🖋️A few months ago, I decided for NaNoWriMo that I’d like to write Huntress #3. I’d written the first two during earlier NaNos, and I tried last year but didn’t have a solid outline, so my attempts to rewrite it floundered.
This year, I thought, once I finished Legends of Cirena #9, I’d reread the first two books, make myself an outline, and then be ready to go come November.
Fast forward to the end of October… when I was still trying to wrap up the rough draft for LoC #9 (to be fair, at this point it is a mostly revised draft with a handful of first draft scenes because the process for this one has been messier than usual, though I’m considerably happier with where it is now)… I realized I was not going to be able to start Huntress #3 and still start on the first of November.
And there were a couple factors I’ve learned about myself:
I enjoy the momentum/self-competitiveness of starting at a set day (especially with other people) and trying to reach a goal by a set time.
I really need that outline if I want a streamlined process that doesn’t involve me staring blankly at the screen. I am very much a plotter/plantser. I like some leeway to run with a tangent, but I need to be able to fully envision the scene if I’m going to avoid getting derailed and also write quickly.
With that in mind, Isaac suggested that maybe I should try working on another project that was ready to go.
The one project I could think of that didn’t have anything else attached to it yet was Isaac’s Untitled Fantasy Story project that we heavily outlined a year or so ago but hadn’t written.
So I grabbed that Scrivener file come midnight on October 31st, reviewed a couple of the scene notes, and went from there.
It’s been a little rough going, but so far I’ve managed to stay on par (above 1667 words per day) and reached the 50K word goal as of last night.
Biggest problem is trying to remember exactly how the magic system works and the context for some of the scenes. The ones with the biggest questions I skipped and plan to go back to later. But it’s been fun rediscovering the big twists and key plot points as I write, since I’ve really only been reading a few scenes of the outline at a time. (By outline I mean something like a synopsis… it’s got detail).
And this has really led me to realize that I write faster and better when I have the scene envisioned in my head, either because I’ve already told myself that story (The Wishing Blade series), or because someone has told that story to me (such as in this case, in which the story is Isaac’s creation, but I’m doing the writing. Or like in some of our role-play games turned novels, like Distant Horizon.)
Anyway, though this story had been a back-burner project a month ago, I’m now debating how much attention I want to give this.
Finish the rough draft? – definitely
Make revisions accounting for things I remembered while writing later scenes? – probably
Do a polishing revision pass? – not sure yet
Write rough draft for book two? – well… I should probably go finish LoC #9 and Huntress #3 first. probably
But I really am enjoying it, and kind of excited to move forward on the project. So we’ll see. ☺️
Here’s the short pitch:
In a world where non-mages are systematically killed or enslaved, a notorious elderly mage known for protecting non-mages drops an over-zealous “chosen one” youngster into the training of an academic mage whose polyamorous family secretly harbors a non-mage.
Mages have wands and staves, there’s an evil empire, some secrets about what happens when magic gets over-used, and animal familiars. Lots of fun! 😁
What writing processes have you found work best for you?
📋 New month, new Infinitas Publishing status report! (On time this time!)
I’ve highlighted the projects that had changes in blue.
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Crafting Your Fictional World (Non-Fic Book): Rough draft sitting at 22,000 words. On hold.
Sweetweird Genre Notes: On hold with 2,100 words.
Distant Horizon: (Book 1 of the Distant Horizon series): Next up: Paperback version of this in Atticus, which can be used on Draft2Digital in order to release a paperback version wide across multiple retailers, rather than only on Amazon. I intend to revisit the blurb before finalizing this. On hold.
Starless Night:(Book 3 of the Distant Horizon series). Blurb needs to be updated across all retailers.
Changing Tides: (Book 4 of the Distant Horizon series). On hold while working on Legends of Cirena #9. Next step is to merge the two revised drafts and start writing the missing scenes.
The Glitch Saga (Distant Horizon spin-off series): Goal is to create a new cover and print edition for the complete collection edition. (On hold).
Deceived (Distant Horizon spin-off series): Needs print formatting. On hold.
