Category Archives: High Tide
So, Yeah, It’s Monday
High Tide Episode 7: VivePharm is now available at Kindle Vella. You know the drill.
I had a panicked moment today. I thought I had my writer’s group meeting on Zoom tonight, which meant that I’d have to stop working at 7:00 PM and attend the meeting. Luckily we don’t have a story in the queue to be critiqued so I didn’t have to spend time on that but I am still editing the last few chapters of Crystal Blade before sending them off to Team Editorial Machete tonight and I didn’t have time to stop and attend a meeting…
…until I realized the meeting was tomorrow. Oops. And crisis averted.
Also, may I just say that having to plead with a medical insurance company to pre-approve an instance of non-elective surgery is bullshit? Luckily my doctor’s office is handling that and bless them for their tenacity, but it means I’m still waiting for them to receive my insurance company’s blessing before I can go ahead and have this gum issue fixed.
God, I want Medicaid For All.
On the plus side, the temps here are ever so slowly dropping and indeed it’s only two digits in my neighborhood at the moment, and that’s before 7:00 PM. I think that’s the first time this has happened since we had those three days of 90s temps. I just want to go back to non-hellish weather, is that so wrong?
Not Looking Forward To This Weekend
High Tide Episode 6: To Be Human … Or Not is now available at Kindle Vella. Go Forth and read.
So, Crystal Blade will be released on 8/29/23 at Amazon and you still have time to snap up a copy at 99¢ which is even cheaper than reading it on KU (yes, it will be on KU, never fear). The goal is to get the edited doc over to my editor and beta readers by Monday, get their edits input by Thursday, then give it a final polish and upload before the 7:00 PM CST deadline on Friday.
And the funny thing is, I thought this was the one that I’d have ready early. I had a whole month and a couple of days to get it ready for publication. I wouldn’t be rushing around like a headless chicken trying to get it polished, edited, formatted, and uploaded. I would have time.
Which must have amused Fate because that’s why I had my downstairs AC unit go out and a medical situation land on the same day. As a result the last two weeks or so have been filled with talking to AC techs, scrambling to get window units, getting various doctors’ appointments lined up and scheduling surgery (this is for the gum thing), all while it’s been hotter than Satan’s taint here. Frankly, the fact that I managed to get as much done with everything else that was going on astounds me.
But things are finally lined up and I’ll spend the weekend finishing up my round of edits before sending it out to Team Editorial Machete. Wish I could sleep next weekend but I’ll be prepping for release, tra la.
Back In the Saddle With Vella
High Tide Episode 5: Look Who’s Back is now available at Kindle Vella. The Olympic Cove gang are starting to approach the end game of Thetis and her mysterious companion, but Scott, Orrin, and Rian picked a very bad time to approach Poseidon (do not bother the God of the Seas when he’s trying to welcome a bunch of other deities, some of them not so friendly, to his home).
After I got the episode uploaded I decided to wash the bedding (at least we’ll be sweating into clean sheets), then go out and enjoy the last day of relative cool before Hell returns to the Clavicle of Texas. I picked up some stuff for a quilting project and stopped at the butchers for some proper bangers (mild pork sausages). Being an Englishman, Ramón is more than passing fond of bangers and mash with onion gravy, and since it’s stupidly simply to make (slice an onion very thin, brown it in butter, add it to a pan of brown gravy and let it simmer while you fry the bangers in the original frying pan, make up some mashed potatoes, and you’re done) I figured I’d do it tonight.
Frankly, I could use some comfort food myself at this point. I don’t like going to the doctor at the best of times, and tomorrow is for an actual treatment so, yeah, a little nervous. But better to get it done than ignore it and let things get worse, right?
Writing Away
Today has been surprisingly productive—dunno how much of that is due to the significantly lower temps, the portable AC unit, or what, but I shan’t complain.
In fact, I should have a new ep of High Tide available on Vella by Wednesday, I’m hoping to have all of Crystal Blade edited and off to the Typo Team and my editor by the weekend, and I think I have a rough outline for To Love a Wild Swan, which is definitely going to be an enemies to lovers story (think Sam Reid in his most arrogant Lestat mode and Anna Taylor-Joy in Emma. format with added bloodthirstiness and you have my couple). The last book of the year will be Hurricane Warning which will wrap up my Olympic Cove series and bring my number of published novels (as opposed to novellas, novelettes, and short stories) up to a nice round twenty.
Granted, I am hesitant to mention any of this out loud because it seems that when I do that Something Happens™ that derails all of my plans. Guess I just have to keep my fingers crossed.
Waiting On a Call
High Tide Episode 4: Conclave of the Seas is now available at Kindle Vella. Go forth, read, and enjoy!
I’m sitting here reeling from yet another night of badly broken sleep and waiting for a call to find out the results of the gum biopsy I had two weeks ago (they weren’t in yet when I had my followup visit last Thursday and I’ve been playing phone tag with the oral surgeon every since). I’m hoping that the results are benign and I just need to confer with my dentist about possible solutions for replacing the cement in my crowns.
But I can’t be sure of that. So I’m sitting here trying to manage my anxiety and get some work done in the process. It doesn’t help that the Loudest Orange Cat in the World has decided that he wishes to glue himself to my side and comment loudly on everything. I tried closing the office door; he parked himself directly outside and started up with a mid-voice chorus of “Meow? Meow? Meow? Meow? Meow?” So he’s currently sprawled on the floor behind me while the Brown Girl has taken over the cat bed next to the bookcase.
As for writing, I’m editing Crystal Blade today because I can do that with relative competence in my current state, then I’ll get ready for my writer’s group Zoom meeting tonight. In the meantime here’s hoping that the oral surgeon calls back soon and lets me know what’s going on.
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.
Nicola Cameron Writes 