Word count? What is that you speak of?

 Dear Reader,

Here we are at the final day of NaBloPoMo and NaNoWriMo. Many people are at or real close to the finish line. Others are slogging along, possibly cursing their decision to participate in these challenges. Word count is the big gauge of success and source of stress during this month. Posting across six blogs, I have absolutely no idea what my word count is. It took some stress off my shoulders, but six blogs ... that was a lot of work. It has cemented in my mind that some of these blogs are going to be updated on a weekly basis.  Because updating all of them in one day eats my entire morning of writing time.

The serial stories are stalled right now. The science fiction book is stalled because my notes in pencil are become illegible due to fading. At least I found them. The series of modern fantasy is on hold as I am awaiting contact back from the person who requested the work to be done. We had a gentleman's contract initially based on a virtual handshake. I have four books written and a fifth started. It is time to take that gentleman's contract and put it on paper to make clear what is expected of everyone involved. I'm having difficulty contracting him, because he's in grad school right now and busy as heck.

My fantasy series is on hold because I'm correcting errors in one book and trying to make things work according to my plot map in the other book. Hopefully books six and seven of the Umbrel Chronicles of Evandar will be out by late spring. In case you are curious, the story arc plotted for the whole series takes place over thirty books. I have snippets and bits of ideas for the other books, but I have to finish what I have on the block first.

Science Fiction Book on Hold.

 Dear Reader,

The backstory of Angel, Aeolus, and Dregan is currently in a holding pattern. I found my notebooks from '96 where I wrote much of the original story. One slight problem, the pencil is fading. So, I have to attempt to recreate the story via bullet points that I can draw out of the less than legible pencil. Also, I must confess, my handwriting from '96 is rather atrocious compared to today and that makes it a bit harder to read.

Give me a few months and I'll probably get the beginnings of a working draft out of that mess. With how life is going, that book is going to be the NaNoWriMo project of next year. A good amount of what I have is disjointed and a mess. But that's what a first draft is like when you're in high school.

If only I had written it in pen. Ah well, you make do with what you have and try to get the best out of it.

Edge of Night is live as paperback!

 Dear Reader,

I got Book Mail! Here's my author's copy of Edge of Night and I simply had to share it with you. It came out beautifully (and is a nice visual contrast to the infamous editing bench). It's now available as a paperback on Amazon and through other online retailers. Happy Reading! The story gets darker as evil rises.

Day two of a migraine, yippie!

 Dear Reader,

If only there was a sarcasm font. I would have used it and made it as big as possible for that title. I'm doing a bit better than I was yesterday. I really wanted to get on here and post a craft of writing thing but I was hardly able to see straight most of the day and light felt like I was getting stabbed in the face by the evil Day-star. Migraines suck, y'all.

Where do I begin? Last week was relatively awful on the brain front. Barely avoided a big fight with a relative because I focused my attention on mentally stabbing them in the eye as I was knitting on Mother's Day. I'm still kinda angry but I'm doing my best to just put it aside. I had a rotten week last week that kept me from writing just about anywhere because of my brain doing the I am depressed thing. Therapy writing was grueling and felt utterly useless. When I finally got through what is typically my morning writing routine, it was time for the kids to get home from school and then I was playing referee between two teenagers. (Yes, my youngest is twelve but he's got the attitude of a thirteen year old already.)

To say it's been rough over here is a big understatement. I didn't want this blog to linger in silence longer just because I didn't feel awesome. I wanted to let you know that I'm still here, just struggling to get time to write pretty much anything. We're coming up on a week of appointments next week and the boys have a track and field competition that Beloved and I are trying to figure out if we can make it to.

The remainder of this week is up in the air. I can see straight by the power of Excedrin but I've been typing slower than usual because I keep making typos that I have to go back and correct so you can actually read this. I hate migraines. And looking at the weather report for the weekend, I think I've got another one lurking Sunday into Monday next week. Ugh.

In other news, the paperback version of Edge of Night is out.

Books Update!

 Dear Reader,

I am doing NaNoWriMo again this year. I'm up to 41k and my word count goal is 60k. My problem is that I am a little over half through my plot arc for the darn book. I don't think I can wrap it up in 19k. Not a bad problem to have, but it is exasperating.

