Did someone say cover reveal?

 Hello, everyone! I know my blog has been a virtual ghost town for the past year, but there are some exciting things coming up! If you follow me on social media or got my newsletter this morning, you will have seen that I finished the final major edit of Daican's Heir earlier this month! It was a massive undertaking I pretty much dedicated every waking moment to for almost two and a half months. The result is a massive 151,000 word finale to Ilyon Chronicles. I am SO excited to share it with the world! While I don't have a release date just yet, I do have a cover reveal set for December 2nd! If you would like to take part in the reveal and share it on your blog, social media, email, or wherever online venue you like to frequent, you can sign up HERE. And to celebrate this milestone, you can read the official blurb, as well as a fun little sneak peek, below.

About the Book

For three years, the Resistance has suffered under oppression—first from Emperor Daican, and now from his daughter. In her quest for vengeance, Davira has ripped Arcacia apart, and more blood is spilled every day. Newly married, all Jace and Kyrin want is to be able to live their lives in peace. In order to do that, they must help restore the rightful heir to Arcacia’s throne.

Carrying the weight of everyone’s hopes for the future, Daniel works every day to be the leader and king they have all fought so hard to see him become. With the Resistance and their allies from all across Ilyon united behind him, he prepares for a final confrontation with Davira. But to do so will require facing the full might of Arcacia’s military and Davira’s wrath.

 When Jace and Kyrin become the primary targets of her ravenous hatred, Daniel finds himself in a race against time to stop his sister and avoid the bloodbath she is determined to unleash. Can he find a way to protect his loved ones and bring peace to Ilyon or will Davira succeed in bringing them all to their knees and destroying everything they hold dear?

Sneak Peek

Talas eyed Kaden up and down, probably looking for more injuries. A smirk lifted his lips. “Looks like you lost a bit of hair on that one.”

Kaden brushed his hand through his hair. Ashy residue dusted his fingers, and he did now catch an acrid whiff of burnt hair along with his singed clothing. At least he didn’t find any bald patches, and his scalp didn’t feel burned. His hair needed a trim anyway. Maybe Marcus could give him one later. The militiamen were good at keeping up their appearances.

He ran his knuckles over short whiskers along his jaw. None of them seemed to be missing. “At least the beard is still there.”

“You humans and your beards.”

Kaden snorted. Cretes might not grow facial hair, but they had their own vanities. “Says the one with hair halfway down his back. I bet it takes you longer to wash it than it takes me to keep my beard trimmed.”

Talas shrugged. “Maybe.”

Resistance Audiobook Blog Tour Signup

Hey everyone! I know it’s been a while since there were any updates around here. But the good news is that the Resistance audiobook should be up on Audible and iTunes very soon! Hopefully within the next few days! Yay! To celebrate the release, I'm setting up a blog tour that will run November 18th-23rd. If you are a blogger, I'd love to have you participate! You can find the signup form below.

If you're not a blogger, you can still help generate a buzz for the audiobook by sharing on social media. I will provide all the links and promo images. If you would like a be a social media influencer for the audiobook and have all the information emailed to you, use the influencer sign up form.

Thank you so much for your help and support!

Things are happening!

I was trying to think of an epic title for this blog post and that’s basically all I came up with. Because, really, that’s the big thing. I feel like so much has NOT been happening in the writing side of my life for a while. Finally that’s changing. But I won’t keep you in suspense. Here’s what’s happening:

Aaahhh! Bitter Winter FINALLY has a release date! Lacy too. They are both coming out on December 14th! You probably feel like it has taken forever to get to this point. Trust me. So. Do. I. Absolutely forever. But it’s finally happening. Both Kindle books are up for pre-order! Sadly, Amazon STILL doesn’t allow its authors to set pre-orders for paperbacks. *sigh* So that will have to wait until the release day.

Pre-Order Bitter Winter

Pre-Order Lacy

Since many of you are also fans of Tricia Mingerink, you know that her 5th book in The Blades of Acktar series is coming out on December 18th, only 4 days after BW and Lacy. So we’re joining forces to bring you an epic co-release! As part of the blog tour, we’re going to do Q&A chats with both Ilyon and Acktar characters. TOGETHER. That’s right, our characters will be in the same “room” with each other. This means we need questions from you, our awesome, loyal fans!

