Category Archives: Shadow of the Swan
And it’s *checks calendar* Friday
Yeah, I know. COVID cabin fever is hitting a lot of people at the moment, and Casa Cameron is among those households. Let’s see, what can I tell you?
Needless to say, I didn’t finish Shadow of the Swan or Shifter Woods: Growl in May, as I had hoped. I wound up getting called back to the contract job for a week to wrap up the project I’d been working on, and then I spent about a week cleaning out our garage so that I could refinish that bookcase the cats had peed on, then I got stuck into the actual refinishing, and it turned out so well that I decided to refinish the other bookcase that Ramón’s been hauling around for over thirty years, and the world is on fire due to COVID and the current US administration and climate change and a lot of other things so, yeah.
On the plus side, I’m still working on both books, as well as Uncertainty Principle and King of Blades, depending on how I’m feeling when I get up, so there is progress? It’s just kind of slow. But I’m currently at 32K of a projected 80K on Swan, which pleases me.
I also ran an A/B test on Twitter to get input on two potential covers for Swan:
Cover A turned out to be the more popular one, so I’m probably going to go with it or a very similar variant.
I’m also taking an online class in Indie Publishing 101 from Dean Wesley Smith — yes, I know, I’ve been indie publishing since 2015. But I’m not making nearly the number of sales I should be, so I’m hoping to pick up some tips and tricks from a powerhouse in the indie publishing field because I would really like to sell more books and maybe not have to go back to contract work if I can manage it?
Speaking of the contract job, I’m still on furlough and I don’t see that restarting anytime soon, since a lot of the work I did was for industries that were slammed by COVID and the assorted closings (another reason why I’d really like to make more sales). Ramón is still employed, knock wood, but his job is a contract one and he’s concerned that he may be out of work at a time when a whole bunch of other telecoms people are looking for jobs. If the book sales don’t pick up, I’ll probably start looking for more contract work in August, assuming I can find a place that will let me work remotely.
Health-wise, we’re still good. Because our governor is, well, an idiot, Texas is one of the new COVID hot spots in the nation, so we mask up every time we go out to the store, anything that comes into the house is disinfected, and we change clothes and shower afterwards. Our trips out are limited to store runs and fast food, with the occasional treat such as running the tax prep paperwork to the accountant or hitting the post office after hours (sometimes I have to mail Etsy sales or other stuff, and they have an automated postage machine). Luckily our Kroger is requiring mask usage to enter the store, and 99% of the people I see in there are masked, although there was one maskless woman today who, I shit you not, had the classic Karen hairstyle. Everyone was giving her dirty looks, so hopefully peer pressure will have an effect.
Oh, I learned how to trim Ramón’s hair, thanks to the angel who made this YouTube video. As his hair was getting to Doc Brown stage and it was driving him crazy, he was happy for me to take a crack at it with the clippers. I managed to give him a nice, short, but stylish do (made a couple of mistakes in back, but as he pointed out he didn’t care because nobody but me would be looking at his neck), and I may well keep trimming his hair from here on out. I mean, I already have the clippers, barber’s scissors, and T-outliner, so why not?
That pretty much brings us up to date. I’m going to try and blog more frequently, basically to keep both of us entertained (and up to date on the progress of all the WIPs). One amusing thing that happened today — someone had responded to this tweet:
with the comment, “Alexa, play S&M.” Which reminded me that I really did like that song and should buy it. Which then prompted … let us say … a mental vignette that one could entitle, “My Own Pet Duke.”
I really don’t need to be writing a BDSM Regency right now. I don’t even have an pseudonym for that subgenre (hur hur, see what I did there). Back into the inspiration hutch with you, little plot bunny.
So, this is what the rest of 2020 looks like for me
The contract job is currently at a halt due to lack of work (hardly surprising) for at least May and possibly longer (seeing as a significant amount of Texans completely lost their shit and started crowding into public spaces on Friday during the state’s “partial” reopening, I’m bracing myself for a large spike in new COVID cases here in two weeks). But Ramón is still working, and I’ve spent the last eight months paying off almost all of our debt, so we should be able to weather it financially. And frankly, I need a break after the non-stop pace of the last four months.
What this also means, however, is that I can — ta da — go back to being a full-time writer for the foreseeable future! I sat down and worked out the following schedule (which may have to be adjusted if the contract job restarts at any point):
- May: Finish Shadow of the Swan and Shifter Woods: Growl (Esposito County Shifters 4).
- June: Let SotS cool, finish King of Blades (Two Thrones 4), edit and publish SW:G.
- July: Let KoB cool, edit and publish SofS, finish Uncertainty Principle (Pacifica Rising 2).
- August: Let UP cool, edit and publish KoB.
- September: Edit and publish UP.
That would give me three 80+K novels and one novella for 2020, which is not bad. And yes, I know my timeline seems insanely short, but all those books are partially finished (21K on SofS, 4K on KoB, and 5K on UP), so it won’t take as long as it would do to finish a brand new book. Hell, SotS is supposed to be 80K and I can finish the remaining 57K in three weeks if I push.
But wait, I have stretch goals!
