Category Archives: Shifter Woods: Claw
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…
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.
Nicola Cameron Writes 