Tag Archives: epic fantasy

April 7, 2023 · 1:22 pm

Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

This status report will be for the last two months (February and March) since I got a bit caught up in other things and didn’t get the March version posted.

But, seeing as it’s April… time for another Infinitas Publishing status report! 😁

I’ve highlighted the projects that had changes in blue.

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Distant Horizon: (Book 1 of the Distant Horizon series): I revisited this to start preparing a 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.

Starless Night: (Book 3 of the Distant Horizon series). I got a basic round of formatting done for the print edition, and I’ve started the polishing process. I still need to update the blurb, and create the wrap-around cover once I have the final page count.

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): Completed posting Deceived on Wattpad. It can now be read in its entirety.

SBibb - Betrayed CoverBetrayed (Deceived #2): Cover complete!

I’m working on one more round of revisions and edits to the manuscript, and I’ve started posting the WIP version on Wattpad! I plan to post a chapter a week until it’s complete, at which point I’ll see about finalizing it for publication (it will go out to beta-readers as soon as we’ve gone through the read-aloud stage for the entire manuscript). Before each chapter is posted, Isaac and I listen to it being read aloud via a text-to-speech app, so that we can make any final changes.

Depending on how releasing on Wattpad goes, we’ll see if we also want to release Deceived #3 this way or return to only releasing it in its final, polished form.

The next step is to continue revisions on Deceived #3.

Future Goals: 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.

Lily’s Story: (Distant Horizon series spin-off/prequel novel) On hold. (Has outline).

Sky Runner: (Multiverse novel). On hold. (Has outline)

The Multiverse Chronicles: On hold. (Needs edits).

Little One: On hold. (Needs revisions).

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.

Runes and Ravens (Stone and String 3): Needs outlining and revision. On hold.

The Secret in the Shadows: (Prequel novella for The Wishing Blade) On hold. Needs the rest of Isaac’s notes input into the manuscript.

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 made considerable progress here, with more revisions to specific scenes I was having problems with. Turns out there was a tone shift I hadn’t noticed in Ro’nor’s character, and an earlier plot point that needed adjusted. Additionally, I’ve added in several new scenes, and made plot adjustments to the earlier story, and started writing the poem/song I plan to have running along concurrently with the main plot.

Goals: Finish rough draft now that I have the main story back on track. Complete the book cover render setup.

The Wind Mage and the Wolf (“Livena (The Wind Mage of Maijev”) & Nuaka (“The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear”) cross-over / A Legends of 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 The Wind Mage and the Wolf (from Joran’s point of view). After that, it’ll be ready for a read-aloud and proofreading.

Legends of Cirena Epic: Outlining on hold. Not sure yet if it will be a series of shorts and novellas, or a novel. Map of Litkanston on hold. This is intended to be a back-burner project.

“MOG”: On hold. (Needs revisions)

Huntress 3: On hold while working on Changing Tides draft.

Huntress Prequel: On hold at 18,000 words. Needs rough draft completed.

Game Design: On hold.

Future plans in game design involve: possibly preparing a print-and-play version of Battle Decks, polishing the elemental game card art and testing mechanics, and looking into options for feasibly producing Phalanx.

Space Adventure Comic: On hold.

Villain Problems: (WIP panels viewable on my Instagram). On hold.

Emberverse (Working Title):  Revisions on hold. Needs title. Needs outline for “Season 2.”

Isaac’s Short Stories: – School’s back in session, so these projects are on hold while he writes his dissertation.

Isaac’s Untitled Sci-Fi Story: Isaac has been writing the rough draft to a quirky, episodic sci-fi fantasy story somewhat in the vein of Doctor Who and sweetweird stories. He’s currently at 32,000 words. Lots of sense-of-wonder universe-hopping, clever puns and references (he has an entire episode that’s referencing magic girl stories), and a cute romance between the polyamorous triad crew. We’re expecting that he will the the only author listed for this, whereas I’ll be acting as editor.

Marketing: I got business taxes mailed out a week early this time. Woot! I also did the usual Amazon drip ads and a couple of BookFunnel promos this last month, but didn’t do as much promotion for them as I usually prefer. That kind of fell by the wayside due to also trying to prepare for moving. The next couple months will likely be a little sporadic at times for that same reason, and I haven’t scheduled any BookFunnel promos for this month. Newsletters have also been a tad sporadic for the same reason.

I did, however, teach a free, two-hour workshop at the Copper Country Community Arts Center at the beginning of April, a presentation on “Crafting Your Fictional World.” I had a lot of fun with this one, especially since I could have dived in a lot deeper on the subject if I’d had more time, so I’m thinking I’ll try offering this class again in the future, and maybe branch out for how to take those details and embed them into your story without info dumping.

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.

Other future marketing goals: 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. Create a “Backburner Project Page” for projects that aren’t going to be focused on for a while.

LitRPG / GameLit Story: On hold. (Needs revisions and restructuring).

Other Stories: On hold. Includes a “for-fun” space/portal fantasy story rough draft, YA SciFi Alien Invasion/Dystopian Conspiracy short story revisions, and Mermaid/Siren Sci-Fi short story draft. Comic script (“If I Had Asked”) on hold.

Untitled Fantasy Story: On hold. Next step is to review and adjust the first book’s outline, and then adjust book two’s outline.

Unofficial Minecraft FanFic: So… this one is largely me having fun (Though Microsoft and Mojang do have a really generous license when it comes to commercializing fanfic, so who knows?) Including notes, the rough draft is currently 15,000 words long. Long story short, I’m enjoying the concept of writing the adventures of a character who has been dropped into a Minecraft world, has no idea why they’re there, and is currently trying to figure out the rules of the world. To do that, I started up a new game in survival mode and I’m attempting to not god-mode it by making sure the character only “figures things out” as they discover them in-game. My favorite moments so far probably involve how many close run-ins they’ve had with Endermen that they just don’t realize. That, and realizing the bed is their respawn point. It’s… just a lot of fun and a nice way to unwind at the end of the day.

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: I’ve completed the book cover and formatting for the small press book I’ve been working on. The Forget-Me-Knot by Richard F. McGonegal is now available! 

I’ve also been working on creating an updated wrap-around cover for a book that has changed hands from its independent publisher back to its author.

Future Goals: Figure out a schedule for uploading general art projects. Update the SBibbPhoto website to incorporate Daz work, and fix the SEO information.

SIFlintArt: No new updates. (Find our Redbubble shop here).

Daz PA: Two new releases! In the meantime, I’m close to submitting a limestone cave themed environment set. Modelling and texturing that set took most of my previous month, though it sped up considerably after I picked up RizomUV Virtual Spaces for UV mapping.

Long story short, what was taking me hours (or days) to UV map could suddenly be mapped in a matter of fifteen to thirty minutes. (Talk about a very, very happy Stephanie).

