Category: The War of Six Crowns

NaNoWriMo Day 4

I’m very actively sprinting at the moment, so I’m also sprinting this post in between sprinting sessions. Literally typing this while keeping my eye on the clock.

I did, after all, promise a more substantial post today.

What I didn’t count on, though, was someone breaking into our house last night. Fortunately, most of our valuables were away from the break in area, so they only took one laptop and a camera, but it meant we spent hours making sure everything was alright, dealing with our insurance company, and the police. (Need the police case number to claim for theft.)

So yeah, yet again, I’m behind.

Although, if I’m saying behind… I actually mean I’m behind my self-imposed goal. At the beginning of the month, I decided to push myself this NaNo, so I’m not only going for 50k. I’m going for 150k.

When I’d started, I felt a bit frazzled and intimidated. So much so, I completely forgot about my IWSG post on Wednesday. (Sorry, Alex!)

I’m kinda glad, though. Because instead of spending time on writing out all my worries (and giving them air to breathe), I knuckled down and wrote. Got 4k on Wednesday, 5.4k yesterday, and I’m at 4k now and aiming for 2k more.

In other words, as of right now (which might change in two minutes), I’ve written over 14k words since Tuesday. To get to 150k, I should be at 20k, but you know what? If my word count ends up over 100k this month, a few thousand words here or there won’t be the end of the world.

The amazing thing is… Right now I’m not feeling it.

I’m breaking up my writing into two or three sessions and writing. And more than that, I’m excited about where the story is going.

I mean, I’m always excited about The War of Six Crowns, but in these past few days, I’ve laughed, cried, begged someone not to do something stupid, and saw a little bit of hope. (Which I take to mean the readers will be going on one hell of a ride.)

Also, I’ve now written out 25 of (currently planned) 80 chapters. You’d think I’d feel a bit bleak to be hitting the middle, but really… these past five chapters were just perfect for opening up my way to the end. They just added another deep level of emotional complexity to what’s going on, which will carry through, not only to the end, but even into the rest of the series.

So yeah. I’m stoked.

Are you doing NaNoWriMo? How are you doing? 

NaNoWriMo Day 2

Hey everyone. Before we get into my post, please do go give Linda Baten Johnson’s guest post some love. Please and thank you!

So, as the name suggests, today is day 2 of NaNoWriMo. Yesterday didn’t go so well for me. I started off with waking up late, and then just never seemed to quite catch up. I came in just under par.

Today’s another story. I’ve already written 4k, and am trying to see if I can write 2k more before I go sleep.

So… I’m going to keep today’s post short and sweet. I really just don’t have time to put my thoughts together, but I’ll be back on Friday with something better. Promise!
How’s NaNo going for you? 

My Short Story is Out With CPs

I’m happy to say I managed to finish writing my IWSG short story in time to send it to the awesome people who’d volunteered to give it a read-over.

Most of them already sent back feedback. (I mean seriously. How’s that for speed?)

So now, I’m planning to sit down and do the critiques I owe them.

I have to say, though, I love my story. The character has been sticking in my head ever since I edited The Heir’s Choice, so I was happy to get a chance to write something for her. Fingers crossed that the judges also enjoy the story.

How are you doing? Sending in a short story for the IWSG competition too? 

Looking for Critique Partners for the IWSG Competition

Even though I despaired of ever writing anything related to The War of Six Crowns in fewer than ten thousand words, I’ve managed it.

This weekend, I finished the rough draft of The One Who Would Wield the Sword in about 5000 words, although I’ll probably be adding a thousand more in edits. (I’m the consummate adder-inner. You know… the kind of writer who adds in words while editing. As supposed to the bodily organs of a snake. That would be weird.)

Wow. Let me rein myself in and get back onto the topic before I digress way too far (as happens when I blog this close to my bed time.)

Ahem.

Okay.

I’m going to do rewrites and edits this week, but I would ideally be looking for some extra pairs of eyes on my works (metaphorically.) before I submit my entry to the competition.

