What is this thing called writing?

On By MikaelaIn Writing

I am one of those writers that has to write everyday to get some kind of momentum on a book. The  last week, I have been doing a lot of things. 

I spent last weekend at dad’s cottage in the archipelago, I commuted from the other cottage a couple of days and   had a lovely time with my brother and his family, and a couple of their friends, and then yesterday there was  a family dinner, since my youngest brother is in town. 

All of this is lovely, but do you know what I haven’t done? Written words. sigh.

This weekend, I am all alone, and I am going to write. Probably not as much as I would if I had kept on writing this week, though. 

Ah well. I’m looking forward to work on this scene, it will be fun, and a family secret will be revealed. 🙂


Cover reveal: The Shifter’s Justice

On By MikaelaIn Writing

So I have been sitting on this for a couple of months, I think,  and originally I planned planned to reveal it in my newsletter, but I have a fever and I want to share it with others. 🙂   Just like Daughter of the Dark’s new cover it was designed by Daqri at Covers by Combs.

The book should be out later this year. I am halfway through the revisions, roughly. I am aiming to be done in August.( Originally it was July, but then June happend.)


My path to audiobooks

On By MikaelaIn Writing

My dayjob is filled with lovely people. It also is a open office landscape (and cold. None of us has figured out how to turn on the heating.), which means it is noisy since everyone but me is constantly on the phone. So I brought my headphones early on, but I only used them sporadically until a couple of months ago . And then a month ago, or so, I decided to start listening to old episodes of one of my favorite radio shows. Which means I have learned all kinds of interesting, random things, that goes into the well.   

From swedish medieval cooking, to how Stockholm sounded in the 1700’s to  the fact that neurosurgery in the late 1700’s was a four day procedure. Without any painkillers. Yeah. Oww.

This does mean that I will be out of episodes in August or so.  Which is why I am looking at the library’s audiobooks. since I like free and I need streaming audiobooks since I cannot download any at work.

Anyway. I am off to eat dinner, before crawling into bed, since said cold office have given me a fever.

The Dishwasher saga

On By MikaelaIn Life

So in March, I discovered that a rubber packing of some kind, was loose. After some consideration, and googling, I decided that the economically wise thing to do was to replace the dishwasher since it is 8 years old, and if I repair it, something else will break down in 6 months or so (I am a bit cynical)

So I ordered a dishwasher online, realised it wouldn’t fit 60 minutes after I had ordered it, cursed, called customer service and cancelled said order.

The weekend after that, I went to the store, bought an dishwasher that fits and had it delivered. Annddd. When the dishwasher came the installator took one look at the electricity and said ”Uh. We cannot install it. You need a separate outlet, for that.”

So I called the bulding management, since I have no idea how to find a trustworthy electrician. They helped me find one, he came, looked and basically said ” Yeah. That is illegal. It is pure luck it hasn’t been afire.”

Which is always nice to hear. Not. (For the record, I am so glad that I deciced to replace it, and not repair it.)

Then I waited for the estimated cost, which fit the estimate he had given me verbally, accepted it, and then I waited. And waited. Finally, I prodded the building management company, since I didn’t have his telephone number. And the electrician called a 2-3days later, apologizing, claiming he hadn’t noticed the estimate being accepted. (The bill is at 1000 dollar plus, I went WTF.  Yeah. I had a moment where I considered backing out, but I just want this done.)

They are coming to fix the electricity on Monday, and hopefully the dishwasher will finally be installed before midsummer.

May update!

On By MikaelaIn Writing

It is May, which means that summer is just around the corner. *peers at the weather prognosis*  Hopefully.  Today has been glorious, but most of May have felt like the weather thinks it is late Mars. Burrr.  I bought a thin down jacket, just because of the weather.  (That, and it is handy when travelling.)

I also have a dishwasher saga, that went from “replace the dishwasher” to “replace the electricity.” Yeah, Ow. I have hired an electrician, though we haven’t set a date.  I had planned to call and ask today, but I forgot. 

Anyway. The second draft of The Shifter’s Justice is progressing nicely. As in, I’m about to start revising chapter 4 and I have added 7000 words to the book already.  Oh and the projected wordcount is 35 000 words. I am pretty sure it will be longer than that. 

