Starting Fresh

One of my goals this year is to streamline my social media pages so they aren’t as cluttered and are a touch more organized in terms of content. I’ve gone through my TikTok and Instagram pages and deleted a bunch of posts and am trying to post once a day on each page. So far, so good in that regard. I’m horrible at keeping up with trends, but I’m learning what types of posts are best and started using Instagram Reels a little more, which has helped with interaction with other authors as well as readers.

If you listened to the latest podcast, you’ll know that I’ve started an Instagram page for my spiritual stuff and tarot reading (plus the chakra healing and energy healing). I’ve recorded additional mediations as well but those aren’t posted yet. If you want to follow me for this on Instagram, you can find me HERE.

I’m happy to report that writing is going well on all projects! After looking at my schedule and finances, I may have to push back on some of my planned releases, but I will have at least three new books out this year. I also am focusing on two that I plan to submit to agents/publishers.

Stay tuned for updates~ a lot is coming down the pipe ❤

Forward Momentum

I made a bunch of notes on the story ideas I got in Ireland, and part of that was also jotting down character names as well writing the opening line/paragraph. As I’ve said in the past- I have so many notebooks scattered around so I never lose an idea again!

I finished first pass revisions on one of my Libby Bishop books, and I printed out Shards and The Scrying House. Both books are now reading for edits/revisions and I’m so excited!

I’m still aiming to publish Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be by the end of the year. I just want to do one more read-through before setting a solid date. The edits, from my editor, were finished before I went to Ireland, so I’m just reading it over to look for any small errors.

I’ve also finished the editing rounds for my fantasy short story- that will be in an anthology- which means I’ll be able to share more on that project soon. Excited for you all to read that one! I was part of the kickstarter for the anthology, and I have no idea why I was pulled to it so strongly, but I’m glad I was. As an author, this story challenged me in the best ways, and I’ve learned so much from writing a 1200 word story than I thought was possible ❤

Rainy Day With Copyedits

I just finished copyedits for my fantasy flash fiction story. That story has now had a name change, and though I loved the original title, the new one fits much better. I’m so excited about the story and the anthology it’s in, and I’ll share more soon.

In other writing news:

~I had this amazing idea for a horror story last night and wrote the first chapter, plus hand wrote the beginning of the second chapter. While writing that opening scene for chapter two, I realized that I’m still so excited about storytelling and writing. I wrote my first story when I was about 5 years old, was first published by Musa Publishing in 2012, and now I’m self-publishing as well as submitting to agents and bigger publishers.

I love the art of storytelling, the process of writing (I actually really love the revision stage- it’s my favorite!), and I don’t think that will ever change ❤

~Tuck 4 had stalled a few weeks ago but after changing the ending of the newest chapter, she’s back on track and lined up for the big fight scene. The words are flowing again so I’m hoping that means the rough draft will be done by the end of November.

~I’m still working on my fantasy novel as well. I think writing that fantasy flash fiction kicked the novel into gear again. The novel is now over 35k, and I’m thinking the rough draft will be around 45k, but with revisions and edits that count will most likely end up around 70k.

~I’ve not printed out Shards or The Scrying House yet. The timing doesn’t feel write so I’m letting them sit for a little while longer.

~I finished the first pass of edits/revisions for Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be, and sent a note to my editor to look over one of the changes I made to make certain it flows well. I’m aiming for a December release and will update you as soon as that’s concrete.

I fell behind on my podcasting because of all of the writing, but I’ve got some Halloween/Samhain plans coming up next week that I’m so excited about. I can’t wait to share that on here as well as the podcast! Expect a new podcast around the first weekend of November 🙂

Another Rough Draft Complete

Much to my delight, The Scrying House decided it wanted to be finished sooner rather than later. This morning I completed the rough draft! I’ll set it aside for anywhere from a couple days to a couple weeks and then start revisions.

I have two rough drafts completed and ready for revisions and one book in the last stage of edits, plus two re-releases out now. This autumn has been quite productive!

Progress

Despite not feeling the best, I got three chapters of the novella edited. Great progress! I plan to do a cover reveal this Friday or Saturday, with the blurb and possibly a release date. This is a brand new novella in the world of Isles and West and I can’t wait to share the characters and story with you!

