Category Archives: Books
It’s only January 6th, so why do I feel like a slacker?
Claw is recovering from the shellacking I gave it (the complications I added to the plot would have worked wonderfully for a novel. Not so much for a novella) and should be ready for release Real Soon Now (the editor is already tapping her fingers and asking when she can expect it).
Unfortunately I made the mistake of reading other authors’ newsletters and watching the trailer for A Pale Blue Eye last night. Now my Inner Taskmistress is screaming at me, “Why aren’t you selling more books? Why isn’t anyone optioning YOUR work? Is your thumb permanently embedded in your ass or are you actually going to earn some damn money this year?”
People think that working for yourself must be great. Not so much, especially when your Inner Taskmistress can be an utter bitch. I always feel that there’s more I can be doing, should be doing, and if I don’t do that I’m a lazy slut who deserves to spend her golden years in a cardboard box under a bridge. And I know that’s a stupid mindset to have but it’s a hard one to shake.
Anyway, I’d better wrap this up and get to work. I need to write a lot of words today if I want to be able to spend the weekend taking down the Christmas decorations and cleaning, whee…
Getting a Grip on Things
So yesterday I outlined what I need to change in the first five chapters of Shifter Woods: Claw and implemented the Chapter One changes. Ideally I’ll get the other four chapters updated today, then proceed to finish the last five chapters, edit everything, and release this mother and the ECS omnibus.
Which will be 1) a frigging relief and 2) my first completed series. Apparently a LOT of romance readers don’t want to start a series unless it’s completed so I’m hoping that the omnibus will bring in additional sales, not to mention attention to my other paranormal romances. I also need to plan how I want to promote the omnibus—I think I’m going to go with FB ads for it since I’m already promoting Shifter Woods: Howl in AMS. I’ll be taking the Facebook Ads Expedition class with Mark Dawson next week so hopefully I’ll pick up some instruction on how to make my FB ads more effective.
Once Claw is done, it’s time to go back to Crystal Blade and get that puppy finished and out by the end of January, then I’ll be double-teaming Crystal Reflection and High Tide (Olympic Cove 5). One way or the other, I am getting up to twenty full-length books published by the end of this year. Who needs sleep, right?
First Work Day of 2023
And I woke up with the cold realization that I was heading down … well, not necessarily the wrong road with Shifter Woods: Claw, but a road that would require it to be a full length novel instead of a novella.
Yeah, no. Which means today will be going back into the existing half and tearing it to shreds to fit the new beginning. Annoying because it’s gonna take up the bulk of today’s writing time but it’s necessary. Once I have that fixed, I’m going to switch over to Crystal Blade and knock out my daily word count for that, then spend the rest of the work day designing my Patreon (which I’m going to launch on 1/15/23) and roughing out the short story that I’ll be writing for January’s offering.
The nice thing about my plans of writing an exclusive short story that only patrons can read is that at the end of the year I’ll have twelve short stories that I can compile into a collection and publish. Of course, that means that I have to write one short story a month (two this month, really, so that I can have February’s ready to go by 2/1/23). But if I want to make a five figure year, this is the way to do it.
The J Crew won’t like being locked out of my office again, but as long as they have the bedroom in which to lounge they’ll live.
Boy, I’m doing a lot this month
Mrgh. In a rough chronological order, this is what I would like to achieve in January:
- Finish, edit, and publish Shifter Woods: Claw
- Compile and publish the Esposito County Shifters omnibus edition
- Write a short story set in one of my series for my Patreon (right now I’m leaning towards Louisa, Henry, Fyodora, and Callum getting into trouble in Egypt. Because that would be fun.)
- Launch my Patreon with said short story
- Finish, edit, and publish Crystal Blade (Paladins of Crystal 2)
- Start Crystal Reflection (Paladins of Crystal 3)
- Start High Tide (Olympic Cove 5)
- Put together the outline for To Love a Wild Swan (Hidden Empire 3)
- Start recording video for the Sekrit Project (more on that in March or so)
- Start recording Shadow of the Swan as an audiobook
Yeah, I know, it’s a lot. But I need to ramp up from what I achieved in 2022, and that means more books published and more income streams established (I’m putting off the Shopify store until February when I can focus on it).
