Insomnia
A lot of creative types have insomnia. It’s next to impossible to turn off the constant barrage of information churning through our brains at night. We can utilize the most precise sleep hygiene, take melatonin, meditate, use all the tricks, and we still wind up staring at the ceiling at 4 AM while our brains merrily gambol about with memories, ideas, plans, plots, dialogue, etc.
Mine started in grammar school, if I remember correctly, and pretty much runs to this day. I’ve learned how to cycle through various supplements in order to wear my brain down long enough for it to shut up, but any sort of stress tends to short-circuit that process. And like most of us, I’ve been under a lot of stress for years.
That’s not good for a lot of things. It impacts my health, my writing, and my general joy in life. And yes, the knee replacement fixed a large chunk of physical pain that’s been keeping me up, but other body parts decided to pick up the slack. I think what I’m trying to say here is that if I’ve been terse for the last couple of years or so, it’s because I don’t sleep much these days.
If you’re going through this as well, be kind with yourself. You’re not alone, and thinking that you’re a slacker or beating yourself up because you’re not getting everything done that you wanted to accomplish isn’t going to help anything and, frankly, isn’t deserved.
Tweaking Ads
I’ve been trying to reserve weekends for crafting and any time-intensive publishing business work, like checking my Amazon ads. And from this morning’s work I clearly have to go in and tweak/replace the bulk of those ads because they are simply not performing (interestingly enough the ad for A Most Malicious Murder, my alternate history mystery written as Melanie Fletcher, is the only one that is doing gangbuster business. Go figure).
Like most things, ads aren’t something you can set and forget. You have to go in regularly and check how they’re doing, tweak and prune where necessary, and sometimes wipe completely and start over with new ones. There are a number of different schools of thought on that last bit—some people recommend that you try and jump-start a poorly performing ad, while others recommend that you retire it and start over.
One thing I’ve learned in the time I’ve been doing ads is that you really have to figure out what works best for you. This is a case where one size most definitely does not fit all and you have to experiment with blurbs and price points until you find what delivers you the best ROI. Which is a little frustrating for a lot of indie authors because it would be so much easier if there was a proven, cut and dried way to create effective ads. That simply isn’t the case, much as I wish it were. You can have the catchiest ad copy and the greatest blurb in the world, but sometimes it’s just not going to work on someone who isn’t in the mood for your book when they click on your ad. *shrugs* Sucks, but there it is.
So I keep learning from the ads that are performing well and tweaking the ones that aren’t. Not the most exciting thing in the world, but it’s all part of the business of publishing.
Side-Eyeing Trad Pub
High Tide Episode 3: Guess I’m Working, Then is now available at Kindle Vella. Go forth, read, and please leave a Thumbs Up because those are important for bonuses.
Recently I picked up a time travel murder mystery recommended by a colleague. It had a great cover, the concept sounded interesting, and I love good time travel stories anyway so this seemed like it would be right up my alley.
Until the first instance of head-hopping in a scene. That was followed by clunky, inauthentic dialogue between law enforcement professionals, motivation that had me side-eyeing the lead, and incorrect usage of British noble titles in direct address. At that point I quietly closed the book because life is too short to listen to my inner editor raging.
And this was a traditionally published novel by a major publishing house, the first in a series. That makes me feel a lot better about my own stuff. Yes, the occasional typo slips through despite my editing team’s best efforts, and sometimes I screw up a minor character’s name or plot details (and when these are pointed out to me I go back in and fix them). But at least my dialogue is on point, I keep the action moving, and if I use something specialized like noble titles I do the necessary research to make sure my usage is correct.
And I don’t head hop in a scene. Gah. Scene breaks exist for a reason.
I Really, Really Hate This Heat
And by rights I can’t complain—I work in central A/C and knock wood it’s been functioning. I don’t have it nearly as bad as everyone who works outside or who doesn’t have central A/C.