Book Seven is parked on the editing bench because I have to completely rewrite a few major sections. This is vexing but not as bad as when it looked like I had lost a third of the book (if not more). The plot went off the rails as I was working on it and now I have to trim back the story and try to get the major points of the plot back into line because the next book depends on it. I figure in a month or two, I will be at the line edits stage on this book.

I am in the planning stages of Book Eight. I don't think I am going to get it done next year if this year's shenanigans is any indication of how next year is going to go. The goal I am shooting for is 2023 holiday season as the release date for Book Eight. I don't have a title yet for Book Eight, but I'm not going to worry about that until I have the rough draft done.

Aside from the work that I have been doing on my fiction, a new non-fiction book just dropped this week. It is under my pen name Lady Brythwen Sinclair. It is a devotional guide for people who are devotees of the Norse god Loki. I have several other non-fiction books of a religious nature up on Amazon under that pen name. I also have another blog under that pen name that I'm trying to get back to updating on a daily basis again. 

Here's the link to the devotional if you're curious: 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LGWWS9N

And here's a link to the religious blog that I have under my pen name:

http://veiledwitch.blogspot.com/

Book Seven Update: Tragedy has struck.

Dear Reader,

As I was reviewing the back up copy that I had on the thumb drive from when the old computer took a dirt nap, I discovered much to my dismay that a full third of the manuscript was missing. The file isn't corrupted. I think what happened is I didn't update the latest version to the thumb drive because I assumed that they matched. It's exceedingly frustrating but I will not be defeated by being stuck with a previous version. I will take this as a sign from the universe that I am to make something even more glorious than what I had before.

In other news, the outline for book eight is just about complete. I had planned on spending NaNoWriMo working on book eight but it depends on if I have book seven completed and edited by then. It is my hope to have at least book seven ready for purchase come the holidays. (No, the outline for book eight isn't in the book bible but on a scrap of paper shoved into the book bible. I am not doing a very good job of getting that thing sorted out for this series.)

Serial Updates: News.

 Dear Reader,

I have started the initial phase of putting the serial stories together into an ebook format. I honestly have no idea how long this is going to take. I will keep you updated on the process. They will remain on the blog but if you want to read the whole thing with out flipping through blog pages (or advertisements), the ebook is going to be your friend.

If, once the ebook is complete, there is interest in it, I will publish a paperback version of each book. I will be updating the present storylines next week. After all, things are just beginning to get interesting again. (I may even be releasing that random science fiction bit if y'all want me to.)

Books Update.

 Dear Reader,

You would not believe the mess that I am sorting through. Book seven of the Umbrel Chronicles isn't completely garbled but it's a mess right now. It's been a challenge to dig through a stack of notebooks about a foot high to find what I had plotted out for the finishing scene of the book. It's just a disaster. I'm trying to get that under control but it's not working out very well because my schedule has been in disarray over the last few weeks.

Looking at the length of the serial stories, I am now considering collecting the individual posts into a couple of ebooks when they're done. Before it was just an idle thought. Now, however, I'm realizing that I have almost a full novella (if not a novel) worth of material up here. I'll keep you updated on that project. Right now, it is at the cogitation stage as I try to finish the series off.

Books Update.

 Dear Reader,

The side project has eaten my life. This is not a bad thing. I am almost finished with the third iteration of the side project's draft stage. That means I am about to enter into edits on three novellas at the same time. And I have a nonfiction work that I am in the middle of editing too. Beloved helped a ton with editing work on the nonfiction project. I'm really lucky that he did that because it was in desperate need of help.

I am going to be moving to working on book seven in the evenings soon. My hope is that I can finish up the final third of that book and get started on eight next. I know exactly how I want book eight to go. It is so incredibly clear in my head that it feels like how I felt when I first started writing this series. I can just about see the scenes in cinematic form and almost hear the dialogue. 

Book eight is going to be fun to write because it is going to be a complete change from the past seven books. Book eight is going to focus on one character and a single plot line. Y'all might find that a refreshing change after having to use a murder wall to track what is going on with your favorite characters. Book nine is going to be the same way but with a different character. And I am really excited about both of them because I can finally do some of the cool stuff that I had planned from the very beginning of the series. (Like just what was going on with that lightning bolt that struck down the deamoness in the middle of a snowstorm at night? That question gets answered in book nine.)