Betrayed (Deceived #2): Isaac and I have finished the read-aloud of Betrayed and we’ve started releasing new chapters on Wattpad again! One new chapter so far, but the rest are ready to go.
Future Goals: Continue revisions to Deceived #3. Add Isaac’s notes from Deceived #5 (formerly #4) into the manuscript, revise Deceived #5, and revise #6 (formerly #5) before handing it to Isaac for his feedback.
TWB 4: (Book Four of The Wishing Blade series). On hold. Next step is to finish adding the remaining outline to Scrivener, review that outline for missing plot points, and then write the rough draft.
Wishing Blade Prequel (Prequel novella for The Wishing Blade): On hold. My next step is to write the rough draft of the new scenes and begin revising the original scenes to match the updated outline.
Once complete, this is intended to be a newsletter-exclusive story.
The Legends of Cirena – Collaborative Adventure Facebook Group:On hiatus.
The Dark Forest of Aneth (“Ro’nor (“The Restless Sands of Neel”) & Zynia (“The Dragons of the Mist”) cross-over / A Legends of Cirena short novel): I’ve been revising the scenes that are already present, reorganized the scenes for better flow, and added in additional missing scenes.
I had hoped to have this ready to pause before NaNoWriMo, but there are still a few scenes to read through. My plan is to finish the current read-through, make notes of any scenes that still need written, and then put it on hold until after NaNoWriMo is complete.
Last time I posted this was 51,000 words, and it’s now sitting at 55800 words.
Goals: Finish rough draft. Edit the book cover.
The Wind Mage and the Wolf (“Livena (The Wind Mage of Maijev”) & Nuaka (“The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear”) cross-over / A Legends f Cirena short novel) : Joran’s short story is on hold. Still needs a couple scenes smoothed out, and I need to cross-reference the final scene in TheWind Mage and the Wolf (from Joran’s point of view). After that, it’ll be ready for a read-aloud and proofreading.
The Legends of Cirena Volume One (LoC #1-6 Collection): I’ve been formatting stories one through six of the Legends of Cirena series in Atticus so that I can create an omnibus print edition. Five of the six episodes have their chapter backgrounds completed, and I’ve updated the Cirena map to represent the Legends timeframe.
Next up is finalizing the cover, finishing the last chapter background, and compiling the six episodes into one volume.
Huntress 3:Well… I was planning on working on this for NaNoWriMo, but I haven’t had a chance to reread the first two books so that I could make my outline. It looks like I’ll be working on the “Untitled Fantasy Story” from the Backburner Projects page since it already has a full outline to work from.
I’m not sure yet if I’ll try to switch projects midway through or not.
Huntress Prequel: On hold at 18,000 words. Needs rough draft completed.
Game Design: On hold.
Mistcatcher (Isaac’s Sci-Fi Story): Last time this was at 45,600 words and it’s now at 46,600 words (including some notes). Isaac has started working on editing the first episodes, and is working on continuing drafting this project for NaNoWriMo. In the meantime, has written a special Halloween episode (word count not included in the total).
Marketing:
We got our new business cards and catalogues from CatPrint, so we’ll have those at the Poor Artists Sale. 🙂
No new BookFunnel promos, though I finally uploaded the subscribers from previous events to their respective newsletters. I haven’t yet resumed the newsletters, though I hope to do so next month. Amazon drip ads ran as usual.
Next up: Continue adding sample chapters to the BookFunnel pages and the main Infinitas Publishing website, and update my author bio across the different websites. Remember what my plan was for Stripe and Payhip direct sales. Update the business ledger on a regular basis. Add a progress tracker somewhere for the different books. Revise Amazon ads, and overhaul book categories, keywords, and blurbs.
Other Stories: On hold
Next up: Draft my next Writers of Warrensburg anthology short story. Revise ending of YA Alien Invasion/Dystopian story.
Other on hold projects include: a “for-fun” space/portal fantasy story rough draft, Mermaid/Siren Sci-Fi short story draft, and comic script (“If I Had Asked”).
Unofficial Minecraft FanFic: On hold.
SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: On hold.
Future Goals: Figure out a schedule for uploading general art projects. Update the SBibbPhoto website to incorporate Daz work, and fix the SEO information.