But it’s still oppressive as hell. This continuous high pressure isn’t doing my mood, my joints, or my sinuses any good, and I’m trying to get High Tide churned out when what I really want to do is hide in a dark room until all of this is over.
And that keeps getting yanked away. We were supposed to have temps in the 90s on Monday and Tuesday with some rain. The forecast is now back up to triple digits with no relief in sight until the middle of the month, if then (the only relief is that temps are supposed to top out at 100°F on 8/14, and that can easily change). So yeah, I’m not in the best of all possible moods.
It didn’t help that I went in for my follow-up with the oral surgeon (I had a gum biopsy done two weeks ago for some persistent gum irritation) and they still don’t have the report back from the pathologist. Neither the oral surgeon nor I think that this is anything serious—based on the placement of the gum irritation and my wacky immune system it’s far more likely that I’m having a reaction to the dental cement used to anchor the two crowns on those teeth—but it also means that I don’t know for sure. So that’s hovering at the back of my mind along with creeping dread of what our electrical bill will look like this month and other general financial concerns and yeah, not the most conducive environment for writing.
But I’m doing it anyway because that is my job and I need to keep my readers entertained. So Episode Three of High Tide will come out tomorrow on Vella, I’ll continue to edit Crystal Blade so that I can send it off to the editor, and I’ll keep glaring at the sun.
Creative Decisions
High Tide Episode 2: And Hello To You, Too is now available at Kindle Vella. You know the drill.
I realized yesterday that I kinda made a mistake. I jumped from a complex fantasy romance with bleak backstories, intrigue, and suspense (Crystal Blade) directly into another complex fantasy romance with bleak backstories, intrigue and suspense (High Tide), and after the last three years my brain kinda needs a break from so much sturm und drang and bleak backstories, please.
So I’ve decided to lighten things just a little with the main trio for High Tide. One of the members is a sunny cinnamon roll in human(oid) form, another is grumpy and sarcastic but will do anything for his mates, and the third, to be honest, is a bit of a dork. But a nice dork who tries hard.
This creative decision being influenced by the second season of a certain show that just dropped on Amazon Prime is something I will neither confirm nor deny. All I will say is that art moves in mysterious—nay, ineffable—ways.
Rabbit Rabbit: August
Despite the fact that we have five more days of this hellacious heat I’m starting the month off feeling very chuffed, thank you very much. The pre-order for Crystal Blade is live at 99¢, I’ve posted the first episode of High Tide on Vella (before anyone gets upset lemme ‘splain—I’m releasing High Tide as a Vella serial novel, and when it’s done I’ll compile it and publish it as an ebook and print book. You can choose to read along, or you can wait for it to be published in late September, whichever you prefer), and my July Vella episode reads tripled from June so I should be getting a nice bonus.
I’m also going to kick off my official Patreon launch next week—I’ll have a Hidden Empire short story for all patrons, and higher levels will get free ebooks and free print books as they’re released. More on that once everything’s finalized.
The only sour note is that I can’t start on the audiobooks until this heat subsides. I’ll have to record in the master bath’s closet and it’s warm at the best of times. If I try to record in there now I will pass out from heat exhaustion. But they will be coming, I promise you that.
Aaaaand Crystal Blade Is Soup
Crystal Blade is officially done at a little over 95K, woohoo! I’ve set up a pre-order at Amazon and the official release date is August 29, 2023.
I feel very, very good about this. The story is a great mix of romance and intrigue, there are a nice number of spicy scenes, and I especially like the fact that Crystal hasn’t fallen into insta-love with all of her guys. Anton was the first, then Erik in this book, and her affection for Basil, Marco, and Fallon is teetering on the verge of love by the end of the book. Considering that it’s set in a world with elemental magic, Muses, and the whole “it takes three men to get a woman pregnant” thing, there’s still a sense of being rooted in reality, which pleases me.
