It’s six weeks to the publication of Chronicles of Marsh, and I’ve just bought a new house.
Well, the house is subject to contract, so it’s that anxious time when the solicitors are involved. You have no knowing whether something is gong to go wrong and it’s all going to fall through.
Sounds like a perfect topic for the Insecure Writers Support Group post today!
This month’s optional question:
It’s been said that the benefits of becoming a writer who does not read is that all your ideas are new and original. Everything you do is an extension of yourself, instead of a mixture of you and another author. On the other hand, how can you expect other people to want your writing, if you don’t enjoy reading? What are your thoughts?
It’s a very clever question. Please add your thoughts in the comments, as I haven’t any.
But I would like to thank the awesome cohosts for this month’s IWSG are Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Mary Aalgaard, Madeline Mora-Summonte, and Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor!
Chronicles of Marsh
I promised you the cover reveal today, so here it is!
Our former Princelings, Fred and George, are now King Fred and Prince Engineer George, and are fully involved in running castles and inventing flying machines. This book takes Fred’s idea of a history of his castle (Castle Marsh), and follows him through his reign. Well, as far as the start of the final book, anyway. Why are the Realms are descending into chaos? Where will it end?
It’s book 9 in my Princelings series, so you really need to have read one or two of its predecessors to enjoy it!
You can pre-order Chronicles on Amazon, iTunes, Kobo and Nook. You can also buy it from November 14th on Smashwords for all ereaders, and hopefully it’ll be out in paperback around then too.
If you’d like to join me and a few other people in a launch blog tour (and get your link in the rafflecopter), please let me know in the comments, and grab the details from this page.
Insecure authoring
Well, you can tell I’m insecure about it as a standalone book. It isn’t really. And I almost break my rule about not ending with a cliff-hanger. It ends with something not completely explained. But you can read between the lines, really you can. Life does not have tidy endings, well, not yet, anyway, thank goodness.
I’m very happy with it though. It takes us from the last Fred, Kira & George Princelings book (#3) and covers everything is changing in this peaceful world, until, really, it is nearly as crazy as ours.
What I’ve been really insecure about is the way my idea (which I had in 2014) has been highjacked by politicians on both sides of the Atlantic. It was really difficult to write in the current political climate, and I’m glad I’ve also finished book 10, as I know everything that is needed there had been covered here.
Six weeks schedule gone to pot
Last month I told you about the schedule, which looked awfully good. Earlier this week I even wrote about the chapter illustrations. I was hoping to do some of them on my holiday last week. Most of the days were taken up with visiting at least four houses, to see whether any of them were suitable for me to buy. By the end of each day all I wanted to do was collapse in a chair and cuddle a guinea pig. Although I did spend Wednesday looking at houses with my cover illustrator Dani and her mum. Last weekend I spent most of my time sleeping.
So in the next six weeks I have all the chapter illustrations to do, I need to chase my editor for the final edits, and I need to set it all up to sell by the end of the month. When the ebook script goes up, then I can start setting up the paperback.
And I have to contact a solicitor to do the paperwork to buy the house, chase the solicitor doing the paperwork to sell my existing house, visit the estate agent in Hampshire with proof that I’m me, to satisfy the requirements to prove I’m not money laundering, and start sorting out what I’m not taking with me then talk to the auction house about selling the furniture and stuff I don’t need.
What I’m not doing
And that’s why I’ve pretty much given up the idea of writing any short stories this side of Christmas. Although I had some very interesting dreams last week, which could have made the basis for one or two.
I may even run out of time to read and review books. Please accept my apologies if you’re waiting for me to review yours.
One more IWSG post before Launch Day!
Hi,
I believe that there are no thoughts or ideas about a book that have not been thought of before.
Congrats on your new house.
Congrats on your new upcoming release in November..
And thank you for being a co-host.
Shalom aleichem,
Pat G @ EverythingMustChange
Well, I’m not a co-host, but I admire all those who are, or have been, Pat 🙂
Thanks on the congrats. And I agree with you.
Buying and selling homes is an all-absorbing process, as is moving. So my advice is to get CoM dealt with, and then just accept that writing won’t happen until you are moved. I had to. It was better to accept it than to beat myself up for not writing, though I was happier when I was able to start working again even a little 🙂
Thanks. Yes, I think I’ve come to terms with not writing or maybe even blogging when things are busy. But I have now caught up with the swathe of legal stuff that came my way over the weekend. And got my credit card access sorted out – I wish they didn’t change the system just when I’m most under stress!
I have done the pencil versions of three new illustrations tonight, though. I’ll ink them tomorrow for the third day of #Inktober 🙂
Great cover! Happy IWSG Day!
Mary at Play off the Page
Thanks, Mary!
It sounds like you have a lot on your plate right now. Try not to stress too much or burn yourself out. <3
Thanks, Patricia. I’ll try to learn from your experiences 😀
You are not making things easy for yourself, are you?! Best of luck with the house move and the book.
Love that cover. Good luck with the house move.