I ordered books!  For the first time I placed an order for my own books, for the express purpose of signing them and sending them out to the winners of my DHM raffles.  (I am three orders away from my next one, btw, so I ordered an extra just in case).  

Whoa, 17 followers already? Awesome.

Good morning, everyone.

I suppose I must have lied about scaling back my updates to a monthly basis. See now, I’ve got some news to share that simply can’t wait.

For starters, Inkshares has launched their latest publishing contest in partnership with the Nerdist network! If you’ve got an epic “Space Opera” science fiction story hyperdriving through the wormholes in your brainspace, then I encourage you to chart a course t… Okay, enough. Just enter the damn contest HERE!  The beauty of this crowdfunding model is that all you really need is an idea for a story. Write something up - a synopsis, some character descriptions, a first chapter, whatever - and post it up on Inkshares. “What’s a space opera,” you ask? For you TV nuts think Firefly or Battlestar Galactica. The movie buffs should envision Guardians of the Galaxy or that little franchise Star Wars maybe. Gamers like me should recall Mass Effect and Destiny. And bibliophiles (a term only bibliophiles could love) should check out Iain Banks’ Culture series (my favorites) or Asimov’s Foundation series. 

If you’re serious about entering, I and some fellow contest winners shared some winning advice recently on inkshares blog. The fact that many of us had different versions of the same tip is quite insightful on that particular tip’s utility (you’ll see). But I would add another that I don’t think was mentioned: Be Organized! I had a massive spreadsheet I updated with all my campaign activity during the Sword & Laser contest. I couldn’t have done it without it. 

Finally, two more bits of news:

I am writing “The Animal in Man” every day, every night, with a daily goal of 1,000 words that I’m pleased to say I’ve often overshot. I thought maybe I’d just clean the early chapters up a bit, but geez was I mistaken! Instead I’m pretty much tearing the house down and rebuilding everything from the ground up. I’m almost done revising chapter three, and work continues steadily.

John Robin, the extremely talented author of “Blood Dawn,” had reached out to me about sharing some details of my story’s world in greater depth. Of course I agreed! Here’s an amazing picture I found that captures my own personal interpretation of the animal-human creatures that inhabit Herbridia:

(Credit to Adrean-BC on deviantART) If you want to pore over some more of the background knowledge - and go fishing for a hint or two about what’s really going on in my novel - then click here to visit John Robin’s World Building page on his blog.

And for gah’s sakes, pre-order your copy of John’s book. It comes with my absolute highest recommendation. 

Hello friends

I wanted to share my new writing project. I decided to start a serialized story on Wattpad called Ysolda and The Coven of Fire.

In case, you are not familiar with this platform. “Wattpad is a writing community in which users are able to post articles, stories, fan fiction, and poems, either through the website or the mobile app.” Also, it is free.

Ysolda and The Coven of Fire is a prequel to The Catcher’s Trap, and it takes place over 100 years before the events in the book.

Here is a quick description:

“Ysolda leaves her family and her modest life behind to travel through the magical and dangerous world of The Mist in search of the Coven of Fire. Her quest for power and adventure will place her at the center of prophecies that will re-shape the future of her world.”

Here is the link.

Please check it out, and feel free to leave feedback.  

I’ll be adding new chapters weekly.

Have a fantastic week!

Not sure things have been progressing well to be honest. 
People who I thought, for sure, would back my project, at least with the e-book, have blanked me. While others, who I hardly know, have backed me to the hilt. 

No matter. Keep striving. I have edited ruthlessly and cut over 500 words, mostly description, from the text. My only critic (so far) said there was too much description so I took her advice. I hope, as well, I have eradicated most basic errors and made the proof reading/editing job easier. 

Oh, there was one other criticism, it needs a map (or maps). I agree, I’m struggling with it though.

I have also, rather arrogantly (considering the lack of pre-orders for this one) begun on the sequel. I recently found out what the "Bechdel Test" is, thanks to Janna Grace’s "Break the Bechdel with Strong Female Characters Syndicate", and since the sequel already featured one strong female character, I decided that she would call upon the other strong female for help when things got tough.
"Women of the Wise Oak" will see Gwenn and Epona smash the Bechdel test out of the park. 

Meanwhile, I have boldly re-uploaded the entire text of "Children of the Wise Oak" for all to see. Remember, if you support this book and it gets published, then the girls get to have a field day in the sequel. 

Boulderoleros!

It’s #ToBTuesday!  Quick update: I finished the map for real.  Maybe not for REAL, I have to add silly things like roads and there’s a certain blank spot that should be in a rather central location, but other than that, this is pretty much what the map of the Immortal Lands looks like in current book times.  A shame we don’t see those lands in the actual book, but it all helps shape the world.  I finished up the broad strokes of 80,000 years of Immortal History (that’s roughly 160,000 human years) (Oy vey).  From their earliest days in the Sacred Mountains of Boku (now western Tenshu), through Birth of War and the Expansion (to the northwest in Yashikina) to their Golden Age, when they explored just about everything but that south western plain, to their conquest and subjugation by the Golden Herd who lived in that southern plain, to their Uprising and Reconquest of their Empire, the Immortals have pretty much just been trying to find out why their gods abandoned them.  (Seven teenaged daughters trying to control one manic toddler (war) while their parents try to run the universe.)  If you think about it, they’re kind of adorable from a distance.  Up close, though they’re covered in tattoos, they’ve got deadly weapons and the skills necessary to pretty much turn you into peanut butter.  Not even kidding.  Peanut butter.  We have fun here.  Pre-orders are coming in slowly but surely (maybe too slowly?  Maybe not so surely?  there’s still time.)  Thank you all for your support!  Enjoy the map.  I’m working on a world map that puts pretty much the whole deal into perspective and paints a pretty (mostly blue (oceans)) picture!  Lots of love!

Earth, Sea, Empire.

-NDF

Hey guys,

I’m really happy about all of these new followers. It helps motivate me to continue writing my story. I am making slow progress with the new draft of Isolation but I am still making progress and I should have lots of time tomorrow to write a few chapters. My classes are driving me crazy so I’ll be glad to have that time where I don’t have to focus on any homework or anything.

I wanted to tell you guys about a new thing that I’m trying on my Wattpad. I created a new story and it is non-fiction. It’s actually some stories from strange things that I have experienced in my life. I called it ’True Stories From A Sensitive’. I explained everything as best I could in the first chapter of the story and I only have one part up right now but if you are interested in reading it please go check it out and leave a comment or vote.

Thank you!