Meanwhile, the joint PA project is still on pause, though it looks like it may resume soon, the winged-themed pose set is still on hold due to clipping issues, and my morph/outfit set, the pose set Isaac helped my work on, and the Daz Crow pose set is on pause. I’ve also started a Daz Horse 3 morph set, but we’ll see how that goes.

SBibb Regal Elf Poses for Genesis 9, 8, and 8.1 Females

SBibb Regal Elf Poses

This was a quick, fantasy-themed pose set I had fun making, partially inspired by watching the original Sailor Moon anime.

 

SBibb Pride Nails for Genesis 9

SBibb Pride Nails for Genesis 9

Again inspired by watching the Sailor Moon anime for its transformation sequence involving shiny nails, but also by one of the characters on The Owl House, I wanted to put together a set of Pride-themed nail colors. While I might not like wearing nail polish myself (have you ever seen a cat with a string around its paw? I have the same reaction.) it can look pretty cool.

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Happy writing and reading (Or 3D rendering if you’re into Daz)! 🙂

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February 21, 2023 · 11:40 am

Weekly Book Promotion Highlight

Today I’m featuring the Tales of Fantasy ebook giveaway!

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Looking for a free fantasy book to read this week?

Tales of Fantasy for Free Ebook Giveaway

(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.)

* * *

I hope you find a good book! 😀

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February 10, 2023 · 12:18 pm

Thoughts on Writing – Protagonists and the Enneagram

I recently finished reading Claire Taylor’s Reclaim Your Author Career book, which is a fascinating take that focuses on your personality (specifically your core motivations and fears, as determined by the Enneagram), and how to apply what you learn about yourself both to your author career, and to your characters and story development.


While the past couple months have been dedicated to the first round of revisions on the rough draft of Changing Tides, I’ve also been trying to diagnose why I’ve been stuck on certain stories and haven’t been able to make much progress. (Huntress #3, the Huntress prequel, and Legends of Cirena #9 all come to mind).

One of my concerns was that character motivations were off.

So…

I started doing some of the exercises in the book. What I have below is the edited version of my homework, but I thought that it might be helpful for anyone else trying to look into their character’s motivations.

My goal here was to determine each character’s Enneagram type, however, these are based primarily on the Reclaim Your Author Career book, specifically looking at writing motivations… so it might be a little off.

Also important to note… every test I’ve taken puts me high in Type 5 Investigator (which I think fits me pretty well), though the secondary ones tend to vary. One test put me more as a Type 1 Reformer or Type 7 Enthusiast, with Type 8 Challenger and Type 4 Individualist extra low, while others put Individualist higher with Challenger and Enthusiast as competing for secondary placement. Seems like the wings for Investigator, either 4 or 6, are almost the same (though 6 did win out in the one that said my second highest scores were Reformer and Enthusiast).

Based on what I’ve read of the Enneagram, I’d say I’m a Type 5 Investigator with a Type 4 Individualist wing.

Reclaim Your Author Career suggests starting by sticking to characters who are in your Enneagram type, or at least in your triad, but I think my particular enneagram Investigator, combined with my top CliftonStrengths (Input, Learner, Ideation, Context, and Intellection) leads me to want to explore other character types and points of view because it’s a challenge! And fun. And helps me explore the world and understand other people better.

So… I’m going to choose to ignore that particular piece of advice, especially since I’m looking to figure out Enneagram types for characters who are already established.

I think that getting a sense of character motivation based on the Enneagram could help me diagnose when things aren’t going as planned in my stories, or if I’m stuck.


Warning… these might be a little rambly since this is basically my thought process as I tried to figure out their different Enneagram types.


For this particular exercise (What enneagram type will your protagonist be?) I focus on characters who are either in current Work In Progress stories, or in stories that I’ve gotten stuck with.

Jenna (Distant Horizon Series: Changing Tides): Very focused on knowledge. Being efficient. Feels betrayed when the ideals she was promised in society turn out not to be what the society is focused on. In the current story (Changing Tides), she fights to protect her family and friends, and to see the society she was promised come to life.

I think she’s probably an Investigator, like me, especially since I created her as part of a role-play game (where I usually play a scholar). Her initial goals were to uncover the truth at the heart of a secret, and she can be easily motivated into believing that knowledge will help her solve problems (the brain seed uses this to try to manipulate her into giving it more power during Starless Night). In her growth stage, she does start leaning into Challenger territory, challenging norms and making her own rules (especially when she gets a power boost).

Unlike me though, (5w4, or 5 Investigator with Wing 4 Individualist), I think she actually might be 5w6, or Wing 6 Loyalist, because she does desire that safe world and is more confrontational of the scary things (beast transformation plants… etc).

So for her, I’ll start by thinking Jenna’s probably an Investigator with a Wing 4 in Loyalist.

(Investigators desire being competent and capable, and fear being incompetent or incapable.)


Galina (Deceived Series: Betrayed): Galina is determined to get back to her sister and protect her, since she’s afraid her sister might have powers and get sent away to a terrible transformation facility. Galina doesn’t want anything happening to her. While she doesn’t like the secrets the Community holds, unlike Jenna, she’s more annoyed than betrayed, and she’s definitely not a straight-A student. She’s bored at desk jobs and simply doesn’t have the motivation to put in the effort. However, when it comes to protecting people, or if a life needs saving, she’ll step up to the task. She wants to protect people (especially friends and family, but also anyone innocent). She’s certainly not above blackmailing someone to get the results she wants, but she tries to be conscientious of how she uses other people’s skills and powers–at least when they’re friends.

Based on that, I’d say she’s either a Type 2 Helper, wanting to help people who are struggling, build community, and inspire others, or Type 8 Challenger, because she makes her own rules (with the help of others who have power), and challenges the norm (though she’s more interested in starting by creating a safe haven for those in trouble… which could be seen as empowering others to fight back). Given that she’s actually a terrible fighter… makes sense she’d want to delegate.

Challengers desire to be strong and independent, and fear being controlled or harmed. Helpers desire being loved and needed, and fear being unloved or unwanted. Considering the motivations of the two, I think she leans more toward Challenger, which works out well for me since Challenger is the growth stage of Investigator, and also since my third highest score is sometimes Challenger, sometimes Enthusiast. Plus, since Challenger’s growth path is Helper, that seems to make sense for Galina.



Ro’nor (Legends of Cirena series: The Dark Forest of Aneth): Ro’nor is kind of reclusive and likes to do his own thing, and he’s not especially sure of himself or his abilities… especially since he’s been surrounded by others with really strong magical powers and a lore that tells of when his family could shift into dragon form. That said, he still wants to put his abilities to use (preferably in less… exciting…ways) that can be helpful to others, and he will reluctantly answer a call for help–especially if he feels obligated to the other person for any reason. Seems part of him would also like to do something awesome that achieves the status of legends like his ancestors… but part of him might also like to stay quietly out of the way and out of danger.

