A Sacred Magic, Whisper Hollow, & Various Things

So yes, yesterday I started writing A SACRED MAGIC. I set myself a challenge for the next three months — and that is to stay on schedule. Which means aligning my schedule so that I’m not automatically stacking the deck against myself. It means scrutinizing my work habits and seeing what I can do, to maximize my output without exhausting myself. I realize that I do better if I write every single day, but fewer words. So I’m going to try that. I find that it keeps me inside the world I’m writing about whole lot better, and I don’t have to sit here and reorient myself after a weekend off. So I’m going for 3500 words a day, every day.

I know I’m a little late with my newsletter and I will get that out this week. Things have been a little chaotic around here since the great shelf debacle, but they should be back to normal by midweek. Now that we are out of Mercury retrograde, I’m hoping things calm down a little bit.

It’s turned hot here, which means I can’t go outside. The intense sunlight and the heat trigger reactions for me, and right now I’m walking a fine line with my diet because I’m trying to keep low-carb again — it’s much better for my blood sugar — but it means eating things that can trigger reactions. So I’m on a balance beam, so to speak, and I need to minimize as many external triggers as possible.

I need to get back to watching Riverdale. I watched 2 1/2 seasons, or maybe three, before I drifted off. And I’m feeling ready to go back to it. It’s kind of a cheesy show, but I actually like it a lot. I have a couple other shows earmarked for binge watching, but I’m not entirely sure when I’ll get to them. When I’m working on a book I tend to watch things that I have seen before, because I write in sprints, and it’s easier to spend five or six minutes watching something that I already know, and can easily pull myself away from to go back to another writing Sprint. If I watch something that I haven’t seen before, I tend to get immersed in it and I don’t want to go back to work.

I was going to try and get a video up this past weekend, but that’s not gonna happen until next weekend. By then my office will be back in shape, and the myriad number of fans blowing the paint smell out will be turned off. Right now I’ve got three or four big Vornado fans going in my office here to keep the smell from bothering my lungs. Even after the paint has dried for a few days, I can still smell it.

The preorders are going up for A SACRED MAGIC, and the only one left to come is Kobo. That should be along soon. You can find the links HERE. As usual, the print will be available when the book releases, which I have set for October 14.

I’m really excited because I am also coming up on writing the third Whisper Hollow book. That will most likely be after I write the 10th Wild Hunt book — The Eternal Return. But it depends on a number of factors. Either way, you will see the re-release of the first two Whisper Hollow books in January, along with the third — new — book.

I’ve had some questions about the Whisper Hollow series, and let me reiterate the answers, once again, here. Yes, I will be revamping the first two Whisper Hollow books quite a bit. No, I am not changing the basic plot line, so you do not have to buy new copies unless you want to see a tighter, crisper version, or unless you want the new covers. However, there will be substantial differences in terms of how tightly the books are written–long story short, I was going through a hell of a lot with my ex-publisher while writing those two books and there’s a lot of extra stuff in there that does NOT fit my style today. Since I am continuing the series, I’m tightening up the first two books quite a bit. I welcome the chance to do this, and I’m really looking forward to writing book 3.

Well, this post is longer than I thought it would be, so I’m going to head off and get to work for the day. Have a wonderful day, leave any questions or comments in the comment thread, and I’ll talk to you soon!