I also need to come up with some rewards for hitting these milestones, ideally ones that aren’t expensive. Must muse on that some more…
As for 2023…
Yup, it’s definitely a new year. As I didn’t go anywhere last night to celebrate New Year’s Eve (mainly because I am Olde™) I woke up bright and early this morning, fed the J Crew, updated all of my ads on Amazon, and entered my December income and ad numbers into my tracking spreadsheet.
(BTW, If you’re hung over and glaring at me right now for my unholy bounciness, I do apologize. Go take some Alka-Seltzer and nibble on a piece of dry toast when you feel ready for it..)
Anyhoo, the data is pretty clear—my bestselling titles are definitely paranormal romance (I consider Olympic Cove to be paranormal since it’s not classic fantasy romance and technically you could call Bythos, Aphros, and all the merfolk shifters) and the Hidden Empire series did ridiculously well in 2022 considering that it only has two books in it. This is good because it allows me to drill down into my particular paranormal romance niche (historical paranormal romance with vampires/witches/shifters) and make it work for me. It also looks like I will definitely be writing To Love a Wild Swan one way or another this year (starring Louisa’s Fae cousin Nessa, now the Swan Queen, and what happens when she’s f/o/r/c/e/d/ persuaded to enter a betrothal to an arrogant Fae prince. Yep, it’s an enemies-to-lovers story—think Anna Joy-Taylor in full Emma. mode teamed up with Sam Reid from Interview with the Vampire and you’ve got the right idea).
Because hey, who needs sleep?
Also, I really, really, REALLY need to get the last two books of the Olympic Cove series done and out there. *rubs face* I think I have to try dictating books while I walk because that might be the only way I can get everything I want to write finished in a reasonable amount of time.
And that’s it for 2022
Looking back at the year, I didn’t get nearly all of the books I wanted written, mainly due to unexpectedly getting a Total Knee Replacement mid-year, but I did start a new series with Crystal Shard, I added The Crimson and the Black to the Hidden Empire series, I finally finished Shifter Woods: Growl, my Why Choose novella A Theory of Crystal appeared in the charity anthology F*ck the Patriarchy: Getting Smutty for a Cause, and I’m thisclose to finishing the unintended fifth novella in the Esposito County Shifters series, Shifter Woods: Claw. That’s two full-length books and three novellas in a year where I spent a good six weeks recovering from surgery so I ain’t complaining. I plan on releasing Claw on January 6, 2023, at which point I’ll also put together an omnibus edition of all the Esposito County Shifters novellas.
I’ve also made more from writing this year than I have since 2016, which goes to prove that moving the bulk of my romances into Kindle Unlimited was a good choice. Of course now there are rumors that KU is going bye-bye so I may be returning to wide distribution in the near future, who knows.
BTW, the knee is doing really, really well. It still amazes me to be able to walk without limping.
So, what else is ahead for 2023? Firstly, I need to finish the rest of the Paladins of Crystal series—Crystal Blade will be finished and released by the end of January and after that will be Crystal Reflection, Crystal Citadel, and Crystal Empress. I have also promised that the last two (and long-awaited) books in my Olympic Cove series, High Tide and Hurricane Warning, will be released.
That’s six books. I will try to finish two more—Mage of Fire (Book Five in the Two Thrones series) and To Love a Wild Swan (Book Three in the Hidden Empire series). I have these books roughed out in my head (I’ve been doing a LOT of quilting this month and that is a great opportunity for me to tell myself stories) and I’ll be transferring that info to outlines next week.
But wait—there’s more! After a certain amount of nudging from people I will be starting a Patreon next month. Along with character interviews, Why I Wrote This pieces, and sneak peeks at books in progress, one of the things that patrons can expect will be a monthly short story set in one of my universes that will be exclusive to Patreon for the calendar year. No one will be able to read this story anywhere else, and at the end of the year I’ll publish all of the stories in a collection and dedicate it to my patrons. I’m also coming up with other bennies—there will definitely be levels for getting my new releases in ebook format, print format, and special hardcover format that come in book boxes with swag. Because I’m extra like that.
