This Isn’t Half Bad
I’m at that point in a book where I’m looking at it and wondering whatever made me think I was literate in the first place. This is perfectly normal and happens to about 95% of writers—we’re known to have highs and lows in our confidence (thanks to she-who-fights-and-writes for this visual explanation of the insanity that goes on in a writer’s brain).
Right now I’m at “No on will ever read this book because it sucks and is the absolute worst.” But the interesting thing is that there is also a tiny part of my brain that is saying, “Well, no, this is actually pretty cool. You just need to finish and edit it.” That’s the part that I’m desperately encouraging at the moment.
I think part of the problem is that I worry that I’m adding too much worldbuilding and non-romance stuff to my romances. But that’s the way my brain works—I want to know the background of my MCs, I want to know what problems are lurking in the background and how their world got to that point in addition to the spine-tingling, toe-curling romance. But I’m always afraid that readers are thinking, “Ugh, why is she bothering with all this political crap—get to the smexy times!”
Mrgh. Enough people buy my stuff that there must be readers out there who want worldbuilding along with sex. So I’ll write for them and try to add more of them to my audience.
I Have a Title
The Paladins of Crystal WC academy romance I’ll be publishing on Vella will be titled Crystal Clear, and will follow the adventures of Kristiana (and her twin brother Konstantin) as they navigate the Academy of the Elements in Munsala and the problems that come along with matriculating at the grand old age of 18 instead of 10 or 11 as is the norm. It doesn’t help that shy Kristiana is much more skilled at magic than her brother and gets bumped into Fourth Form (the university level with 19 to 21-year-olds), so she needs to deal with all that. Of course, four hot Fourth Formers take an interest in Kristiana and want to make her part of their pentad … and more. *dramatic musical sting*
The nice thing about this is that I can weave events from Crystal’s story throughout this series as well, and one series may well feed the other. Hey, if it keeps readers entertained that’s all that matters. Now I just have to lock myself in my office away from the cats and churn out wordage, tra la.
Pulled In Too Many Directions
A problem of being an indie author is that you are, in fact, a small business owner with all the hats that come along with that. In addition to writing I have to arrange for editing, formatting, covers, promotion and marketing (which are separate things, believe it or not), plus I have to keep a weather eye on the market and try to hop on the next rising wave.
At the moment that appears to be Kindle Vella. Now, I’m no stranger to writing serialized fiction—I did it all the time with fanfic and I know how to add little cliffhangers to keep the reader interested and reading along. But that also means splitting my already fractured writing time to absorb yet another project that has to be updated at least once and ideally twice weekly. Plus I need to write something that will appeal to the main group of Vella readers. From looking at the top sellers in Vella, that appears to be Why Choose academy romance with just a touch of bullying.
Yeah, yeah, I know—wasn’t I doing a Hidden Empire novella? I am, mainly because I need it as a link between The Crimson and the Black and To Love a Wild Swan. But seeing as this is serialized and I only have to post two chapters a week, I can squeeze in another project. And I am choosing to look on this as a challenge. I know the market, I know what readers expect from the market, and I think I can deliver an entertaining WC academy romance set in my Paladins of Crystal universe. I mean, hey, haven’t you ever wondered what attending the Academy of the Elements must be like? And for a shy girl who’s been tutored at home until her parents lose all their money and have to send her and her twin brother to the academy for training in their Talent, that could be very interesting.
So, yeah, gonna be quite busy for the rest of the month. But hey, who needs sleep?
In Search of Good Indie Reads?
Or perhaps you’re an indie author who would like to get your book out there on a website where people can browse some of the freshest titles in indie publishing?
Do I have a website for you! Pretty Bookshelf, run by Zoe Blessing, is a quickly growing resource for indie publications (and not just romance—Pretty Bookshelf hosts everything from mystery to historical fiction). If you’re a reader, you can browse by author, title, spice level if you’re looking for romance, or just wander through titles until you find something that interests you. Click on a title and you’ll be taken to a page with the book’s blurb, reviews, buy links, similar titles, and a place where you can leave your own review.
If you’re a writer, this is a fantastic (and free) way to get more eyes on your work. I currently have Crystal Shard listed there and I’ve submitted To My Muse, and will be sending the rest of my catalog once I have a moment to breathe this week. While submitting to the website is free, they do have a Ko-fi account where you can drop them a buck or two to help support the work they’re doing.
So if you want to read some great indie published fiction or submit your own indie published book, go check out Pretty Bookshelf!
Well, That Was An Interesting Start to Easter
A raptor of some sort (we have hawks, vultures, and owls here) must have hit a dove or pigeon in our back yard because a good ten square feet of grass were littered liberally with feathers (the longest ones were dark about halfway down the shafts then turned white, and the down was white). I just raked them up—didn’t find any body parts so I’m guessing those were eaten by the raptor.
The only reason I saw this was that Someone had piddled a bit right at the entrance to the breakfast nook litter box (in their defense it was absolutely chokka with poop and pee so I cleaned it early), requiring me to take up the litter-catching mat and bring it outside to hose it down, whereupon I found the murder scene. In any case the floor has been swept and mopped, the broom has been hosed down and is drying with the mat outside, and the feathers have been deposited in the trash bin.
Happy Easter, everybody!
