Week Three and a Character Shakedown

          I had the best of intentions. Really. I meant to post last week.

          Then Klei, apparently not knowing that November is supposed to be essentially ignored by the world, opened its beta release to its newest DLC for Don't Starve. Hamlet is a Don't Starve world where the pigs have a civilization, but the rest of the world is a terrifying array of deadly everything.  I grabbed it and have already lost probably 20 hours or more to it at this point. It helps that it basically starts the game by saying, "Yo, you, the one playing this game. Yeah, You. So this edition is essentially Don't Starve-Hardcore Mode. If you're still starving to death within days in the regular game, you might want to play that mode a bit more before playing here."

          It does not disappoint. I can get to 15 days or so, but the last time two times the Thunderbird has come for me, I've died. Once because I was in the pig settlement and on my last few points of sanity... I think a nightmare got me before he could land that time. The second time I was in a battle with some houseplants that wanted to eat me and they got me just as the bird arrived. I am loving figuring out the world though. Wait until after Nanowrimo, but please pick up this game when its officially released on December 6th.

          As for my Nanowrimo, its going. I had a really tough time getting started. After 8.5k I finally figured out where I should be starting the story. Fortunately, those words weren't wasted because its Nano and they still count towards my total. I have stayed ahead of the game pretty much all month. I'm about 7k ahead of where I should be, giving me about 32k of words that actually further my plot. Unfortunately, at that point, I got stuck and my characters started falling into a bit of depression on me. 

          To get past that, I decided to talk to my husband and take an evening off from actual writing to do some planning (also, for those of you asking, yes, those words count towards Nanowrimo too. If it's written for the story during November it counts. Period.). I started by writing a kick-my-characters-in-the-ass paragraph. It was full of dire warnings and general bitching, which was not only cathartic but useful and funny as hell. Let me know if you want me to share that here. I don't think it has any secrets for the books in it, and you guys might find it hilarious. Anyways, from there I spent about 1300 words or so figuring out where all of the characters were going. Basic stuff; what is your motivation, where does it have a pivotal change and who's with you when it does? Why is that a pivotal change and what did the villain do to you to get you there?

          Surprisingly, this is working for me. 

          Here's a reminder that my poignant short story, Fated has been released and is available, pretty much wherever you buy your ebooks from. Check the links below. And please remember to leave a review about it and give it a star-rating, if nothing else. Those really help my book to get seen by more people. 

          Finally, I'm going to end here and put up a fair warning, that I think my next blog is going to be an art one... Maybe talking about Inktober, but certainly talking about my first Paletteful Packs subscription box. Keep an eye out for it!

Fated on ibook
Fated on Android
Fated on Kobo

Week One

          The first week of Nanowrimo has kicked my ass. Between releasing my short story, sending my novel to my editor and everything else, I felt like I would never get to write! Of course, time doesn't actually stop, and when Nanowrimo did start, I had a story, but no good starting place and despite telling myself not to start my characters before the trouble starts, I did. Mostly because there is trouble. Just no new troubles. Finally, we lost our internet connection for 24 hours which forced me to look at my story objectively and stop plodding on even when I could tell it wasn't working.

          How has all this translated into my word count? Well, our total for day 7 is 11,669 words. I'm already above that, sitting at 13,110 words. So, just 226 words off of having tomorrows total finished. I've only written 500 or so words today though, and I'll be doing more tonight. So in word counts, I'm doing just fine. The problem is in the quality. Around 8k of that total won't even make it into my finished rough draft. So I'm just over 5k into a draft I'm willing to work with.

          Still, Nanowrimo is a time for playing with plot lines that don't work and false starts. It's a time to forget your inner editor and ignore everything, right? Well, that is right, which is why I'm not really down on myself. I am above my daily total and while I'm clearly doing some editing on the run, it's only because my writing flows faster and smoother knowing that I have corrected the major hurdle I was facing. Also, those words still exist. Knowing that they weren't the right words doesn't negate the fact that they were written. I prefer to say that I have found one of the ways not to write this novel... it just took me 8k to do it.

