October
23
6 Comments

Michelle Answers A Writing Question

Posted in Uncategorized.

Elsewhere on the Internet, I was asked a question. How many books do you work on at once? And how long did it take you to go from one book to two? Since the answer to the first question is two, I’m going to concentrate on the second question. When my kids were small, they were–no surprise to parents anywhere–very very work and time intensive. The 24/7 nature of very young children made writing a chaotic mess and an act of hopeful desperation. I had deadlines, and we needed the money from meeting them. But infants do not understand this. They don’t understand that money keeps roof over head, among many other things. So, when the kids were young – … Continue reading →

October
2
60 Comments

News! And also State of the Author, October 2018 edition (long)

Posted in Books, DAW, Elantra, Essalieyan, writing, Mira.

It’s me, and if I’m warning you that this will be long, well. This is probably going to be long. I did consider splitting it into two posts, but there doesn’t seem to be a length limit in WordPress, so. (For the record, my long-suffering husband suggested that I split it into three. Yes, he survived.) So, first: The Sun Sword has been reissued in trade paperback (which is the larger, non-standard-size paperback format). Yes, this means they are more expensive, sorry =/. This happened in July, but I didn’t find out about it until the end of August. I’ve added the relevant information to the book pages here. I am not, as will become immediately obvious, much of a … Continue reading →

July
17
32 Comments

State of the Author July 2018 edition

Posted in Cast, DAW, Elantra, Essalieyan, writing, Mira, Jody Lee.

I appear to have missed the month of June =/. This month, I turned in Cast in Oblivion. I have not turned in Firstborn yet, but will hopefully finish it before the end of this month; it was more complicated to split the book than I’d originally intended, and required a couple of running starts, but I am now on the (new) last chapter. I am very glad that I don’t have to worry about the length of the book, since it was the shorter half of the split. Jody Lee, the cover artist, finished the emergency Unplanned Novel cover before I finished the revision >.>. I will share when I can. I am writing the first Severn novel next, … Continue reading →

May
17
18 Comments

State of the Author, May 2018, plus: Reprints and Reddit AMA

Posted in Elantra, Essalieyan.

I have been writing. And revising. I am almost finished Cast in Oblivion in first draft. Almost. I am half-way through the revisions necessary to make Firstborn a book–although that’s a best guess, because it’s not as exact a metric. Doing my taxes did not, demonstrably, kill me. I have not heard back about the Severn books, beyond yes we do want them. So: unless something changes in the future, they will happen. The minute I have certain news, I will share it. I used to think that “still writing” was … not very much of an update. I felt a bit self-conscious about posting “still writing” news–I assumed that people would assume that I was still writing, and there was … Continue reading →

May
2
18 Comments

Cast in Oblivion cover

Posted in writing.

I believe the front cover has gone live in some places, but: this is the full cover. I meant to post it yesterday, but yesterday was the optometrist appointment, after which I couldn’t really see. It’s actually the worst reaction I’ve had to eye drops – and the most persistent – since I was, oh, eight years old. I managed to miss the street I normally turn up to come home, and only noticed when I passed a long stretch of brown building that I could mostly identify as a church. (ETA: I was on foot, as I don’t drive, and wouldn’t try after an optometrist appointment even if I did >.>) Also, because I had eye drops, it was … Continue reading →