A Full Plate

     As if there wasn't enough going on, the holidays are rapidly approaching. Don't get me wrong; I love this time of year. There's an energy in the air that doesn't exist at any other time, and it lifts my heart and puts a smile on my face that goes from ear to ear. But this year it adds more tasks to a to-do-list that is already over flowing.

     NaNoWriMo starts in a few days, and I was looking forward to using the yearly writing competition to kickstart the third novel in the Blades of Allura series. I'm still going to give it a go, but there are a few things that have gotten me a bit behind with current projects.

     I picked up a second job driving some co-workers to and from work which has turned my eight hour day into an eleven hour one. That in turn has thrown my editing of book two of the Blades of Allura series into a molasses filled swamp, and leaving still a third of the book to go. I had planned on already being done with it so I could focus a hundred percent on the new book, but life has a funny way of throwing plans out the window.

     So that, along with a really long string of some questionable luck that finally seems to be taking a turn for the better, has me WAY behind schedule. Hopefully I can get a better plan in place that will free up some writing time that won't end with my head drifting sleepily towards my keyboard.

     On the positive side, my daughter has made me some new covers for several of my short stories on wattpad and here. They are awesome! She did a great job! Check the links below. Along with that I have finally figured out the formatting that will allow me to post chapters from Ascent of the Holy Blade faster on wattpad. Yay!

    Hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, and always happy reading!

-EW-

Blue Collar Fable

The Call of Duty

The Last Day 

     

Which Fork in the Road to Take?(A tongue in cheek view of the mass flooding of eBooks)

     So I've ran into a slight dilemma as I'm transcribing my second novel from spiral notebook to computer. I've already stated that I won't publish my novel at the new novel mark of 50,000 words, but am I cheating myself if I stick to that promise?

     With e-publishing becoming so easy to do, many writers are taking this new  route of publishing a multitude of 50,000 word novels instead of the more  traditional 80,000 plus length. I'm curious why this is happening because as a reader of fantasy I love the depth and narrative that can be obtained in the more lengthy novels. As a writer and reader I just don't feel that 50,000 is enough to give me the emotional high and lows I get from reading something of that length. I'm not saying that there aren't books that length capable of doing such a thing, but I feel that they are far and between. I do think they can tell a small story from a greater world or story arc exceptional well, but then I guess that's more of a novella in my opinion.

     Maybe it's the hope that a bunch of shorter novels versus one or two larger books can help get their name out there, possibly making it easier for readers to find them. In that aspect I can definitely see the merits of following such a path. In all reality this is probably why most do it, and would be the biggest persuader for me to do so also. After all, as authors all we really want is for people to read our work.(I've been known to hand out more then a few free copies to people who I think are really interested in my novel but might be on the fence about buying, or maybe a little short on funds-never know who they might know)

     Cold hard cash-might be the biggest culprit. As writers we all aspire to leave our daily grind and buy that cottage in the woods, next to a quiet secluded lake where we watch our wife (replace wife with your own significant other whether it be another person, cat, dog, or over-sized pillow)  chase her chickens around with her wine glass tilting crazily, or coffee mug if it's the morning. Then lock her out so I can actually get some writing done. That would be the life <sigh's wistfully>.

     Truthfully either way is correct. Each writer has to do what feels right for them. For me it's the more traditional length and my next manuscript is shaping up to be longer than my first which was around 84,000 words, We follow our muses, wherever those crazy bastards take us and hopefully at the end we have a tale that others will enjoy reading it as much as we did writing it.

Happy Reading

-EW-

Disappearing Act

Just a little heads up for those interested in reading the short stories on my blog and Wattpad. Soon I will be removing all but my Warcraft fanfictions to incorporate my shorts plus a few new ones in one collection that will be sold as an ebook only. Each story will have a short intro where I talk about my inspiration that guided me as I told the tale. My plan is to do it through Kindle sometime early fall after I've finished revising Hand of the Black Blade.

The goal is for the collection to be around 50,000 to 70,000 words and sell for around $0.99. All my novels will be 80,000 plus words and sell for a more appropriate amount to reflect to the work that goes into it.

Till then, happy reading.

-EW- 

New Blades of Allura Art!!

     I hired a local artist to do a rendition of a cover for Who I Am, Ox's Tale. This was the end result.

Cover to Who I Am, Ox's Tale
Artwork by Nick Gatto

     For those that haven't read it, the short story is about Oxuberoth, a Mortae Une gladiator from my novel, Ascent of the Holy Blade. Ox (as he is most commonly called) has been one of the novel's favorite characters, and fans wanted to hear more so I wrote Who I Am, Ox's Tale to give the background story for the silent guardian. (link to follow post)

Happy Reading

-EW-

Who I Am, Ox's Tale

New Story!!!

     Starting a couple of months ago I decided to work with another author and post our stories on a new blog entitled Lorekeeper's Inn. He and I  will post stand alone tales a long with co-operative stories set in a shared world- the idea being that we build off each other and maybe create enough stories to do an anthology.

     My first contribution to this world has been posted, The Unwilling Package, Chapter One. It is an introductory tale to show readers how Lorekeeper's Inn and its proprietor help people in the Yolzin Empire. I will be updating the tale with new chapters as I squeeze them in between working on my second novel and sequel to Ascent of the Holy Blade while balancing work at the factory and my son starting baseball.

     Last fall I tried to do NaNoWriMo and failed miserably, I think I wrote about 6,000 words. I blame World of Warcraft for releasing their new expansion that month and my weakness for that accursed game. Anyway, next month is the start of Camp NaNoWriMo and I have signed up with the goal of achieving what I failed to do last November. I will be working on Hand of the Black Blade and hoping that the contest will give me the drive to finish it.

     April is going to be a busy month but I'm looking forward to the challenge. Thanks for reading!

-EW-

Looking Forward

It's been awhile since I last posted on a Writer's Sojourn so I'm going to do a quick update on what's been going on and where I hope to be going.

Unfortunately I have had a bit of writing blues over the last few months and my new book has taken a hit, but fear not I believe the darkness has passed and I have been writing away once more. I've contributed to my other author blog a first chapter for a new ongoing tale in a shared universe with author Justin O' neal. It is titled, The Unwilling Package and is the first part of a three or four part tale. Please take a look and feel free to offer comments and share if you enjoy it. The more interest in it, the more likely I will feel the desire to work on that project. Here's the link The Unwilling Package, A Lorekeeper's Tale

I have had to push back the ordering of the paperback versions of Ascent of the Holy Blade due to financial reasons. Work at the factory has been reduced and heating bills have been insanely high this winter so concessions have had to been made on my part, but hopefully that will change in a month or two. Remember that the eBook from Wynwidyn Press is available from Amazon and, if you have read it please post a review. It would really help out. Thank you in advance. Again here is the link for my first (and only so far) book. Ascent of the Holy Blade eBook


That pretty much sums it up in a nutshell. Happy reading.

-EW-