Category Archives: Updates and Information

News and information.

Falling Out of the (Writing) Habit

Writing is a habit; the more you do it, the easier it becomes. By that same measure, the less you do it, the harder it is to form the habit again.

I haven’t written—really written—in a very long time. I finished work on the third Redemption of Erâth book sometime last year, and while earlier this year I finished off a decades-long project under my real name, I haven’t done any serious creative writing since almost March. That’s a long time.

To top it off, I haven’t been blogging, writing for other sources, or really doing much of anything creative at all. Yes, I’ve been working here and there on some basic editing, but really nothing to write home about (pardon the pun).

And this depresses me, because I want to think of myself as a writer. But a writer writes, if not every day, at least once in a while. And it’s been quite a while.

So here I am, back at it again. There was a time when I would post at least one new article a week; I’m going to aim for something like this as autumn descends and winter takes over the air. I really enjoy blogging, and interacting with the community here on WordPress, and I just need to find my motivation again. Perhaps writing, if only a few words here and there, can help inspire me again.

I apologize for the absence, and I’ll be trying my best to return as often as possible!

An Update for the Ages

Dear readers,

I must apologize for my absence. It came to my attention recently that it’s been nearly three months since I last posted here at satiswrites.com, but I would like a chance to apologize, and a moment to explain.

In the past, these absences have been the result of vicious, deep depression, times when I’ve been unable to move from bed for days at a time, never mind write anything online. This time, however, it’s a little different: I’ve been writing, and furiously at that.

It’s just that I haven’t been working on The Redemption of Erâth. After finishing the first draft of Ancients and Death (which took freaking long enough in itself), I realized that my other project—the one that has been languishing since 2005 (yes, I typed that correctly)—desperately needed some attention. It was time to finish A Gothic Symphony.

And I’m extremely proud to say that, after so many years and so much hard work, it’s complete. This has been one of the most difficult projects I’ve ever worked on, both physically, emotionally and mentally.

To celebrate, I’ve launched a brand-new website where you can track my progress on submitting to literary agents, editing the work, and working on getting it published. You can visit it at cmnorthauthor.com.

Going forward, I’ll be primarily keeping my fantasy and non-fantasy work separate, so look to cmnorthauthor.com for anything contemporary, young adult, etc., while satiswrites.com will focus more on the fantasy (and maybe one day sci-fi, who knows?) side of things.

So essentially this is to say that I’m not gone, but merely working hard—and I’ll try even harder from now on to keep you all updated.

Thank you for all the loyalty over the years!

 

Satis

I’ll be taking a brief respite from editing … to work on more writing.

As you might be aware, I recently wrapped up writing the first draft of my third book, The Redemption of Erâth: Ancients & Death. I had made a start at re-reading and editing it, but there came a point a few chapters in where I realized I really wasn’t in a place to edit it yet—it’s too close to the writing phase, and I’m not sure I can do it the justice it deserves.

I have sent a few copies out to beta-readers, so I’m hoping over the next few weeks that I’ll be getting some workable feedback on the draft, and that’s when I’ll probably start diving in earnest into making the third book the best it possibly can be.

So what does that mean for the meantime? Am I going to relax, sit still, and twiddle my thumbs?

Well, yes … but not just that. Some of you may be aware that I have a side project, a contemporary fiction novel called (for the moment) A Gothic Symphony. I’ve been neglecting this work for far too long, and writing it provides a welcome respite from the world-building and language of my fantasy series. I’ve actually been working on A Gothic Symphony for over ten years, and I’m still only partway through a first draft. However, it’s going well at the moment, and I’m hoping to be able to make some significant progress throughout the next month or so. I don’t necessarily expect to finish it any time soon, but every word down is one closer to the goal.

So that’s where my work is taking me at the moment, and it should do well to keep me busy. I won’t be sharing any of it on here, as I wouldn’t publish it under ‘Satis’ (it’s not even remotely related to the fantasy that Satis is now associated with), but wish me luck, because it’s a deeply personal story that I absolutely will finish and publish one day.