Sunday, May 24, 2020

Now It's Official!

I decided to make this an official site for The Citadel Chronicles.

It's only been six years since I've touched this blog, but I've been working on the second book in the series, and now that it's out to the second round of beta readers before going to visit an editor, I've been poking a stick at the third book.

Writing this series has been a wild ride, mainly because life has been patiently kicking my arse in other areas and my writing has had to take a back seat to everything.

Now, things are changing and I'll be working more on finishing these books and moving on to the next group. But I want to keep this blog, just in case folks want to talk about the books as they come out, or whatever.

I have no idea how many books will be in this collection, but I'm having way too much fun with the characters to think about giving it up.

Thanks for sticking with me, and welcome if this is your first visit.

See you soon (with an update on Book 2!)

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Guess What?!?

I did it. After HOW MANY months of being "almost there" and "seeing progress" and DELETING AND REWRITING THE ENTIRE LAST HALF OF THE MANUSCRIPT... (pant, pant, pant)

I sent it off to my first reader.

Yes, I finally got through the second first draft of the second book in the Citadel Chronicles. I like it. It still needs some work, and a few pieces must be laced up a bit tighter, but it is where it needs to be for now.

As for me, on the other hand, I'm slogging my way through taxes and getting caught up on business things and feeling a sense of loss, because despite all the complaining and brain-draining that goes along with editing and writing, I love it and I miss it.

I used to think the first draft was the easy part, where the material runs fresh from the brain and onto the page, but it is different when writing a series, because a lot of it feels like editing, even on the first draft. Probably because I must mind my previous works in order to retain the continuity between them.

One thing is clear, I need to make more notes of my books, because there are things I'm forgetting and mistakes of that nature are difficult to correct later without losing the wonderful readers who pay attention to those very details.

I'm not complaining... yes I am, but I'll get over it. I love writing too much to let the little things stop me... This time...

Saturday, January 18, 2014

LONG Overdue Update!

A VERY long overdue update! I'm rather embarrassed. It has been ages, hasn’t it?

But, the good news is, there is continued progress, albeit slow progress. Things have picked up lately then due to illness, got put back down.

However, it’s looking good for getting out to the first readers by the end of January (or the very first part of February, thanks to this recent bout of gastroenteritis). It has taken so long because I really want to make sure the second book not only blends with the first, but also answers a few questions, as well as sets up a bunch more (because there is already a third volume in the works!) That meant taking the original draft and hacking it up like kindling and tossing quite a lot of it into the culled file (I can never throw stuff away, I just file it). J

Characters, old and new, are shaping up nicely and the plot is cleaning up well.


I’m also looking for a new publisher (which may delay my publishing timeframe a little bit, but should allow me to sell my books at an affordable price). 

Monday, August 26, 2013

Long Time Coming

It has been a very busy summer, with an unfortunate lack of editing going on, at least on the computer.

But, fear not, there has been some editing happening, and things are beginning to move along. One reason for the progress is that I have returned to my home from a summer away working at the shop. I had originally thought there would be plenty of time for editing, but no such luck. A few pages here and there were about all I could muster while working seven days a week. :)

However, a writer does not always need to be at the keyboard or the manuscript in order to be working and the time spent not writing was spent sorting out story lines and plots. I'm pretty sure I have things in better control and I have a good feeling that this next book will be as good as the first, and maybe better organized.

K-

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Getting Caught Up


Life has a way of sticking its grubby paws on my keyboard and keeping me from writing. For those who don’t know, my partner and I have recently purchased a small business in Washington State and that whole experience has not only left me broke, but reeling and busy up to my eyeballs as well.

Thankfully, during the busy time, I was able to formulate a better plot and more logical pathway for the second book to take, rather than what had been there originally. I had been working in that direction, but there were a lot of loose ends that just didn’t fit right. What I’ve come up with now is much cleaner and more logical. It’s a tighter plot that leaves plenty of wiggle room for action, so I do believe I’ve got it heading in the right direction.

My plans were, and still are, to have it released by July, but with June (submission month) less than three months away, that release date may not be quite as early as I’d like.

On board for the second book are a few characters you met in the first one including (but not limited to): Theo, Jewel, Obadiah, Stella, and of course, her Majesty Sabine. I’ll be introducing you to Bianca the Librarian as well as a few Hosts and some locals; you’ll even get a good look at Drake Vendt and the events that led to his appearance on Earth; and Captain Malano will get a bit of a promotion. You’ll even take a tour of the Citadel (after a brief, but important, stopover in Draconia).

Things are picking up speed, just not quite as fast as the calendar is going… Whatever happened to January? I’ll be pushing through the latest version, then sending it to my first readers for input, then more editing and the second round of readers, proofing, then off to the publisher.

That’s my schedule. Here’s hoping I can fit it all into the next four months!

Monday, October 22, 2012

New Pathways

The second book is moving along, although not quite in the direction I anticipated. It is currently wandering down new hallways, dragging new (and better) ideas and stories along with it. Unfortunately, that does slow things down a bit, and I'm having to push the publication date out again by at least two months. Now we're looking at sometime in April.

It's funny how November seemed so far, there was no way I couldn't get it done by then, but now it's less than ten days away and I'm not even half way through what is turning out to be another first draft of the second book!

Then there's NaNoWriMo in November, so that's going to slow me down some. :)

But the second book is bringing in characters we were barely introduced to in A Queen Reborn, and pushing them forward. Somehow, a potential love interest for Captain Malano popped in and could prove to be interesting.

One thing this new version brought along with it was a flashlight, so I have a pretty good idea now of where we're going to end up on this one.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Found!

So, in my last post, I was dangling over the precipice of despair, feeling numb from the soles of my feet to the ends of my hair. Six weeks of work was gone.

I took another look and noticed that the date of the last modification was also six weeks prior. Now, I KNOW I'd worked on it and I KNOW I'd renamed it. Every month, I change the name of my manuscript to reflect the date. For instance CCB2 9-2012 for the Citadel Chronicles Book 2 September 2012. That tells me the file name and the most recent edit.

I also like to send it to myself via email on the advice of Elle Neal. I'd been doing that, pulling the document from the email attachment and working on it.

So what happened? What happened is that this whole mess was caused by technology being handled by a techno dork. I didn't realize the program wouldn't simply know where to save the document, that putting it in a file with like-named documents wouldn't be the first choice.

To make a long story short, I discovered my manuscript by accident. At that point, I looked at the source file and found it has been living in the Downloads file.

Downloads. Because when I downloaded it from my email, it didn't automatically save it in the regular documents file, because that would only make sense to a dork like me, not a computer filled with technology.

Anyway, suffice it to say I've rescued the manuscript and have managed to get some editing done despite the near catastrophe. Emailing the document to yourself is an awesome idea, just remember to save it to the proper file so you're not left wondering what just happened to six weeks of your life.

:)