SIFlint Art: On hold for other projects, though we plan to order a few pencil bags with our designs for the upcoming Poor Artists Sale.
Daz PA: I’m about finished with the Genesis 9 version of my Diverse Worlds Head morphs sets for 200 Plus Head and Face Morphs. Did a few tweaks to make the product and promos look better, and I think I’m ready to move on to finalizing the set. 😁
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Happy writing and reading (Or 3D rendering if you’re into Daz)! 🙂
📋Time for a three month’s catch-up Infinitas Publishing status report!📋
Time flies, and the last few months have been busy. Partially with GeekUP prep, then the actual convention, and then recovery and wrap-up. Partially with getting a promotion from my new job as a part-time substitute library assistant position to the regular part-time library assistant position (regular hours and slightly better pay, woot!). And partly with Isaac graduating with his Ph.D. (extra woot!).
There was a lot of stuff happening, including on the publishing side, so hopefully this report will help clarify a bit on that front. 😉
I’ve highlighted the projects that had changes in blue.
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Flash Fiction: I wrote a Halloween-themed flash fiction piece, that I posted on the blog earlier. “The Bird on the Candy Dish.” Enjoy! 🎃
Crafting Your Fictional World (Non-Fic Book): I taught another world-building workshop at the CCCAC in August. Same class, but updated based on feedback from the previous class. I have plans to teach another class in October. ☺️
I still have hopes of completing a book on the same topic, though I haven’t added much to it since the last update, so it’s still sitting at 22,000 words. (All my attention was on GeekUP and getting Starless Night into print). As other projects wrap up, I suspect I’ll have more time to work on this again.
Additionally, I’d still like to offer this as monthly subscription that has early access to chapters and a monthly Q&A. But I won’t want to start that until I have a completed draft to work from.
Sweetweird Genre Notes: A while back I took some notes regarding the Sweetweird Genre based on shows I’d been watching, and recently I started the process of inputting my handwritten notes into a Google Docs file. Eventually I’d like to compile all the notes and do something with them. Not sure what yet… it’ll depend on how long the notes end up being (the current version is 2,100 words long).
Distant Horizon: (Book 1 of the Distant Horizon series): Next up: Paperback version of this in Atticus, which can be used on Draft2Digital in order to release a paperback version wide across multiple retailers, rather than only on Amazon. I intend to revisit the blurb before finalizing this. On hold.
Starless Night:(Book 3 of the Distant Horizon series). The blurb has been updated! I’m much happier with it now. I also polished the print formatting, created the wrap-around cover, and uploaded it to Amazon. You can now order the paperback! 😃
Here’s the new Starless Night blurb:
A battle of wills. A sinister deal. And the rise of a formidable enemy…
When the Camaraderie’s superweapon retaliated against its creators, it transformed into Legion, a collective of malevolent spirits that brutally massacred every faction’s army and forced the world’s superpowers into hiding. Jenna Nickleson, a rebel with the equivalent of a psychic parasite buried in her head, can’t shake that she may have inadvertently brought this monster to power. But she is determined to keep the peace within the newly-formed Alliance for the sake of protecting the remaining world.
Her brain seed has other ideas. It spreads through her mind like an invasive weed, intent on claiming Legion’s power for itself by twisting her personality to match its tyrannical predecessor. Her last hope of saving herself, the Alliance, and her remaining friends, is to trust the only telepath who’s proven capable of subduing the seed—an elderly Camaraderie butler with questionable morals.
The seed warns her that this butler’s intentions are more sinister than he lets on… and Jenna agrees. She’s simply out of options. With Legion dangerously interested in the seed’s knowledge, and the return of an enemy bent on collecting Jenna’s spirit for his own cruel purposes, time is running out. She needs the forbidden ally.
But how can she trust the telepath’s schemes when she can’t even trust herself?
Up next: Updating the blurb on all the ebook retailers.
Changing Tides: (Book 4 of the Distant Horizon series). On hold while working on Legends of Cirena #9. Next step is to merge the two revised drafts and start writing the missing scenes.
