Category Archives: Updates and Information

News and information.

I’m Back … And Trying to Stay

Well … well, well, well. Look who’s still around.

I can only offer my sincerest apologies for my prolonged absence of late; I realize it’s been nearly two months without a word, even to say whether I’m still alive. I feel particularly bad, since I was off to such a great start this year; fifty-five posts between the new year and June—more than I posted for the entirety of 2014. And then …

Well, to be honest it seems to have become a bit of a pattern. Last summer was one of my worst, in terms of my mental health and depression, and this summer has been one of my worst in terms of simple motivation. I haven’t gone off my medications (like last year, fool that I am), but nor have I done much of anything creative, for nearly three months now. The Redemption of Erâth hasn’t seen a new word, and this blog has languished.

Being cooped up … led to an absolute loathing of my surroundings.

For what it’s worth, though, I haven’t been entirely idle. Here’s a short list of what I’ve done in the past two months:

  • Listened to a lot of new music, thanks to Apple Music
  • Bought an Apple Watch (totally unnecessary, I know)
  • Cleared my desk
  • Gained a new (thought temporary) position at work
  • Moved house

That last one really kind of took a toll, to my surprise. It turns out that packing everything into boxes, shifting it from one house to another, and then being entirely unable to find anything for the next six months is kind of stressful.

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Still Alive, Still Weak

It’s been more than a month since my last Thought of the Week, and almost a month since my last post on here at all. With every Monday that rolls around, I hope desperately for the strength to write something—anything—to let you all know I’m still around, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. Today, finally, with a bit of time before work, I summoned the courage to at least give a brief update.

I haven’t written anything for many months now. Exile is continuing to languish in edit hell, and I can’t get past chapter ten of Ancients and Death. Every time I try to sit at the computer, on my iPad, and write, despair floods me and I give up before I can even begin. I want so desperately to continue, to tell the story of Brandyé and co., but I just … can’t.

… more importantly, I’m disappointing myself.

My doctor has increased the dose of my medication, almost to the levels I was at a year ago. We thought I was doing well and lowered them—and for a time, I was doing well. The burst of energy I had at the start of the year was wonderful, and I wrote more posts for this blog in January and February than I did all of 2014. I got a lot of writing done for Ancients and Death, too. And then it just … died. I feel like I’m disappointing all of you, and more importantly, I’m disappointing myself.

The only positive to have come out of the past few months is that I signed on to be a feature writer for the review blog, Girl Who Reads. The lovely Donna over there posts an article of mine on the first Friday of every month, and so far I’ve at least been able to bring myself to write for that, if nothing else. I can’t speak to the quality of the articles, but at least I’m getting them done, and on time. Perhaps that’s what I need for my own writing, too—a kind of deadline, a consequence of failure to write. That’s one of the hardest part of being a writer, I think: the fact that if you don’t write, there’s no one to tell you “you’re fired”. No one to give you a swift kick up the ass.

As I was reading the news on Flipboard this morning and sipping my coffee, it occurred to me that June is only a few days away, and a new month might be a good chance to make new commitments. I’d like to start small: first, post a tiny something to my Facebook author page every day, even if it’s only a word. Perhaps even this small gesture of writing will inspire to write more, and I might find myself working again. Perhaps not, but at least it’s a start. I need something to turn me around.

Here’s to June—a new start, halfway through the year, and a chance to finish what I’ve started.

Entering the New Year with Positivity

Welcome back, everyone! I’m sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted, but it’s been a busy and eventful December / New Year, and I always seem to tail off the blogging around this time of year. I’ll be back in short notice with everything that’s been happening, but for now I just wanted to kick off the new year with a little bit of happy writing-related news: I’ve started getting reviews of The Redemption of Erâth: Consolation, and so far they’re all positive! I’ll share them momentarily below.

Screen Shot 2014-07-08 at 12.13.29 PMThe Redemption of Erâth: Consolation was published in July of 2014, and in case anyone’s interested I made a whopping $37 in royalties in the first three months of it being on sale. Hardly the millions I’d been secretly wishing for, but it’s certainly better than a kick in the head. Moreover, though, I received (for me) overwhelming support and great feedback from my giveaways in October, and in fact this is where some of the reviews have come from. (Granted, it means the reviews are not strictly unbiased, but I’ll take what I can get for the moment!)

I still have a lot of work to do on book two, Exile, before it’s ready to be published, and I of course have the rest of book three, Ancients and Death, to write (not to mention the rest of the series). Exile made it to the editor, who suggested some (rather drastic, in some cases) changes and rewrites, which I’m going to have to think carefully about. I don’t want to cut too much from the book (she suggested removing the first fifth of the book entirely), because it is important later on in the series, but I need to find a way to make that a little clearer. I hate editing.

On the positive side, my medication routine seems to be holding me in good stead, and I feel (at the moment) rather positive about the forthcoming year and the work I have ahead of me. I have the next couple of days off before I head back to my day job, so I’m looking forward to spending at least a little bit of time at the keyboard.

I’ll recount everything that happened in our trip to England in a future post, but for now I’ll leave this here with three wonderful reviews of The Redemption of Erâth: Consolation.

“I thoroughly enjoyed this first, [and] am eagerly awaiting the next. The characters are vivid, as is the world in which they exist. I did not want to put it down! It has been a while since a story held my interest so deeply—I really care about the characters and the places came alive for me.”

★★★★★

—Jill Preis, amazon.com

“I won a copy of this book through a good reads giveaway. This has not influenced or biased my opinions.

“I almost did not feel like I was reading a book. Rather, I felt I was being told a story by a traveling bard. The language of this book is crafted beautifully. It was descriptive and engaging. However, at times the way sentences are constructed are different from how you would expect them to be, so I had to re-read the way things were worded here and there. I liked how things were worded. It challenged me but also set the tone for the tale itself. And it fit perfectly with the story line and setting. This book is more description than exposition. Yet the story never lost me or bored me.

“There were only a couple spots where there was an editing error (a period instead of a comma, etc). Otherwise, the book itself was well crafted. I look forward to reading more from this book series. The ending is hopeful yet ominous all at once. I liked the hints at the history of the world too. I very much look forward to discovering more of the Illuen and the world beyond Consolation.

“Good story and well told.”

★★★★★

—J. Else, goodreads.com

“This book starts off what I think will become a great fantasy series. Darkness has taken over the world, and only a small area is unaffected, but Darkness is creeping in. Characters are well developed, and you can never be sure who is good and evil. Can’t wait to see where this goes.”

★★★★

—Jason, goodreads.com

Featured image from http://webneel.com/30-beautiful-new-year-wallpapers-your-desktop.

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