the Author
September
9
21 Comments

State of the Author, September 2023 edition

Posted in Audio books, Cast, Essalieyan, self-publishing, writing, life.

I’m writing to you all from Australia, where I have come on my writing retreat, which used to be an annual thing until Covid. I have an unfor­tu­nately tight dead­line, and I’m neck deep into Cast in Atone­ment, which is not yet done. I hope to be finished before I leave Bris­bane. And when I say finished, I mean: finished first draft. After which I will revise for submis­sion, and then submit. Shards of Glass is due out at the end of November, so I’m fielding a few ques­tions about that — but my head is fully entan­gled in the Cast novel, so Shards feels like it was written years ago (it wasn’t). My toe has improved enough it doesn’t bother me much, but according to X‑rays taken a week before I left, … Continue reading →

August
2
25 Comments

State of the Author, August 2023 edition

Posted in Cast, Elantra, Essalieyan, Jody Lee, life.

As those of you who follow my Patreon know, at the begin­ning of July, I had a drive-by argu­ment with a chair in the living room, and lost. I managed to break not one, but two, toes. I have been off work at the book­store, but in theory will return on the 10th of August, the day on which I can take off the boot on my foot. Previous toe breakage did not require a boot. But I could stand on the foot in both prior cases. By the end of the day of the 2‑toe breakage, I was reduced to crawling because I couldn’t actu­ally put any weight on the foot at all. Which meant, when we went to the hospital, I went in bare feet; I couldn’t put even a sandal on. … Continue reading →

July
11
16 Comments

Full Cover & another Indigo promotion

Posted in Elantra, covers, Mira, Kathleen Oudit, promotions.

I have the full cover for the new novel, Shards of Glass. I assume most people see the front cover at various retailers, so, as usual, post the cover when I have the full version. The cover design was done by Kath­leen Oudit, who I adore. I’ve stopped calling this the Magic School book because it turned left almost imme­di­ately. I don’t usually have to start the CAST novels multiple times; I sit down, I start. Maybe I’ll start a second time if the first attempt doesn’t hit the right tone, but the CAST novels have a tone. This book had to be started many times, and the even­tual begin­ning of the book was not the one I’d envi­sioned on any of the prior attempts. It’s not neces­sary … Continue reading →

June
26
22 Comments

For Canadians: Indigo is having a summer pre-order sale

Posted in life, promotions.

First, the good news: Indigo books, our major book­store chain, is having a summer preorder sale. Shards of Glass is included in that most-antic­i­­pated books sale. I wanted to mention it here — the sale goes to July 2nd. *** I have had a trying month. I am still working on glasses, which has been iter­a­tive and ongoing since December. I am working on copy-edits for the West novel, and have just received page proofs for the above mentioned Shards of Glass. And I managed, while running to inter­cept the phone, to break not one, but two, toes — and at the joint below the knuckle in both cases =/. I’ve broken toes before, but never this close to foot and oddly enough, it kind of hurts. I have a boot, which, unlike a cast, … Continue reading →

April
23
18 Comments

State of the Author: April 2023

Posted in writing.

I’m sorry I appear to have missed March >.<. March was revi­sion of Hunter’s Redoubt, which went into April; the rest of April is revi­sion of Shards of Glass, and taxes. I’m still revising Shards of Glass. I don’t have the cover yet, but the (front) cover is now up on various retailer sites. I’ll post the whole cover as usual (front and back) when I do have it. I am collating infor­ma­tion for taxes, which are currently in the virtual shoebox of email, Devon­Think and a couple of other elec­tronic repos­i­to­ries. While revising. So: there’s a bit of gloom, and given April, there’s also been rain. What we haven’t really had is the annual April snow­storm (yes, I’m knocking wood). Hunter’s Redoubt is with the copy-editor now, so I expect I will soon be … Continue reading →