July Fireworks

Posted on by Nathan 10 Comments

Progress is being made.

It’s not big progress. It’s not flashy – like fireworks – yet, but it’s being made

Status

Salt – Book 1 in the Barbarians.
We have a cover. We’re waiting on a content critique from a subject matter expert. It’s in the “coming soon” category, pending that feedback. Note: This is the book I wrote with my daughter. It’s set in the Tanyth Fairport universe, just not where Tanyth lives.

The New Ishmael
I wrapped that file at almost 350,000 words. It’s enough for three books. I think there are three books buried in that pile. I need to spend some Quality Time with it and start pulling out the parts.

The Wizard’s Cat
It’s in the word processor. It’s happening, people. It’s happening!

Audio
Dark Knight Station: Origins dropped on the 29th. Yes, it’s only on Audible. No, I don’t have any control over that.

What Am I Reading?

I finally came to the end of Jerry Boyd’s Bob and Nikki series, but I think it’s the only thing I’ve read since last month. Seventeen of them takes a while. I picked up the latest in Mackey Chandler’s Family Law series and noticed that I’m a little behind. I read the first two volumes some time ago and dove back into the series a few days ago. It’s just as good as I remember.

Family Law follows a young woman (Lee) and her alien friend (Gordan) in adventures in deep space. Along the way they have to deal with The Authorities on multiple planets and pull a family together from across the galaxy. There is some fighting. Some exploring. A lot of fun.

Maybe grab a sample of book 1, Family Law, and see what you think

Last Words

June was a vacation month. Finally coming to the end of the File That Never Ends left me completely drained. I got started on The Wizard’s Cat but put it down and lost myself in Mass Effect Legendary. I’d never played the game before and it took a lot of getting used to compared to my normal game fare. I’m still mostly in the clouds here.

I also haven’t managed to re-establish my walking habit, although I keep trying. The wall calendar has a lot of red on it, but also a lot of green. I’m certain there’s a balance there. Somewhere.

I just need to find it.

Safe voyage.

June Bugs

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I’m getting better. Really. I made a lot of progress last month. There’s a light on the horizon.

At least I hope that’s the horizon and it’s, you know, a light and not something like a forest fire burning inexorably in my direction …

Status

Salt. Yeah. This is one of the things that’s bugging me. I’m going to have to get out the heavy guns and resort to some kind of bribery to get myself off the time. It sounds harsher than it is. I haven’t dug into it because I’m burning all my writing time on the next project.

The New Ishmael
I don’t even know what to call this any more. The manuscript I’m working on is way too long for one book. I’m well over 300k words now, but the positive news is that I know where the ending is. I just need to get to it. I’m still not sure how many books this will be. At least two. Probably three. It’s going to take a while for me to a) get to the end, then b) cut it into the right pieces, and c) do the patching to make it all make sense. (It’s kind of a mess.)

The Wizard’s Cat
When Roger finds a feral gray tabby lurking in the gardens behind Shackleford House, things get a little tense for the pixies. (It’s coming. We’ll see how this looks by the end of the month.)

AUDIO

Dark Knight Station: Origins is available for pre-order from Audible. Drops June 29.

What Am I Reading?

Where to begin. I’ve read a lot of quirky books this month. It started a new Glynn Steward book (Eyes of Tomorrow), then went to a paranormal romance by Deana Chase (Witching for Clarity), a couple of really dark fantasy stories by Krista D. Ball (Fury, Schemes), a contemporary romance (Her Big City Neighbor by Jackie Lau), a weird western (Sidewinder by David Faux), shifted to xianxia by Tao Wong (Thousand Li: First War) … I’m leaving some out, I know.

It’s been a big month for reading and I’m pretty sure that’s the reason I’ve made so much progress on my writing.

The recommendation this month is Bob’s Saucer Repair by Jerry Boyd. Somebody recommended it to me in response to the last newsletter and I’ll be honest. I really wasn’t sure about this one.

But I fell in love. It’s a goofy, spoofy book with so much heart, I started reading and couldn’t put it down.

See Bob comes home one Friday night and finds Nikki’s stashed her broken down saucer in his garage and … yeah. Hijinx ensue, as they say.

Looking for a fun read, maybe grab a sample and see what you think.

Last Words

I can’t tell you how much better I feel about this new Ishmael … thing. Being able to see an end point–a place where I can actually break this thing off–has made me push my word counts up a little higher each day as the end gets nearer. I made my monthly goal for May and made up for three more days from January before calling it a month.

It feels pretty good and I’m looking forward to finding out what happens next.

In the meantime, safe voyage.

May Be

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When I look back, last month was pretty much all writing. My walking didn’t happen except for a few scattered instances. That problem needs to be resolved this month.

I wrote every day last month except for the one day I took off last week.

Status

Salt is still hanging fire. Neither of us could get it together to finish the cover or the edits. It’s one of those tasks that just seemed to get put off day after day.

The New Ishmael
The bad news is that I still haven’t found the end. The good news is that I’ve found the story. Yes, this is definitely more than one book. At 250k words already, I’m relatively certain it’s going to be three before I’m done.

The Wizard’s Cat is on deck and mewing for attention.

Audio

The Wizard’s Butler dropped. I’ve swapped the covers to use the Podium artwork.

Dark Knight Station: Origins should release on 6/29. Look for the pre-order mid month. Podium shared their version of the cover and it’s pretty spiffy. I may adopt it the way I did for the last book.

What Am I Reading?

The stand out read of the last few days has been book three of James Beamon’s Pendulum Heroes series – The Pendulum War.

I’ve talked about this series before and the newest volume reminded me just how much I enjoyed the first two and Beamon’s ability to spin a tale. It continues the story of four guys caught in a game and learning that, sometimes, winning isn’t everything. The stand out feature in this volume has been the character growth for each member of the ensemble cast. James has woven a terrific tale.

I’ve linked the first book of the series Pendulum Heroes. Maybe grab a sample and see what you think.

[Transparency: James and I both serve on the board of directors for SFWA. I’m not getting anything for promoting this book beyond the knowledge that I’ve shared a good book with you.]

Last Words

April was as much of a struggle as March, but I’m feeling better about May. My ADHD is still kicking my butt, although I’ve made progress on rebuilding the cage around it. Ishmael’s adventure has some form now. I’ve redone the alarms on my phone to help me stay in the moment and focused on what’s really important instead of what’s shiny. I’m fully vaccinated and the rest of the household should be within the next couple of weeks.

In short, I’m doing better and looking forward to what may be a more productive month.

Safe Voyage.