Magus Gambit out for Ebook, Instagramming

Magus Gambit has been released – books get pushed back all the time. I learned years ago there’s nothing I can do about certain things, so focus on what I can do. If you’re waiting for print, Champagne tends to wait six months to a year, as said before it’s something I don’t control and, even when I have ordered print, orders can sometimes be delayed.

I’m hoping that if Cooks Creek has a medieval festival, 1) They’ll let me sell 2) I’ll have copies of it and Fable in addition to the others, but no promises.

I’ll circle back to the long publication process on another post, but if you’ve been following me along on my Instagram, X, or FB you’ve no doubt noticed I went from posting once in a while the pretty instagram shots of just Magus Gambit to… all my titles besides Tower of Obsidian and Garnet and Silver. That’ll be remedied, I was learning.

The short is I asked the same artist who designed a cover to do some instagram shots, and she obliged and I thought they were pretty. But, nitpicky me noticed something was off, and my reaction was, “I can fix that”. As I was doing that, I realized I can make my own instagram shots with 3D mock-ups.

Some not-so-useful advice I got when I first started writing was not to do my own cover, my own art, etc., but to hire a professional. I see the point in that, as I have seen them very amateurish looking projects, but before I graduated high school, I was really into drawing, and was teaching myself how to use paintshop pro. Not photoshop; my dad was downloading tutorials and I found it waaaaay too hard to get into (plus as I got older I was getting progressively less free time), plus comic style line art was more my forte. Paintshop remains one of my favourite programs, and I’m not saying I’m an expert or even “good” with it; so much as I can fart around and have people who will be honest with any aesthetic choices.

I think you *can* do your own cover, use your own art, etc; it depends on where you’re coming from and what you’re trying to do. My niece has asked me to redo The Mermaid and the Unicorn and Fable covers in my own art style; not quite like Marissa Meyer’s illustrated version of her Lunar Chronicles, and I said I needed to have a series before I can redo the covers for said series – plus I am not polished enough to pull it off juuuust yet. Getting there.

So feel free to make fun of these bad ones below, expect more of better quality but not to be so spammy; IE I will only post something like every 3 or 4 days for a little while, unless there’s something funny or timely.

In other news: Titan’s Ascent edits are back where they belong, and I have one more tour then I am on vacation. I have a ton of work to do, but seriously, Polar Vortex right now. There’s a reason I’m productive in January.

I liked this one but my sister said the colors and font are all over the place. I didn’t mind the book shadow at first, now I hate ’em.
Also, needs a banner. I can make that, right?

On second thought, let’s go with Champagne’s for the titles under that house.

I actually do like this one, but it reminds me of green kool-aid.
Oh, let’s do one for Fable while I’m goofing:

Not terrible, not not great either. I’ll get there.

Better Late than Never 2023 Round Up

Happy New Year! Normally I do a December wind up and talk about where I am and where I’d like to be, the short of it is the last four months have been really emotionally draining for personal reasons. I keep on keeping on, and even was able to use my stat time to take some time off end of November/early December, but my body decided it had enough so I’ve been fighting off something for almost two weeks now. I was feeling better last week but it’s not all coughs and sniffles.

I got my thinking brain back and I’m attacking my cramping legs with nutrition and every trick I have, so let’s update about the writing.

Magus Gambit galleys are in my grubby paws so it will launch later this month. Stay tuned I will let you know here as well as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Yes, I am using Instagram Sevannah made me some pretty promo material. The artist I hired for Fable made me some for that cover too, and I have like, posted a pie and a spider.

I failed my Goodreads reading challenge for the first time I think ever – whatever, I am half-done a bunch of stuff and could have read more or at least listened to audiobooks while I was down and out, but que seras. I remain well-read and have a bunch of stuff to get to around here, plus I had a book come in I’m probably picking up either tomorrow or Wednesday.

I did not finish Book 2 of Puppeteers nor have I properly edited book 1. Book 2 is going fantastic so far, if I pushed I could do the rough draft for my vacation but I doubt that’ll happen; right now I’m concerned for health and wellness not for a project that’ll take another year to edit and have ready for the market. Yes, I’m slow, but my process takes time so I get it right. I have a beautiful cover for book 1, need to find an editor but that’s all possible unless I get sick or work myself so I’m burnt out again. The goal is to get book 1 ready for an editor, finish book 2 and the prequel and then go work on something else completely while book 2 percolates.

I did not write three shorts for three different markets last year. I did do most of a prequel and did do a few shorts, but seriously I have a few stories from probably 2022 or 2021 that need editing. So if I need something to do, I have two longer projects to edit during my holiday.

I did not have a book out last year. I did not revise a project like Chimera last year. I didn’t even start a project for Cassie when I asked her what her wish list was; I have ideas and still haven’t really solidified much, but let’s just say I rather enjoy swashbuckling tales.

I have two books with Champagne Books that are probably both going to be 2024 titles that I’m proud of, and I still really like this YA duology I’m working on. So in theory, I’m looking at 3 books that I think are strong for 2024, with a very solid follow-up (at least at this point) for 2025.

So goals:

Write 3 shorts, send them to different markets.

Market the books better. We’ve been working on the brand and have material, now let people know they exist.

Write that Swashbuckling Novel. Keep it short, no big epic 100k+ nonsense. Preferably in the 80-90k range. Send to Champagne.

Revise a project. Probably Chimera. Send to Champagne. If they like it, finish book 2.

Get Fable out. Hopefully, Cooks Creek Medieval Fest will happen, I have been wanting to sell books in costume for years. If not, maybe I’ll make up a costume and head west to Alberta or south to the states just for the fun of it.

Fix Puppeteers 2, get it ready for 2025. See Work on developing Derelict Knights or something else in the meantime. Maybe write more than what I have sitting on my harddrive with the sequel to The Mermaid and the Unicorns. Keep the word count down. Seriously though, 2-3 titles in a year is plenty for someone who works as much as me. I see other people being way more prolific, to that I say, Good for you! No sarcasm; just my things are loooong and I want to kayak.

Do some oil painting and get good at something else creative. I spent way too much money at The Artist’s Emporium last week. Did I say too much money? I mean I haven’t had a chance to dabble with my new toys.

Basically keep on but improve. It’s funny that part of what the College of Paramedics tells us is to indulge in hobbies for mental health, meanwhile I’m running circles trying to keep up requirements and figure out how to do stuff. Little nibbles as opposed to big bites’ll do, though.