          What about you? Are you doing Nanowrimo this year? If so, what's your word count? What hurdles have you crossed in week one?

          The last thing I wanted to mention is a bit of self-promotion! If you follow me closely, you may have heard that I released a short story on October 31st (If you didn't see it, consider yourself informed). I have reached #46 on Amazon's Hot New Releases in the anthology and short story category and is #292 on Amazon's Short Reads in the Science Fiction & Fantasy section.

          If you'd like to help me to get these numbers a bit higher, and you've already taken the step of buying my short story (Thank you), there are two more big things you can do. The first is to please leave a review. I am not asking for only 5-star reviews; any review helps to get my story a bit more coverage out there in the world. So wherever you picked up my story, leave a review and throw a few stars at it. You can also do that on Goodreads, if you prefer to leave your reviews all in one place. The other way you can help is to spread the word. Tell your friends and family about it and convince them to pick it up and star it themselves.

          Thanks again. I'll be back with another update in a few more days. Until then, good luck if you're writing and happy reading if you aren't.

First Day of Nanowrimo

          As always, I am taking part in Nanowrimo. However, this year, despite not having a day job to keep me busy, it feels like it really snuck up on me. Which I kind of find hilarious, especially since I'm having trouble keeping the days all straight in my mind. On the other hand, it isn't like I haven't been busy. In the last two weeks, I have edited my short story and published it, sent my first novel to my editor and finished sending book two to my beta readers. I even did a very minimum planning for Nanowrimo.

          Today I had a very decent total of 2,691 words. I was going to 3k, but I just missed the mark. More so because the first chapter just wasn't working for me and I had to restart it. Not that those words don't count, just they took longer and were harder to do than I could have hoped for.

          Are you doing Nanowrimo? Let me know if you are!

Exciting News!

Its been nearly two weeks since my last update, but I have some really exciting news!

Are you leaning close? Like really close? Good.

I have a short story that will be coming out on Wednesday!

It won't be my novel, unfortunately (that is currently slated for a December release), but a short story, written in a darker and more urban setting than I normally visit in my writing. Here are the cover and blurb. It will be available on Amazon, Kobo, Nook and iBooks. The links are down below!

I hope you all enjoy it!

It’s a burden knowing that magic exists…

For as long as she can remember, Phedre has seen a much different world than the rest of us. Sprites and spirits dance around and through us and everybody is surrounded by brightly coloured auras. Despite that touch of magic, she lived a normal life. But when her new step-father breaks the peace in their home, Phedre runs without a plan. Offered an escape that she never expected, she will learn that no gift is without its price and one harsh truth; in this world, some people are burdened with glorious purpose… and others are simply bugs caught in the webs of fate.

Kindle
Kobo 

Man, has it been busy!

     Well, it has been a super busy couple of days since my last update. I have been trying to do at least one October picture each day this year, but I am behind by a couple of days now, four to be exact. On the other hand, most of the pictures are actually working out reasonably well, I think, and I'm definitely getting better at using the medium. I did take some time off today to work with my Copic markers though. I figure they still count since I'm inking the picture first and then using the marker ink to colour it. Though, honestly, I'm not one of those people who is a stickler for the rules here. If you're doing #Inktober and you're doing it digitally, or you're just working on hatching and some of them are in pencil or something, hey, you're drawing, and therefore you're doing it right. Are any of you out there doing it? Let me know.

     I also have two bits of very good news for all of you. The first is that I should have an update for when I'll be releasing a short story digitally! Yes, you heard that right, I will be publishing something very soon, I just want to get it back from my editor and read it over before I reveal the official date of publishing. I am keeping my fingers crossed for October 31st, but either way, keep an eye out for it.

     The other bit of good news is that I have finally finished the first edit of my second novel in the Kitsune-Ken series. I am going over the document once more for punctuation and grammar and then the novel will be sent to my editor as well. It's my hope that I can work on edits for it starting in December/January, and then I can have a release date for it reasonably soon after the first one drops. The third book (as you know if you've been following) was written last November for Nanowrimo and I'm hoping to start looking it over for editing soon too. This November, I will begin work on book four in the series. I will definitely keep all of you updated though. I am starting up a mailing list that I'll use to send out updates. I haven't had a chance to actually set it up yet, but if any of you want to be sure you're on it, please dm me on FB or something with your name and your email address and I'll add you in. I promise I will only be using it to update you with publishing information.

