the Author
April
24
107 Comments

State of the Author, April 2024 edition

Posted in Cast, Elantra, Essalieyan, writing.

I appear to have missed the month of March entirely >.<. When last I wrote, I had mentioned plumbing failure. Plumbing failure did, indeed, cause destruc­tion of the base­ment from the back of the house to the front of the house. They have to jack­hammer through the cement flooring and dig up a trench to get to the old pipes so they can remove those, and then replace them with new pipes. This was also required on the lawn, so lawn — which is a tiny city lawn to begin with — is less grassy as well. While the plumbers will put the dirt back and pour cement once they’ve finished, the cement takes a suggested three weeks minimum to dry enough that we could paint or glue. Which is fine. And … Continue reading →

February
3
35 Comments

State of the Author, February 2024 edition

Posted in Elantra, Essalieyan, writing, Shane Rebenschied, Kathleen Oudit.

January was the month of reviewing copy-edits for Cast in Atone­ment, while writing the Sagara book that is not yet titled — Magic School 2. Copy-edits are gone, and until page proofs arrive, only writing remains. The West novel in progress is The Wild Road. I have broken 100k words, and I am hoping that the book will be 250k words long. Or less. To be fair, I was also hoping Hunter’s Redoubt would be 250k words long. Which it wasn’t. The only West novel that has stayed on the right side of 200k words was City of Night. Which came in at 176k words. I honestly do not write long books on purpose, but… I write them to reach the end. Some­times the end is farther away than I thought. … Continue reading →

January
1
28 Comments

Happy New Year!

Posted in Essalieyan, writing, Mira, life, Academia, Cast, Elantra.

In 2023 I finished and published Hunter’s Redoubt, the first book in the final sequence of the West universe. In 2024, I intend to finish The Wild Road. Or at least finish the first draft of the book. It will still have to be revised, editing, copy-edited, proof-read. Having a publisher didn’t mean those things didn’t have to be done, but my part in the doing was much smaller. It was reac­tive, not active. But having done it once, I think I’m more aware of what can go wrong, and things should be much smoother. *** In 2023, I finished Cast in Atone­ment, but that’s author-finished; the book will be published in, I think, August 2024. 2023 also saw the publi­ca­tion of Shards of Glass. For me, “finishing” a book is done … Continue reading →

November
28
34 Comments

Shards of Glass: book day!

Posted in Elantra, Shane Rebenschied, Publication, Kathleen Oudit, Academia.

This is a little bit late in the day, and I apol­o­gize for that, but: it’s November 28th, 2023, and that is publi­ca­tion day for Shards of Glass. For some reason – not, clearly, one set in consen­sual reality – I thought today was the 27th. So tomorrow would be the 28th. …and books are released on Tues­days, which this is >.<. Shards of Glass is the first book set in the Acad­emia that the former Arkon claimed as his hoard. New faces and old occupy the Acad­emia, but the Acad­emia is older – by far – than the fledg­ling Empire in which Elantra is set. Robin, kidnapped from the streets of the poorest of neigh­bor­hoods in Elantra, was an invol­un­tary student, but he learned to love the learning elements of his captivity. And the food … Continue reading →

November
1
20 Comments

Shards of Glass, preview & goodreads giveaway

Posted in Elantra, chapters, Mira.

I have been focused on the very very very many mistakes I have made while trying to be a publisher, and my attempt to juggle has been less than perfectly successful. However, Mira has not, in fact, made a mess of publi­ca­tion and publi­ca­tion sched­uling, and Shards of Glass will be avail­able every­where one would usually expect a book to be avail­able by, oh, its publi­ca­tion date! Shards of Glass has a publi­ca­tion date of the 29th of November, so I’m a touch behind in getting the first chapter out for people who like tormenting them­selves by reading sample chap­ters when chapter two is a month away >.> The preview chapter is here. My publisher is also running a goodreads give­away.  The give­away runs from today (1st of November) to the 13th … Continue reading →