Catching Up on the Backlog

I received the print proofs of Sacrificed and A Modicum of Truth shortly before the Easter holidays. In fact, I took them with me on the road trip to Nashville and started going through them while GK drove.

Unfortunately, I didn't get them finished before everything hit the fan the following week. So guess what I'm trying to finish before NaNoWriMo starts on Thursday?

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my formatter can fix the few typos I found, and I can get these two volumes ordered before our library's Local Author Book Signing on November 10th. If I can't, well, there's always next year!

* * *

Something else to keep in mind, the Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Trust will be discontinuing both print and e-book edition of volumes 22 thru 27 of the Sword and Sorceress anthologies, according to their most recent newsletter.

If you want copies before they disappear, you'll want to order them well before December 28th!

Proofing the Proofs

Last week was spent getting ready for the writing workshop at our local library. This week I buckled down to go through the paperback proof copies of A Modicum of Truth and Sacrificed.

The e-books were published way back in February and March of this year. I'd ordered the paperback proof copies and took AMoT with me on our Easter trip to Nashville. I even managed to get through the first 100 pages while Genius Kid drove.

When we got back from Nashville, I turned on the afterburners to finish the first draft of Hero De Facto. It was done on April 16th. However, the next day was my first biopsy. The paperback proofs got shoved to the corner of my desk and were subsequently buried under a  mound of medical records, cancer literature, and doctors' bills.

I'm slowly but surely getting things taken care of and paperwork filed. But with CreateSpace's upcoming merger with KDP Print, I want to get these paperbacks finalized before the switchover, which could be any time now.

So I pulled them out of the pile and started reading through them.

And now I really want to write the next books in each series. LOL

Rushing Toward the Holidays

Ostera has officially passed, and we're rushing toward Easter/Passover. Genius Kid has Spring Break, and we have a buttload of plans.

The print proof of Sacrificed is on its way. Hero De Facto is almost done, and I was hoping to finish it this weekend.

Instead, I woke up to Darling Husband worshipping the porcelain god and running a fever Sunday morning. Of course, he'd made an appointment with our realtor to look at another house.

So I went by my lonesome. It was a mirror of the house we'd made an offer on at the beginning of the year, but it was medium-sized version of the house plan with really dark walls. I can handle one charcoal accent wall, but the sitting room was light gray. The living room was a medium gray with a charcoal stripe. And one of the bedrooms was such a dark teal that it felt like a tomb.

GK and I are crossing our fingers we won't pick up DH's germs before we leave for Nashville on Wednesday.

To top off everything, the new people downstairs are smokers. Actually, I think it's just the wife. It doesn't start until he leaves for work and stops when he gets home from work. Or one of them is smoking really late at night. So my eyes are watering, my sinuses are stuffy, and if we want a house, I can't waste the money on another air purifier that breaks down two months after we buy it.

And if DH still isn't feeling good, we won't risk going to see Pacific Rim: Uprising.

I'm so ready for a break.

Why I've Been Quiet

The goal for 2018 is to release eight books in eight months. So far, I've been two for two.

But this week, the paperback proof for A Modicum of Truth arrived, my formatter sent me the PDF for Sacrificed, and I'm trying to finish the first draft of Hero De Facto. It's culminated in a very busy work week.

To top off my busy schedule, Genius Kid officially started Spring Break after his Physics class this afternoon. He and I are road-tripping to his godmother's place next week.

It'll be an interesting excursion simply because we're at that weird state between a parent and child where things aren't always sunshine and roses. In other words, he hates me, and I want to kill him. If we can survive this trip, maybe there's hope for us switching to an adult-adult relationship.

In the meantime, having another driver means I can spend some of my trip working on first two books of the 888-555-HERO without Darling Husband asking what's for dinner...

Sacrificed Is ALIVE!

Sacrificed is officially out today!

Per usual, links will be updated as they go live.



Apple
Barnes & Noble
Google Play
Kobo
Smashwords

The Marathon Goes On...

I'm in Month Two of my eight book releases in eight months marathon.

