Category: Wild Heritance Update

Juggling

I remember taking some beginner classes many years ago to learn to juggle (lots of fun) and this feels a lot like that – just with less dropping of things. I do like working on multiple projects at the same time… however, recently it’s been a bit insane!

I’m making great progress incorporating beta-reader feedback into Power Awry (Wild Heritance, book 2). Filling some holes and making the plot tighter – I’m pleased with the final shape the story has taken. The cover is in the final stages – almost ready!

Trial Run (Wild Heritance novella) has slipped easily into the beta reader phase, and is almost done with that. Next will be any last revisions and finalizing the cover.

Book 3 of the Wild Heritance series has a title: Power Redeemed. I haven’t been working as much on the draft recently because book 2 and the novella have been taking most of my attention. Still, the draft is approaching that 50,000-word mark! That’s is roughly the halfway mark for the book.

And then, on top of all this activity, are all the new ideas that have come to me. I’ve taken side trips to research aspects of two non-Wild Heritance fantasy novel ideas, decide on some character names, change some character names from what I had decided on originally, figure out some plot points, and even get the very beginnings written. I’m also hoping to jump into revisions soon for the first novel in my fantasy trilogy. The draft is done – I’ve just let it sit for a time while I concentrated on the Wild Heritance series.

Oh, how time flies!

And yet another month has gone by! Non-authoring things have been stealing my time, keeping me very busy, but I’ve still made good progress with my Wild Heritance Series.

Wild Heritance book 2 is nearly done with the beta reader feedback phase. Next I’ll work through final edits and revisions. And then I go into the publication process! I hope to have the cover reveal in about a month or so. Right now, I anticipate publishing the book later this year or early next.

The Wild Heritance novella will go into the beta reading phase next. I already have a cover concept for this one, but it’s not yet ready for a cover reveal. I anticipate publishing the novella later this year, possibly as soon as the beginning of September.

The draft for Wild Heritance book 3 is an estimated 30% done now — based on an anticipated length similar to that of books 1 and 2. I’m pleased with how it’s progressing. I already have a cover concept for this one too, but not yet ready for a cover reveal.

 

Abundant irons in the fire

Wow, a month since I last posted! It’s been crazy busy – so many “real world” things to take care of. Nothing bad, just a lot, and time-consuming, and sometimes frustrating. Still, I’ve made some writing progress, too. Yay!

Book 2 of the Wild Heritance series is now with the beta readers. The waiting is so hard. I keep wanting to ask how it’s going and what have they found that I might need to do some further work on, but I don’t want to bug them. I’m just eager to do any re-writes/fixes that I need to, so I can get the book published. It’s so close….

To keep from bugging my beta readers, I’ve been working through some revisions in the Wild Heritance Novella. It’s now very close to being ready for the beta readers. I could probably send it out any time, but I want to do one last read-through before then.

I’ve also been working on the draft for Book 3. The ideas for the story are coming together well, and I’ve even gotten some of them written down. If I assume that Book 3 will end up being about the same length as the first two, I can say that the draft is already about 10% done!

And finally, naturally, in the midst of working on the Wild Heritance series, an idea for a completely separate, unrelated, new fantasy novel has pounced on me. I’ve already got a strong start on the draft and know a lot about how the story will go and I’m enjoying some interesting research for the world building.

So… plenty to keep me busy!

Revising from first-reader comments (Wild Heritance Book 2)

With some great first-reader feedback in hand, I’m now working through another revision of Wild Heritance Book 2. I really value this feedback – it’s the first time someone other than me has looked at the story, and what they saw helps me so much!

I believe this is the last revision before the book will be ready for beta-readers! I estimate the book will be ready for beta-reading as early as the end of March, depending on how well this revision cycle goes. (So far, it’s going very well.) Looking forward to that next phase!

Back again to Wild Heritance

After my “side trip” last month to publish Bye-Bye Magpie, I’m back to the Wild Heritance series!

I’ve got incoming feedback from a first reader for book 2. I’ve been working on revisions and edits for the novella – think they’re about done. And I’ve gotten back to the draft of book 3: a few additions to chapter 1, finished up chapter 2 and have a good start on chapter 3 already.

Need to eat my breakfast, then back to more drafting! 😁

Writing-multitasking, I love it!