I am having fun writing this draft, and I can see how much I have grown as writer since I wrote it.  It also makes me want to go back to Vanished, though hopefully Vanished will be pretty solid.  Though to be fair,  The Shifter’s Justice is pretty solid.  I think.  Maybe.  (I always think my books are pretty solid, until I discover that they isn’t. LOL)

I am also hoping that this revision will not take me 4 months, since I have figured out that if I use  Scrivener’s fullscreen mode, I write a lot more than if I don’t.  That in combination with revising the chapters backwards (which I haven’t done yet. Ahem) should ensure that the draft goes smoothly.  (I know, I know. I probably jinxed it now.)

Oh! I am going to be at Åcon at the end of May.  If you are there, come and say hi. 


Look at my stunning new cover!

On By MikaelaIn Writing

So in September, or was it October, I decided to commission covers from Covers by Combs for Portal Justicar series, including Daughter of the Dark.  I loved the old cover, but roughly at the same time as I commissioned the covers, I  realised that it might be a better fit for Vanished, than Daughter of the Dark.  Ooops.

Yesterday was finally the day when Daqri, the talented cover artist that I picked, designed the covers. And they are gorgeous, totally worth being up until like 1:30 am. 🙂 (In the future, I’m picking a Thursday or Friday, though, so that I don’t have to wake up at 5:30 the next morning.)   

Isn’t the cover gorgeous? It fits the book perfectly!  <3 The updated book, and proofread, should go live over the weekend at the various retailers.


Recharging the well

On By MikaelaIn Writing

When I finished rewriting The Bone Dragon’s curse, I decided to take the rest of the week off from writing. I was tired after the long revision, and felt drained.  

To be fair, I am still drained. I think part of the reason is that I am not sure what to work on next. Logically, I should revise The Shifter’s Justice (or whatever the final title is), but…. I have just finished a long  revision.

So what am I gonna do?

Recharge the well. I am going to read non-fic books, doodle a map, jot down notes, maybe watch  some documentary, read through the worldbuilding notes I already have on the Portal Universe.

Hopefully when I am done with that, I’ll be eager to revise the Shifters Justice. If I am not… well. I’ll have  a more solid worldbuilding.  Which never hurts.

Yes. This what I write

On By MikaelaIn Writing

Now that I am out of the  writing cave, I have a gazillion things to do, and one of them is to find stock photos for the covers I commissioned for the Portal Justicars series (yes, including Daughter of the Dark.)  and I found this  picture on Depositphotos, and went YES this is what I write.  So of course I bought it.  <3  I do take objection to that medieval is included. Not all fantasy is medieval. But it is also a sign that the image of fantasy being set in alternate, medieval, worlds is very ingrained.   So let’s write books set in *diverse*  worlds.  Break the mold, until that image becames  a lot less ingrained.

Done. Done. Done.

On By MikaelaIn Writing

It took much, much longer than expected, though to fair I also moved, with all the entails, but I am finally done with rewriting  the Bonedragon’s Curse.  

The draft  started at 30 900 words and ended at 46 600 words. o-o.   Maybe there is a reason why it took…*checks* 6 months to rewrite.  (I guess I did it again. sigh.) I did learn a lot about my process, and it should probably go faster the next time.  The only reason I didn’t do the “revise the chapters backwards” in the end was because i knew the end would need a lot of work.  Which turned out to be correct, since the end has a lot of more words now. 

Which means, I’ll have another round of edits later on, but not now.  Now I am going to spend the rest of the week reading books other people wrote. And going to Gothenburg to see a show. 

And probably finish unpacking my apartment. 

But first I am going to bed. 

Fiddling

On By MikaelaIn Writing

So I have been fiddling with things all day, from cleaning  the apartment, to doing the dishes, to fiddling with the webpage.  It might be because I am procrastinating on the writing.  Or maybe I am just restless. 

I do like the theme I selected ( even if I am probably going to replace the header soonish), and the apartment is cleaner  and the story is going well. Slowly, but well.   I am definitely in the last scene, though. So yay.

 Here is a tiny snippet:

”That is a relief to hear. The thought of leaving ground is… unsettling.”
<It is unsettling for anyone that is born without wings,>The gryphon assured her.

Anyway, I hope you have a lovely weekend! I am going to spend it… not writing. Since I am off to the cottage tomorrow.