Thistletorn : Up to Chapter 3

Hello all!

I just wanted to touch base and let you wonderful folks know what I've been up to in terms of Thistletorn, the sequel to Thistledown.

Good news! The entire story is loosely outlined [have I mentioned I love Scrivener? If not read this post] I've also got up to chapter 3 written! Whoot!

I have to say, I love writing. I love how I start out with an idea, it moves to a concept, from there it becomes a loose outline which flows into my brain magically making shit up as I go and it works like a dream. That's the experience I've been having writing Thistletorn recently. I know I'll eventually get stumped, frustrated and gripe about how much I hate writing. But for now, I'll just blithely continue to be optimistic.

In other news...NaNoWriMo is gearing up! Yippee! [Add me as a writing buddy if you are planning on doing it this year!] This is my second year doing this and I have to say it was helpful. I wrote most of Thistledown in that time period last year, and since then the Golden Afternoon universe I've been working on for the past few years exploded and coalesced at the same time.

I will admit now, if I haven't already, that I am utterly insane. The amount of plot overlapping between book series in this universe is going to be mind numbing and enlightening at the same time. It works so well and is so frustrating I know I'm going to look back one day and go "Damn...I did good."

For now, though, I'm just trying to survive writing the Haegtesse Trilogy. Yes - it will be a trilogy. Not sure yet if I'll expand upon it any farther than that, but probably not.

If you'd like to check out my NaNoWriMo page for Thistletorn - please go here! It includes the working synopsis and an excerpt from chapter 2. I'll have Katherine C. Smith get the cover for Thistletorn done before NaNoWriMo kicks into high gear. The only thing I can tell you about the cover is it will feature our favorite Dragankine ;)

I'm still debating about putting the working chapters up to read on Wattpad again like I did for Thistledown [the first 5 chapters are still up here - please vote and comment!] as a lot of the information in the first few chapters will be spoilers for the first book. :/ I'll have to figure that out as I go.

Anyway, I will keep you all up to date on my progress leading up to NaNoWriMo and, of course, through the month of November! Hopefully I can get it written by the end of November, spend December editing it and get it published by New Years for you all!

Happy writing!

Scrivener : The Tool That Will Save You

Hello all!

It has been quite a few months since I last posted...pretty much right after I published Thistledown for the Nook and Kindle. I've been up to some stuff since then, mainly revolving around the shiny new Man beast in my life who is absolutely spectacular. But I have done work! Lots of it actually.

Until this point, I've been using Google Drive to keep all of my writing data together and in an easily accessible format. That is all fine and dandy, but quite frankly, also too much work. Notes get lost and before I know it I've got more documents than you can shake a stick at for a single title. All of which are far too large for Google Drive to open easily...

I'd taken a few month break after publishing Thistledown in order to get my head back in a good place and prep myself for writing the sequel, Thistletorn. I began half-heartedly working on it, mainly because it was such a hassle switching between Google Drive and Word and Nook Press trying to get my submission into a decent format. That has since changed.

My good friend and fellow writer Alex Gonzalez turned me onto Scrivener and I thought I'd share the bounty. He initially showed me a YouTube video of how it works -

- and I got interested. Then I did the free trial - HERE - and went "HOLY SHIT." They actually make the free trial 30 NON CONSECUTIVE days...read that again. It will only count the number of days you open the program, not 30 calendar days from your initial install. You could seriously space the trial out for over a year and it wouldn't count against you. Amazing! Not only that but you can use Scrivener's compile tool to FORMAT YOUR BOOK TO EPUB! No switching between programs, no stressing in trying to figure it all out through online tutorials. It's all been simplified for you!

It wasn't before long that I was creating project files for all of my stories and importing my accumulated files directly into Scrivener [pics and all]. Organizing your thoughts is easy and customize-able. You can have a single view or double view to work with so you can read your notes while you write without switching between windows. There are visual organization tools like the pinboard. Pre-outlined character sheets for you to fill in if you don't want to create your own. Various formats you can write in such as screen writing, novel, short story etc and each is tailored to that style of writing.

I could literally go on for hours about this program. Suffice to say, it's making my life easier and I've blazed ahead in working on the sequel to Thistledown. My notes are finally organized the way I want to work on them in. I'm saving time and energy flipping between files and programs. And I'm seeing results. I can't wait to use this program when NaNoWriMo comes around again next month. I'm planning on using Scrivener to compile Thistletorn for submission to Nook and Kindle once it's completed.

Do you know the best part about it? IT'S ONLY $40. It's cheap! Completely worth how much I'm getting out of it already times 100. 

I realize I sound like some damn infomercial and that your eyes must be glazing over as you read this, but if you write, please do yourself a solid and do the free trial. And then support Literature & Latte and buy the damn program because you're going to use it. And you will actually enjoy the writing and editing process compared to what you're fumbling with now.

For writers, Scrivener is literally the tool that will save you.

Thistledown : Available on the Nook and Kindle!

Hey there all!

After much cramming, editing, fretting and freaking...Thistledown is out now for the Nook and Kindle. They've both been out for a few weeks now and I'm really excited to see where the book goes and if people like it. I'm gonna go ahead and add the links in a little bit farther down. I just wanted to blab for a bit. ;) There are some great extras as part of the book, including illustrations from Katherine C. Smith and the entire first chapter for the second book, Thistletorn.
I'm excited to start working on that project, though honestly I have to sit down and really break down what's going to happen. I have a rough list, but I need to start expanding upon it and work out the kinks.
The second book will be a lot longer than the first. Especially since I'm not trying to cram 50k+ words into one month and can really delve further into the Golden Afternoon universe. There will be some explanation as to other aspects of Otherland, some harsh experiences for Thistle, and a smorgasbord of new characters!

Any way.... LINKS!! Please support and give out feedback! I've also started a GoodReads account

Nook

Kindle

Nook Press & Character Art - Getting things ready for publishing!

Hey everybody!

So I haven't died, obviously. I thought I'd post what I was in the middle of doing so that you might get an idea of what the situation is. I had to take personal time off from Thistledown so the late February deadline was a bust.

In a way it was a great thing because I was able to have some awesome artwork done and Nook Press came out! I was really trying to figure out how to properly get my project out and Nook Press just completely made the entire process easy. I'm thinking of doing a full review of what I think of it in another post, but for now I'll just admit that it's amazing.

I've changed my publication date to sometime at the end of this month. I have a lot to do in the interim as I still have some editing to do, though I'm a solid amount through. I'm also discovering the ins and outs of buying ISBNs, publishing via Amazon, and thinking of getting an actual website up and running so that I can put bonus content up for my readers to have fun with.

Speaking of which, I'm putting quite a bit of bonus content in the book. Artwork, Character Profiles, Playlist, Glossary etc. Basically a bunch of the things I use and need in order to write my stories, I'm including for the reader. I've also planned on making the price of the e-book 3.99; mainly because most ebooks are overpriced and I'd feel like a chump for jumping on board the 7.99 train when there are absolutely no printing costs.

Anyway, here be some art for you to oggle! All artwork by Katherine C. Smith! :) I can't wait to see what Mordecai is going to look like!

Thistle Finley

Alder Barclay

Alder Barclay in his partial Witch form.

Finalized Cover for Thistledown!!!

I finally got the last revision of the cover art and here it is! :D