No Rest for the Wicked or Weary

Okay, so I’m not that wicked, but I am weary.

As you can see, I spent April blogging up a storm, and I loved every literal second of it. (Pun intended) But, in doing so I wore myself out.

My plan before April… was that I would post daily throughout May, but obviously April happened and now we’re ten days in and I’m busy finishing short stories while editing others.

All that means is I’ll take a more leisurely pace until June.

So, on that note what I have been hard at work on is a paranormal romance short story that is just over 15k! It features faeries and woods and the turning of the seasons from autumn to winter and while it needs a little work before it can be submitted for consideration into a rather epic anthology that Juliet Marillier is featured in, I am hopeful. I’m keeping everything crossed that my story is good enough and that I manage to make all the edits in time, because it would mean the absolute world to me if it was published.

Le Fay Has Been Delayed

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Oh, how I hate to be the bearer of bad news. I really hate to disappoint people. Although, I think in this industry it might be par for the course. Writing can be finicky and the muse even more so.

Alas… now to rip the band-aid off.

Sadly, Le Fay won’t be ready in time for a April 15th release. I think eight weeks out from publishing Lost is much more reasonable than six with the way I’m tracking writing wise. So, it’s likely going to be an end of April release.

And, I’m almost there. I just forgot to factor in how busy I’d be in the last few weeks of the first school term. And now that my kids are off for two weeks it’s virtually impossible to actually score time on our sole PC during the day in order to write.

Roblox takes priority apparently. It gets old fast, believe me.

So, in an effort to appease those of you who may have been looking forward to news of a pending release, I’m going to share another excerpt.

And if you’re interested in the previous excerpts I’ve shared they are here and here.
Morgan stood at the base of the tree, having scaled the wire fence with only a little help from Arthur. There didn’t seem to be a doorway of any kind that would take them to the crystal cave.

“How do we get inside?”

“Magick,” Prince Arthur replied. “How else?”

Knocking on the trunk of the tree three times, they stood in silence, and waited, as right before Morgan’s eyes the trunk of the tree split open at its base and tore upwards forming a narrow doorway, just wide enough for the two of them to slip through.

With wide eyes, Morgan looked up at Arthur, trembling slightly. “Is it safe?”

“Do you really think that I’d lead you into danger, Morgan?”

“No,” she said, but neither her words nor her actions had any conviction.

“Come on,” Arthur said, holding out his hand for her. “I promised your brother that no harm would come to you and none shall.”

Bye March

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Another month has come to a close. I spent most of it waiting on things that didn’t arrive and trying to write amongst the anxiety that came with waiting on those things that didn’t arrive. Suffice to say, March has been utterly exhausting.

Rewarding, but exhausting.

I was looking over my submissions for the quarter and I’ve subbed twelve stories and two poems. With five stories still pending completion. Not to mention I’ve written a whopping thirty-two blog posts. While I’ve had two rejections this year, on stories I felt had promise, I’m trying to not let that get me down.

And right now, I’m battling the clock on two projects. Le Fay is probably the most pressing, but another… so far untitled, is proving a mite more interesting. It’s what I like to call Arthurian Legends meets The Vampire Diaries. I couldn’t resist throwing vampires at fire breathing dragons and seeing what came about. Turns out even with Le Fay not quite finished, Morgan’s not letting go. Not that she ever has and I doubt if she ever will.

It’s early days but I’m hopeful I’ll be able to finish the third instalment, Pendragon, ready for a late May release.

So, that’s what I achieved. What’s something you achieved?

 

 

Week Twelve

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It’s goodbye to yet another week of the 365 Writing Challenge and I’ve written a grand total of 2,200 words… which is slightly up from last week.

So much has happened this week, most of which I have already blogged about. So, I won’t go into it again. Suffice to say, I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the poetry anthology from Dragon Soul Press that has my two little poems in it, when it releases in June.

I also received my copy of Spring’s Blessing in the mail, which featured my short story, The Dawning of Spring. If you haven’t gotten your hands on a copy you can do so here.

Well that’s about it for this week.

Happy Writing.

 

Le Fay is Coming!

For all those who may be wondering, the second installment of my novelette series, Le Fay is in the works. I’m about two thirds of the way into it and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’ll be ready for release mid April.

It is the prequel to Morrighan and tells the story of Morgan and how she met Prince Arthur and the domino effect that befalls her which follows in the wake of her father’s death and propels her mother, Igraine, into the arms of Uther Pendragon.

For those that are familiar with the Arthurian Legends of old, my version is a little different in that there is a paranormal undertone to this story, but to tell you more would be giving too much away. I do however hope you’ll enjoy it.

For now though, I’ll leave you with a teensy excerpt and a look into Le Fay.

Enjoy!

He was standing right in front of her; Morgan couldn’t move. She licked her lips that had all of a sudden gone dry and remembered to breathe, and blink, least she be accused of staring at his all too beautiful face.

“Hello Morgan.”

Morgan shook her head, momentarily breaking the daze. He was too pretty to be real. Too pretty by far to be a boy. None of the boys Morgan knew had hair down to their shoulders.

“H-how do you know my name?” Morgan stammered, taking one step backwards. She shouldn’t have been out on the sidewalk. She should have been inside, but the apartment was dark and cramped.

“I know a great deal about you, Morgan,” he said.

Morgan swallowed hard, as fear bubbled up inside. She felt as if she’d throw up any second.

“Who are you?” Morgan sucked air into her half-starved lungs.

It tasted like roses. The garden behind him was full of them. All white to match the fence that ran all the way along the street.

Morgan shouldn’t have been talking to him, she should have turned away and walked inside, but hopscotch was way more fun than playing inside by herself.

“Now, now Morgan, there’s no need to be hostile,” he said. “I thought you could do with somebody to keep you company. It must get awfully lonely playing by yourself all the time.”