I’m still working through revisions of book 2 of my Wild Heritance series. This is the revision stage that will likely last a while and take a bit of time to complete. I’ve been filling in plot holes, fixing hints and clues within the story, and making sure that events are in agreement, especially with Duplicity of Power (book 1).

My characters seem to be settling in to their chosen roles in their new adventures, at least as much as they seem inclined. And some twists are getting twisted, so I’m pleased with that.

The children’s picture book that I’ve mentioned before, Bye-Bye Magpie, is really coming together well. The artist finished all of the illustrations (they look great!) and I’m now finalizing the cover design. Publication time is rapidly approaching!

Revisions… revisions. Revisions!

(I hear that title above sung to the tune of “Tradition” from Fiddler on the Roof!)

I’ve finished running through my “word edits” for Wild Heritance Book 2, giving me a better feeling about the strength of the writing in this story.

Next I plan to tackle revisions that include fixing some contradictions and continuity issues I noticed. Some are internal to this book’s story and others are related to details in Duplicity of Power and the novella. I also plan to tighten the story; I’m pretty sure, while doing my word edits, I spotted some places where I repeated some details unnecessarily.

I’m pleased with how Book 2 is coming together. Looking forward to getting it ready for beta readers. Early 2019, I hope.

I haven’t yet returned to work on my other series (the NaNoWriMo drafts), but I’ve been getting some good ideas for revisions to the draft that I finished in November. And I’ve got some new ideas to help get book 2 of that series going – I now have some good notes for the plot. In this series, I have multiple magic systems. So I’ve mainly been absorbed with figuring out how they all work!

Weirdness of writers (this one, anyway)

I’m a writer… and I’m weird, I freely admit it. 🙂

I really look forward to those days, like today, when I have several hours to devote to revising and editing a book. I enjoy revisiting my characters and story to work through the little details to improve the tale. When I have to leave to take care of something else, I feel like I’m being yanked away from my fun, like a kid told that it’s time to leave the amusement park.

I’m working through some of my “word edits” for book 2 of the Wild Heritance series. Edits and revisions are going incredibly well right now and the book is really shaping up!

And now that I’ve shared today’s weirdness, I’m heading back to it. (I suppose I’d better grab a bite of breakfast first, though.)

Back to the Wild Heritance series

With NaNoWriMo 2018 now completed (resulting in a new draft done for one of the books in another series), I’m back to my Wild Heritance series.

I’m working through the first round of revisions and edits for book 2, already up to chapter 8. At this point, I’m considering publishing book 2 next and then the novella after that. But I could always change my mind.

With the novella being a story from before book 1, I can pretty much publish it whenever it’s ready. It’s already close to being ready for beta readers…

Keeping busy…

So many things going on simultaneously right now. I’m loving it.

Getting the last few details set for the publication of Duplicity of Power, book 1 in the Wild Heritance series. (Yay!)

Still working on pulling together the pages for Bye Bye Magpie – they’re looking great (thanks to the artist)!

Some minor revising of the novella in the Wild Heritance series – getting close to ready for beta readers on that one.

Starting the first revision of book 2 in the same series – and have already added two new chapters.

And finally, getting myself ready — mentally more than anything else — for NaNoWriMo. My plan (right now) is to work on the draft of book 1 for my fantasy trilogy (a different series than the Wild Heritance series). I’m hoping to get most of that written during NaNoWriMo. Looking forward to November 1!

A quick update…

I’ve been working through the proof of Duplicity of Power. I’ve found a few typos to take care of, but nothing too serious so far. So, I’m pleased with that. Getting closer to publication!

I’ve also been working on pulling together the pages for a kids’ book Bye Bye Magpie, getting the illustrations and the text all settled in together. Making good progress there, too. This book is a picture book featuring haiku-style verse. I’m excited to see it coming together so well!

Excitement

I can hardly contain my excitement! My proof copy of my first novel (Duplicity of Power) just arrived today. I’ve now held in my hands the book that I wrote!

It’s hard to set it down. I feel like I just want to carry it around everywhere with me and show it off. I feel like I could bounce off the walls!

As soon as I can settle down, calm the excitement enough to concentrate, I get to work my way through the proof to make sure everything looks right and good.

And then it will be available for people to buy. And read!

So soon!