While Crystal Blade is cooling I’m getting to work on High Tide today. I told my subconscious to work out the plot last night and I woke up with a rough outline that I can refine. I will give you two words: boarding party. Heh, heh, heh.
Oh, and I’m going to go see Barbie because I deserve a treat for finishing Crystal Blade, tra la.
Soon, Precious, Very Soon…
All of the remaining Crystal Blade episodes are now live on Kindle Vella. And there are two new spicy scenes so go check them out!
Sorry about the radio silence from this end. I have been doing my best to finish Crystal Blade with that toxic toad of a heat dome sitting on top of us, my ovaries are mounting a last-ditch attempt to make my life miserable (one of the joys of having PCOS—despite the fact that I am most definitely in menopause my cyst-covered ovaries can continue to make my life miserable for a good ten years as the damn cysts pop, causing all kinds of cramping pain. Whee), my mood swings have been epic, and I’ve also been cleaning the house piecemeal when I haven’t been working on a quilt for a friend. So yeah, blog posts have kinda been overlooked with all of that going on.
But I have maybe 1200 words more to go on Blade and it is officially soup. Since it’s in Vella I’m going to publish the remaining episodes once I finish the last chapter. That will start the thirty day clock on when I can take the story down and publish it, so I’m going to set up a pre-order on Amazon with delivery on August 29, let Blade cool while I get started on High Tide, and then I’ll start the editing process next week.
In re: the future adventures of Crystal and her men, I have a very rough outline for Crystal Reflection (Book 3) and an even rougher idea for Crystal Citadel (Book 4). Unfortunately can’t discuss either of them at the moment because it would create a huge spoiler for both books, but if this works out the way it should these stories will be extremely cool and set up the big conflict for Crystal Empress (Book 5). That wraps up the series, but I have the option of three spinoff series if I want to pursue them.
Stupid Weather
Crystal Blade Episode 37: The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly On the Plain is now live on Kindle Vella. You know the drill, petal.
And may I say that I am actually kinda impressed with myself? I already have Friday’s episode loaded and ready for release, I have a large chunk of Monday’s ep written, and by the actual end of the weekend I should have all of next week’s eps finished. I know I said on Monday that I wanted to have the entire book done by Saturday this week, but that was before I totaled up the remaining chapters and realized, ha ha, I’d blown past my original projected word count by about 11k. I’m having flashbacks to finishing Shadow of the Swan, whee…
So yeah, once I finish today’s chapter I’ll have five more chapters to go of approximately 3,500 words apiece. If I can work up the energy (not easy with this freaking heat dome squatting over Texas like a toxic toad) I could potentially have all of them done by next Wednesday.
Yeah, I hear you—why not Monday? Because I don’t want to write over the weekend. I really need those two days for cleaning and business tasks, not to mention plain old recharging. Because I am plain and old, and I need it.
Soon, My Precious. Soon…
As of tonight I hit my 3k/day writing word count for the first time since May 14 and I am approximately 17,507 words from the end of Crystal Blade. Once I finish the chapter I’m currently working on, I’ll have Act II finished and can start the frantic landslide of Act III. Each chapter is already outlined and ready to go, and all I have to do is stick the words into place.
And to my surprise everything is flowing remarkably smoothly. I don’t know if it’s just years of experience, the fact that this book has been pending for over a year, or what, but I’m not fighting the story anymore. In fact, it’s getting kinda fun again to work in this universe and pit Crystal against her family’s machinations. It’s also a lot of fun to salt hints and suggestions about things that will happen in books 3-5, so that readers will be able to read those books and think, “Oh, now I understand why she mentioned X back in Crystal Blade. Okay, that makes sense.”
It’s one of the underlying tenets of writing a series. You need to make sure the books as a whole are cohesive and relate to each other in some way. Also, readers love following breadcrumbs in a complicated plot and will love you for it if you drop enough to keep their appetite whetted.
Nicola Cameron Writes 