Promos and taglines

I have been thinking about promo lately. Or more correctly, my brain decided to throw out one for Daughter of the Dark yesterday, which… I loved. It is short, and teasery without being spoilery. I am planning on using it for promo, mainly on Twitter.

The plan is to either create promo graphics or pay my cover designer to do them. Or both.

Before I start doing promo I need to overhaul the blurb. sigh. And probably proofread the book, since I am pretty sure there are spots were I used 5 words when 1 would do.

The reason for this? Vanished. I am excited to launch it, probably with a pre-order. But… I want Daughter of the Dark and Exile to be the best they can be, so that I can say “Hey. Read the other two books about this character!” Without worrying about the quality. (I did the best I could when releasing them, but I have grown as a writer since.)

Anyway, I am off to eat dinner, before trying to edit some more.

The plan for 2020

So I think I haven’t talked about my plans for 2020. I have mentioned it on Twitter, but not in detail. Since Twitter in a fast moving venue, I wanted to have it somewere more stable.

The plan is simple. (Caveat: This might change, depending on what happens with my dayjob.)

*Publish Vanished.

*Publish Daughter of the Dark in print. (Which involves lightly editing it, since I hsve grown as a writer since I wrote it: I was also dealing with a parent newly diagnosed in lung cancer,. (that summer is something I never want to experience again.) when publishing it.)

*Decide about a bundle with Exile, Vanished and Daughter of the Dark. (Which will mean getting Exile edited, etc. So we will see.)

*Edit and send The Shifter’s Justice to beta readers. (I would *love* to be able to publish one book per year in the Portal Justicar series.)

*Outline the rest of the Portal Justicar series. Right now I am not certain of the order, which is one reason I got stuck on The Sun Bird’s Shadow. It could be book 4… or not. (Considering how it starts, I think it is book 4, but I also think I need to know what happens in the other books first. Isn’t series writing fun?)

*Write a book or two. Probably one that wont be released for awhile.. Or it might be. You never know!

Sneak peek: Vanished

Since I am editing Vanished right now, I thought I would offer you an tiny excerpt of how the book begins. While there will be some changes, they will probably be minor. And yes, the book has a 2020 release date, though I haven’t decided exactly when, or if I am doing a pre-order or not..

A knock echoed in the small cottage. With a sigh, I stopped putting away the groceries, and took a step toward the door.
“Finish stowing away the groceries. I’ll see who it is, Jenny,” Arwel said, dropping the leather pouch he was darning.
Curiousity nagged at me as I filled the larder. I kept glancing toward the door. Questions bubbling inside me.
Normally, Arwel would have invited the visitor inside. Not this time, now he spoke in a quiet voice with visitor, standing in the doorway, blocking any chance I had of identifying the person at the door.
Once done, Arwel closed the door, the sound echoing in the silent room.
He had a tired, closed off looked on the face. The same look he had for the last few weeks.

A Belated Happy 2020

So I had an wonderful christmas, that was mostly spent away from the internet. Which was glorious. I read lots of books, ate good food, played with my nephews (especially the oldest one, since we spent New Year and a whole weekend together, talked with my siblings, met family I don’t see ofte,, ate tasty food. Mmmm..

I hope you had a wonderful holiday too, with family, and friends, and tasty food and laughter and memories. And if you wasn’t… I am sending all the virtual hugs, and hope that the next one is better.

I am going to treasure the memories, and smile when I see the art my uncle gifted me at christmas. (“You live in a smaller apartment, so you get two paintings.” Which are lovely, but I am still scratching my head over the reasoning.)

Anyway, I am back in my apartment, and am slowly editing Vanished. I am part way through chapter three. Which is a nice progress, since I have a March deadline.

That was an interesting November

So if you follow me on social media, you will have noticed that I have mentioned that my dayjob is laying off a lot of people.. and I am one of them, I found out a couple of weeks ago. I have no idea what will happen, to be honest.

A lot of the discussion is happening without me, which why I am so glad I am member of the union. Otherwise… no one would fight for me. And people *are* fighting for me. From the union, who is vehemently disagreeing with the HR’s stand poimt that only my permant position should count, to the two doctors who are fighting with the clinic board to change their minds.

We are in a disagreement if it will help or not. One of the doctors assured me a couple of days ago that it helps. I… am less convinced. The hospital needs to save a *lot* of money, And on the paper, my position isn’t essential. Except… if they split up my position, it means that 2 people will get 40 % more to do. Which… is a lot.

So right now, I am still in a bit in a shock, though I am also working at my CV and pondering my options, since…even if there is a miracle, and I get to keep my position, the trust that was a bit battered before is now cracked. There is also the fact that while I like my job, and I am good at it… I am feeling the need for a challenge.

Oh, and in between all this, I am also working on the outline for an new book. Needless to say it is going slowly, but I like what I get. I have no idea when I’m actually going to write it, hopefully in December, though December is awfully close now. I really want to go somewere warm and sunny, but… that’s not going to happen. *tired sigh* At least I’m going to Malmö in December and hopefully I’ll see some friends then.

After 10 years, it reached the top of my TBR pile.

So years ago, I bought a book on a whim. I bought it, since it seemed interesting.

The years passed, and I kept the book, but I didn’t read it. Too busy with life, with other books. But when I sat down to work on the notes for the next portal justicar book, I knew it was time to read it, and some other books in the TBR pile.

And then, I couldn’t find it. I knew it was here, somewere, but I couldn’t find it.

Until one day, I found it .In the same spot that I had looked before. Yeah. I am reading it right now, and it is really interesting. It might be a bit dated, since it is almost 20 years old, but I recommend that you try to find a copy.

Mostly about life

So I finished the rewrite, a couple of weeks ago I think. Then I firmly took a week off from writing, since I had earned it. (Also, because I managed to hurt my shoulder.) It was a good timing, though, since family from other parts of Sweden was coming to Stockholm. Which was fun. And then dad had some health issues, which scared everyone and was less fun (When my sister called, I thought she was calling to schedule the spa day we had been loosely discussing.)

He is fine now, and we have mostly stopped fretting. Mostly.

Then I worked (a lot) and poked at the notes a bit, got an extra book case, emptied the last of the boxes (yay.)

And then I had a week of migraine, triggered by the news that my 10/10 deadline had been extended to late November.(I called dad today, and asked if there was a connection between my deadline extension news on Monday and the migraine almost exactly 24 hours later? School book example, according to him.) So basically this week, I have napped. A lot.

The end result is that I am not as far into the worldbuilding of the next book as I would like. I am reading non-fic books and thinking about the realm and who rules it and what is allowed, and what isn’t (hint: slavery, among other things.)

It feels nice to take it easy, and don’t rush, to be honest. I mean, I am hoping to start writing it in November, and be done before Easter. But you never know.

Soooonnnn.

Soon…

I will be finished with this book. Which I have been saying since July, but I mean it this time.

Now, it depends on how you define soon. Will it be this weekend? Errm. Probably not.

Will it be next weekend? Maybe.

Will it be before October? Definitely.

Productive saturday

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

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