The Glitch Saga (Distant Horizon spin-off series): Goal is to create a new cover and print edition for the complete collection edition. (On hold).
Deceived (Distant Horizon spin-off series): Needs print formatting. On hold.
Betrayed (Deceived #2): Isaac and I finally started the read-aloud of this again now that Isaac has graduated and GeekUP has passed. We’ve reviewed the first four chapters that are already available on Wattpad, and edited two more. I’m planning to wait until we have at least five chapters ready to go before I start releasing them again.
Future Goals: Continue revisions to Deceived #3. Add Isaac’s notes from Deceived #5 (formerly #4) into the manuscript, revise Deceived #5, and revise #6 (formerly #5) before handing it to Isaac for his feedback.
TWB 4: (Book Four of The Wishing Blade series). On hold. Next step is to finish adding the remaining outline to Scrivener, review that outline for missing plot points, and then write the rough draft.
Wishing Blade Prequel (Prequel novella for The Wishing Blade): On hold. My next step is to write the rough draft of the new scenes and begin revising the original scenes to match the updated outline.
Once complete, this is intended to be a newsletter-exclusive story.
The Legends of Cirena – Collaborative Adventure Facebook Group:On hiatus.
The Dark Forest of Aneth (“Ro’nor (“The Restless Sands of Neel”) & Zynia (“The Dragons of the Mist”) cross-over / A Legends of Cirena short novel): I’ve continued making quite a bit of progress here. I’ve finally figured out an ending, solved several plot problems, added in a new POV (that may or may not make it to the final draft, but was helpful in figuring out what was happening in the background), and ironed out some details regarding an in-universe oracle/Tarot deck which is plot-relevant. I’m still writing a few missing scenes, but I’ve also identified a few other plot problems that need to be rewritten.
Last time I posted this was 36,000 words long, and now it’s 51,000 words.
I’ve also rendered an image for the cover, which I need to examine to see if I need to tweak or if it’s ready to take into Photoshop.
Goals: Finish rough draft. Edit the book cover.
The Wind Mage and the Wolf (“Livena (The Wind Mage of Maijev”) & Nuaka (“The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear”) cross-over / A Legends f Cirena short novel) : Joran’s short story is on hold. Still needs a couple scenes smoothed out, and I need to cross-reference the final scene in TheWind Mage and the Wolf (from Joran’s point of view). After that, it’ll be ready for a read-aloud and proofreading.
The Legends of Cirena Volume One (LoC #1-6 Collection): I’ve been formatting stories one through six of the Legends of Cirena series in Atticus so that I can create an omnibus print edition. I originally hoped to have this done for GeekUP but ran out of time to complete it. Currently, all the stories have basic formatting, and four of the six have their chapter backgrounds completed. Two are still in progress (one which requires me to level up my marker skills). I’ve also partially completed a book cover for this, but I still need to update the map to match the Legends era. I kind of want to add some other artwork to this book (all grayscale), but that will depend on time and how much space I have in the book. New goal is to have this ready in time for the Poor Artists Sale in early December.
Huntress 3:On hold, but I now have plans to work on this for NaNoWriMo. Plan is to scrap the previous drafts, reread the first two books, and then go from there.
Huntress Prequel: On hold at 18,000 words. Needs rough draft completed.
Game Design: On hold.
Mistcatcher (Isaac’s Sci-Fi Story): Last time this was at 41,700 words and it’s now at 45,600 words (including some notes). Now that he’s finished his dissertation, he’s begun thinking more about writing this, and I think he has plans to work on it for NaNoWriMo. He’s also started inputting some of the story into Scrivener, so I’m not 100% sure on the current word count.
Marketing:
Our big event for the past few months was preparing for GeekUP. It’s a local comic convention we really enjoy. Last year we did an interactive booth event based on our Distant Horizon series (Have you been tested for super powers yet?), and we wanted to do something similar this year. I got the idea a few months ago to do an event based on our Wishing Blade universe, and so we created a fancy box with LED blacklights hidden in the top, and painted a bunch of cream colored ribbons (because white, apparently, fluoresces) with clear, UV reactive paints that would fluoresce different colors. Then we allowed booth visitors to select a ribbon and see what color they got, and thereby what kind of magic they would have in the world of the Wishing Blade. We also gave them a bookmark with a related character on it, and told them about our books.
