Wrapping up 2014

On 12/12/201402/12/2014 By MikaelaIn Writing

When I write this, it is Early December. The air finally has a bite of winter, even if it hasn’t arrived yet. In fact, the roses were budding this weekend. Whoever says climate change isn’t happening is welcome to take a trip to my mum’s garden.

Anyway. That is not what this post is about.

It is time to look back what I have accomplished this year, and it is a lot. Even if I didn’t publish Daughter of the Dark like I had hoped, which I am sad about but when I sent to a beta reader she gave me a lot of feedback that can be summed up with ” I am confused”. And that is something I really want to avoid.

This year, can be summed up with one word:

Revising. I revised The Wild Hunt, Daughter of the Dark, A Shadow of Love, The Cauldron Bound and Exile. That, my friends, is a lot of words revised. In addition to that I also wrote Frosthold, Exile and the Cauldron Bound ( or at least a big chunk of it). So 40 000 words in the shape of drafts, and then another 30 000 words during the various revisions. Not much compared to some of my friends, but I am happy with it. Oh, and lets not forget the short stories I am writing now, so lets say another 10 000 words written.

As a result of all the revising, and the feedback I recieved from betareaders, I grew a lot as a writer during this year. It also taught me that I have to interspace the writing and revising next year, since the writing refuels me in a way that revising doesn’t, even if I like revising.

This was also the year when I took the plunge to selfpublish. I signed up for Publit, which I am glad I did, even if I made some mistakes in the beginning. But I have learned how their system works now, so I will hopefully make less mistakes next year. ( Or at least not the same ones!.)

I will admit that I considered ditching Publit for a couple of weeks, but the VATMoss mess made me change my mind. Plus, I love their support, and the fact I don’t have to deal with retailers. But I will have to get an ITIN or an EIN under 2015. Urgh.

So what are my plans for 2015?

The Coming soon page gives some hints, but it involves The Cauldron Bound, the Shattered Ward short stories and hopefully Daughter of the Dark ( which most likely will be a novel). Beyond that, I have no idea. And even if I had, I have learned my lessons about release dates from this year. The only reason I have a coming soon page is because The Cauldron Bound is more solid that Daughter of the Dark was. ( At least I think so, we will see what Kari says.) .

As for appearances, I am planning to go to Archipelacon ( since it is close) and hopefully Octocon in November. In betwen there are other trips being planned, of the family vacation kind. I also might go to London again. For longer than 2 days, so that I can visit Kari in Cambridge. I would also want to visit Wales and Scotland.. And everything in between. 🙂

Recent Reads: Frank Tuttle

On 11/12/201418/01/2016 By MikaelaIn Book Recommendations

So Maria at Bear Mountain Books have been raving about Frank Tuttle for a long time. With that in mind, I bought All Paths of Shadow when it was free a couple of months ago, but I didn’t get around to read it until I bought my Kindle. I wanted to read books, and I wasn’t home some I downloaded some books from my account. All Paths of Shadow was one of them.

And I am glad I read it. It was a fastpaced steampunk romp with great worldbuilding. From the conflicts between the various kingdoms to the magic, which was a delightful blend of science and magic. I loved that the magic was so heavily influenced by science, it felt like a natural thing for steampunk.

Once I had finished reading, I promptly downloaded the sequel and read that. I really appreciated how Mr Tuttle managed to build on the events in the first book yet create a book that works at as stand alone.

If you want to read a really good steampunk novel this christmas, I recommend that you read the books about Meralda, Mug and her friends.

Now I am off to buy Frank Tuttle’s backlist.

Five reasons you should read Joyce Chng/ J Damask

On 03/12/201418/01/2016 By MikaelaIn Book Recommendations, Writing

I might not like the cover for Heart of Fire *cough* but ever since I read it, I have been promoting her books to anyone that wants book recommendations. Since they are simply great. But I figured I would tell you why you should buy her books.

1. She can write *anything* from children’s books to Urban Fantasy to adults.

2. There are guaranteed to be a book that suits your mood. ( Except if you are in the mood for romance or horror, then you are out of luck.)

3. No matter if the books are Urban Fantasy, Fantasy or science fiction the books are full of fascinating characters and mythology. Also Dragons. Dragons makes everything better.

4. Her writing is lyrical, beautiful. It just makes you happy.

5. She is profilic, so once you are finished reading, there are more books for you to read.

Convinced? Good! Then go over to Amazon and Gumroad, and buy her books. Fair warning though: Some of the books on Gumroad is pdf. Or, you can support her at Patreon.

Not convinced yet?

She has plenty of free fiction in the shape of serials visit her webpage for links to them. Read one, then buy some of her books. ( Or not if you don’t like her writing.)