Just follow the link below to visit the form Tricia created and submit all those burning questions. We’ll have more info and a sign up form for the tour itself sometime in the next few weeks. So make sure you check back if you want to be part of the blog tour!

Ilyon & Acktar Character Questions Form

Double 4th of July Ilyon Chronicles Cover Reveal

The 4th of July is my favorite holiday. It always has been. It’s fully summer and warm (usually) and I love it. I’m a total summer/warm weather girl. I NEED summer. So yes, this is definitely my favorite holiday.

What does that have to do with Ilyon? Absolutely nothing. Lol! But I thought, why not celebrate with a cover reveal? I wasn’t going to reveal the cover for Bitter Winter until I had a set release date, but then I changed my mind. It seemed like a fun thing to do on my favorite holiday. Not only that, but I’m revealing the cover for Bitter Winter’s companion novella, Lacy! I also happened to realize while making the graphics that the colors match the holiday perfectly—blue and red! Crazy coincidence.

Writing and Publishing Updates (i.e. Oh, the torture!)

This update has been a long time coming. (Wow, that sounds ominous. But don't freak, I'm not quitting writing or anything.) It's really just an update. You see, I've been getting an increasing number of messages lately asking about the status of Bitter Winter and how writing is going. In one word, it's basically . . . not. Yeah, this whole last year has been awful for writing and editing. Just terrible. Basically, torture. Yeah.

You see, when I moved out on my own, I suddenly had all of the pressures of adulthood dropped on me. Groceries, bills, insurance, vehicle issues. Everything. And then lots of family stuff. Nothing really bad or anything. Just life. You know, that thing that likes to take all of your best-laid plans and, with a puff of smoke, turn them into ashes? Yeah, life. I feel like mine has been a chaotic, disorganized mess that I haven't been able to completely sort out yet even though I've been on my own for a whole year. I'm hoping 2018 will be where I finally hit my stride. *feels LIFE lurking over my shoulder ready to strike*

I suppose I'm being somewhat dramatic, but that's how 2017 felt. I did almost no writing besides finishing up the surprise NaNoWriMo contemporary romance that leaped into my life late 2016. The fact that I've hardly written in a year is absolute torture itself. Writers can't not be writing. It leads to feelings of hopelessness and self-loathing. I'm not even kidding. This gif is basically what it has felt like to try to write for the past year.

Editing has been no better. I'm still working on the first chapter of Bitter Winter.

The. First. Chapter.

Ugh. More torture. More self-loathing. Here is actual footage of me trying to edit.

​​

Again, I'm being dramatic, but it's actually the truth. And I constantly beat myself up over it. With every month that passes, I feel the pressure of needing to get the next book out. And, of course, that just makes it all that much worse. I don't do well under pressure. Is it any wonder I've had a horrible case of writer's block?

​​

So, that's all the bad news. Here's the good news. I started writing today. Some of it was easy, some of it was hard. I've implemented a plan that I hope will help me stay on track and finish writing book six of Ilyon Chronicles this spring. That has been the biggest thing weighing on me. I need to get that book done.

As for Bitter Winter, I also did some editing today. I think once I get going on it, it will become easier. I have no idea when it will be published, but unless something catastrophic comes up, I will publish it this year. To answer the question I keep getting: Sorry, I don't have an actual publishing date yet. It's way too soon for that. But I will announce it the moment I know. :)

In the mean time, prayers are very much appreciated. Adulthood is hard. (Can I get an 'amen'?) Writing it not nearly as easy as it was when I would sit in my bedroom for hours on end at my parents' house and not have all the adult responsibilities I do now. It was more fun then, sadly. But, regardless of how long it may take, I'm going to keep on pushing forward. I will get these last two Ilyon books done. And I can't tell you how much all of your loyal support means to me, especially when the going gets tough. Thanks for sticking it out with me!

P.S. I nabbed the gifs from this awesome blog post that perfectly sums up being a writer. (Disclaimer: I have no idea who this author is, what she writes, or what else is on her blog/website. It just came up when I was searching through gifs.)

A Friday Post

Such an original post title, right? :P Anyway, I just had a couple things to share. First of all, Samara’s Peril is one of five finalists for the Realm Maker’s Alliance Award!!

I was so excited/shocked/stunned to see it! Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who voted for it. Obviously, I wouldn’t even be in the running without you. I’m equally excited for the other finalists who are all friends/acquaintances. I have to say, I’m particularly happy for Tricia Mingerink. You know how I adore her books. Defy deserves this. ;) The final round of voting will begin on May 10th. Make sure to visit the Alliance Award page then and cast your votes for your favorites.