With that in mind, the types I can see working well with him might be Type 3 Achiever, desiring to be worthy and valuable, and fearing being worthless or valueless, or Type 5 Investigator, desiring to be competent/capable and fearing being incompetent or incapable.

At first I thought he might be a Type 2 Helper (wanting to be loved/needed, fear of being unloved or unwanted), but the more I think about it, the more I don’t think this is really his core motivation.

Honestly, it’s kind of interesting actually trying to examine these for different characters, because I didn’t even think about him being an Achiever or Investigator until I actually started trying to look closely at him and re-read through the different Types and their motivations.

Given that I keep feeling something is off about the story I’m trying to write with him right now… I’m kind of wondering if I was right about thinking something was wrong with character motivation here.

When looking further at the motivations (writing-focused), Type 3 Achiever works well for Ro’nor wanting to be recognized for his skills, but I question that he actually wants to be an inspiration for others or add value to the world, or if it’s just that those things were so valued within Darden society that he simply thinks he wants those things. (Am I sensing a possible character arc here? Note to self… this might actually be a really useful way of re-evaluating that problem in the story). So I looked at Type 5 Investigator for Writing Motivations, which didn’t seem quite right for him. He’s not looking to build his own world or explore life’s mysteries or create puzzles and solve them…

Or is he?

He did leave the Darden Isles because he wanted to see the outside world beyond his own. The types of jobs he actively wants (when not getting wrangled into helping people) allow him to look into weather patterns and make suggestions for farmers to make the most efficient use of their crops. Solving puzzles.

Huh.

I think he might be an Investigator, though from a different angle than I would have first considered.

Well then… I guess I’m going to be re-evaluating the story with that lens in mind, and with the idea that his character arc might involve him needing to shed what he thinks he wants based on society’s expectations to what he actually wants.

This is still a little iffy, but I think it’s a step closer in the right direction.


Zynia (Legends of Cirena series: The Dark Forest of Aneth): Zynia is devoted to honoring her god, Harethn, the god of travel. (He is known for being a helper to strangers on the road, safe travel, and also a proponent of freedom, one who has often been invoked among the Network of those who try to get slaves to safety). Zynia is also a listener, and will question her own teachings when evidence is produced counter to what she believes, though she is skeptical until she sees the evidence in full. She tries to be helpful, and to help those in need.

I felt like my memory of her original story arc was vague, so I reviewed that before deciding for sure on her Enneagram type.

Types that might apply to her: Type 3 Achiever, for wanting to be worthy or valuable and fearing not being those things (especially to her god), possibly Type 6 Loyalist, for wanting to be supported and secure (though more focused on fearing not being supported), possibly Type 9 Peacemaker, for desiring to be whole/unified and fearing being separate or cut off.

Honestly, though, none of these immediately stand out to me as “Oh yeah, that’s Zynia.” With that in mind I looked at the Writing Motivations section in Reclaim Your Author Career.

There, Type 1 Reformer has promise for wanting to show people the right way to live and create a better world, Type 2 Helper, for helping people who are struggling and maybe for being inspiring and uplifting, possibly Type 3 Achiever for wanting her skills recognized (by her god specifically), wanting to add value to the world, and wanting to be an inspiration to others, or possibly Type 9 Peacemaker, for sharing her hopeful vision, or creating harmony from conflict…

I went back and skimmed the story with Zynia as a protagonist (The Dragons of the Mist), and came up with these notes about her character:

Values fairness, the gods offering help rather than being arrogant. Being generous. Considers the high god…oblivious…but not power hungry. She’s concerned about being a burden to others (especially Harethn), and doesn’t want to ask for a favor if she’s not sure she needs it. She very much enjoys when her devotion to her god is recognized by him. Wants to be looked on fondly/loved by Harethn. She’s a little skeptical, worried about trickster immortals. Genuinely prays to Harethn for guidance in uncertain times. She does have a curiosity about the world around her, especially mysteries/immortal things, but she tries to be thoughtful about approaching them. Values freedom/sovereignty, and the ability for mortals to make their own choices.

After reviewing those, I re-reviewed the various Enneagram core motivations.

Type 2 Helper makes sense when looking at her desire to be loved and needed by Harethn, and same with Type 3 Achiever in terms of wanting to be worthy/valuable to Harethn. In terms of writing motivations, Type 2 of helping people who are struggling could make sense, or Type 3 adding value to the world and being recognized for her skills (though I’d almost think she really wants to be recognized for her self worth and devotion to Harethn, not so much for the skills themselves.)

With that in mind, I’ve narrowed her type to being either Type 2 or 3.

At which point I went and did a little more in-depth looking at the definitions for Type 2 and 3.

I used The Enneagram Institute pages for the Helper and the Achiever…and it immediately became clear which type she would likely be.

The Helper leans more toward being “the caring: interpersonal type: generous, demonstrative, people-pleasing, and possessive” whereas the Achiever is  “the success-oriented, pragmatic type: adaptable, excelling, driven, and image-conscious.” Here, it feels clear she is a Helper. Especially when Helpers have a tendency to have trouble acknowledging their own needs.

Now that I know she’s a Helper, I can look more into that Enneagram type to determine what goals and fears she might have going forward.

One thing this exercise helped make clear to me was that I really didn’t have a clear picture of Zynia’s wants and fears, especially as related to the current story she’s part of, and that might be leading to some of my uncertainties in regards to how to push the story forward, and how it should resolve in a way that would be satisfying.


I also want to do this for characters in the Huntress universe, but I need to go back over what I already have written to remind myself of their values and motivations.


Anyway, I hope seeing my thought process has been helpful for you.


Happy writing! 😊

Further Learning:

Reclaim Your Author Career by Claire Taylor

Becca Syme Podcast: Align To Your Enneagram Type

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February 3, 2023 · 10:33 pm

Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

Now that we’re in February, time for another Infinitas Publishing status report! 😃

I’ve highlighted the projects that had changes in blue.

* * *

Starless Night: (Book 3 of the Distant Horizon series). Paperback formatting on hold while working on Changing Tides draft.

Changing Tides: (Book 4 of the Distant Horizon series). I’ve finished the first round of revisions on the rough draft part two, for roughly 35,000 words of revisions.

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 #2 – (Distant Horizon spin-off series): So far there are six chapters of Deceived on Wattpad.

The next step for Deceived #2 is to hand it to Isaac for a final round of developmental edits, then create a book cover for Deceived #2 and continue revisions on Deceived #3.

Future Goals: 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.

Lily’s Story: (Distant Horizon series spin-off/prequel novel) On hold. (Has outline).