“Who are you?” she shrieked, so loud, that he reached out to put a hand over her mouth to shush her.

“If you promise to be quiet, I will tell you,” he said. “Do you promise, Morgan?”

Morgan nodded, and he took his hand away from her mouth. “Yes… I promise. Now tell me who you are!” her voice, while practically inaudible, was pitched.

“I’m Arthur. Arthur Pendragon,” he said, his blue eyes shining like sapphires.

“Arthur Pendragon,” Morgan repeated.

Despite the presence of a lisp when she said his name, Arthur forced a smile. “Yes.”

“Are you real?” she asked.

“Of course, I am!” he said with an air of indignation. “Aren’t all faeries real?”

Week Eleven

Today is the end of the eleventh week of the 365 Writing Challenge and I’ve managed to write 2,100 words and get some editing done on a few of my short stories I wrote last month. I’m still waiting on my scores for Phase 4 of Fantasia Divinity’s Interpretations Contest, but I’m hopeful they’ll hit my inbox very soon.

In other writing news, I have four short stories awaiting completion so that I can submit them to various anthologies, plus close to a dozen drabbles to write for another submission opportunity.

March is beginning to feel just a little overwhelming of late, but I’m trudging through and I’ll make it through to the other end, hopefully unscathed. And who knows, maybe by the end of the month, I’ll have a couple of acceptances to add to my pile of ever growing acceptances.

Until next week. Happy writing.

Week Seven to Ten

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And, I dropped the ball. I find it ironic that the last post I made to this series was on February 11th. Today marks the tenth week of the 365 Writing Challenge.

These last four weeks I’ve written roughly 8,796 new words, finished my Phase 5 short story for Fantasia Divinity Magazine‘s competition and started work on Le Fay, the prequel to Morrighan.

Lost, my collection of short stories, was published on March 28th on kindle and paperback.

If you haven’t purchased a copy, I’d love it if you would consider doing so.

Here’s the LINK!

Until next week.

I hope.

Fingers crossed.

 

Beauty

My short story, Beauty is being published in Iron Faerie Publishing‘s forthcoming anthology, Fable.

It’s a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast fairytale, which was first recorded by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740.

I’ll share more as soon as I’m able.

Week Six

Today is the end of the sixth week of the 365 Writing Challenge during which I’ve written 3,199 words. It’s up from last week and actually feels pretty good.

I’m still chipping away at my fifth contest entry. It’s going slower than I would like because of the research. There’s not a great deal of information about my person of interest. Plenty of movies and tv shows but when you’re trying to get down to what really happened… it’s a little more difficult. Thankfully it’s not due til the end of this month, so I have time to get it finished. Hopefully, the judges like it.

All in all a good week, writing wise. I hope to be as productive next week.

I promise I’ll keep you all posted.

Week Five

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This is the fifth week of the 365 Writing Challenge. I’ve written a grand total of 2,100 words this week and had one of my short stories that I subbed to Fantasia Divinity rejected. 😔

Lost, is however in the works, and will be released by the end of February.

I’m still hard at work on my fifth and final contest entry. It’s proving harder than I thought to get right, but I’m persevering.

Until next week.

 

Lost, a Collection of Short Stories

I told you good things were on the horizon, didn’t I?

Lost, is a collection of my own short stories. Within the pages you’ll find every story I’ve ever had published in the last eight years, plus a few new ones.

Title: Lost
Genre: Paranormal Fantasy
Release date: 28 February 2019
Cover designer: Nicky Montgomery
Blurb: Where will you go once you are lost?

Who will you seek?

What will you find, awaiting you in the shadows?

Enter… if you dare, into worlds where faeries, werewolves, vampires, gods, angels and demons collide.

Week Four

Today marks the end of the fourth week of the 365 Writing Challenge during which I’ve written 2,100 words, which is the bare minimum to get by. But it is words on paper so I don’t care.

I’m busy working on my 5th contest entry for Fantasia Divinity Magazine & Publishing and trying not to go stir crazy as I await scores from previous rounds.

All in all a good week, writing wise. I hope to be as productive next week.

I promise I’ll keep you all posted.

Week Three

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This is the third week of the 365 Writing Challenge. I’ve written a grand total of 3,392 words this week and had one of my short stories that I subbed last week accepted for publication, I’m hoping I’ll hear back about the second one soon. It would be great to see both stories published.

As for what lies in store this week… we’ll work on my fifth contest entry is going ahead at a steady but slow pace. But some words are better than none, right?

 

 

Week Two

Today marks the end of the second week of the 365 Writing Challenge during which I’ve written 2,878 words, which is a huge improvement on last week and I’ve even submitted two short stories for publication. Fingers crossed they’re well received!

I’m currently half way through writing my 4th contest entry for Fantasia Divinity Magazine & Publishing, which is proving to be an interesting little tale, just as the last three have been.

My scores are even half way decent and I’m holding my own quite well it seems.

All in all a good week, writing wise. I hope to be as productive next week.

I promise I’ll keep you all posted.

New Years Resolutions

Every year I set goals and every year I just don’t quite make it. Do, this year is the year I will. (Remind me to look back on this post on January 1st 2020)

So, what are my New Years Resolutions?

Well…

1. Write 300 words a day. No I don’t care that the word count is minuscule because it’s all that I can realistically handle without burning myself out.

2. Publish… something. Okay, this one is vague for a reason. Simple because I’d like to see the first three books in The Eldritch Series out before December 31st but I’m realistic and sometimes editing just isn’t in the budget.

3. Write weekly blogs. I’m open to ideas, do leave a comment about what you’d like to see.

4. Read more. Self explanatory, I think but I have quite a few books on my to be read pile that I didn’t get to in 2018, so I’m going to get to them in 2019.