Item number 2 of this post: I gave my website a major overhall. As if I needed more work. But I like website work, so it was something fun to do. I added a fun FAQs section, plus shared my favorite books. So you can check it out here.

Item number 3: It’s May. I don’t know if anyone remembered, but May is usually when I have my annual fan art contest. It didn’t even cross my mind until like the last two days of April. I could have set it up real quick, but I decided to move it ahead one month to June. That way, the school year will be over and it might give everyone a little extra time to participate. Agree? So I will officially be taking submissions to the contest on June 1st. I’ll post more details closer to that date. Still, that doesn’t mean you can’t start working on things now. ;)

And lastly, item number 4: Charlemagne is my forty-two times great-grandfather. :D I just had to throw that in there. My family and I have a lot of fun doing genealogy on Ancestry.com, and a couple of days ago I was tracing one of my mom’s lines back as far as I could and next thing I know I found a connection to Charlemagne and was able to trace the entire line. For a history buff like me, it was one of the coolest things ever. Everyone wants to find out they’re descended from royalty, right? ;)

I Must Be Crazy (or How I Decided to Do NaNoWriMo)

That’s right, I’m doing NaNoWriMo this year! It’s my first time ever. I’ve done Camp NaNo for a couple of years, but never this. Whenever I would think of NaNoWriMo, I would always think “There is no way I’m subjecting myself to that. It doesn’t even sound fun.” 50K words is a lot. I love being able to choose your word count for Camp NaNo. It’s flexible. It’s not super daunting. It’s fun. So yeah, two weeks ago, NaNo wasn’t even on my radar. I was planning to get ready for the holidays and work hard on editing Exiles during the cozy indoor fall weather. Oh, silly me. In true author fashion, my plans all jumped out the window laughing hysterically at me. In their place arrived this new story idea, all shiny and exciting and demanding my attention. And not just a story idea, but one way on the opposite end of my comfort zone. You see, this story idea is contemporary romance. Now, the romance part is nothing new for me, obviously. I’m a hopeless romantic, after all. But the contemporary part?!

Uh-huh, yeah, contemporary. So I’m like, okay, cool, I’ll just write down these ideas in my future stories notebook so I don’t forget anything. Again, silly me. There go my plans laughing at me once more. Because guess what? There’s this thing called NaNoWriMo, and it would be SO PERFECT to write this story during it! I was a goner by this point. Resistance was futile. I gave in and somehow, despite all the extra life craziness happening this month, I actually committed to writing a whole novel in November. I’m insane! But then, for a writer, insanity can be the absolute best thing. If I manage to do this (is that laughter I hear?), then I’ll have a whole story that didn’t even exist a couple of weeks ago in only a month. Sounds good to me. It’s not like it’s going to significantly delay anything with Ilyon Chronicles, and maybe the change will help with that too.

So basically, all that semi-insane rambling was to introduce my NaNo project (i.e. my current “precious”). And I even have a temporary cover! It’s blue, people! BLUE. And below that, my brief synopsis!

Alexis “Alex” Jennings has had it with life. After losing her brother in Iraq, everything has collapsed around her. She can’t seem to keep a steady job and is failing to make it in her career as an artist—a career her parents never really understood or supported. Once she had faith to believe that all things would work together for good, but that faith died with her brother. Now she just wants the pain to end.

Riley Conrad served four military tours overseas until three bullets sent him home. After a year and a half of physical therapy, all he wants is to live a normal, simple life, and perhaps even open the coffee shop he has always dreamed about. However, the weight of failing his parents’ expectations doesn’t make it easy, and working as a bartender isn’t getting him anywhere fast.

Could a “chance” meeting between Alex and Riley set them both on the path God always intended?

So there you have it. I've set up a Pinterest board for it that you can check out here if you want to get a feel for the story. As a first time NaNoWriMo-er, I’m pretty excited. It’s going to be a completely new experience on so many levels. So here’s to hoping the excitement carries me through the next 30 days, and good luck to all my fellow adventurers! Oh, and feel free to buddy me if you feel so inclined! ;)

A New Month and a Couple of Updates

It’s June already? Where did May go?!! Oh, that’s right. It was full of book release craziness, trying to catch up on things that were neglected in preparation for Samara’s release, and actively avoiding catching the stomach virus making its way through my family. Such fun. :P I did manage to squeeze in some sewing as well. I’ll have to share some photos of my new historical outfits when I’ve finished. I’m going for a completely new look than I’ve been doing for the past several years of reenacting.