Which made me think I probably wouldn’t be the only one.

So if you’re looking for someone to trade short stories with, get in touch with me at mishagerrick(AT)gmail(DOT)com. I’ll make the exchange on a first-come, first serve basis.

And, if you don’t have time to read my short story but still want me to critique your story, I’m currently doing full critiques of short stories for $5 (and a service review) per story on Fiverr. It’s a sale I have going to build up my track-record there. Fiverr accepts PayPal, and you can change the price into your own currency.

To qualify for the sale, you have to be one of my first 100 customers there (which is a distinct possibility.) and PM me from the site I linked you to. (There’s a big green button that says “Contact me.”)

Anyone entering the IWSG competition? Looking for critiques for your work? 

I can’t believe I did it again.

I don’t know how or why this keeps happening to me, but I always seem to realize that a book in my War of Six Crowns series is done after I’ve finished it.

Last week, I’d decided to renew my focus on Book 3 in order to complete the rewrite. So I reread the whole thing again to pick up all the loose strings I’d left in November, when I’d stopped when my writing had lost momentum.

And… well… the story felt done. It had a rising action. A twist, climax and an ending.

And half of my planned plot remaining unwritten. (Which was annoying.) But since the other half felt like I’d be shoe-horning it into my story, I decided to split the book. Which means that:

1) Book 3 is done. (Yay!)
2) The other half I had planned will now go into Book 4. (Also yay. Rewrite is already prepped.)
3) Revisions for Book 3 will probably involve significant revisions to compensate for the structure being slightly wonky due to me having planned most of it to be the introduction to the other (unwritten) half. (Eh… okay. I can live with that.)
4) I need a new title for Book 3. I had a title, but now the events referred to in the title happen in Book 4. (Sigh.)
5) I’m going to start revisions to Book 3 at the end of this month. (Yay!)
6) The War of Six Crowns will now be a six-book series. I was planning on five books, but hey, the more the merrier, right?

Have you ever been surprised to discover you completed a draft after-the-fact? Or is it just me?

Challenge. Accepted.

Hi everyone! So, my plans to resume my regular posting schedule from Monday didn’t work out quite as planned, and today I’m just too exhausted to put any major thought into what I’d like to write here for today. 
See last night, someone on Wattpad accused me of stealing her cover (which was as a result of Wattpad wrongfully putting her cover on my book on her app). The mind boggles as to how that could happen, but it’s far from the biggest thing about last night to boggle my mind. But, let’s not delve into the unpleasantness except to say that it took me until 2:30 this morning to clear up, which means I’m currently running on about four hours worth of proper sleep. 
Yes, it is indeed impressive that I am this coherent still at 5pm the next day with only one cup of instant coffee to sustain me. That said, I’m not pushing it, which is why I’m ever so grateful that J Lenni Dorner tweeted me this: 
That’s right, the 777 Challenge is back, and since I’m working on multiple projects that are all different from the last time I took part, I’d thought this is perfect for today. 
777 challenge on the blog of @JLenniDorner
To recap, the rules are as follows: 

1) Go to page 7 of your WiP. 
2) Go to the 7th line of page 7.
3) Copy 7 sentences from line 7 on page 7.
4) Tag 7 people. (I’m tagging a few more, though.)
Since it’s the easiest for me to do, let me see what’s on page seven of Book 3 in The War of Six Crowns. Bewarned, though. This is only moderately better than a rough draft, since I don’t edit until drafts are done…

Callan sighed. Surely this was relatively well-known. Maybe the news just hasn’t reached earth yet. 
“The wedding was supposed to be part of an alliance,” she said. 
“We know,” Claire said, putting her a bit more at ease. 
Gawain returned with a tray and set it down before taking a seat next to Callan. The room suddenly went buzzing as if someone had smashed a beehive at their table. 

I’m going to challenge… All of my buddies at Untethered Realms and anyone else who wants to take part. What are you working on at the moment? 

Peeking Out of the Editing Cave

*Blink blink.*

Holy cow it’s bright out here.

