Heather Hayden's Blog, page 14

Magic Monday: Shield of Drani by Melonie Purcell

Today’s post is a day late…but that’s because I only just finished reading this book yesterday!

Image Courtesy of Goodreads

Today I’m reviewing Shield of Drani by Melonie Purcell, a science fiction novel filled with different planets and aliens, spiced with plenty of action, intrigue…and telepathic/telekinetic characters. Here’s the blurb:

One planet rich in fuel. Two psychic talents are required to mine it. Three species seeking control.

Like most Arleles, Taymar is telekinetic, violent and deadly. She is also the first of her kind to be telepathic as well, making her an intolerable threat to the ruling Dran. They want to control her. To tame her. She just wants to be free.

A cruel twist of fate has Nevvis tasked with managing Taymar when he is supposed to be managing a planet on the verge of war. But, she is hard to ignore and impossible to forget.

When the Shreet attack, Taymar jumps at the chance to escape. Nevvis would love nothing better than to let her go, but he can’t. If he is to save Drani from the invading Shreet, he must twist her into a weapon and somehow convince her to help save a planet that has only ever tried to destroy her.

I love science fiction, especially when it’s set on other worlds, with species not quite like our own (one of the reasons I love The Chanur Saga so much.) Shield of Drani definitely delivered–I just gave it four stars on Goodreads.

This book definitely earned those four stars. It was an intriguing tale, set on strange worlds in an age of space travel. The main characters, especially Taymar, were strong-willed and determined to succeed with their goals…

Taymar. I could probably write an entire review on her alone, but for brevity’s sake, let me just say how much I loved this character. She has her flaws (especially that temper, which is related to her species–the Arleles are quite temperamental/violent), but at the same time she’s not afraid to fight for what she wants. Seeing her claw her way back up every time she’s knocked down (mentally, physically, and emotionally) was amazing, and I spent the entire book cheering her on.

Taymar is an Arlele, as I said, which is another bipedal species similar and dissimilar to humans. Like the rest of her kind, she’s governed by the Drani, a telepathic species that uses their abilities to control the Arleles. Most Arleles are telekinetic, though a few are telepathic. Taymar is the only one who is both–at least as far as she knows. For that reason, she is considered extremely dangerous and must be carefully controlled–in other words, kept imprisoned.

Nevvis is the Drani who is basically Taymar’s watcher. He’s responsible for her, and punishes her (sometimes quite severely) when she disobeys. When I first started reading, I had hoped he might be kind, but as the story progressed I came to dislike him more and more, especially for how he treats Taymar.

The other characters in the cast are all interesting and varied–from the human spaceship captain Sean to an extremely beautiful telepath (who projects full thoughts, rather than words, because her species once did not use vocal speech at all!) to a very large, very dangerous alien who offers Taymar support when she most needs it. Many of the characters I like and hope to see more of in future books–some I’d like to see punished for what they’ve done, either to Taymar or to others in the worlds.

Speaking of the worlds… Though not too much time is spent on world-building, in favor of keeping the action moving, the worlds are very real, with a variety of different species who are all described in great detail in order to make visualizing them easy. And the terminology they use is always given in a manner that makes it easy to understand the new word.

As for the Shreet, who are portrayed as the bad guys in this book’s blurb…well, I can’t really comment on them yet, as most of what I saw of them was through the eyes of the other species, but I’m looking forward to seeing more of them in the next book.

Intrigued? Shield of Drani is available on Amazon, as well as other places. You can learn more about Melonie through her website.

Author Interview: S.M. Pace

Today’s interviewee for the Blog World Tour: Fantasy Edition is S.M. Pace. Welcome to my blog, S.M.! My first question is a predictable one: how often do you write, and do you have a special time during the day to write?

This is going to sound strange, but I generally only write fiction, as in new drafts, on Mondays. I write for about 5 hours, getting down about 3k-5k words, which generally meets my deadlines for the week. The rest of the week is spent revising completed works, and writing blog posts. I also free write for about five minutes every morning to warm myself up. That can be anywhere from fiction, to just a vent about things that happened over the week.

That doesn’t sound strange to me. If the method works for you, then it’s perfect. Everyone has their own ways of writing. For example, I’m a pantser, not a plotter. Which leads me to my next question–do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?

I like to create a loose plot outline before I write, detailing the conflict, characters and outcome of each scene. How much any of those scenes, or the entire story, actually resembles my original plans, is pretty high up in the air. Sometimes the story will really click with me, and the scenes will flow beautifully.

Other times, like with Cry of the Hawk, the story seems to drag. In those cases, I tend to go off script more easily, which is what saved Cry of the Hawk’s draft for me. A new character appeared and brought with her some fascinating information that threw me for a loop, and gave the story new life.

My drafts generally end up looking pretty messy, but I can always fix them in revision, which is my favorite part of revision.

That’s great! I love it when a character swoops in to drag the narrative to where it should be, even if it isn’t where you expect it, it often works out for the best. Could you tell us a bit more about who this character is?