Since it’s June 1st, I wanted to share a couple of updates.

1. There are 2 weeks left to enter the 2016 Ilyon Chronicles fan art contest! Three winners will recieve an Amazon gift card. If you’re thinking about entering, don’t let time get away from you (as it has a habit of doing)!
2. A couple of months ago, I decided to test the waters and expand distribution of my ebooks to ebook retailers other than Amazon. Turns out not to be the best business decision for me. While I would still love to have wider distribution, I have chosen to go back to selling Kindle books exclusively on Amazon. This means that they are now back on Kindle Unlimited! So if you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription, you can read all the current Ilyon Chronicles books for free!
3. I’m on Tumblr! I was always on the fence about Tumblr. I already have a blog (obviously) and I don’t need yet another social media site to maintain. However, since Tumblr is like the home of fandoms, I’m giving it a go. Because I love fandoms and fangirling. Everyone needs a place for that, right? So my Tumblr will be a combination of writing/book stuff and my favorite fandomness.
4. Now that Samara’s Peril is out, what’s next? Good question. Of course, I am going to start seriously editing Exiles. And no, I don’t have a timeline for its release yet. Whenever I make tentative guesses, I always get myself in trouble because I never seem to finish when I intend to. :P On the actual writing front, I have about a half a chapter left to finish in the Ilyon bonus “short” story I’ve been working on. After that, it’s on to writing book six! Yay!

A New Way to Celebrate Your Love For Ilyon

So, I mentioned in my post on Monday that I had a little project I was working on and hoped to share this week. It actually turned out to be more of a big, time-consuming project, but I finally have it more or less ready. If you’re like me, you enjoy proudly showing of your love for certain fandoms, whether it be t-shirts, posters, or other accessories. Well, I wanted to offer that for anyone who wants it in my Ilyon fandom! For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been putting together some cool designs and have just opened a CafePress and Zazzle shop! Each shop has its different advantages and items. The cool thing about Zazzle is that any design that you like you can get on virtually anything of your choosing, while a couple of things are a bit cheaper on CafePress. Between the two, you should be able to find something you like if you want to pick yourself up a little Ilyon merchandise. I’m already planning to buy myself a few things. ;) I will also be adding more things to my shops over time, including writer inspired accessories, so definitely check in periodically! And there are products for both girls and guys! :)

CafePress Shop
Zazzle Shop

So what about you? Do you like showing off your fandom love?

Updates, Awards, and a Release Date

I feel like life has been crazy for the last half a year. I’ve probably used the word “crazy” in my last several blog posts and emails. However, finally, I feel like that craziness might be calming down some now, at least for a few weeks. One of the biggest things to thank is that I FINALLY finished editing Samara’s Peril!! *happy dance* I sent it off to my beta readers on Saturday. One of them already finished it. :) Now we’re laughing over how both of us (she’s an author too) always torture our main characters. Or maybe we shouldn’t be laughing… *shrugs*

Anyway, now that SP is out of my hands, I have a whole glorious month where I don’t have to think about it. I REALLY need that break. Now I can actually do some writing. I’m working on a short story that takes place after book five of Ilyon Chronicles. One of my characters went and fell in love without my permission. Now I have to tell their story. So book six is temporarily on hold while I get this story finished. I love it though. The couple is absolutely adorable. ^_^

Oh yeah, I mentioned a release date in the post title. Now that SP is well on it’s way to publication, I can finally set a release date! I have decided that Samara’s Peril will be officially published on May 13th!


It’s a Friday instead of a Tuesday this time. I figured all you awesome readers would appreciate having the weekend to read it. ;) It’s a bit later than I was hoping to publish it, but that’s how life goes. I probably could have published it in April, but I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to get things all perfectly set up. April will be slightly busy anyway. My cousin, who’s like the sister I never had, is getting married!! So I’ll be away for a couple of days for that. :)

And now for the awards part. I’m a bit behind in sharing this news (you know, all that craziness), but Resistance has won the Illumination Awards Enduring Light gold medal for Christian Ficiton! I still squeal with excitement when I think about it. Especially since it’s the Christian Fiction category, not just fantasy. Also, fellow author Nadine Brandes won the gold in YA fiction! Yay for Christian fantasy doing so well!!