The e-book of A Modicum of Truth is out. I'm in the process of reviewing the e-book version of Sacrificed. Last night, I uploaded the files for the paperback copy of A Modicum of Truth. I just need to review the proof copy when it arrives. And I'm trying to finish the first draft of Hero De Facto.

On that last one, I had to search for the original outline and comparing it to what chapters have been completed. I experimented a little on this one. When I got stuck in the middle, I started writing backwards.

Not literally. I wrote the last chapter, which is something I've done before so I know where the hell I need to go in the story. But then, I wrote the next-to-last chapter. Then the second to last chapter. Yadda, yadda, yadda, lobster bisque.

The plan is to release Sacrificed on March 14 and Hero De Facto on April 13. I'm hoping the stars stay aligned and the health remains good this year. And I hope I give my readers a whole lot of fun along the way.

State of the Writing Address

My awesome plan to put out a bunch of books in 2018 has already hit a snag. For some reason, A Modicum of Truth has turned into a 100K+ opus. It is the longest book I've ever written, and it doesn't look like the third book in the Justice series will be any shorter.

For once in my life, I actually feel sorry for George R.R. Martin.

On the plus side, I did send the files to my formatter yesterday at exactly 5:00 p.m. EST. The second novel in the Justice series may not be out in January as planned, but it will be released shortly.

Today, I'll get back to the edits on Sacrificed, but last night, I worked a little bit on Hero De Facto. I needed something a little lighter to cleanse the writing palate before burying myself back in the Bloodlines universe. Between the intensity of the Justice series and the black moment of Bloodlines' overall story arch, I definitely needed a mental break.

The next step I'm considering as publisher is whether or not to use pre-orders. Amazon's rules are pretty sticky. A lot stickier than the other retailers. And I'm still not very good a estimating my time in this career, as shown by the delays in getting A Modicum of Truth out.

Let's see how I do on editing Sacrificed over the next couple of weeks. However, I am shooting for releasing it thirty days after A Modicum of Truth.

Dazed and Editing

I've been editing this week. Mostly A Modicum of Truth, but last night, I needed to get out of the apartment for a bit. And when I'm out at a coffee shop, my mind is geared on new writing.

I'm attempting to stick to my writing plan. My original plan of releasing the three superhero books on the same day in late April (right before the release of the next Avengers movie) wasn't going to help kickstart the sales algorithms on Amazon. Too much has changed on their website in the last three years. I took a hard look at what's completed, where I was on the uncompleted projects, and how to maximize my releases.

The next project to finish is the first draft of is Hero De Facto. Except I haven't really looked at the story as a whole in nearly three years.

Sure, I went back and read the first couple of chapters and the last one in order to get back into Harri and Aisha's heads last November to get a jump start on Hero Ad Hoc over NaNoWriMo. But Hero De Facto still needed to be finished itself. So last night while eating some excellent turkey chili, I started reading and editing to get back into the flow of the novel.

I'd forgotten how close this book was to being completed. I forgot how funny and delightful it was. I only got a hair over 600 new words in (pretty low for three hours of concentrated work), but dammit, I had fun.

And it makes me want to get the edits done on A Modicum of Truth and Sacrificed so I can go back to the Hero series and have some more fun.

That's what I love about this job. It's so damn fun!

Status Report - June 2017

I haven't done a status update in a while, so here's what's happened since I posted my April list of things to do:

1) No, I haven't started the edits on Ravaged yet.

2) The first draft of Sacrificed was completed on May 25.

3) I started back on Resurrected on May 26, and realized there were a couple of major issues that would turn into expositional crap if I dealt with them in this novel. So I plotted two short novels that will take place between Sacrificed and Resurrected, and started writing them. I post word count updates at my reader-oriented website www.suzanharden.com if you're curious.

4) The non-related short stories are done, but when they will be released is open to question with the new short novels for Bloodlines.

5) Proofing the Bloodlines paperbacks is taking an inordinate amount of time, far more than I anticipated. But I have to get them done because I will be at an author's signing event at our local library next month. More on the signing will be posted closer to the day of, which is July 20. In the meantime, they've essentially been moved to the top priority spot.