Returning the Favor
Weekends are non-writing times (also, I need a break from all the sewing I’ve been doing this week) so I’m currently beta reading an SF novel for my friend Bill Ledbetter. Level Seven is the third in a series and I’m really enjoying where he’s going with the story.
I am also steadfastly ignoring the Muse who keeps popping up with SF story ideas, the sodden wench. They’re great and maybe at some point I’ll get a chance to write them, but at the moment I am so damn swamped with work I really can’t take on anything else, much as I would like to.
Speaking of work, I’m now on Act III of Crystal Blade and everything is pretty much heading downhill at a good clip towards the big confrontation and the resolution. For those of you who know I used to be a SFWA Musketeer and own my own fencing epeés, you won’t be surprised at the big climax. I did call the book Crystal Blade for a reason, after all.
I also have the Hidden Empire Vella novella completely plotted out and in progress, and the Paladins of Crystal Vella novella (tentatively titled Crystal Clear) is also taking shape. Surprise—it’s a YA academy Why Choose romance. Why? Because Nicola’s house needs repairs and this is an insanely popular genre so why not write in it? Besides, it gives me a chance to flesh out the Academy of the Elements and Chancellor Toldin (who in my head looks like Colin Firth) a bit more for the master series.
On Monday We Write
And other writing-related chores, which for me means refreshing Amazon ads for Shadow of the Swan and Storm Season (I freely admit that I’ve been using ChatGPT to give me ideas for ad blurbs, which I then heavily tweak to get the result I want) and checking on the FB ad I started on Saturday for Esposito County Shifters: OE. Clicks on that are pretty good and I’m waiting for updates on Smashword’s Daily Sales report to see if there’s any happiness on the sales front.
Some nice people in England also bought a copy of ECS:OE and three of the novellas this morning, so whoever you are thank you for that.
In Crystal Blade news I’ve reached the midpoint of the book where Crystal makes a moderately shocking discovery about her parentage after being banished t0 the hunting lodge where she was born. Needless to say, the Buff Lords are not happy about this and Fallon has been dispatched to keep an eye on her and rescue her if necessday. More importantly, Crystal’s also been set a rather tasty task by the empress to prove her heritage, and it’ll be interesting to see how many people figure out the answer before I reveal it in the book.
I will give one hint here: 3-D printing. Heh, heh…
Ow. Also, Auntie Em, Auntie Em!
Weekends are for non-writing chores so yesterday I got out in the back yard and spread a big bag of dirt over the new lantana in the southern flower bed, then covered that with mulch. Today I am once again reminded that I am neither sixteen years old anymore nor am I Xena. Ow. Ow ow ow.
The muscle aches have not been helped by the arrival of joint aches due to a rather large storm system that has caused me to rack the car in the garage and park Ramón’s truck in the garage driveway (we can’t get both vehicles in the garage due to all the Stuff™ in there, and for storms coming from the west the house and garage provide some shelter from hail). Luckily it only dumped a crapload of water on us, which will make the lantana happy, but it did pop up a couple of tornadoes east of the Metroplex which doesn’t bode well for an already hammered Arkansas.
And it’s going to hit 90°F tomorrow before cooling off precipitously, plus the advent of more rain later on this week so my sinuses are already turning into a snot factory as a result. But hey, there’s no such thing as climate change. *pinches bridge of nose, sighs*
Relieved That It’s April
That is a March that I am particularly glad to see the back of, if I’m being honest. This month will be filled with getting my car’s registration renewed, continuing my plan to get this house deep cleaned bit by bit, finish Crystal Blade and get that published, and start on To Love a Wild Swan and the Hidden Empire novella (after a nice chat with Ramón I now have a plot).
Yeah, I know, I promised that I would finish the Olympic Cove series this year, and I will. But Hidden Empire is currently my bestselling series so I have to go with the money and add a book to it. I’ll keep picking at High Tide while I’m working on TLaWS and pivot to that once I’m done.
In the meantime I need to update my ads on Amazon because my KU reads are slowing down painfully and launch an FB ad for Esposito County Shifters: OE in the hopes that more people will buy it on non-Zon platforms. I’ve already sold a copy on Apple Books as well as copies of all the novellas and I would very much like to transfer that kind of selling action to B&N/Kobo/Google Play/et al.
Stormy Weather
Apparently March decided to go out like one hell of lion. My heart goes out to everyone affected by the appalling number of tornadoes and the sheer amount of destruction that stretched from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico today.
Dallas got off damned lightly—we got a fair amount of wind but that was about it. I was in my office when the clouds started passing over us and by the time they reached the east they were bruised and ugly. Watching the reports coming in from Little Rock was horrendous. I’m grateful that my friends and family in Arkansas were all okay, not to mention everyone else I know in places that got bad weather today. One of my favorite TikTok creators had a tornado touch down near her and damage her husband’s place of employment, and another creator in Arkansas had one come uncomfortably close.
Unfortunately, these storms aren’t going to stop any time soon, what with climate change adding more heat to the environment. I need to update our go bags and make sure we have enough carriers for all the cats (we have two hardshells and one fabric one that I bought to transport J.J., but I can pick up another fabric one on Friday which will give us carriers for all of the J Crew.
Nicola Cameron Writes 