Sky Runner: (Multiverse novel). On hold. (Has outline)

The Multiverse Chronicles: On hold. (Needs edits).

Little One: On hold. (Needs revisions).

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.

Runes and Ravens (Stone and String 3): Needs outlining and revision. On hold.

The Secret in the Shadows: (Prequel novella for The Wishing Blade) On hold. Needs the rest of Isaac’s notes input into the manuscript.

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 started re-reading the chapters with light revisions and making notes about what might need adjusted in order to get the story back on track for finishing the draft.

Goals: Rough draft needs completed, and there are a couple scenes I’d like to add earlier in the story. I already have a book cover concept, which needs to be completed.

The Wind Mage and the Wolf (“Livena (The Wind Mage of Maijev”) & Nuaka (“The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear”) cross-over / A Legends of 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 The Wind Mage and the Wolf (from Joran’s point of view). After that, it’ll be ready for a read-aloud and proofreading.

Legends of Cirena Epic: Outlining on hold. Not sure yet if it will be a series of shorts and novellas, or a novel. Map of Litkanston on hold. This is intended to be a back-burner project.

“MOG”: On hold. (Needs revisions)

Huntress 3: On hold while working on Changing Tides draft.

Huntress Prequel: On hold at 18,000 words. Needs rough draft completed.

Game Design: On hold.

Future plans in game design involve: possibly preparing a print-and-play version of Battle Decks, polishing the elemental game card art and testing mechanics, and looking into options for feasibly producing Phalanx.

Space Adventure Comic: On hold.

Villain Problems: (WIP panels viewable on my Instagram). On hold.

Emberverse (Working Title):  Revisions on hold. Needs title. Needs outline for “Season 2.”

Isaac’s Short Stories: – School’s back in session, so these projects are on hold while he writes his dissertation.

Marketing: I had both a Best Book Monkey newsletter promo and a Geektastic newsletter promo to help spread awareness of Distant Horizon and Magic’s Stealing being free during the month. They’re now back to full price, but I had them free from December to the end of January. I also had the usual Amazon drip ads and BookFunnel promos.

I still need to schedule this month’s weekly promo highlight, but I have them chosen, and last month they went out as planned.

Additionally, I’ve made progress on finalizing last year’s business ledger. I’ve also been doing a bit of extra non-fiction reading related to both writing craft and marketing.

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.

Other future marketing goals: Update the business ledger. Add a progress tracker somewhere for the different books. Test Draft2Digital for wide print distribution, revise Amazon ads, and overhaul book categories, keywords, and blurbs. Create a “Backburner Project Page” for projects that aren’t going to be focused on for a while.

LitRPG / GameLit Story: On hold. (Needs revisions and restructuring).

Other Stories: On hold. Includes a “for-fun” space/portal fantasy story rough draft, YA SciFi Alien Invasion/Dystopian Conspiracy short story revisions, and Mermaid/Siren Sci-Fi short story draft. Comic script (“If I Had Asked”) on hold.

Untitled Fantasy Story: On hold. Next step is to review and adjust the first book’s outline, and then adjust book two’s outline.

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: Made some progress on the book cover polishing and print formatting of the small press’s book.

Future Goals: Figure out a schedule for uploading general art projects. Update the SBibbPhoto website to incorporate Daz work, and fix the SEO information.

SIFlintArt: No new updates. (Find our Redbubble shop here).

Daz PA: Finally got a couple products submitted! 😀

The slush and snow shaders project is complete and has now been released. I also have a fantasy-themed pose set expected to release soon. Additionally, I’ve been working on a winged-themed pose set, but ran into some clipping issues that I noticed while making more promos, so I temporarily put that on hold for a completely different makeup set. That one is proceeding well, so I hope to finish and submit it soon.

Meanwhile, I’m waiting to hear back on the joint PA project, and I’ve made no new progress on my morph/outfit set. I also plan to work on finishing the pose set Isaac helped my work on (currently in polishing stages), as well as a pose set I’ve started for the Daz Crow.

SBibb Slush and Snow Shaders for Iray and Merchant Resource

SBibb Slush and Snow Shaders for Iray

This set was especially fun to make since I took all the photos using my macro lens… finally got to make use of my love of texture photography!

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Happy writing and reading (Or 3D rendering if you’re into Daz)! 🙂

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January 20, 2023 · 3:04 pm

Revisiting 2022 Accomplishments and 2023 Goals

Today I thought we’d take a look back at 2022 to see what all we accomplished. 😊

I didn’t write a goal post last year, so we’ll just do an overview instead of looking at what we had planned.

 

Looking back, I’m realizing that it was largely a year of setup/prep work and behind the scenes work: getting things organized that I can largely “set and forget” and preparing for larger projects.

We still did see a few tangible things: the release of Initiated to newletter subscribers, Changeling in paperback, and “Red Light, Green Light” published in the Writers of Warrensburg’s Hawthorn Creek anthology.

 

Here’s to hoping that pays off in 2023 with more releases. 🙂

 

Last year I planned on trying a calendar with deadlines for when I’d like to have things done/monthly goals, and an idea of getting 50k words written or edited each month.

That… didn’t keep me on track with my goals the way I had hoped.

This year, I’m trying something a bit older… in high school, I had a paper planner that worked really well. This upcoming year I’m trying a print planner with a baseline set of goals (word count and time spent on Daz) – and anytime I successfully complete the baseline goals, I can add a sticker to that day! Silly, I know, but if it works, I’m totally doing this. (I ordered horse-themed stickers! 🐎)

 

🌿 Distant Horizon Universe 🌊

 

  • I had hoped to have the Starless Night paperback complete, but I’m still working on formatting it. (Finished a second proofreading, ebook ready to be reuploaded).
  • Created a new automated onboarding sequence for the Distant Horizon Universe newsletter. Added in a themed image component.
  • Wrote rough draft of Changing Tides and started revisions.
  • Wrote Initiated (Deceived prequel) and released exclusively to newsletter.
  • Placed Multiverse Chronicles into Scrivener

 

2023’s Goals:

  • Finish revising Changing Tides. Polish and publish (Midyear?)
  • Serialize Deceived (completed) via Wattpad and newsletter. (First quarter)
  • Serialize Deceived #2 (near-final) via Wattpad and newsletter. (Second quarter)
  • Polish Deceived #2
  • Revise and polish Deceived #3 (needs further revisions).
  • Evaluate how serialization is going after Deceived #2
  • Publish Starless Night paperback (Midyear?)

