Snippet Wednesday: Teaser 1 from the Cauldron Bound

On 29/04/2015 By MikaelaIn Writing

Since The Cauldron Bound is out July 1st ( or thereabouts), I have decided that it is time to tease you. Chapter one can be read here. ( And Chapter two is… somewere. I’ll post it next week.) But I am planning on posting random teasers from Chapter three for the next eight weeks.

Aodh stared at the grass-covered earthen wall as high as three men that was blocking the path. Why didn’t the warriors we met tell us about the wall? echoed in his mind.
Maybe the warriors didn’t know about it. He considered that. It was possible, he decided, although judging from the yellowed grass that covered it, the wall had been here for awhile.

I hope you are as excited for the Cauldron Bound as I am! 🙂

So I finished the draft

On 28/04/2015 By MikaelaIn Writing

Yesterday, I finished the draft of Vanished. It is a bit messy, but it is done at a smidgen over 10 000 words. I also looked at the schedule and what I had done during the last month. And decided that I needed a break.

So I am taking the week off from writing. And editing. And revising. I might write some blogposts. And I might do some world building.

Mostly, I am planning to read, though. Lots and lots of books, both non-fiction and fiction. 🙂

Oh. I also bought a shiny cover for Frosthold. Yes, I know, Frosthold isn’t due to be released until late 2016. But the cover is beautiful, in a timeless way that reminded me of old leather bound hardcovers. So I am happy. This time around I am planning on

I am also planning to re design the covers for Exile and the Cauldron Bound. Part of me is really reluctant to spend a lot of money for the cover of a short story. But none of the pre-mades I have looked at fit. Except maybe one cover by Patty Jansen. Hm. In fact, this is the first pre-made cover I have felt I had to have.

Anyway. Now I am off to read a book or two. See you after I get back from my break. 🙂

Irregular round up of what I’m writing and reading

On 18/04/2015 By MikaelaIn Books, updates, Writing

The publishing:

First, Exile now has a permanent price of 0.99. The price has already dropped at Amazon, other retailers are coming during the next 2-3 weeks. Why? Because Kobo was charging 2.70, and since I want to charge 2.99 for The Cauldron Bound, I realised that was unsustainable. Plus, I decided a low price is a good way to introduce new readers to my books.

The Alchemist’s Apprentice has been revised based on betareader feedback, now it is off to another beta reader, who has never read my stuff before. *bites nails* The Alchemist’s Apprentice is also available for pre-order at Amazon. But you knew that already, right?

The Cauldron Bound is off to the copy editor sometime next week. I… am nervous, honestly. It is a novella and I am wondering if you will like it. I think you will, but I cannot read your minds. 🙂

The writing:

When I began writing Vanished, the current WIP, I made pretty good progress, but then I took a break to revise The Alchemist’s Apprentice. After I finished the revision, I have been poking at the WIP. So today I decided to sit down and write a synopsis. Which I did. The result is 1100 words that tells me what happens in the story. There might have been some flailing on twitter and in the war room. Why? Because Exile is 8000 words long, with a 600 words synopsis. This synopsis is almost twice as long, which would mean that the story will be at least 12000 words, if not longer.. I am telling myself that nothing is set in stone. Though if it gets over 15 000 words, I will probably push the release date to next year, so that I have time to revise it properly. But we will see.

The reading:

I don’t talk much about what I read, since I got burned out on reviewing. I also tend to read in bursts the last year or so. Anyway, the last week I have been reading a lot of cozy paranormal mysteries lately. I like to do that for a palate cleansing, though sometimes cozies gets too caught up in the characters life so the mystery gets well hidden. I like Juliet Blackwell, though, so I buy her books occasionally. I picked up It takes a witch by Heather Blake, since it was on sale. It was good, but of the easily forgotten kind.

I have also glommed on the first three books in Annie Bellet’s Jade Crow series. I like them a lot. Highly recommended!

Deadlines everywhere

On 15/04/2015 By MikaelaIn Writing

I just finished the revisions for The Alchemist’s Apprentice based on Thirzah’s feedback. The feedback was brutal.” I like it, but I think it would work better if you focused on one character.”

I cursed at her in e-mail but guess what? She was right. I cut one of the POV’s, yet the revised draft is still almost as long as the previous version. It is also much more focused, more punchier.

Now I am going let it sit, then it will be off to another beta reader, then I will edit it, then I will get it proof read. And all this before May 22nd.

Did I mention I’ll get the copy edits for The Cauldron Bound back at May 15th or thereabouts?

The good part is that I can put the copy edits aside until I have wrapped up the polishing of The Alchemist’s Apprentice.

Experiment ahoy!