I’m still debating the re-release date for Salt & Iron. Mainly, if I want to wait until I’ve finished writing The Scrying House or not. But I’m thinking that Salt & Iron will be out this year 🙂

Of Covers and Worlds

Got almost seven pages on Tuck today- so excited! Mostly because we’re heading into THE BIG ENDING STUFF and I can’t wait. I don’t think Tuck’s exactly happy, but I am 🙂

I received the cover files for both the novella and Salt and Iron. I also got the final files for Salt and Iron, so I will be doing a post soon for pre-order stuff as well blurb/updated book trailer.

I will make a post this weekend for the novella: cover reveal, blurb, and possible release date. I should be getting the edits back next week or so. I’m so excited to introduce this new character to you! This story is set in the Isles and West world- so many stories in that world that I’m not sure I’ll be able to write them all. But I’ll get as many out as I can!

Stay tuned- good stuff is on deck!

The Blue Moon Effect

I was really hoping to be able to see the blue supermoon tonight, but, alas, cloudy with rain *sigh* Maybe I’ll get lucky and the sky will clear long enough to see it!

I worked on The Scrying House today- got about 600 words in, which I’m happy with 🙂 I also made notes on a new story idea so I didn’t lose it (because, of course, that idea hit me while I was at work). I also saw the new cover for Salt and Iron and I LOVE IT! My cover artist also ran a new idea by me for the cover of my novella…that she’s currently editing ❤ I’m excited to see what she comes up with because I never would have thought of that. It’s definitely different than what I was thinking of, but I’m so excited to see it!

I’ve got so much author stuff happening and it’s all very exciting. I’m making so many notes because I can’t type fast enough on each project. Maybe the universe put the brakes on me yesterday because it knew the blue supermoon was going to have a major effect on me… Either way, I am a happy writer!

Monday, Rainy Monday

In no surprise to Vermonters, it’s raining again *sigh* However, we did get a beautiful morning and afternoon!

I got three pages done today on Tuck #4, which is lower than I wanted but with working fulltime, I’m happy with those pages. I still have this evening to write so I may get more words before the bedtime. I also walked this morning before work so I didn’t get as much written as I could have at the beginning of the day.

On top of the progress I’m making with my darker books, I’m also finally starting to make progress on my romance books, which I write under the name Libby Bishop. I had the rights to two series return to me, so I’ve been working on revisions and getting ready to self-publish those books. I finally finished revisions on book one of the Revenant Investigations series, which took longer than I’d hoped but, yay!

I’m making progress on all fronts!

Weekend Update

I cleaned up the fantasy flash fiction story. I’m going to do one more read-through before sending it back to the editor. I love this story so much that I almost want to expand the world and see where it leads. Tuck #4 is still coming along nicely, as is Shards and The Scrying House.

Surprisingly, the second book in the Elvira Monk series started speaking to me again, so I jotted down some notes. I loved writing A Haunted Homecoming, and I wrote about 13k words on book two before it stalled on me. So I’m very happy Elvira is speaking to me again!

In non-writing news: I finally got to see The Meg 2: The Trench. It’s bonkers but I absolutely loved it! Right up my alley *grin* I also saw Black Demon a few weeks ago and loved that as well. I almost want to watch another shark movie, but today I also want to rewatch Crawl, with Kaya Scodelario. I saw it in theatres and bought on DVD as soon as I could 🙂

The Fantastical

Finished the first go-through of the fantasy short story. Lots of moving and rearranging for the content edit. Story is still the same but I was rearranging where things were so it flows better. I’m doing the second read-through today. My deadline for this edit is September 4th, so I have a little time to tighten up the story since it’s basically flash fiction- when I submitted the story it was just shy of 800 words. I’m excited about this one, and can’t wait to share more about it!

Wrote seven pages on The Scrying House yesterday as well. The main character was being extremely loud- I did two writing sessions and finished off a chapter, which brought the word count up over 16k. I’m absolutely loving this story.

I think Tuck and Saint needed a day off because both have a big action scene coming up. But both are writing so well right now that I’m 100% certain that the rough draft of both Tuck #4 and Shards will be done by the end of September…or sooner.

Next year’s submitting and publishing goals, that I set for myself, are shaping up to all be met!