The Book of Ti'ana. It became really
fascinating and I understood what was going on a bit more after I
actually watched a YouTube video explaining the whole birth of MYST
as an interactive and largely "open world" computer game
when such things didn't really exist, and the way the Miller brothers
went about developing the stories and such. Very enjoyable!
Next
up was another Baldacci book, a stand-alone called The Simple Truth. As always, I found it
gripping, intense, and extremely well-done! Can't go wrong with
Baldacci. He really knows his stuff!
The
last book I read was Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Cafe. Yes, the one that the
film Fried Green Tomatoes is
based on. I'd heard of the film, that's why I casually picked the
book off the shelf of the lending library in the staff room at work
on the last day of school. As for the story inside, I found it way
more entertaining and intriguing
than I thought I would! I just kept reading it whenever I had a nice
long chunk of time, right until I finished it. Sweet story, and a
good small-town-y feel to it.
Which
brings us to the ebooks. I have some great news! I have
finally reached 10 ebooks read this year,
which means I can finally spend that Amazon gift card and get 10 more
books beyond the ones I already
have! I'm excited. The three books I read were: TYR by N. R. Tupper--a fantastic intergalactic adventure that had my
Firefly-loving soul
just rejoicing the whole time! Also, I mentioned at the last update
that I was nearly finished with You Left Me No Choice by Kelly Blanchard--it did not disappoint! The third ebook (and the one
that became the 10th book this year) was Notna by J. D. Cunegan. He's been a pull-no-punches kind of writer, I've
noticed, especially in his "urban fantasy crime thriller"
series, featuring Jill Andersen, driven cop by day, cyborg vigilante
by night--but this full-on supernatural/paranormal adventure took
things to a whole new level! As with Mark Lawrence, the gore level
had me cringing and skimming through some scenes, but the compelling
story and the delightful characters held me and enticed me till the very end!
What's
next for my writing escapades? Well, on my nightstand I have: Prey and The Lost World
(the sequel to Jurassic
Park) by Michael Crichton,
Lethal White by Robert
Galbraith (aka J. K. Rowling--I am definitely a fan of this crime
thriller series!), and my first library
check out in what feels like FOREVER... Pride: A Pride and
Prejudice Remix by Ibi Zoboi,
which I've wanted to read ever since I saw it announced!
That's
all I have for now--How about you? What have you read over the
summer? Did you encounter anything new and exciting? Let me know in
the comments! And as always...
Catch
You Further Upstream!
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