6) Needless to say, updating the Seasons of Magick series has been pushed back once again. It may be swapped with #7

7) I gotten more e-mails/PMs about A Modicum of Truth, so based on demand, it will need to take priority post-Bloodlines. It's good that a work is wanted, but it's a little nerve-wracking as well. I'm blaming the demand on the new Wonder Woman movie.

So that's what's happening in my world. Hope everyone has a great summer!

The "Why Isn't Suzan Posting" Post

It's been a busy week here at Casa Harden.

Last week of classes at public school coincided with the last week of classes at driving school. Instead of going home after dropping Genius Kid off at driving school, I went to Panera's to write. Over 8K words written this week so far, and I should hit 10K by Saturday night. Yay!

Seriously, I'm closing in on finishing Sacrificed. If the first draft isn't done this week, it will be next week.

Yes, that offsets the sheer terror any parent feels when their teen is about to get their driver license.

In the meantime, I sold "Unexpected" to Sword and Sorceress 32. The latest volume of the long-running anthology will be released around the first of November. I'll let you know the specific date down the road.

Then I REALLY need to review the proof copies of the paperbacks done so far and get them launched.

I'm also considering whether or not to do a local author event. Dealing with total strangers in public sets off my anxiety, but Darling Husband has offered to be my bodyguard. Not sure what I'll do yet, but I definitely need something to sell if I'm going, i.e. finish proofing those paperbacks!

Overall, it feels great to be in the writing groove again!

Nothing New Under the Sun Except Some Kind Words

I'm really not sure what to say at this point about the state of publishing. Things have quieted down in a way that has nothing to do with the usual summer lull.

No major publishers have crashed and burned. Many small publishers have quietly closed their doors. More people are indie publishing while others have walked away from it for various reasons.

Personally, I've been limiting my time on social media. I poke my head up once and a while to check my accounts. I e-mail with a couple of writer friends on a regular basis, but many of the folks I'd like to talk to are just as busy as me.

And you know something--that's okay. I know that some of my problems over the winter were SAD, some were hormone-related crap that needed maintenance drug adjustments, and some were the constant barrage of negativity through both the writers' grapevine and the news. Once the weather warmed and the new drug cocktail was developed, I realized how much the other stuff affected me.

And I decided to walk away from a lot of it.

Instead, I took last week off to write and submit a story for this year's Sword and Sorceress anthology. (I'll let you know if it gets accepted.)

In the meantime, everything clicked in my head for how Sacrificed will play out. (I've always known how it will end, but the middle part was foggy for the longest time.) My cover artist Elaina did a wonderful job of capturing the essence of what Tiffany and Sam go through in this story. As I write this post, I'm closing in on the 60K mark.

Probably the best things over the last week were people asking when's the next book coming out for both Bloodlines and Justice, as well as Alter Ego readers asking about her next book.

With the way things have gone in my life, I don't want to promise specific dates. Last year, I was a month late on Zombie Goddess from my own mistake, only to have my mother-in-law end up in the hospital again after another fall.

I can say I'm doing fairly good about sticking to the plan I laid out a couple of weeks ago. My dedicated writing laptop has made a difference in keeping my attention on the story. I just need to keep a steady pace over the summer.

As I told a friend nearly thirty years ago, happiness is a fleeting, ephemeral thing. I'm much more satisfied with my life when I'm content.

Status Report - April 2017

I'm finally past the SAD that's been plaguing me through the winter. Sun, open windows, and shorts temperatures have definitely helped in the productivity department.

I also took a page from Dean Wesley Smith's book, and I splurged on an 11-inch super lightweight  laptop. I've disabled the browser, the e-mail, and the wi-fi. The change has made a difference in my productivity. In the two weeks since Bali Blue arrived and I set her up, I've written 22K words.

So what's happened since my last release in December?

1) The first draft of Ravaged is done. I'm not going to start edits until the first draft of Sacrificed is done.

2) Sacrificed is approximately 73% done. I was hoping to have it done by the end of April, but it'll be done soon.

3) Resurrected is approximately 30% done.

4) I'm also working on some short stories that will come out between the end of the Bloodlines series and the next Justice novel.