In closing, I hope you all have a safe, sane New Year’s Eve, and I look forward to entertaining you in 2023.
Liminal Spaces
This tweet by the always wise Eugene Lee Yang is currently making the rounds on my social media. And this is advice that I would absolutely adore to take because it’s smart and I could use the recharge. Six days of relaxing, catching up on all my backlogged shows, crafting to my heart’s content? It would be glorious.
Except that I’d promised to release Shifter Woods: Claw on Friday and I’ve been so bad about releasing things on time this year that I really don’t want to miss that deadline as well. (Not to mention that I’d have to change the copyright notice in the book if I do, she muttered into her glass of Coke Zero.)
I was about to write, “And to be honest, I’ve been goofing off for the last week or so,” but on second thought I haven’t been goofing off whatsoever. Wednesday I did the major holiday shop at three stores, prepped the house for the cold snap, and did some writing. Thursday I cleaned, baked cookies, quilted, and kept an eye on the weather. Friday and Saturday I got up the last of the decorations, cleaned, cooked, quilted, and on Christmas Eve I felt like crap and crawled into bed around 4 PM. Still felt like crap on Christmas but I managed to get up, do the daily changing of JJ’s bedding, and cook dinner, then finished the quilting on my nephew’s new quilt. And yesterday I bound the quilt and threw it into my daily loads of laundry, cleaned, then finally made the big holiday meal.
Huh.
You know what? I think I am taking the rest of this week off. It’s not going to kill anyone if Claw comes out next week instead of this one, and I’ll work on hitting my deadlines regularly in 2023.
And now if you’ll excuse me I’ll be over here transforming into a couch.
And So This Is Post-Christmas…
Due to a bug I picked up on Christmas Eve we didn’t make a holiday meal or go to my editor’s for Christmas dinner like we usually do. My sinuses are currently draining like you wouldn’t believe and I’m feeling moderately better so I think I’m going to cook up the turkey breast in an hour or so and make our festive meal (also I need leftover turkey so that I can make some more Holiday Leftovers Chelsea Buns for Ramón, who adores them. Gotta admit, I like them, too).
But today kicks off the post-Christmas period where I don’t have to worry about any more cleaning, decorating, or (once this evening is done) preparation of holiday feasts. Which means I can concentrate on what I want to do.
Yes, that means writing—I still need to get Shifter Woods: Claw finished and the Esposito County Shifters omnibus edition put together. But it also means tackling some long-neglected craft projects that have been languishing in my office closet for years, mainly quilts (at right are two baby quilts I made for a coworker back in 2005, which means that their recipients must be about 18 or so by now). As of an hour ago I finished a baby quilt for my new nephew R—said quilt is currently chugging through the washing machine to get rid of all the pencil marks. I have a twin-size quilt top done for my niece J and since I don’t have a longarm sewing machine I’ll have to hand quilt that one. There’s a wall hanging that has been pieced and now needs to be quilted, and I have another baby blanket in the closet that’s halfway quilted so I may throw that on the machine next.
For me, any sort of craft work is part of my writing process—when my hands are busy my mind gets to work on current writing projects and I work through plot issues, characterization, or even come up with totally new stories to keep myself entertained while I sew/crochet/knit/make jewelry/etc. I haven’t been able to quilt for a number of years now due to a project that was clogging up the pipeline. Now that it’s been finished and sent off to its owner it’s like a dam has broken and I have all this creative energy swirling around inside me, ready to be used.
Which is freaking awesome as you can guess. I fully plan on taking this energy back to the writing desk and hammering out the rest of the Paladins of Crystal and Olympic Cove series in 2023, and then getting to work on more Hidden Empire and Two Thrones novels. And with any luck I should finish some very pretty quilts, afghans, socks, and jewelry along the way.