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🗡️ Wishing Blade Universe 🔮

 

  • Started rough draft of Magic’s Stealing prequel.
  • Created base for Litkanston map
  • Wishing Blade Universe onboarding sequence complete.
  • Still working on Legends of Cirena #9
  • Started making notes for Legends of Cirena epic story and inputting them into Scrivener
  • Joran Short Story – Revised current draft

 

2023’s Goals:

  • Finish drafting Legends of Cirena #9, polish, publish. (Second or third quarter?)
  • Finish drafting Joran’s spin-off short story. Polish. Release to newsletter. (Midyear?)
  • Finish outlining The Wishing Blade #4. Write rough draft. (Fourth quarter?)

 

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👁️ Huntress Universe 🍎

 

  • Wrote partial draft of a Huntress prequel.
  • Released Changeling in paperback.
  • Tried to revise Huntress 3… didn’t get very far. Thinking I might scrap this draft entirely, reread first two books, and start a new draft fresh.

 

2023’s Goals:

  • New outline for Huntress 3. Write rough draft. (Third quarter?)
  • Continue rough draft for Huntress prequel

 

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🌇 Comics 🦴

 

  • I wrote “If I Had Asked” and submitted it to anthology. Didn’t get in, but was a good experience.
  • Rendered a few more panels of Villain Problems.
  • Other comic projects on hold

 

2023’s Goals:

  • Nothing currently planned

 

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📚 Unplanned Additions 📚

 

  • RedBubble – We’ve been wanting to offer merch and have a way to sell our art prints online, but hadn’t really had a feasible option. We finally settled on RedBubble as a print-on-demand store, and have started uploading our work there a little at a time, with the hope to eventually build it into a larger portfolio.
  • Hawthorn Creek Anthology (Writers of Warrensburg) – I published “Red Light, Green Light,” a queer sci-fi short story, in the Hawthorn Creek Anthology. This took more time than I was expecting to write and edit, but it was fun seeing how the entire anthology threaded together with each story supporting each other in small ways despite the variety of genres at play.
  • Geek UP and Poor Artists Sale – Both of these in-person events went really well for us, and in both cases we tried to improve our interactions. For Geek UP, we added an interactive play element to the booth (the “power scanner”) which helped start conversations and gave us a natural segque into talking about our books. For the Poor Artists Sale we focused more on themed decoration for our table and approaching passersby with open-ended questions (“What do you like to read?/What genre do you enjoy reading?” or “Who are you looking to buy something(gifts) for?”) In both cases, we were able to have a lot more person-to-person interaction that was quite enjoyable and, in some cases, led to more sales (both at the convention and at the local bookstore).
  • Untitled Fantasy Story – Isaac and I outlined two novels in an epic fantasy series (the outlines are 14,000 words for the first book, and 12,000 words for the second book) that we’d eventually like to write.
  • Isaac wrote a couple of short stories, now ready for editing.
  • Short story: “Of Garlic and Glitter Bombs”

 

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🎨 SBibb’s Photographic Illustration 🎨

 

  • Finished the formatting and cover design for Ghoul Duty by Richard F. McGonegal
  • Started work on a new book for an indie press: cover proof made, print formatting started, and ebook formatting complete
  • Updated the banner for the Infinitas Publishing website

 

2023 Goal’s

  • Finish the formatting and cover design for the book I’m currently working on
  • Update design of Stephanie Flint Books blog

 

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🎲 Game Design 🎲

 

  • Updates to Legends of Cirena role-play guide, (still very much in testing and a backburner project)
  • Elemental Card Game – Small Tweaks made

 

2023 Goals

  • Nothing specific planned at this point

 

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✨ Daz PA ✨

 

I had hoped to have one project out each month, but had some learning-curve slowdowns earlier in the year. The back catalogue performed really well in the later half of the year, though, so I was happy with how that turned out.

 

May – SBibb Magic at Their Fingertips Props and Poses for Genesis 8 and 8.1

July – SBibb Surprise and Fear Poses and Expressions for Genesis 8 and 8.1, and SBibb Bullish Behavior for Classical Minotaur for Genesis 8 and 8.1 Male

August – SBibb Tender Affection Poses and Expressions for Genesis 8 and 8.1

September – SBibb Loyal Companion Poses for Daz Dog 8 and Genesis 8 and 8.1

October – SBibb Skyward Gaze Poses for Genesis 8 and 8.1

 

2023’s Goals:

  • Release equivalent of two products per month

 

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Happy writing and reading (Or 3D rendering if you’re into Daz)! 🙂

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January 10, 2023 · 10:31 am

Weekly Book Promotion Highlight

Today I’m featuring the Epic & High Fantasy ebook giveaway!

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Looking for a free fantasy book to read this week?

Epic & High Fantasy Ebook Giveaway

(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.)

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I hope you find a good book! 😀

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January 6, 2023 · 11:15 am

Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

For today’s Infinitas Publishing Status Report, I’m covering the last two months (November and December). It’s also time for the end of the year report… wow! That will be coming soon.

I’ve highlighted the projects that had changes in blue.

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Starless Night: (Book 3 of the Distant Horizon series). Paperback formatting on hold while working on Changing Tides draft.

Changing Tides: (Book 4 of the Distant Horizon series). I concluded the NaNoWriMo month with 70,000 words (59k since the previous update). While not 100k, this put me in a really good spot for finishing the Changing Tides draft. (I even hit my goal of reaching at least 1667 words daily during the month! Woot!)

There are still a few scenes that have missing chunks, and some scenes that need a better transition, but the majority of the book has now been written.

My current goal is to complete the first round of revisions to part two of the Changing Tides draft and start piecing together the two sections. I’d hoped to hand this over to Isaac during break. That hasn’t happened, unfortunately, but I am at 40,000 words revised of the 74,000 words in the second section.

I’ve also restructured my calendar for this project, since the original set of deadlines wasn’t going to work. (Surprisingly enough, the new structure might actually give me more leeway without shifting my final release day goal).

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 #2 – (Distant Horizon spin-off series): I’ve decided to serialize the near-final version of Deceived #2 as a way to continue providing content for readers while working on getting the various projects finalized for publication.

That said, I realized that it would be helpful for serial readers to have access to Deceived, first, so I’m going to start by offering Deceived as a weekly chapter on Wattpad, starting Monday, January 9th. I’ll also offer a weekly email where you can sign up to get chapters of Deceived straight to your inbox (and a day earlier than Wattpad). I’m thinking I might include a weekly blog post reminder as well with a link directly to the newest chapter.

Meanwhile, once Isaac has some spare time, I plan to hand this to Isaac for a final round of developmental edits. Next step is to create a book cover for Deceived #2, and continue revisions on Deceived #3.

Future Goals: 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.

Lily’s Story: (Distant Horizon series spin-off/prequel novel) On hold. (Has outline).

Sky Runner: (Multiverse novel). On hold. (Has outline)

The Multiverse Chronicles: I started entering the episodes into Scrivener for better organization. Otherwise, this is still on hold. (Needs edits).

Little One: On hold. (Needs revisions).