We got the bookmarks printed from a local printer called The Print Shop, along with business cards. Originally I was going to get business cards and catalogues from a place called CatPrint, but due to a bit of a dimensions setup snafu, that got delayed, so we’ve ordered them from CatPrint for our next event instead. (We’re hoping that will be the Copper Country Community Arts Center Poor Artists Sale). On the bright side, that meant we got to correct a couple typos we hadn’t caught on our first pass.
Anyway, the interactive part went really well (aside from us testing the box in darkness and then realizing our booth faced a full wall of morning sunlit windows). We also had Starless Night available in print for the first time, and we offered discounts for buying multiple books in a series. Since we had more books and a few new items for the table, we did a test setup at the house. Lastly, we created ourselves a large banner which we printed out at home and Isaac mounted, and we offered free coloring pages based on some of our dragon stickers. The event ended up going really, really well for us. We had a lot of fun, and I think it might have been our best in terms of sales, too (though we didn’t quite break even with our setup costs, we’re hoping those will be covered in future events).
I’ve held off on BookFunnel promos for the past couple months (and need to input signups into my newsletter), and my newsletters have been a bit sporadic. I’m hoping to bring them back to a more consistent release schedule shortly, now that I’m about finished wrapping up stuff from GeekUP and preparing for the next live event. Per usual, I let the low cost Amazon drip ads run.
I’ve also now gone through Jessie Cunniffe’s Book Blurb Magic course and used it to rewrite the Starless Night blurb (with help of feedback from the Writers of Warrensburg group), which I’m much happier with now. I plan to try rewriting more of the blurbs as I get time, and I may try enlisting Isaac’s help with this as well.
I’ve managed to stay semi-caught up with the business ledger for the current year, so while there are a few more things to input, it’s looking a lot better than it has in previous years.
Also… I finally created the Back-Burner Projects page! Head over there if you want to see what we’ve got planned in the future at some undetermined time.
Next up: Continue adding sample chapters to the BookFunnel pages and the main Infinitas Publishing website, and update my author bio across the different websites. Remember what my plan was for Stripe and Payhip direct sales. Update the business ledger on a regular basis. Add a progress tracker somewhere for the different books. Revise Amazon ads, and overhaul book categories, keywords, and blurbs.
Other Stories: I updated 1,700 words of the YA SciFi Alien Invasion/Dystopian Conspiracy short story. Plus, thanks to a random encounter while shelf-reading at the library, I think I solved a plot problem that had been stumping me in regards to completing this.
I wrote a short outline/notes for a vampire short story. Not sure if I’ll go back and write the rest of this or not.
I’ve fully outlined a contemporary fantasy short story for the next Writers of Warrensburg anthology. Next step is to draft it.
On hold projects include: a “for-fun” space/portal fantasy story rough draft, Mermaid/Siren Sci-Fi short story draft, and comic script (“If I Had Asked”).
Unofficial Minecraft FanFic: On hold.
SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: On hold.
Future Goals: Figure out a schedule for uploading general art projects. Update the SBibbPhoto website to incorporate Daz work, and fix the SEO information.
SIFlint Art: Isaac and I decided to go ahead and order sticker for the various live events. We’ve picked up a few deals from Zap! Creatives, each for five designs. A few we had previously had on RedBubble (though we aren’t actively promoting that right now due to their less-friendly artist terms), and the others are new. While we only had five designs at GeekUP, we currently have fifteen designs now printed. There are five Pride planets (Ace, Bi, Trans, Inclusive Progress Rainbow, Gay), the PolyAm Starry Backgrond with heart and infinity symbol, our Infinitas Publishing logo, an “I Need These” themed non-binary dragon sitting on a pile of books, a pansexual dragon sitting on a pile of sticky notes, a lesbian pumpkin witch dragon, a genderfluid wire/cable-hoarding dragon, a rainbow dice hoarding dragon, and three of Isaac’s space whales stickers. I’m hoping to continue making more designs for the Pride planets and the “I Need These” dragon hoards in the future, but we’ll see how well they sell as to how many more I make into stickers. Another idea we have is to make a coloring book of our dragon designs.