And this is even older, though I just found out recently, but The King’s Scrolls won best book in the 2015 Blogger Book Awards hosted by Allison at The Art of Storytelling. I am so honored! *gives a big virtual hug to everyone who nominated TKS*

So there’s all the latest in my author life! I’m also working on a little project that I’m hoping to share sometime later this week, so stay tuned. I just have to iron out the last few wrinkles and get it spiffed up and ready to go. ;)

Life Got Real—Reflecting on 2015 and Looking Ahead at 2016

It wouldn’t seem right not to have a post celebrating the new year. 2015 was a crazy year. The best way I can describe it is that life got real. It was a pretty good year, but it totally overwhelmed me. You see, in 2015, I ceased being just a writer—I became a businesswomen, forced to juggle more things than I had the time to accomplish. During the last year, my Etsy jewelry business really took off and became more than I ever imagined it would be. I can’t tell you how thankful I am for that, since it is now a huge part of my income, but it is a LOT of work. From just before Halloween all the way through Christmas, I was spending 3-6 hours a day filling holiday orders. At first I was ecstatic. After about a month, I really started to dread every order notification. The work was overwhelming. All I wanted was to go back to being “just a writer.” Being an author and being an Etsy seller are two full-time jobs. Somehow, I have to manage both. This is why I haven’t made as much progress in getting Samara’s Peril ready for publication as I’d hoped. I’ve had to keep pushing back my hope-to-publish dates. I’ve spent little, if any, time on Goodreads and my forum. I’ve barely blogged. I burnt myself out.

But I am still incredibly grateful for the way God has provided the opportunities and success in my goal to be completely self-employed. I wouldn’t trade it. Now what I have to do is figure out a better way of managing it. That’s what 2016 will be about. I have to figure out exactly how to schedule time for both writing/publishing and Etsy. (Not to mention just living life!) I’ve already taken some small steps to do that. And for those of you desperately waiting for Samara’s Peril, it is coming! Now that the holidays are over and I have a chance to breathe, I’m getting back into editing this week. I am over half done. I’m hoping to get it to my beta readers this month yet. (Though I’m learning that I really can’t ever make definite plans like that. God might have different plans.) I am very tentatively hoping for a March/April release if all goes very smoothly, but sometime in May/June might be more realistic.

I have no idea what 2016 will bring, especially after last year. All I know is that organization will be the key to not getting so overwhelmed, and I’m not going to make too many set plans because things constantly change.

An Update and a New Award!

Hey everyone! Long time, no . . . uh, post. Yeah, my life is a chaotic mix of racing to edit Samara’s Peril, keeping up with Etsy orders, and preparing for holiday sales. I seriously feel like I’m never going to catch up. Why can’t days be 48 hours instead of 24? I definitely need a few more hours to get to everything that’s pressing on me every day. Such is the life of a self-employed entrepreneur, I suppose. Despite all the chaos, I am incredibly grateful for how God has been providing and giving me success I never imagined having, in both my writing and my Etsy business. I might feel like I’m drowning in deadlines and pressing business stuff, but it’s better than wondering how you will afford even simple necessities.

Now, for the award bit. I’m a little late in sharing this news, but a couple of weeks ago, I got the news that Resistance has been honored with a B.R.A.G. Medallion!

I’m so excited about how Resistance is doing. I was really quite nervous when I first published it, sending my baby out into the big, scary world. But my fears weren’t necessary, thanks to God working in the story and the wonderful readers who have become so dear to me over the last year and a half. You all are the best! :)

The King’s Scrolls Cover Reveal Signup

I am happy to report that The King’s Scrolls is nearing its final phase of editing before publication. I sent it off to my beta readers on October 1st and am getting ready to go through their feedback starting next week. That will begin my rigorous final edit to iron out all the wrinkles. I’m hoping and praying I can have it done, or close to, by the end of the year.

Now, while the publication of the book may still be a few months away, I feel it’s time to finally reveal the cover. :) I’m very excited to let everyone see it and get it up on Goodreads. I am setting up the cover reveal day for Friday, November 14th. If you have a blog and would like to participate, I would be thrilled to have you join in. I will also be hosting a fun giveaway of one of my handcrafted necklaces that matches the cover as well as a $5 Amazon gift card. If you would like to be part of the reveal, just fill out the form below! And if you have any blogging friends who might like to join in the fun, be sure to let them know! The more the merrier. :)

Signups are now closed.