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.

Runes and Ravens (Stone and String 3): Needs outlining and revision. On hold.

The Secret in the Shadows: (Prequel novella for The Wishing Blade) On hold. Needs the rest of Isaac’s notes input into the manuscript.

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): On hold.

Goals: Rough draft needs completed via the Collaborative Adventure Facebook group, and there are a couple scenes I’d like to add earlier in the story. I already have a book cover concept, which still needs to be completed.

The Wind Mage and the Wolf (“Livena (The Wind Mage of Maijev”) & Nuaka (“The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear”) cross-over / A Legends of Cirena short novel) : I’ve revisited the Joran short story project and revised the current draft. There are a couple spots I still want to smooth out, and there’s a final section that I need to write based on cross-referencing the same scene in The Wind Mage and the Wolf (except from Joran’s point of view). After that, it’ll be ready for a read-aloud and proofreading.

Legends of Cirena Epic: Outlining on hold. Not sure yet if it will be a series of shorts and novellas, or a novel. Map of Litkanston on hold. This is intended to be a back-burner project.

“MOG”: On hold. (Needs revisions)

Huntress 3: Minor update. After doing a bit of thinking about the story and why it’s been stalling for me in revisions, I’m very tempted to drop the current draft altogether, reread the first two books, and then create a new outline from that reading. We’ll see about that as a potential change once I’m done with the Changing Tides draft.

Huntress Prequel: On hold at 18,000 words. Needs rough draft completed.

Game Design: On hold.

Future plans in game design involve: possibly preparing a print-and-play version of Battle Decks, polishing the elemental game card art and testing mechanics, and looking into options for feasibly producing Phalanx.

Space Adventure Comic: On hold.

Villain Problems: (WIP panels viewable on my Instagram). On hold.

Emberverse (Working Title):  Revisions on hold. Needs title. Needs outline for “Season 2.”

Isaac’s Short Stories: – Isaac drafted two short stories: one sci-fi (this has had one round of revisions – ready for me to make editing notes), and one leaning toward sweet-weird sci-fi (I’m not sure if he wants to do another revision pass on this before handing it to me for edits or not). These will likely be on hold now that school is starting back up for him, but I look forward to seeing these polished.

Marketing: No paid ads this month except for Amazon drip ads and a few BookFunnel Promos. I ended up doing a monthly roundup of the promos on the blog for December since I didn’t get them posted weekly, and I ended up delaying the newsletters during November. Partly because we did a lot of traveling that month–went down to Missouri for the Hawthorn Creek Anthology release party, and then visited family. Good times. 🙂

I started up the newsletters again in December, and even got the automated onboarding sequence running for The Wishing Blade Universe newsletter. Woot!

I also did a little more experimenting with Atticus, since I’m hoping to use that for book formatting in the future.

PoorArtistsSale_2022

Our booth at the Poor Artists Sale in Calumet

Poor Artist Sale – Isaac and I shared a booth with our artist friend, Gray, at the Poor Artist Sale in Calumet, Michigan. We’ve gone there in previous years to browse, but this is our first time having a booth there. We had a great time, and I hope to do more in-person events in the future. 😀

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.

Other future marketing goals: Update the business ledger. Add a progress tracker somewhere for the different books. Test Draft2Digital for wide print distribution, revise Amazon ads, and overhaul book categories and keywords. Create a “Backburner Project Page” for projects that aren’t going to be focused on for a while. Start overhauling book blurbs.

LitRPG / GameLit Story: On hold. (Needs revisions and restructuring).

Other Stories: Isaac and I headed down to Missouri for a surprise visit to the Hawthorn Creek Anthology release party with the Writers of Warrensburg. We had a blast, and it was great getting to see everybody in person again for the first time in several years (most of our communication with them has been via Zoom).

HawthornCreekAnthologySigning - Photo by TrishSmith

Hawthorn Creek Anthology Signing – Photo by Trish Smith

Additionally, I’ve started writing a “for-fun” space/portal fantasy story during my free time that’s about 7700 words currently. I don’t know if this one will get finished or not, since it’s mostly for my enjoyment, but it’s writing, so I’m tossing this one in here.

The YA SciFi Alien Invasion/Dystopian Conspiracy short story revisions and Mermaid/Siren Sci-Fi short story draft are on hold. Comic script (“If I Had Asked”) on hold.

Untitled Fantasy Story: On hold. Next step is to review and adjust the first book’s outline, and then adjust book two’s outline.

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: I’m still working on the book cover polishing and print formatting of the small press’s book. I’ve started specifically scheduling time in my new planner for this to make sure this gets done.

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 started a Redbubble shop! This features art from both our Distant Horizon and Wishing Blade universes, as well as other miscellaneous art we’ve made.

The cool thing is that we’re able to use Redbubble to make mugs, jigsaw puzzles, stickers… a lot of merch we normally wouldn’t have access to. (Since it’s print-on-demand, no need to figure out where we’re actually going to store it!).

Daz PA: No new releases in the last two months, though I’m close to finished on several projects. Had a bit of a slow-down on the holiday freebie, had to switch to a whole new project, which unfortunately didn’t get it turned in on time. Oh well. I’m expanding the newer project into a full-sized shader product (snow… so much snow!), which I hope to turn in early next week. I’ve also got a pose set that I’m making promos for and checking for a potential issue that I saw in the promo renders, but that one’s just about done.

Still waiting on the joint PA project, and no new progress on my morph/outfit set. Once my current projects are done, I plan to finish up an adjacent pose set to the one I’m almost finished with, and then finish the set Isaac helped me with, as well another partially complete pose set.

(Needless to say, I’m hoping to see a spurt of project releases sometime around the beginning of February, if all goes well).

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Happy New Year!

😀

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And happy writing and reading (Or 3D rendering if you’re into Daz)! 🙂

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November 5, 2022 · 10:12 am

Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

With October over, it’s time for another Infinitas Publishing status report!

I’ve highlighted the projects that had changes in blue.

* * *

Starless Night: (Book 3 of the Distant Horizon series). I’ve finished with the proofreading note comments, so the ebook updates are ready to go, and I’ve started formatting the paperback edition.

Changing Tides: (Book 4 of the Distant Horizon series). Revisions of the first chunk of draft is complete at 56,000 words! (Meaning I revised about 37,000 words and cut a couple thousand words since the last report).

Isaac and I have been discussing the revisions as he gets a chance to read them (though him reading them is on hold while finishing his dissertation), as well as possible scenes throughout the rest of the book.

Now I’m focused on my plan of writing 100k words during NaNoWriMo to finish the draft!

This… might be a bit ambitious, admittedly. But if I can finish the draft by the end of the month, I might still be able to have everything completed on time for the release date we’ve tentatively marked.