Musing
So Shifter Woods: Growl is out today and I made Shifter Woods: Howl free today to encourage read-through of the series. Growl was originally going to be Book 4, but I am not J.R. Ward and cannot combine MF and MM stories in the same series, apparently, so I wound up making Shifter Woods: Roar an associated novel.
Which leaves me on the horns of a dilemma. Since I moved Roar into the associated category I was musing about writing a fifth novella in the series and titling it Shifter Woods: Claw about Matt Parker, the wolf shifter Alpha for Esposito County and the head of Search and Rescue, who gets called out to investigate an abandoned car near MacComber and finds an female wolf shifter who can’t remember who she is or what she’s doing there. Of course hjinks ensue after that when Matt finds himself drawn to the beautiful female, only to find out that she’s brought trouble with her to Esposito County.
So I have a story. But for some reason this series just hasn’t sold very well, despite getting good reviews and brand-new, completely market-appropriate covers. I don’t know if the market is just saturated or my shifters aren’t feral enough for readers or what. So I’m wondering if I should just wrap it up as a trilogy plus associated novella and put it out as an omnibus. That way, I would actually have one completed series to my name and I wouldn’t have to worry about shoehorning Claw into the 2023 writing schedule.
I think I need to wait and see how well Growl does. If it sells briskly, I’ll write Claw and put off the omnibus until 2023. If it tanks, I’ll omnibus all four novellas and put it out sometime in December.
NaNoWriMo Day 14-23 (AKA I am a slacker)
Today’s Word Count: 440
Total Word Count: 36,505
Words to Go: 13,495
This is a tale of delayed gratification, long-held projects finally getting finished and started, and my NaNoWriMo word count.
So, first off—Vegas.
I didn’t go. That flight delay seems to have been divine intervention because by the time we were supposed to leave for the airport I felt dreadful and was hacking up a lung. Since I didn’t think any of the 20Booksto50K® attendees would appreciate me being there with some kind of respiratory infection I reluctantly stayed home. Felt fine by Wednesday, go figure.
Bally’s, by the way, was exceptionally kind about cancelling my room reservation so kudos to them. American … was a different story. We’ll leave it at that. And five days after 20Bt50K 2022 ended I’m hearing stories of a lot of people who came home with COVID and other respiratory junk (the hotel is renovating and tore up a lot of carpets which released all kind of schmutz into the air) so I’m going to think of my 3-day bug as a blessing in disguise.
But since I did have that weekend blocked off to write as well as attend a buttload of panels and learn lots of useful stuff, I finished Shifter Woods: Growl. Cue the triumphant march music. And yes, I know I was supposed to be working on Crystal Blade but this damned novella has been hanging over my head since 2018 and I just wanted it done and out the door. I decided to let it simmer over the weekend while I worked on Blade (and started sewing a quilt for one of my nieces who never got a baby quilt due to another project gumming up the production schedule), edit it Mon-Wed, send it off to the editor and the betas, finish the final polish on Monday and release it this upcoming Tuesday.
Silly me, I forgot that I’m not just a writer. I’m also a hospice nurse to an elderly, demented, and incontinent cat, not to mention the four other cats who also want my attention and a husband who would like to speak with me on occasion. So as of right now I’m halfway through Chapter Six of ten and have no idea if I’ll finish the editing tonight because I also have to make dinner, prep cucumber salad for tomorrow, prep the mountain of Brussels sprouts that will be divided between our dinner at my friend C’s and our mini T-Day dinner, and make the key lime pie that I wanted for dessert. And considering that I’d forgotten the light sour cream and sweetened condensed milk that I need for the pie and just braved the Thanksgiving Eve crowds at Walmart to pick it up, I’m gonna make the damned thing.
In between trying to figure out what JJ needs now, of course (bedding change? Fresh water? Treats?) and making my NaNo word count. Did I mention that I was also supposed to clean the front rooms so that we could put the tree up on Friday and finish fixing the slab of pavement in front of our house on Sunday? Ha. Hahahahahahaha…
People keep telling me that my list of chores exhausts them. I keep thinking, “Yeah, if I was really that busy I’d have 50 finished books, my house would be immaculate, and I’d be a size 2.”
Nicola Cameron Writes 