Daz PA: I did a bit of an experiment in learning how to rig tighter fitting clothing and I have started modeling a staff for the repurposed pose set, but I still need to texture it. Once I’ve finished other projects I plan to revisit the on-hold Daz projects.
The main one I’m working on right now is a Genesis 9 version of my Diverse Worlds Head morphs sets for 200 Plus Head and Face Morphs product. I’m about finished creating the head shapes and their main promos, and then I’ll work on prepping the rest of the product for submission.
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Happy writing and reading (Or 3D rendering if you’re into Daz)! 🙂
Isaac challenged me to write a piece of flash fiction with the prompt: “A trick-or-treating child walks up to where bird sits on a candy dish. The bird speaks. What does it say?”
Since I’m supposed to be taking a break today (that is, not working on any of the main projects or “work” stuff, and I am notoriously bad at taking a break), I gave it a shot.
This is the result. 😊
🍬 The Bird on the Candy Dish 🍬
A child waddles to their neighbor’s doorstep, their pumpkin costume bejeweled in sequins the eerie color of glow-in-the-dark stars, which have basked in an open window on a cold, sunny day. Red-tinted leaves rattle-tumble across the broken sidewalk, and the brisk air smells of coming storms and batches of apple cider.
Two concrete steps past the skeleton that rears its plastic hand from a mulched grave, the child finds a rusty wrought iron table covered by a fluttering orange sheet. A bowl painted in black cats and candy corn reveals the prize: candy in glossy wrappers that reflect the rafters’ twinkling orange and purple lights.
Despite the offer of candy, the child hesitates, their glowing pumpkin costume swinging at their ankles. A raven sits atop the bowl, preening shining black feathers. It turns a sharp eye to the child. “Beware… take only one piece of candy, or doom shall befall you and your friends!”
The child stares. Because birds usually don’t speak, its warning seems more important than when a guardian admonishes them not to take a second cookie from the bag. “Okay,” the child squeaks, and snags a single chocolate-covered peanut butter treat from the bowl before waddling back down the step and to the sidewalk.
The raven sighs. It had rather hoped for a more exciting night.
Hey there! Just wanted to give a shout out that we’re preparing for Geek UP 2023!
If you’re going to be in the Houghton, Michigan area on September 9th, come check out some awesome vendors, a fun cosplay contest, and three celebrity guests (Hint… if you like Sonic the Hedgehog or Legend of Zelda go peek at the link above for more info on the voice actors who are going to be there!).
Plus, it’s a charity event, and this year is benefiting Unite Mental Health and Wellness. 🙂
Isaac and I plan to be there as well with our books and art (and stickers!), and we’ll have Starless Nightavailable in paperback for the first time!
Come stop by our booth, and don’t miss our new interactive element this year… find out what kind of Wishing Blade Universe magic you would have! (Let’s just say you’ll get to choose a ribbon, place it in our handy little “revealing light” box to see what color it glows, and then match that to one of the characters who uses the same kind of ribbon magic. We’ve been enjoying the arts and crafts element a bit too much this year.) 😉
Overall, we’re really looking forward to the event, and I’m happy to report that we actually have almost everything ready to go this time (no staying up until 3am on Friday night frantically trying to finish organizing stuff).
Meanwhile, here’s a sneak peek of the stickers we’re going to have available (if you haven’t seen them debut at Black Ice Comics and Books).
Looking forward to seeing everybody there. 😁
((P.S. I know I’m overdue on the monthly status report for Infinitas Publishing… by a couple months now. Hopefully I’ll get that written up after the event as well. And send out a couple of newsletters. All is well! Just been trying to get everything organized. 😃 ))
Looking for a mix of science fiction and fantasy ebooks to choose from?
(Note: The giveaway above is hosted through BookFunnel. Authors will usually ask for your email address, and in many cases, the author will collect these addresses for their newsletters.)
Stephanie Flint - Author and Artist 