Having learned from last time, we’re not announcing that release date until we’re actually closer to being finished.

Currently I’m at 11,000 words of my 100,000 word NaNoWriMo goal. You can follow along with my progress here. 🙂

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 #2 – (Distant Horizon spin-off series): I have a couple scenes to revise, and then I can hand this to Isaac for developmental edits. Next step is to create a book cover for Deceived #2, and continue revisions on Deceived #3.

Future Goals: 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.

Lily’s Story: (Distant Horizon series spin-off/prequel novel) On hold. (Has outline).

Sky Runner: (Multiverse novel). On hold. (Has outline)

The Multiverse Chronicles: On hold. (Needs edits).

Little One: On hold. (Needs revisions).

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.

Runes and Ravens (Stone and String 3): Needs outlining and revision. On hold.

The Secret in the Shadows: (Prequel novella for The Wishing Blade) On hold. Needs the rest of Isaac’s notes input into the manuscript.

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): On hold.

Goals: Rough draft needs completed via the Collaborative Adventure Facebook group, and there are a couple scenes I’d like to add earlier in the story. I already have a book cover concept, which still needs to be completed.

The Wind Mage and the Wolf (“Livena (The Wind Mage of Maijev”) & Nuaka (“The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear”) cross-over / A Legends of Cirena short novel) : The Joran short story project is on hold.

Legends of Cirena Epic: Outlining on hold. Not sure yet if it will be a series of shorts and novellas, or a novel. Map of Litkanston on hold. This is intended to be a back-burner project.

“MOG”: On hold. (Needs revisions)

Huntress 3: Needs updated outline, revised draft, and continued rough draft.

Huntress Prequel: On hold at 18,000 words. Needs rough draft completed.

Game Design: On hold.

Future plans in game design involve: possibly preparing a print-and-play version of Battle Decks, polishing the elemental game card art and testing mechanics, and looking into options for feasibly producing Phalanx.

Space Adventure Comic: On hold.

Villain Problems: (WIP panels viewable on my Instagram). On hold.

Emberverse (Working Title):  Revisions on hold. Needs title. Needs outline for “Season 2.”

Marketing: No paid ads this month except for Amazon drip ads and the usual BookFunnel Promos. I continued posting on Twitter, though not always daily. I still need to schedule this month’s Weekly Blog Promo Highlights.

The big step for this month was finally polishing the onboarding sequence for the Distant Horizon newsletter and getting that running. 😁

Additionally, since I needed an updated author bio for the Writers of Warrensburg Hawthorn Creek anthology, I also have a new author bio!

Stephanie Flint (she/her) loves reading and writing stories about sprawling worlds, uprooting oppressive societies, and awesome queer characters. When not writing, she creates digital 3D art, builds skybridges in Minecraft, and plays table-top games with her husband (who makes sure she doesn’t break their story universes with one-too-many shiny new magic systems). Originally from Missouri, she graduated college with a degree in photography and creative writing before moving to the snowy, Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

I still need to update the bio on various websites (including this blog), but it’s now written and on Amazon. 🙂

Also… our Infinitas Publishing website now has a new header image, this one focused a little more on the world-building aspect than the characters. As much as I liked the idea of the previous image, it wasn’t quite as professional as I would have liked, and I’d always intended to do more updates to it, but never got to doing those polishes.

Original Banner:

Original Infinitas Publishing Banner

New Banner:

New Infinitas Publishing Banner

Also, I finally added our Pinterest link to the Infinitas Publishing website contact page.

Next up: Start working on the Wishing Blade Universe newsletter onboarding sequence, and continue adding sample chapters to the BookFunnel pages and the main Infinitas Publishing website.

Other future marketing goals: Update the business ledger. Add a progress tracker somewhere for the different books. Test Draft2Digital for wide print distribution, revise Amazon ads, and overhaul book categories and keywords. Create a “Backburner Project Page” for projects that aren’t going to be focused on for a while. Start overhauling book blurbs.

LitRPG / GameLit Story: On hold. (Needs revisions and restructuring).

Hawthorn Creek A Collection of Secrets Anthology CoverOther Stories: I finished proofreading my story for the Writers of Warrensburg anthology, and I’m happy to report that Hawthorn Creek: A Collection of Secrets has been published!

My short story, “Red Light, Green Light” is a sci-fi short story set in the future of the fictional town of Hawthorn Creek, Missouri. 🙂

I also wrote a Halloween-themed short story. You can read “Of Garlic and Glitter Bombs” on this blog by clicking here.

The YA SciFi Alien Invasion/Dystopian Conspiracy short story revisions and Mermaid/Siren Sci-Fi short story draft are on hold. Comic script (“If I Had Asked”) on hold.

Untitled Fantasy Story: On hold. Next step is to review and adjust the first book’s outline, and then adjust book two’s outline.

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: I’ve created a book cover proof and started work on blending stock photos in the cover for the independent small press’s project. Print formatting is still in progress.

Future Goals: Figure out a schedule for uploading general art projects. Update the SBibbPhoto website to incorporate Daz work, and fix the SEO information.

Daz PA: This month saw the release of my Skyward Gaze pose set! 😀

SBibb Skyward Gaze Poses for Genesis 8 and 8.1

sbibbskywardgazeposesforgenesis8and8100maindaz3d

This is a pose set Isaac helped me create. 🙂

In the meantime, I’ve created the base poses for the joint PA project I’m working on, and I’m currently waiting for them to finalize something on their end before I move forward on mine. I also did a little more work toward finalizing the remaining pose set Isaac helped create.

Additionally, I’ve finally started polishing a really old pose set that I had started on as part of my PA application, but got sidetracked with other projects to complete. A new opportunity popped up that made this one more feasible, and I’m looking forward to completing it. Plus, there’s another set I’ve got in mind to work on (dials made, now need to make the poses).

And I continued my morph idea and accompanying outfit test. Not sure how long that one will take to release, but it’s one I’ve been having fun working on during weekends. 🙂

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😀

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Happy writing and reading (Or 3D rendering if you’re into Daz)! 🙂

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October 7, 2022 · 10:59 pm

Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

September passed in a blur, and now it’s time for another Infinitas Publishing status report!

I’ve highlighted the projects that had changes in blue.

* * *

Starless Night: (Book 3 of the Distant Horizon series). I’ve finally finished inputting the last half of the proofreading notes into the manuscript! Next step, look over the remaining couple comments and then format the paperback edition.

Changing Tides: (Book 4 of the Distant Horizon series). I’ve started revisions! I’m currently at 19,000 words of 58,000 words. The goal is to make revisions to what I have so far, add missing scenes, and then hand the updated manuscript to Isaac for his edits. Once I know what needs adjusted, I’ll plan on writing the next 50k-100k words during NaNoWriMo so that we can get this rough draft finished.

