It’s book State of the Union time! I guess. I just realized it was January and that I should update my Upcoming page and, fuck, I guess it’s quarterly update time. (Also, ask me how many times I had to double check the year in subject line.)
First, what’s new in my neck of the woods… Well, website drama is fixed, at least temporarily. There are still kinks and still strange spikes in usage (that traffic on Cloudflare doesn’t reference) but it should give me a few months to figure out another solution. Some links don’t work here as I had to disable a few things, but I’m hoping next week to revisit my online shop and see if it’ll behave (I think it will, but won’t know until I try). For now, all my books are available direct on Payhip, which still takes a small fee but not as much as third party sellers.
Posts have also not been streaming to Facebook and I never remember to link to them; if you’re on FB, either like my fan page or just subscribe to my blog here (link on the right) and that’ll keep you updated.
Christmas was nice. The Doombuggy destroyed the tree damn near daily, which is quite a feat for a cat coming up on five and no longer six months old. I still have not sent out my holiday cards (or Dina’s birthday gift from December, so EVERYONE JUST GET IN LINE) but they’re all made out and sitting by the front door. I’ll give it another week and if I still don’t get to the post off I’ll mail them next year, maybe. I also spent five days with my brothers over the holidays and DRANK A LOT OF LIQUOR ate ungodly amounts of food (and if you will ever be in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, I can recommend several lovely places to eat). Now I suppose it’s time to get back to running; I had to wait for my broken toe to completely heal (although it still has an unpleasant crunching feeling–you’re welcome for that information). Tomorrow I get an ultrasound on my shoulder to find out how bad this six month rotator cuff tear is. I can at least feel like I’m exercising by playing Tomb Raider on a GIANT FUCKING TV my eldest brother got me (bring beer and nachos and you can play with me).
It was incredibly difficult not being able to call Aunt Judy, not just over the holidays but to update her on everything happening. That isn’t to say I don’t talk to her–I do, and I can hear her voice and know exactly what she would say–but that loss of light continues to be staggering, likely to all who were fortunate enough to know her.
New Year’s Eve we lost my eldest cat, Oliver. I was completely certain it was a bony tumor and there was nothing to be done (despite double checking it wasn’t an abscess) and those fuckers grow fast, though I hadn’t been quite prepared for how fast. It was not the ideal way to ring in the New Year, but my vet would’ve been closed until the fourth and I wasn’t going to make the poor soul wait that long. RIP Ollie.
So anyway. Let’s talk books.
What’s New
The Spells and Spirits boxset is out. This has a whole bunch of urban fantasy books, including ones by people way more well-known and amazing than me, and Bloodlines is among them. For 99c you can get all those books. It’s moved a few thousand units and new reader eyes are landing on Zara and the gang, with new sales trickling in for the other books–yay!
Other than that, um…
The last State of the Union in the summer, I had no particular news about anything, although this fall I was working on Oblivion at last.
Oblivion…still isn’t done. I hit another block, had my beta look over the first quarter, and talked it out with her. I’m going to scrap several thousand words and see if I can’t get the story moving again. I know in detail how it ends, what the back half of the book looks like, but going from point A to point D, well…
This means I am most definitely missing my initial goal of having it out by April. It’s a hefty book with a lot of pieces to it, and I’ll need to give my beta and editor ample time with it.
Also on my plate is Wolfe, which…also isn’t done. I’ve not even touched the rewrites on it. I think the trouble is that I strongly dislike large chunks of the book, and I’m not sure if it’s me or if it’s really not good and needs tremendous revision.
Both Oblivion and Wolfe will be released this year even if it kills me, because I want both of those series over and done with. I just suspect they will be written plucked from my brain word by word, which is as uncomfortable as it sounds.
Finally…there is a SEKRIT PROJECT that will release toward the end of the year. No, I will not tell you what is coming, although Patrons of Snark have already been told. This is why they are the cool kids.
Speaking of, Patreon now reflects actual money earned after fees and declined payments instead of pledges, which would be a. why that number has dropped significantly, and b. why Amends hasn’t had a new chapter in some months. Aunt Judy was my first patron and bumped that up quite a bit; at present, it’s still incredibly helpful but no longer covering the cost of my monthly medication (and I’m supposed to go on additional stuff that is another $120/month…AHAHAHA). I’m going to update/revamp things later this month. If you want sneak peeks, free books, and to lower my stress level considerably so I can afford drugs (and less stress = more writing), there you go. (No pressure, I still think you’re sexy.)
Next update coming in April, hopefully with actual pre-order links and stuff (I know, I know, I say that every time).
Writer of urban fantasy, thrillers/mysteries, and horror.
Holla!