*Blink blink blink.*

People, things are going rough on my end. I’m having to prep both my books for publishing and grow my business at the same time. Which is why I’ve been so very conspicuous in my absence this past week.

I’m pushing to get final submission for both done this weekend, though. This is for two reasons: I still have a Europe trip looming sometime around the end of June and I want to give my reviewers a month’s time at least to read the books before the official release date.

Right now, I’m doing the final hard-copy proof-read of The Heir’s Choice. Basically to check if there are any edits that I’ve missed or any formatting for the paperback that’s gone wrong. Then I just need to implement the fixes and edits. After that, it’s the final formatting and adapting the covers to the paperback template, and I’m done.

Sounds easy enough. Just… not so much while my business is taking off at the same time. Because where I used to have plenty of quiet afternoons, now I don’t.

Of course, I’m not complaining. It’s good to have a thriving business again. And it’s amazing to see my books starting to sell once more.

I’m just feeling the pressure right now.

I don’t regret it, though. The sooner these books come out, the better. And the sooner I can get back to writing again. I really miss it. Haven’t written any fiction since the beginning of May and it’s really bothering me.

I just can’t focus on writing with my publishing to-do list lurking in the back of my mind.

A bit of good news is that things are currently going very well on Wattpad. Right now, I have two books on writing and The Vanished Knight ranking in their genres. (One book on writing is in the top 100.)

So yeah. That’s me in a nutshell right now. How are you doing? Anyone else prepping to self publish? Or entering the query and/or submission trenches?

The Vanished Knight: Now Available for Pre-Order

Hi all! 
Okay, so I was totally planning to write some other things last week, but I’ve been away almost every day since Tuesday. 
The good news is that The Vanished Knight e-book is now out on pre-order at the following places: 
Amazon.com
Amazon anywhere else
Kobo
iTunes
Barnes & Noble
The entity living inside Callan’s soul orphaned her at age eleven. By the time she’s sixteen, it’s ensured her being shunted from one foster family to another. 

Her thirteenth foster assignment should be routine. Except… it’s not. A psycho in medieval armor kidnaps her and she ends up in a magical world. There, she accidentally discovers a secret her parents had kept until the day they died. 

Both actually came from this magical world, but left before Callan was born. To cover their tracks, they’d lied about everything. Even who they really were. 

Driven to find out where she comes from, Callan’s trapped in a race for life and death. Walking away isn’t an option, but if she stays too long, the entity will find its next victim. 

In this world where secrets are sacrosanct and grudges are remembered, finding the truth will be near impossible. Especially when Callan has her own homicidal little secret to deal with. 

One with a taste for destroying her life. 

Add it on Goodreads
Also, I’m still looking for help with getting the word out. In particular, with the cover reveal (which will actually be more of an excerpt reveal) and reviews. But I’d also love to get more blog tour stops too. If you’d like to help, please click here for more information. 
Anyone excited that The Vanished Knight is almost out once more? 

The Vanished Knight Has a Blurb

Hi all!

For those of you who missed it, I’m publishing the first two books of The War of Six Crowns on 31 July. 

If you can/would like to help, please click here for more information. 
Today’s news: 
The Vanished Knight has a shiny new blurb: 
The entity living inside Callan’s soul orphaned her at age eleven. By the time she’s sixteen, it’s ensured her being shunted from one foster family to another.
Her twenty second foster assignment should be routine. Except… it’s not. A psycho in medieval armor kidnaps her and she ends up in a magical world. There, she accidentally discovers a secret her parents had kept until the day they died.
Both actually came from this magical world, but left before Callan was born. To cover their tracks, they’d lied about everything. Even who they really were.
Driven to find out where she comes from, Callan’s trapped in a race for life and death. Walking away isn’t an option, but if she stays too long, the entity will find its next victim. 
In this world where secrets are sacrosanct and grudges are remembered, finding the truth will be near impossible. Especially when Callan has her own homicidal little secret to deal with. 
One with a taste for destroying her life.
Let me know what you think!