Productive saturday

~ Mikaela

I am still not done with the second draft on The Shifter’s Justice, which is a bit frustrating. I am in the last chapter, though, so yay for that.

My friend RJ has posted on a Facebook about her experiment with doing 15 minutes sprints, she has found that successful and effective. Not to mention it lowers her stress.

So today I decided to try that as well, though I just worked on one book. And… it worked really well in the morning. When I broke for lunch, I had 500 words.

So in the afternoon, I decided to toss something new into the mix, again. Namely, treat each sprint as a session, and lower the session goal a bit.

That… worked even better. I wrote 700 words in 45 minutes. There was a lot of “Uhh,” in the war room. Normally I write 200 words is 30 minutes, so this was a bit unexpected, but very nice.

The end result: I am really excited, though, since this means I will be able to write more, even when I don’t have time to sit down and write for 30 minutes. (My brain thinks I should write 15 minutes in the mornings, I am not convinced…) It also means that I should be able to work on more project. If I want to.

Anyway. I am off. We are celebrating dad’s birthday with dinner at 6 pm and I need to decide what to wear.

This Friday needs a list

~ Mikaela

So I basically decided that today needs a list, since I have a lot of things to do.

  • Do laundry.
  • Hang laundry (I am experimenting with letting it dry in the living room.)
  • Make the bed
  • Book Dishwasher installation (They are coming next friday, since I don’t want to loose a full day on waiting for them to show up. Yay!)
  • Pick up things from the seamstress
  • Pick up online order
  • Pick up things Catherine S sent me (since I forgot stuff in Dublin)
  • Book haircutting time
  • Wash the red jacket
  • Put away the laundry when it is dry.
  • Eat lunch
  • Write.
  • E-mail Laura Anne.
  • Do dishes
  • Empty the recycling bins
  • Take things to the goodwill store

Doing all the things

~ Mikaela

So last week was…. odd. I was tired and had a couple of odd episodes of parestesi. They weren’t like the symtoms that I normally have, but since taking a b vitamine pill made the symtoms go away, I decided I needed a B-12 shot.

For the last 4-5 months or so, I have been taking b-vitamine pills, which has a *crazy* dose of b-vitamine in them, so I haven’t taken the shot. I thought they worked for me.

Except…. obviously not. Suddenly I have more energy, but more importantly I can focus much better.

See the list of things I have done:

  • Done the all dishes
  • Done all the laundry x3
  • Put the bookshelves in order (which resulted in some tidying up.)
  • Handed in somethings for mending (finally.)
  • Emptied the recycling bins
  • Ordered new filters to the vacuum
  • Written 1200 words.
  • called about the dishwasher (the plumber is coming on tuesday. Huzzah.)

On revising and schedules

~ Mikaela

Ever since things have started to calm down a bit, I have been thinking about what is a sustainable release pace for me.

I know that Amazon’s algorithms are pushing toward a rapid release schedule, but considering that my first two drafts takes 2-4 months each, with a good chunk of time in between the drafts… it simply isn’t feasible for me to push for a rapid release schedule.

What is feasible for me is to release one book per year, and to be open with it to my readers. I mean, there might be an surprise release, occassionally, but frankly,one per year is what I can reasonably do, considering day job and life.

That said… since life has been hectic and I have kept writing, but not necessarily revising and sending things to my editor, I have a backlog of books waiting for me to revise them.

First up after I finish the Shifter’s Justice? Vanished. It needs some proof reading, and then it is off to the editor for the next round of edits. (I read it through recently because my cover designer had a surprise opening, and it is sound except for one spot, but that is easily fixable.) I am still pondering if I should do a pre-order or not, or just drop the book when it is done. Both has its plus sides.

What is this thing called writing?

~ Mikaela

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

~ Mikaela

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

~ Mikaela

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

~ Mikaela

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!

~ Mikaela

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!

~ Mikaela

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.