I can’t stop smiling…

Whee!

Ah, formatting

I’ve been working on the formatting of Wild Heritance Book 1 for its eBook and print versions. So much fun! Well, sort of, anyway. For the most part I’ve only been seeing small format issues that I could fix fairly easily. Of course, the true test will be when I upload the file for the actual book to be created. But I’m pretty sure that I fixed any issues. (Fingers crossed.)

One interesting phenomenon I encountered… I needed to check/adjust the format for each of my chapter headings so they were all the same. Naturally, since I was doing that for Book 1, I decided I should also do that for the novella… and the draft of Book 2… so they would all match throughout the series. (And then I went on to do something similar for the 2/3-done draft of a book in another series…) That’s a lot of “Chapter”s to look at!

So… after looking at Chapter, Chapter, Chapter… etc, I found that the word began looking odd to me. My eyes and brain tried to trick me into thinking it was misspelled. It just didn’t look right anymore.

And then… as if that wasn’t fun enough… it began looking like it was in Russian. (I studied Russian in college – great teacher – another story.) Because I’m using small caps in the chapter headings (Untitled.jpeg), my brain really tried to convince me the word was actually in Russian, something like this: Снартея. So then I had to pronounce it in Russian… “snart…” was as far as I got and then I was off thinking about the character in the show “Legends of Tomorrow”. Wow!

Now that I’m done with Book 1’s formatting (knock on wood), I’m happy to report that “Chapter” looks normal to me again… at least until the next book(s). 😄

More research fun

For the Wild Heritance novella, I decided that I needed to know more about medieval markets, handcrafts, and food. (The culture in the Wild Heritance series resembles – in some ways, anyway – our Middle Ages.) Yay, more research!

So I delved into those topics and came across something completely new to me: nalbinding. I love it when that happens! Look it up! And look for it in the novella when it’s published.

And then the need for a unique greeting custom for Wild Heritance Book 2 sent me looking into the fascinating topic of customs and etiquette around the world. I could spend a lot of time just exploring that topic! I found a plethora of information that gave me some great ideas for creating a greeting custom!

Progress

Making some good progress:

The cover art for Wild Heritance Book 1 is nearly complete. So the actual cover will soon follow. After that is finalizing formatting for publication. Then publication!

The Wild Heritance Novella is getting close to being ready for beta readers, and I’ve got the concept for the cover art mostly figured out.

The draft for Wild Heritance Book 2 is now over 70,000 words and proceeding well. I estimate only another (roughly) 30,000 words and the draft will be done!

And the beginning is coming together nicely for the draft of Wild Heritance Book 3. I have parts of several early scenes already written, with notes and ideas for the rest.

Busy, busy

It’s been a busy couple of weeks since my last post – mostly with non-writing stuff. But I’m still making progress.

The draft for Book 2 in the Wild Heritance series is coming along. I’ve been able to write 500 to 2000 words many days recently, so I’m happy about that! I’m approaching 70% completion on that draft – based on my estimate that it will be roughly the same length as Book 1. And I’ve written a couple of the early scenes in the draft of Book 3.

I’ve been letting the Wild Heritance Novella sit after my last revision run-through. I was finding that I had been in that story too much and was just glossing over the words when I was supposed to be reading them. So I’m taking a little break from that.

Ideas for my other fantasy series, my trilogy, have been floating around in my mind. Important pieces for the first book are slowly coming together for me – especially how the magic will work.

Hoping to get back to more consistent writing very soon. I really want to get Wild Heritance Book 2 finished!

Sneak peek

Here’s a sneak peek at the back cover blurb for Book 1 of the Wild Heritance series…
Not always a Shadower, Namid is now one of the leaders of this select group, this guild of rogues in the decrepit city of Rhadanthus. Here she has found a refuge from darker times.
Rescuing a stranger is not usually part of her nightly haul. Her decision to help the wounded man sparks a series of events that upends her hard-won haven and sends her fleeing for her life.
Another’s quest snags Namid and casts her across the Six Realms of the Monarch and beyond, entangling her and others in power struggles, the machinations of gods, and the dangers of a past thought left behind.
What at first seemed a fool’s errand to restore a legendary artifact of Power becomes a gambit for the fate of the Six Realms. And Namid doesn’t even believe in fate!