Book Progress Notes: Books 5 & 6 of the Umbrel Chronicles of Evandar

Dear Reader,

I feel like I'm going through the millionth read through of book five. I'm down to sorting out grammatical errors. It's a process that I feel would be easier if I had a paper copy and a red pen. My lack of a printer, however, means that I'm doing it ALL digitally. It makes my eyes tired. But, my hope is to have book five ready to send off to the printers by this summer.

I have just started the editing process on book six. It's not too awful right now. I am still working on the first few chapters, however. I am sitting here referencing my previous books to make sure that I have character descriptions right and location descriptions accurate. I'd be using my Book Bible for this but it's mostly empty because I've been busy with other things. I might take a break from working on editing book six to actually copy material into the Book Bible.

I feel a little guilty about it sitting there just waiting for me to write down my outlines of how book plots turned out and character descriptions. This was something I was going to work on last year and never got around to it. My intention this year is to spent 15 minutes a week working on it. Hopefully by the end of the year, it will be a useful tool for making sure that everything in book seven is correct.

On the writing front, book seven is proving to be a pain in the neck. I have a major scene to write out but it keeps coming out wrong. I am still coming down from a mixed episode recently. My Beloved assures me that once things stabilize within me, I'll have greater clarity in getting the ideas from in my head to the page. I'm just impatient for that to happen RIGHT NOW.

It is my hope that during NaNoWriMo this year, in November, I will write book eight. I need to finish book seven, however, before I can get working on book eight. Comparing what I have done right now and what I have slated to work on this year with my master outline for the entire series, I am at about where I want to be. I am a little behind in a couple areas, but that will be resolved in the next few books.

They're HERE!

Dear Reader,

I'm so excited. My proofs finally arrived. There's nothing quite like that new book smell! I've been reviewing it and so far everything looks good. The print size is a little smaller than I expected but it means that the book has more story for fewer pages which equals a less expensive book for you to purchase.

If it is ready, this goes live Friday. Here's hoping that this stupid sinus infection doesn't slow me down on reviewing this.

Books Update!

Dear Reader,

All glory to the gods of messengers and delivery folk! My proofs for book 4 are finally in the mail. Maybe I'll get them next week. I'm more than a touch irritated that KDP didn't drop them in the mail last week as they were supposedly going to do. Still, I'm glad they are on their way. Maybe when the proofs reach me, I'll be healthy enough that editing them won't eat all of my brain.

Book 7 refuses to cooperate with me. I'm debating ending it on a cliff hanger because it is proving so difficult to wrap up. I on't like to end things on cliff hangers unless I have no choice. Sure, a cliff hanger ending may be a good way to motivate your reader to buy the next book to see what happens. But it is a real shitty trick to pull on your readers who were enjoying the story as you were going along. I only use them if I have no choice. And it is starting to look like I have no choice.

Book 5 is fortunately cooperating with the editing process. I did not see this many damn typos on my last read through. Some gremlin put them in, I'm sure. After all, the word 'up' is not hard at all to spell. If I can get past this damn sinus infection and get it going, maybe I will have it ready for a beta read through by NaNoWriMo and I can start on an entirely different project.

Book status: Book 4 of the Umbrel Chronicles.

Dear Reader,

I'm sitting here with a massive head cold waiting for my proofs to arrive. It should be sometime within the next day or two. I'm impatient to sit down and make sure that everything which looked good in the previewer is just right in the hard copy before I officially release it. In the meantime, I'm spinning my wheels because I am stuck on how to conclude book seven. Book five is a bit of a bear to be editing right now. My head cold isn't doing much to help me focus.

The only thing that seems to be going right at the moment is my work making scarves and hats for charity. The current scarf is garishly bright but that is a good thing. While it is not my favorite color palette I know someone out there will like it. And, if nothing else, it will be bright enough to make them a little more visible in the cold weather. My box for the NICU hats to go into for donation is just about full.

The e-book for volume four of the Umbrel Chronicles is complete. I plan on officially releasing both books at the same time. Still, if you decide to search for it and pick up a copy, I won't take it amiss. Shades of Twilight is not as long as the other books in the series. It's more of a novella. That said, I am pretty pleased with it. I just need my proofs to get here so that I can make sure that the physical copies look as good as the digital ones. Details like making sure that pagination is correct and such are important.