A young woman named Effami. She snuck up on my main characters, and revealed herself to be on their side, and to have information they desperately needed. Information that finally answered several questions I hadn’t realized I needed answered about the villain’s motivation and backstory.

I fell in love with her almost immediately and resolved to make sure she would stay in the story. Which means before I begin my revision, I’ll have to flesh out Effami’s home country, Kalindas, and her backstory. I love worldbuilding!

It sounds like she showed up in the nick of time. Worldbuilding is fun for me as well, although I tend to do it more on the fly than planned out ahead of time. Do you have any tips on what to do and what not to do when writing?

I would say, don’t let the internal editor speak.

Now if that goes completely against the grain of your writing style, that’s fine. Some writers revise as they go, and that works for them.

However, if you do that, and you find you can never finish a story, I suggest you try it the other way. Shut down that part of your brain that wants to go back for every typo, or weak line of dialogue, or clumsy plot point. That insists that when you change a major plot point halfway through the story, you have to go back to the beginning and work in that change everywhere.

My mantra is always “get the story done now, fix it later.”

It might not work for everyone, but that’s definitely a useful mantra for those who write better when they’re focusing on getting the first draft down before revising (like me!) Though sometimes that inner editor can be quite persistent! *glances at clock* Okay, we have time for one more question, and I’d like to move away from the writing side of things to the (*gasp of horror*) marketing side of writing. What are your views on social media for marketing, and which of them have worked best for you?

I love social media. I see it as a great way to connect with readers, which is so important for indie authors.

I have my blog, of course. I post three days a week most weeks, and I’ve joined several weekly and monthly blog hops. I have a Facebook account and page for my pen name, but I don’t do much with that at the moment. I also have a Twitter account, which I’m also still figuring out how to use. I tend to just tweet my daily blog post.

I guess my Patreon counts as social media. I use that to give away my monthly fiction serials a couple weeks earlier to subscribers, along with other fun goodies, like worldbuilding snippets, and other prizes.

That is a really good attitude to have, and it sounds like you’re putting it to good use. *a chime sounds* Ah, that’s the end of the interview! Thank you so much for being here today, S.M., and I wish you and your stories the best!

S.M. Pace lives in the wilds of Central Virginia, with her husband (bear), son (bunny) and a pond full of fish (sometimes).  When she’s not writing, she loves crafts, sewing and hiking.

You can learn more about her through her various social media sites:

Her website

Twitter

Patreon

Goodreads

 

 

 

S.M. Pace’s fantasy novels, Shadow of the Wolf and its sequel Wings of the Butterfly, are available for purchase on Amazon and Smashwords.

Shadow of the Wolf (Amazon)

Shadow of the Wolf (Smashwords)

Wings of the Butterfly (Amazon)

Wings of the Butterfly (Smashwords)

 

 

Ensign’s Log, Entry 37: October Month Map

Well, this is a little later than planned. However, today’s pretty much when this month is really beginning for me, as I’ve spent the past week taking care of other business–including finishing a beta-read for a friend that has taken me way too long to complete.

Now that I’ve finished that novel, however, I can focus once more on my own goals!

Let’s go over all the goals briefly…

Upgrade: Yep, it’s entering its ninth revision. Or thereabouts. I was hoping this would be the last one, but after receiving several valid crits that pointed to some things that still need addressing, I think that despite my wish to release it this year, I shall need to give myself another couple months or so of revision before it’ll be ready. For this reason, I’m giving myself a final deadline of December 31st to finish this novel.

Of Beauty Within: Although I made decent progress last month on this story, I didn’t finish the first draft as I have planned. However, I think I have about 20,000 words left to write–maybe less–for parts in the middle and another chapter or two at the end. Even if I only manage 1k a day (which is about an hour’s worth of writing on a slow day), that’ll still bring me to writing the final The End by the end of the month.

Demon’s Blade: I might be overly optimistic about this, but with one critter already almost halfway through the book and several others who have started critting, I might be able to pull off a revision before the end of the month.

Expect an update next week on my progress!

Ensign’s Log, Entry 36: September Month Map Final Update

Finally, an update that’s actually on time! Yay!

Mostly because I’m sleepy and don’t plan on doing anything else productive tonight once I’ve finished this post.

Here’s the final Month Map:

For some reason the image keeps showing up as that of the previous update’s map, so I’m praying that it’s just some visual glitch. However, if it should prove not to be–the red line should be complete, the gold line should be mostly finished, and the last bit should be mostly green, detailing how much progress I made this month.

Oh, and the title should be all nice and colorful as well, now that the month is (almost) over.

Here’s the rundown for all my September projects:

Upgrade: Still sitting in my laptop case, waiting for me to dive into it with a red pen early next month.

Demon’s Blade: I finally collected enough karma to post this entire novel, albeit with a few chapters that still need to be split because they’re quite long. Still, I’m pleased that I managed to get that done, given how much karma I needed to post an 80k+ story. I also already have four crit partners lined up for it, and hopefully more on the way!