Assassins, Costumes, and Updates

I thought it was time for a bit of an update of sorts since my blog has been very quiet as of late. After my crazy busy writing schedule over the summer and then editing The King’s Scrolls, which I sent to my beta readers on October 1st, I’ve sort of taken a vacation the last couple of weeks. I’ve been really bad about doing any kind of updating or keeping up with emails. But I suppose I’ve needed the break. Especially since I’ll be diving back into editing TKS at the beginning of next month after I receive all my feedback. I keep telling myself every day that I should be working on book five. And a have . . . a little. But I keep procrastinating. It’s like when you go on vacation and then really hate going back to work afterwards . As much as I love writing, I kind of feel that way at the moment.

So what have I been doing in my downtime? Video games. I don’t really consider myself a big gamer because I just don’t have the time for it, but I do really like playing sometimes. I spent a couple of afternoons in the last couple weeks playing Minecraft with my brothers. We always have a great time doing that together and munching on gluten free chocolate chip cookies, which have become our official Minecraft snack. :)

I also played through Assassin’s Creed III, which I had purchased a while back but didn’t have a chance to truly play until now. (This is what happens when you grow up with only brothers and no sister. You get into all the action/adventure type games.) It’s probably my all-time favorite video game. I LOVE the historical aspect of it. As most probably know, colonial is one of my favorite time periods. And it actually filled my imagination with inspiration for the new trilogy I briefly mentioned on Facebook. The very first Assassin’s Creed game my brother played years ago was actually the first inspiration for this story that has been in my mind for years now. ACIII gave me all kinds of new ideas. I hope to work on it after I finish Ilyon Chronicles (which is why I should stop procrastinating and get to working on book 5 *sigh*).

Not only did ACIII provide some excellent story inspiration, but I completely fell in love with the outfit worn by the game’s (totally awesome) protagonist, Connor Kenway, and I’ve decided to recreate it. It has been years since I’ve put together a new costume, and I’m terribly excited about this one. It’s completely different from my usual fantasy costumes. I love the fact that it’s colonial inspired. And since I’ve always had a thing for Native American culture, I love how those aspects are incorporated into the outfit. I’ve got my pattern all printed and put together and all the buttons (about 50 of them!) ordered. Now I just need to get the fabric so I can actually start putting it together. I hope to go shopping sometime this week. This is the first time besides my reenactment clothing that I will really go all-out on a costume. I intend to put it together from head to toe. So we’ll see how it goes. I’ll definitely post some pictures when I finish it. That will probably take a while, but hopefully not too long. It’s really fun to do something creative beyond writing and jewelry. Now if only I had a nearby Comic Con to wear it to once I’m finished. I will end this post with a video because the violin music is awesome and it’s really cool to see another female version of this costume. :)

Book four has reached its end!

*throws confetti and does a happy dance* Yes I have finally, FINALLY finished writing book four of Ilyon Chronicles! Technically, I finished it last Thursday (August 7th), but since I was without internet all last week (torture!), I didn’t get to do a celebration post until today. I don’t think I can adequately describe just how insanely relieved I am to have this book finished. I began writing it on July 23, 2013. Over a year ago. I don’t think I’ve taken a whole year to write a book since Every Tear. And that was a long time ago. It seriously fought me every single step of the way. Every time I thought I had gotten past a difficult part and hoped things would go more smoothly, I’d hit another snag, and another, and another. I got to the point where I sort of hated the book and even contemplated what it would take to just scrap it. Of course, every time I did that, I was faced with the undeniable truth that the story was necessary for the progression of the series. So I pressed on. And now I can finally shove it away for a good long while and not have to look at it again until it comes time to edit it. I’m kind of scared for that time to come, but then, I’m sure in a few months I’ll feel much more charitable toward it.

Not only was this the hardest book of the series to write so far, it also turned out to be the longest. It was the book that never wanted to end. This first draft weighs in at a hefty 137,000 words. I was not expecting that. All this time I thought book three would be the longest. But nope, this book has turned into the longest book I’ve ever written. And considering this first draft is only the bare bones of the story, I’m expecting the word count to rise to at least 150,000 words by the time it’s ready for publication. I almost can’t imagine that. But like I’ve always said, I love long books, so the word count can rise all it wants in order for the story to be satisfactory.