     Anyways, I'm going to jump off here and open my document to do some editing before I head to sleep for the night.

Moving Fast!

     It has been an insanely busy week. Inktober has kept me moving. Still, I've managed to actually keep up so far. It really helps that I drew the first five days in advance. I've since drawn another 2 days worth and will be trying to do another two or three today. Having the drawings in advance really helps me to spend the day, mostly considering colour and not worrying horribly about composition. Here's an example of my favourite three so far.

     One nice thing about having my pictures sketched in advance as well is that it gives me a bit more time to spend my time working on my book. I came down with a cold during the week which means I did less than I wanted to, but that doesn't mean I accomplished nothing. I sent in a short story and my novel to my editor and am sending away a request for a cover (so keep an eye out later this month for a cover reveal). in the next day or so. I have 32 chapters of my novel is done and probably another 12k to 15k left before its completely done. Part of my issue is that I found a full chapter I needed to rewrite, but I needed to move it entirely to fix it, which meant that I've had to rewrite it twice now. I'm pleased to say that it is finally working and I'm really hoping to have the book done by the end of next week and hopefully sent in to my editor as soon as she has time. Then I'll be spending the rest of October, getting ready to sell my artwork and preparing for Nanowrimo.

     This is getting a bit longer than I was hoping though, so I'm going to call it here. Are you going to be doing Nanowrimo this year? And are you taking part in Inktober? How are you doing with it?

Start of Inktober & an Update

     Sorry that I've been gone so long guys. With my head, taking so long to heal, I pretty much dropped the ball on everything this year. Or if not everything, then a lot. I stopped posting online at all for quite a while and slept and healed and worked whenever my head allowed me to. I took the time I needed and forced myself to heal. All of which means that I'm back at it... and that I've had a lot of life changes to go with it.

     First of all, I am no longer working at my day job. They laid me off when they decided that my position was no longer required at the company. And while that is a very life-changing change, it wasn't as out of left field as you might expect. They've been telling us at our company for years that certain positions would be disappearing and they told me nearly a year ago that my position would be one of the ones that are disappearing. That said, its a completely different thing being told "your position will be going away soon" and actually not having to go to work anymore. After I found out, I took some time off from writing to adult, figure out where I was going and what I was doing. My plan is currently to take a few months off and actually start making a business of all the creative art stuff I do. The point of this is to see if I can work from home without a day job effectively and get things done. 

     Which leads to my second interesting update. I will be publishing very soon, this month or the next. It will be a single short story, out hopefully before the end of October, but it may end up being a little bit later than that (my editor just bought a house and isn't taking commissions for the next couple of weeks). I am going to be looking into covers for it and I will let you know as soon as I have an update for the date. My first novel will be coming out, hopefully before mid-December. I am nearly done with my first pass on the second novel in the series and will hopefully be under my editor's eye sometime in November-December. I have also written a dieselpunk novella that will be coming out sometime in the new year after I've had a chance to edit it. The important thing to remember in all of this is that I will be publishing soon. Keep an eye here, and I will let you know when I am finally releasing everything! If you'd like a more direct way to get noticed, please send me an email at inkedfoxpress@gmail.com saying so and include the email address you'd like to be notified at. I promise I'll only be using the email to send out updates when I'm actually publishing something. 

     And finally the start of my title... #Inktober is finally here! For those that don't remember, I kinda took part of #Inktober last year. The idea is to try to use only ink to make works of art for the entire month of October. Last year, I didn't manage to get it finished every day, but I did manage to get 18 or so drawings up, most of which were done with Copic markers. While Copics are still my favourite medium, I have also branched out to watercolour and most recently India Ink. Here is my first offering this year. 

     I think that's it since this update is already way longer than I wanted. If you think I've missed on mentioning something, please let me know in the comments below and maybe I can do a full post on some of them in the next month or so.