Book five is a headache. I'm still juggling multiple plot lines. I narrowed the number of plot lines to juggle down but editing this monster is almost as bad as my sinus headache right now. It is my hope to have book five out by December. I have yet to set up the hard back versions over on Lulu.com because I'm still trying to make sure that the cover art for that version is along the same theme. It's a bit difficult.

My hope is when I finally get book six out, I can do a discount on both Amazon and Lulu so that if you wanted to buy the whole series in one shot you can. I don't have the means to set up fancy box sets right now. But, that is a goal down the road.

Book status: Bk 4 of the Umbrel Chronicles

Dear Reader,

I'm close to having book for ready for sale. There's a few minor details to be adjusted and once I review the proofs, it's going live. I'll be posting a link to the book's page on Amazon. In the meantime, here's the front cover's pic.

Good gods above and below, editing is hard work.

Dear Reader,

I've spent half my day buried in a manuscript doing last minute line edits. I caught a lot of stuff on that last few rounds of editing but I'm still catching things on this round. I have lost count the number of times I have habitually misspelled some words by how they sound instead of how they actually are spelled. I am a bit annoyed, to be honest. Still, this means that I will have a theoretically clean manuscript to send off to the printers. I was hoping to have this done by last week but things keep happening. If I'm lucky I'll have it done by the beginning of next week.

Wish me luck.

Coming Soon: Book 4 of the Umbrel Chronicles

Dear Reader,

Book 4 of the Umbrel Chronicles will be going to press in two weeks. It is novella length, so a bit of a quick read compared to the first three. In it, we get to see more of just what is going on under the Usurper's reign. Next week, I'll be posting pictures of the cover art and announcing the official title. I will also be kicking off the second trilogy of the Umbrel Chronicles with a bit of a contest, details to be announced next Wednesday with the cover reveal.

Looking for a murder mystery to read?

Dear Reader,

I'm still working on material for here. I've almost got the bugs ironed out of the process of taking pictures with my phone. And I still have that Camp NaNoWriMo project that I'm struggling to finish.

So, while you're all so kindly waiting, perhaps you'd like to solve a mystery or enjoy the thrill of watching tortured souls struggle. The Red Chair is a novella that I wrote in memory of my late Grandfather. He got me started reading mystery books as a kid with the stories of Sherlock Holmes. This has a decidedly darker storyline than that of any Sherlock Holmes story from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

It will be coming to Amazon's Kindle next month. If you pick up your copy through Lulu.com, you save a percentage off of the price elsewhere. (Sorry, the handcuffs are not included.)

Looking for something to read this week?

What's that tumbling down the screen? Why it's the first trilogy of the Umbrel Chronicles of Evandar in one place. (Google rotated the pic 90 degrees, I am hopeless at pic editing, but still, there's all three books!)

Book four is almost ready to drop. It will be up on Amazon late next month. It will be much shorter than the first three, but I think you'll still enjoy the ride.

Books Update!

Hey there Reader,

It's been a wild week at my house. Aside from three days of migraines, I've been monkeying around with Kindle Direct Publishing. As a result, I now have the first trilogy of the Umbrel Chronicles up for sale in three different formats.

Book one: The Dragon's Daughter

Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/Dragons-Daughter-Umbrel-Chronicles/dp/1496027434

Kindle Ebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MC5Z8BP

Hardcover: http://www.lulu.com/shop/deborah-miskell/the-dragons-daughter/hardcover/product-22100157.html

Book two: The Dragon Child of Evandar

Paperback & Kindle Ebook:  https://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Child-Evandar-Umbrel-Chronicle/dp/1495954838

Hardcover: http://www.lulu.com/shop/deborah-miskell/the-dragon-child-of-evandar/hardcover/product-23848163.html

Book three: Shadow Fall

Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1981701842

Kindle Ebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07M81JHJK

Hardcover: http://www.lulu.com/shop/deborah-miskell/shadow-fall/hardcover/product-23450643.html

Wait! What happened to my plot?!

Dear Reader,

My characters have changed my plot line. I feel like I'm writing complete garbage and what I'm doing it little better than word vomit. I had a very detailed and organized plot line. It was set up to cover this book and the next. Now I'm working off of things that were planned to happen two books later and my plot map is useless. I have no idea what I'm doing. My current mood right now is:

Where as my characters are going:

Halp.