the Author

Category Archives: Cast

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 →

February
1
39 Comments

State of the Author: February 2023 edition

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

Very early February, granted. I have finished Shards of Glass and have submitted it to my editor at Mira, which means it’s not tech­ni­cally finished until revi­sions have been requested and completed. This gives me a needed mental break from a book that was almost two weeks late, so I can return to it with a less panicked and more objec­tive frame of mind. When I say “more objec­tive” this is on the scale of writer neurosis, so keep that in mind :). While I wait on edito­rial input for two books, I have started the ramp up to writing two books; I have more of a head start on the West novel, but will take at least a week to reread all of Sun Sword and make notes. I tend, in real life, to forget … Continue reading →

November
29
47 Comments

CAST IN ETERNITY: Publication Day

Posted in Cast, Elantra, Mira, Publication.

November 29th is publi­ca­tion day for Cast in Eter­nity! …A day I had marked in my calendar as: “Optometrist appoint­ment: 12:30” T_T. It’s been that kind of month. Phys­ical books have made it to the store at which I work, and ebooks — I think — went out at one minute after midnight. So, fingers crossed, any preorders have been met, and anyone who prefers phys­ical books should be able to find it in stores. (As usual, the phys­ical books have a much wider avail­ability range, because the books have to get from a ware­house to all the corners of North America — or beyond! — before the 29th.) Links for ebooks, audio­books, etc. can be found on the book’s page (linked above). While I don’t link libraries, if budgets are tight, libraries should have the books … Continue reading →

October
9
40 Comments

Cast in Eternity preview and sundry

Posted in Cast, writing, chapters.

It’s October 2022, and at the end of November, 2022, Cast in Eter­nity will be published. It was a book written entirely during Covid lock­down. I wonder if, a decade from now, I’ll remember that as clearly. I’m mostly hoping I won’t. I try to post the first chapter of an upcoming book a month before release day. So: this is the post for that. The first chapter of Cast in Eter­nity is here, but you can also find it on the bibli­og­raphy page for the CAST novels. *** I am contin­uing to write, both Sagara and West words. The Sagara words are for the as yet unti­tled Magic School book — but I am sad to say that my Magic School book is … not quite what I thought it … Continue reading →