On 12/04/201512/04/2015 By MikaelaIn Writing

I have been pondering pre-orders for awhile, but I have been reluctant to make the Cauldron Bound available as pre-order since the point of self publishing is the flexibility, to be able to publish as soon as the formatting is finished. So I decided to give pre-orders a try with The Alchemist’s apprentice. Why? Because it is short and cheap, so I don’t lose much by offering it as pre-order. If it works well, I will probably run more books as pre-orders. I just wish that Publit offered pre-orders, but I am not surprised they don’t offer it, since Swedish publishers and bookstores don’t offer pre-orders.

Anyway, you can pre-order it here. I hope you do! It is a nice little story. More a slice of life than action packed, but I like it.

Now, if you excuse me, I need to finish writing the scene I realised was missing from the revised draft. Oops.

Pondering short stories

On 10/04/2015 By MikaelaIn Writing

I am writing a short story from Jenny’s POV right now. It takes place at the end of her apprenticeship to Arwel. I don’t write many short stories, but I am writing this one, because of one line in Daughter of the Dark. I also have a couple of other short stories about Jenny that I am planning to write during April and May. Why all the short stories?

Because I expect to get feedback on The Alchemist’s Apprentice soon, and then there are the copy edits for The Cauldron Bound.

Writing three short stories in the same world, is also a preparation for the revision of Daughter of the Dark that I plan to begin once the Cauldron Bound is copy edited.

One other aspect is the fact that I can fit short stories in between my longer novellas. There will not be a case of write in April, release in May, though. I need a good long break before the revisions and my awesome beta readers need time to read the stories, and I need time to revise the stories based on their feedback. 🙂

But I can guarantee that it will not take a year for the short stories to come out. Unless I sit on them for a reason.

So far this week I have:

On 08/04/201508/04/2015 By MikaelaIn Writing

Edited Cauldron Bound
E-mailed copy editor
Revised the Alchemist’s apprentice
Designed cover for The Alchemist’s apprentice
Revised the blurb for The Cauldron Bound
Tweaked the Cover for the Alchemist’s apprentice
Drafted the newsletter
E-mailed with Publit
Done backend stuff at Publit and Amazon
Formatted an ARC for The Alchemist’s Apprentice
Created a page for The Sultanate of Sind series.

Oh. Did I mention I also finished a first draft on Sunday? Or was it Saturday?

No wonder I am tired. To think the plan was to take the week off from writing. Instead I took the week off from the day job, because of health reasons. *looks at list* Well, I haven’t written much fiction… Though I added 700 words during the revisions.

The plan for tomorrow is to visit a museum or something, since they are turning off the water. * suddenly remembers why she planned to do the dishes* Oops.

A Cover for The Alchemist’s Apprentice

On 07/04/201508/04/2015 By MikaelaIn Writing

So I decided to take today off from writing. The result? One short story edited and a cover for the short story designed. And here is the cover. I like it. I originally planned on having a girl dressed in middle easternclothing on the cover, but I dropped that idea since the girls I found felt like they were playing dress up. Anyway, it is about why Sherezade became apprenticed to Firuz. The Queen of Sind is coming 2016, I think. ( It is drafted, but it needs to be revised. And edited.) Also? I am not buying stock photos from Fotolia again. Their license page confuses me, so the cover might be gone soon. sigh. The photographer is Sonja Birkelbach.

Done!

On 06/04/2015 By MikaelaIn Writing

Last night, I finished the first draft of the WIP. The first draft is at 27000 words. A solid foundation for the second draft. I know that the second draft will be longer, even if I am not certain how much longer.

Today, I am doing edits on The Cauldron Bound. I am aiming for finishing the edits on Friday, or maybe Saturday. It is do able. since the edits are light and focused on polishing.

Then in May I am sending it to the copyeditor. It feels really weird that the next step is copyedits!

Once I am done with the edits I will begin to contact reviewers. Or at least make list of reviewers…

A snippet from the WIP

On 02/04/2015 By MikaelaIn Writing

Since it is Easter, and since all my friends are doing it, here is the first 200 words from the unnamed WIP. With a release date of that I am not announcing yet. This is unedited, so it is filled with typos, but I hope you enjoy it!

I looked up when the doorbell chimed. The greeting on the tip of my tongue died when I saw the man that stood there. Cian. What in the name of the ancestors was he doing here? I blushed when I remembered the hot fling we had had before the mess with Tony happened.

“ Cian? What are you doing here?”

“ I was about to ask you the same question. When I came to visit you the next day, you were gone.”

I winced.

“I had an argument with my brother and decided to leave town for awhile.”

It was the truth, yet it was simplifying things a lot. I was a Portal Justicar, albeit a relatively new one. My brother was a high ranking member of the Rookery, the biggest criminal organisation in this realm, if not all the seven realms. So it wasn’t surprising that when he found out that I worked for the Portal Justicars he was furious. In fact, he had been so angry that my boss had decided that it was best to hide somewhere far away. And this village in the northwestern corner of Kanida was as far away as you could travel. The fact that a group of dwarves had just relocated here was just a co-incidence.