- September: Edit Deep Water (Olympic Cove 3) for re-release at the end of December, finish One Sweet Christmas (novella) for holiday sales.
- October: Finish Cross Current (Olympic Cove 4), edit and publish OSC.
- November: Let CC cool, finish Windrider and the Deuce (Two Thrones Novella 2), release all four Shifter Woods novellas as a box set.
- December: Go on a fucking cruise and let my brain relax, edit CC and WatD, release DW once I get the rights back, release CC and WatD a week later.
Which would give me four new novels (SotS, KoB, UP, CC), one re-released novel (DW), three novellas (SW:G, OSC, WatD), and a box set (Shifter Woods) for 2020. Kinda challenging, but I also have to make up for the dumpster fire that was 2019 so I may as well go for it.
So, we’re staying inside
I’ve read the suggestions that people keep handwritten journals during the coronavirus because future historians will want to read what regular people did while social distancing or self-quarantining themselves. Since 1) my handwriting is absolutely atrocious, and 2) I only write by hand when there’s no other choice to because of item #1, this blog will have to do.
So far, everyone at Casa Cameron seem to be okay. We didn’t hoard anything, but I did take the warnings seriously in February and started doing incremental stockups from that point onward. I’m guessing we can stay inside easily for at least two weeks and live off of what we have in the fridge, freezer, and cabinets. I’ve also taken a crack at making sugar-free bread and it turned out decidedly well, so Ramón (aka Mr. Sandwich) will continue to have his favorite meal component for quite some time.
As for social distancing and going stir-crazy inside, both of us work from home so this morning was pretty much like any other Monday. I got up, fed the J Crew, got dressed, brushed hair and teeth, and went into my office to work on the current client’s project
Yes, of course I washed my hands. Multiple times. I’ve been doing that for years, however, so once again this isn’t much of a change.
I figure if the weather’s nice I’ll go outside tomorrow and do some weeding in the back yard to get “out” for a bit. In the meantime, I’ve got the windows open for fresh air and I’ve started doing ten minute stints again on the treadmill to keep the blood flowing. Also, I may bake a bean pie tomorrow, I dunno. I’m trying not to go overboard on carbs and eat as healthily as possible, but it’s bean pie, man. That shit is delicious.
As for those outside the walls of Casa Cameron, my heart and boundless admiration goes out to two groups:
- All of the extroverts, parents dealing with rambunctious kids, and adult kids dealing with stubborn 70+ parents, who are social distancing and staying inside as much as possible because they’re trying to flatten the curve and keep the immunocompromised and elderly in their communities safe. You people rock.
- All of the folks who have to keep going out to work for various reasons — healthcare professionals, cops, firemen, grocery store employees, mail personnel, etc. You’re all big damn heroes for keeping the wheels of civilization rolling forward, even if they’re getting a little sticky at the moment.
As for all those idiots who are still crowding bars/restaurants/beaches/et al for no damn good reason other than “by God we’re ‘MURICAN and nobody’s gonna tell them us to do,” what is wrong with you?
No, seriously — what the everlasting holy fuck is wrong with you? Were you dropped on your head as a baby? Are you that much of a narcissist that you simply don’t care who you might infect as long as you get to party with your buds? Stop acting like spoiled brats and get your dumb asses away from other people before you kill Grandma or that nice guy going through chemo next door.
Ahem. And now to switch topics — Nic, the writing? What about the writing? Well, you’ll be pleased to know that I’m still hard at work on Shadow of the Swan, plus I’m also in the process of getting To My Muse set as free on Amazon (it’s already free on all other platforms) as a way of giving to folks who really need a break from the news right now.
Oh, and I finally broke down and got Disney+ so we watched the first two eps of The Mandalorian tonight. Hey, Mama needs a break now and then, too.
Progress Post: Shadow of the Swan
So anyway, I’m currently at *checks Scrivener* 8,737 words of a projected 80,000 on Swan, and things are going as smoothly as possible seeing that I also have a day job that cuts into my writing time. But our bills are also steadily dropping (I actually paid off my car in December! Whee!) so I’ll suck it up and shove writing time into whatever available crevices I can find.
That came out weird. Never mind.
I also have what I’m pretty sure is going to be the final cover — still need to make some tweaks here and there, but I absolutely love that Belle Epoque dress and the way the model’s turned head artfully exposes the bite marks of a certain Tudor vampire, ahem. I know it doesn’t scream paranormal romance, but I can already tell this book is going to straddle the boundary between PNR and UF so what the heck, I may as well go with a cover that flirts with both genres.
In other news, the lurgy that I came down with two days after Christmas and two days before Sister and BIL were due to arrive (which made cleaning the house SO much fun, and great accolades have been awarded to Ramón who stepped up to the plate like a champ and did all of the heavy lifting so that I could rest as much as possible) appears to be finally, FINALLY on the way out. After, I must say, producing the most amazing neon yellow mucus I have ever seen. I honestly had no idea my body could make something that color. I’m still coughing intermittently but that seems to be related more to my usual allergy-induced sinus drainage than any actual infection. Nonetheless, I’m going to monitor that bit because a lot of people seem to be getting hit by pneumonia this winter and I really want to avoid it if at all possible.
Nicola Cameron Writes 