5) Paperbacks for the Bloodlines series should all be out by the end of June.

6) New covers for the Seasons of Magick series are done. The files need to be reviewed before forwarding them to my formatter. Then a bundled edition will be released.

7) Once the first six actions items are done, I'll get back to work on A Modicum of Truth.

Status Report - October 2016

It's hard to believe October is almost over! So what are the project priorities?

Priority #1
I sent the master files for Zombie Goddess to my formatter Saturday morning. I'm probably not going to have it out by my arbitrary deadline, which is the third anniversary of the release of Blood Sacrifice, aka the last new release in the Bloodlines series. So I'm shooting for Halloween provided my formatter isn't backlogged.

Priority #2
Finish writing Ravaged by Halloween. This has been a difficult story to complete because it deals with a lot of uncomfortable subjects. It doesn't help that the storyline mirrors some elements of the current U.S. political climate. I can honestly say this story was outlined well before the recent bullshit. I'm hoping to have it edited in time for a Thanksgiving release.

Priority #3
Finishing Sacrificed will be my National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo, NaNo or November) project. Frankly I lost a day when I accidentally deleted Chapter Nine of this book without a backup. *facepalm* If I can stay on schedule, I hoping for a Christmas release.

Priority #4
I'll spend the holidays finishing Resurrected. It won't be out until late January/early February because both my formatter and my cover artist take time off to spend with their children--as they should!

Not a Priority, but You're Going to Hear About It Soon
I started a new project called The Four Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse. As a soccer mom myself, I said the only way I'd ever get a fucking mini-van is when the Four Horsemen arrive to announce the end of the world. Well, my heroine Danielle feels the same way. When a drunk driver totals her beloved pick-up, nearly killing her and her son, what does her hubby bring home as a replacement? Unfortunately in Danielle's case, it really does trigger Armageddon!

Starting the first chapter was my consolation the day I accidentally erased a chapter of Sacrificed because I was out of chocolate. (By the way, my huge order from Lindt arrived last Thursday.)

THE DEFINITE RELEASE!
Sword and Sorceress 31 with my story "Pig-Headed" will be out on November 2nd. In fact, Amazon is already taking pre-orders. So is Barnes & Noble. This is an independent tale and doesn't take place in any of my pre-existing worlds. All I can say is Talis, a sorceress wannabe, is having a very bad day, starting with accidentally turning her brother into a farm animal and ending with an ogre threatening to eat her best friend.

All righty, then! Time for me to get back to work!

It's NaNoWriMo Time!

Yesterday started National Novel Writing Month, a crazy, fun-filled thirty days where writers, from newbies to multi-decade vets, plan to write a 50,000-word novel. Some succeed; some don't. In the end, it's really a question of learning to push your limits.

In my case, it's a question of learning how to pants. In other words, trusting my subconscious instead of planning every minute detail. (In case, you haven't figured it out, I'm an A++ personality. LOL)

On top of practicing my pantsing, I'm working on juggling  the various elements of being a publisher. To that end, I need to get my daily word count in for Ravaged, which is Book 7 of the Bloodlines series and my NaNo project for 2015.

On top of that, I'm still proofing the print copies of Blood Magick and Zombie Love, waiting for my beta reader to get back to me about A Question of Balance, approving the e-book cover of A Question of Balance, send out prizes for a blog contest for Alter Ego, work on Zombie Goddess (which is worked on AFTER the daily word count of Ravaged) because it needs to released first, and squeeze in a few words on Sacrificed while waiting in line to pick up Genius Kid from school.

And that last one brings me to another observation. Some writers think they can only write in the perfect room at the perfect temperature, wearing the perfect clothes, sipping the perfect drink and nibbling the perfect chocolate.

Um, no. That's actually a good way to fuck yourself up as a writer.

I'm currently writing Sacrificed on the note function of my ancient iPhone 4 during the five to ten minutes I'm sitting in the car pick-line of the local high school. I can't focus for two hours with my tea like I prefer. Yet, I've written around 5K in those few minutes four-five days a week since school started around August 15th.

So even if the idea of writing 50K in thirty days freaks you out, remember there are other ways of working toward your goal.