What boggles my mind even more is that 88,000 of those words I wrote in the last eight weeks. Up until June 16th, I had only written a total of 49,000 words in the book! O_o  Yeah, that makes my eyes bug. But it actually wasn’t that hard. Mid-June was when I implemented my new strategy of writing at least 1,500 words a day, five days a week. Many of those days I wrote even more. I’ll definitely be using this writing strategy as I go on to write book five. I’m even hoping that maybe, possibly I could even finish the book or come close by the end of December.

I gave myself a much needed break from writing over the weekend and now hope to get a start on book five today. I’m quite excited about it. I’ve been looking forward to this book for a very long time. And it’s always fun to start a new book no matter what it is. I’ve added a word count meter to my side bar to track my progress. This will probably be the shortest book of the series. It doesn’t have this huge, epic plot, but it digs deep into a very weighty personal dilemma for one of the characters. I can’t wait to delve into it. HOPEFULLY this book will progress much more smoothly than book four. *winces and prays it will be so* If I can finish it by the end of the year, I could be looking at the potential to finish the entire series by the middle of next year. That would be so awesome.

However, as much as I’m looking forward to writing book five, my main focus for the next couple of months will have to shift to editing book two so I can send it to my beta readers. Instead of writing in the mornings as I have been the last several weeks, I’m going to be editing instead. I’m actually about a quarter of the way through editing. Praying that goes smoothly as well. I’m so looking forward to sharing more of this adventure!

Writing Update

I’ve been neglecting my blogs lately. Seems like I have a mile long to-do list, but can never get anything finished. I do have a couple upcoming interview/blog tour posts, which will be fun. I also have a character spotlight scheduled for my Ilyon Chronicles behind the scenes blog tomorrow.

Something very exciting happened on Saturday. Resistance finally made it to the number 1 spot on Amazon’s Hot New Releases in Christian Fantasy! Needless to say I was pretty stoked.

Then, last week, I was lamenting over how long it’s taking me to write book 4 of Ilyon Chronicles and how I wished I could write faster in general. This isn’t the first time I’ve felt this way. This time, however, I decided that instead of just complaining, I would actually try to do something about it. I’ve always balked at the thought of setting word count goals. I’d rather just sit and write when I want to and not worry about such things. Well, in a perfect world, sure, but with the amount of book related work I have to do besides actually writing, it’s time to become more disciplined. So, starting this week, I decided I would set a goal of writing 1,500 words a day, 6 days a week. (It might end up to be 5 days a week some weeks. I’m not super strict about the weekends.). That adds up to 9,000+ words a week. At that rate, I could finish a book in 2-4 months. I like the thought of that. So far I’ve hit my goal every day this week, even doubling it on Monday. I’m sure some days will be torture, but I’m pretty determined.

I couldn’t hope to do this if I were writing longhand like I have for the past couple of years. The good thing is, I’m finally learning to write on the computer again thanks to my Microsoft Surface. I couldn’t do it without that thing. Since I only have the essentials on it, there’s not nearly as much I can get distracted with as on my desktop computer, so I’m able to focus a lot better on writing. It’s been kind of sad to say goodbye to my blue pencils, notebook paper, and binders, but in exchange I get a pretty blue keyboard with my Surface. ;) Anything to be able to write faster.

With this new writing schedule, I’m hoping to finish book 4 within the next 6-8 weeks. I’m iffy about it, but I might surprise myself. I will feel SO good having only two more books left to write in the series. It will also let off a little pressure and allow me time to edit The King’s Scrolls. It’s so hard to choose between writing and editing. I know I have to write to stay ahead of the earlier books being published, but I also have to edit if I’m to stay on schedule for publishing TKS. It can get frustrating, but I’m sure it will come together. It always does.

And, of course, there’s marketing. I’m SO behind on my marketing efforts for Resistance. Seriously, where is one supposed to find the time for all this? So if I’m scarce on my blogs, it’s because I’m buried beneath writing goals, editing deadlines, and miserable attempts at marketing. Oh, and did I mention my reading list, reviews needing to be written, and beta reading? That’s the life of an author for ya. I seriously envy other writers who seem to have it all together and get things done in a timely fashion. Half the time I feel like I’m spinning in circles. But would I trade what I’m doing for something else? Not a chance.