I’ve also made a timeline schedule for when different steps of the process need to be done in order to have it ready on time for our tentative release date.

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 #2 – (Distant Horizon spin-off series): I have a couple scenes to revise, and then I can hand this to Isaac for developmental edits.

Next step is to create a book cover for Deceived #2, and continue revisions on Deceived #3.

Future Goals: 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.

Lily’s Story: (Distant Horizon series spin-off/prequel novel) On hold. (Has outline).

Sky Runner: (Multiverse novel). On hold. (Has outline)

The Multiverse Chronicles: On hold. (Needs edits).

Little One: On hold. (Needs revisions).

TWB 4: (Book Four of The Wishing Blade series). I reviewed my earlier outline notes and realized I had more of this ready than I thought. I’ve started inputting those notes into Scrivener.

Next step is to finish adding the remaining outline to Scrivener, review that outline for missing plot points, and then write the rough draft.

Runes and Ravens (Stone and String 3): Needs outlining and revision. On hold.

The Secret in the Shadows: (Prequel novella for The Wishing Blade) On hold. Needs the rest of Isaac’s notes input into the manuscript.

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): On hold.

Goals: Rough draft needs completed via the Collaborative Adventure Facebook group, and there are a couple scenes I’d like to add earlier in the story. I already have a book cover concept, which still needs to be completed.

The Wind Mage and the Wolf (“Livena (The Wind Mage of Maijev”) & Nuaka (“The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear”) cross-over / A Legends of Cirena short novel) : The Joran short story project is on hold.

Legends of Cirena Epic: Outlining on hold. Not sure yet if it will be a series of shorts and novellas, or a novel. Map of Litkanston on hold. This is intended to be a back-burner project.

“MOG”: On hold. (Needs revisions)

Huntress 3: Needs updated outline, revised draft, and continued rough draft.

Huntress Prequel: On hold at 18,000 words. Needs rough draft completed.

Game Design: Isaac has updated the character creation guide for our Legends of Cirena tabletop RPG, and also created a map for Memnar Academy. This is a long way from being ready to release publicly, but might influence some of the stories in the meantime.

He also did a bit more work to the elemental card game.

Future plans in game design involve: possibly preparing a print-and-play version of Battle Decks, polishing the elemental game card art and testing mechanics, and looking into options for feasibly producing Phalanx.

Space Adventure Comic: On hold.

Villain Problems: (WIP panels viewable on my Instagram). I got a couple more scenes rendered and organized. Otherwise, on hold.

Emberverse (Working Title):  Revisions on hold. Needs title. Needs outline for “Season 2.”

Marketing: No paid ads this month except for Amazon drip ads and the usual BookFunnel Promos. I had a little more luck with daily Twitter posts and promo scheduling, though still not quite where I’d have liked it to be, given that I also postponed one of my usual newsletter sends.

However, I did finally get the Distant Horizon Universe mailing list moved to MailerLite, and I’ve got a better idea of how automations work. Woot!

Next step: Polish the onboarding sequence for both the Distant Horizon newsletter and Wishing Blade Universe newsletter.

I’ve also scheduled this month’s weekly BookFunnel promo highlights, and I’ve started adding sample chapters to the BookFunnel pages and the main Infinitas Publishing website. Additionally, I have an updated author bio that I’m testing.

 

Geek UP

Early in the month, Isaac and I participated in Geek UP, a comic convention hosted by Black Ice Comics and Books. We had a great day, and this one was really successful for us. (Highlight of the day: finding out Distant Horizon had introduced someone to dystopian books and now they loved the genre.) We had a lot of fun. Since it was a more fan-based/interactive convention, Isaac made a little “power scanner” gadget that could remotely light up, and we were able to ask, “Have you been scanned for super powers yet?” before handing out a bookmark based on a character and super power from our Distant Horizon series (random number generated with a dice roller app). It was a great conversation starter, and everyone seemed to get a kick out of it. We also made mini booklet catalogs that had a list of our series’ starters, their blurbs, and where to find us.

Geek UP 2022 Setup

Isaac preparing for our Geek UP vendor booth.

 

Additionally, I made huge progress on the Infinitas Publishing business ledger upkeep. (I am notorious for waiting last minute and then cramming to get everything organized during business tax season). I’ve still got a few sections to update, but it’s coming along nicely.

 

Other future marketing goals: Add a progress tracker somewhere for the different books. Test Draft2Digital for wide print distribution, revise Amazon ads, link to my Pinterest account on the Infinitas Publishing website, and overhaul book categories and keywords. Create a “Backburner Project Page” for projects that aren’t going to be focused on for a while.

LitRPG / GameLit Story: On hold. (Needs revisions and restructuring).

Other Stories: I edited few stories for the upcoming Writers of Warrensburg anthology, and then made edits to my story based on feedback from other writers in the group. With their help, I finally got it under 5000 words. 😀

After getting the main editors’ feedback, I made those edits, and have now turned in the final draft, ready for proofreading. That project should be done soon.

In other projects, I was going to write mermaid/siren sci-fi short story idea to submit to another upcoming anthology, but ended up running out of time with all the other projects. So that one’s going on hold, though I did write 462 words for it, and still have the completed outline.

The YA SciFi Alien Invasion/Dystopian Conspiracy short story revisions are on hold. Comic script (“If I Had Asked”) on hold.

Untitled Fantasy Story: On hold. Next step is to review and adjust the first book’s outline, and then adjust book two’s outline.

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: I’ve started work on a project for an independent small press. The ebook formatting is complete, and I’m about halfway through print formatting. Next step is to finish the print formatting and create the book cover proof.

Future Goals: Update the Infinitas Publishing website banner. Figure out a schedule for uploading general art projects. Update the SBibbPhoto website to incorporate Daz work, and fix the SEO information.

Daz PA: This month I released my Loyal Companion pose set! 😀

SBibb Loyal Companion Poses for Daz Dog 8 and Genesis 8 and 8.1

SBibb Loyal Companion Pose Set

I’d been wanting to work on an animal-themed set for a while, so this one allowed me to scratch that itch. 😀

I also finished polishing my next pose set, one Isaac helped me create. That one has been submitted and is waiting for testing.

 

Next up: Start work on the joint PA project I’ve got planned, and finalize the second pose set Isaac helped me create. Plus… I’ve been learning how to work with dForce strand hair, so maybe there will be a hair release coming up in the next couple months, too. 😀

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Happy writing and reading (Or 3D rendering if you’re into Daz)! 🙂

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October 4, 2022 · 9:12 am

Weekly Book Promotion Highlight

Today I’m featuring the Dive Into Fantasy ebook giveaway!

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Looking for a fantasy book to read this week?

Dive Into Fantasy Ebook Giveaway

(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.)

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I hope you find a good book! 😀

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