Tag: updates

Edits!

On By MikaelaIn updates, Writing

Last night  the edits for Daughter of Dark landed in my inbox. I read the edit letter, but decided to wait with reading the draft.  Honestly, the edit letter made me so happy that I have been smiling all day. It also worked as a motivation boast for finishing The Wild Hunt.  I have been struggling with them lately.  Now I have a reason to finish them ( well, beyond the fact that Thirzah would have shown up at my door, demanding more, if I didn’t finish them. ). At the moment,   I cannot wait to begin editing Daughter of the Dark.   The edits will help me turn the draft from good to great. You will love it when it is out.

I have been thinking of which books Daughter of the Dark are similar to, and conclusion I have come to is the Sianim novels by Patricia Briggs and the Raine Benares series by Lisa Shearin. In other words,  Fantasy with a good dose of Urban Fantasy elements and a varying degree of Romance. :).

 

I have also seen the first draft of the cover.  And it is so pretty.  That said, I’m not showing it until the cover is final. Sorry.  There is potiental for too much hassle otherwise.

But I’m really happy I hired Storywonk for the edits, and Skyla Dawn Cameron for the cover art.

Oh, and my webhost also has a mailing list option. I plan to poke around with it, since I just discovered it. I think the first step is to add an e-mail subscription button, though.

Edit: No, the first step is to create an e-mail address.

( I discovered this when I for a couple of minutes thought I had broken my webpage.)

A lot of Juggling

On By MikaelaIn updates, Writing

I think I have a bit better grip on  working part-time and writing now.   Which is a relief, since I signed up for Before You hit Send, which starts tomorrow. I’m so looking forward to it, I’ve wanted to take it for a long time but I lacked the money.   I’ve decided to work on Queen of Sind, since it needs a lot of revision.

I also started working on the Archangels hunt. So far I have 5000 words. Woot!  I really like what I got so far. And I also found the perfect cover for it, and for the spin-off novella I want to write.  I would buy both of them on the spot, except the novella isn’t titled. And since it is pre-made, I need to have title for it. sigh.

As for the self publishing, I created an account with Publit, which is a swedish distributor. Sadly, they don’t distribute to Kindle, so I’ll need to get an EIN from the IRS. BUT they do distribute to Kobo, Overdrive (!), Ibooks plus the major swedish stores and swedish libraries  so I’m happy.  Since there are rumors about Amazon opening a Swedish/Scandinavian store soon, it is possible that they will start distributing to Kindle too. Except I should probably get it up before since I think you need to be Kindle select to get 70% in new markets. Urgh. Sometimes Amazon is confusing.

The next more writing related step, is to find a better editor  for Daughter of the Dark. The first one was…not good. ( I might have mentioned it before. )  I do know which editor I’m contacting, though. *fingers crossed* ( Kari did tell me she loved Daughter of the Dark on twitter. I still haven’t gotten used to that, although Laura Anne firmly told me to :))

I’m also looking to hire a cover designer, or buying a pre-made cover.   ( I’ll probably hire one, since the pre-made covers I have seen don’t *quite* fit what I’m looking for.)

I’ve also been thinking about marketing Daughter of the Dark.  What I think I’ll do is to have a multi pronged approach of offering a free serialized short story (Exiled)  the month before release, and sign up for a blog tour.  I’m thinking Bewitching Book tours. ( They have a 45 dollar package for one week tour, which I’m ready to pay to get the word out.)

Busy, busy

On By MikaelaIn Writing

The rewrite of A Shadow of Love is moving along smoothly.  At the moment,  I’ve rewritten the first third of the draft, and it is much better.  What is making me continue rewriting at a rather brisk pace ( 5-9 pages per day) is that I’m reminded of how much I love this story.  Like Daughter of the Dark, it is fast paced and filled with action. The plot twists makes me happy, and what’s even better is that the rewrites are making them even better.  Which is as it should be, right?   I should finish the rewrite just in time to get the edits for Daughter of the Dark.

And after the edits are finished, I’m taking a break from this Universe.  I love it, and I definitely plan to write Cauldron 2 later this year, but since November, I’ve written one novella ( Cauldron Bound), one short story( Exile), edited Daughter of the Dark, and I’m revising A Shadow of Love.  And I’m starting having trouble feeling entusiasm about the upcoming stories I want to write in this world.  So. A break is necessary.

So what will I write instead? Most likely The Silver Hand, the Sequel to the Wild Hunt.  I have an outline, and I know the world.  Plus it will not require any revision of the previous story.

Despite this, Daughter of the Dark will be released this spring/ summer. It might be pushed back a bit, since I want to release it and  A Shadow of Love close to each other.  ( I.e.  If Daughter of the Dark is released in late May/ early June, I want to release A Shadow of Love late July/ Early August)

Edit: And there is a possibility that I’ll get even busier, cause life just gave me a pleasant surprise 🙂

 

 

The prequel story is done!

On By mikaelalindIn Writing

I know. In my previous writing update post I said it would be a novella. Well. I was wrong. I had written 3000 words when I realised I had forgotten one important difference between the outline for Cauldron Bound ( the novella) and Exile ( the Short story), namely that the middle of Cauldron Bound was compressed into ” they travelled and met clans, some hostile.”  While the middle for Exile was more detailed.

I’ll admit that I was a bit relieved, since I had been trying to figure how the story would cover 17 000 words.   I’m happy that I wrote the story, since it gave me  an insight into how Jenny managed to leave Dhurig without being caught.

Now I’ll let it sit for a bit, while I focus on getting Daughter of the Dark  ready for publication.   But rest assured that I have plans for this story.

As a side note:  I’m running out of stories to write in this world. I just have two story ideas left! ( Maybe three, if I can find my notes for the third one…)

Affiliates and other things

On By MikaelaIn updates

I know, I know. I haven’t posted a review the last couple of weeks. I have been busy the last couple of weeks. Still, I have a couple of reviews planned, that will go up later this week. And, for next week… Well. Let’s just say that you’ll like it :). ( Hint: I attended Eurocon this weekend. All I am saying.) 
One of the things I did during the blogging hiatus was creating an Astore. Why? I have been thinking about ways to expand the blog, without it being too much work. Plus I know that a lot of people use Amazon. For those that don’t like Amazon, I signed up to be an Affiliate at Bookdepository too.