Of Beauty Within: The first draft isn’t finished yet. Which is sad, because I really wanted to start posting it next month. However, it’s currently sitting at 38,071 words, the ending is almost done, and I just need to go back and add a few chapters in the middle. Aiming for 50-60k as a final total. If I can managed 3-4k a day (roughly a chapter) for the next few days, I should be able to get the rough draft done. Then it’s on to the polishing!

Other news: My wrists are doing much better than they were before. I’m currently traveling again, visiting a friend at a place near the ocean. I have several new story ideas, as mentioned in my last update, and plan to expand on them once my current WIPs are finished and waiting for critiques (or heading to publication, as in Upgrade‘s case!)

What to expect next month: I will set a publishing date for Upgrade once I’ve gone through my current waiting critiques and the manuscript myself. There’ll also be a cover reveal sometime in October–not sure when yet but it’ll be motivation for me to get Upgrade ready to head out.

I’ll post my October Month Map sometime in the next couple of days.

How did your September goals go?

Magic Monday: Stitching Snow by R. C. Lewis

As I mentioned in a previous post, this month’s Magic Monday is arriving today, the fourth Monday of the month, rather than the second Monday of the month. I wanted to give a little more leeway between when I read the book and when I reviewed it, as it’s for a book group I recently joined and I didn’t want to spoil anything for them.

Without further ado, however, I present Spinning Snow by R. C. Lewis–a fantastic sci-fi retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

image courtesy of Amazon.com

 

First, may I just say how much I freaking love this cover. Its simple color scheme, the complexity of the circuitry-apple, the way it all flows together into an image that shouts “Pick me, pick me!” I actually bought the paperback, as it was (slightly) cheaper than the ebook at the time of purchase, and I’m so very glad I did.

I’d take a picture of me with it, but unfortunately I’m away from home and the paperback’s with my sister, who hopefully is finding time to read it amidst all her schoolwork!

Now that I’ve squeed about the cover, here’s the blurb, which only further solidified my desire to read this story:

Princess Snow is missing. Her home planet is filled with violence and corruption at the hands of King Matthias and his wife as they attempt to punish her captors. The king will stop at nothing to get his beloved daughter back—but that’s assuming she wants to return at all. Essie has grown used to being cold. Temperatures on the planet Thanda are always sub-zero, and she fills her days with coding and repairs for the seven loyal drones that run the local mines. When a mysterious young man named Dane crash-lands near her home, Essie agrees to help the pilot repair his ship. But soon she realizes that Dane’s arrival was far from accidental, and she’s pulled into the heart of a war she’s risked everything to avoid. In her enthralling debut, R.C. Lewis weaves the tale of a princess on the run from painful secrets . . . and a poisonous queen. With the galaxy’s future—and her own—in jeopardy, Essie must choose who to trust in a fiery fight for survival.

First of all, Snow is a mechanic. After devouring The Lunar Chronicles when they started hitting the shelves a few years ago, I was excited at yet another take (though a bit worried about similarities between this book and Cinder.) Thankfully, there was no need to fear–there is little similarity between the two different books.

Best of all, Spinning Snow has the seven dwarves of the original story–only they’re mining drones Snow maintains (and has meddled with enough that they’ve developed their own personalities.) Cue major fangirling from me, a reader who’s always ready to read another story about cheeky, snarky robots.

Snow, or Essie as she calls herself, is an interesting character. She’s been in hiding for years, and wants nothing to do with her family. However, Dane’s arrival, as mentioned in the blurb, ends up yanking her from her (somewhat) peaceful existence and back into danger. Snow struggles to find her footing, but she’s willing to fight for survival–even going as far as to actually fight through hand-to-hand combat in order to buy parts for her drones (or that mess of a ship Dane crashed in.) She’s good at fighting, too.

I originally started this story with the intention to savor it, but by now I should know better. The story was polished off in two sittings, and that’s only because I was interrupted during my first reading session. I forget how late I stayed up to finish it, but four a.m. or so sounds about right.

There are some things that didn’t quite sit well with me. Foremost was the immediate hotness of Mr. Crashed and Unconscious (aka Dane). As she assesses the damage to him and his ship, Essie describes him as basically drop-dead gorgeous. Essie is also described as attractive with her pale skin and dark hair. Yes, I know handsome princes and beautiful princesses are a fairy tale cliche, but it still makes me wince when they’re called out so clearly in the story.

Thankfully, that problem was balanced out by Essie not turning into a lovestruck fool; she remained her own, strong character throughout the story and I was able to skim over any further descriptions that made me go “eh.”

Though it’s clear the planets aren’t Earth and its space compatriots, not a lot is said about their relationship to each other. I actually don’t think the name of their sun was ever even mentioned, and most of the planets are only described in one small portion, or as being “hot” or “cold”. I love world-building in scifi, so would have liked to see more of it. However, the story itself was gripping enough for me to overlook this.

Another thing that bothered me was the drones. I would have liked to see more development with them. Dimwit and Cusser (Dopey and Grumpy, I’m guessing) travel with Essie so I saw a little more of them, but the other five barely have any scene time, and since they were one of the reasons I was so excited for this book, I was sad to see them set by the wayside.

The final thing is kind of a two-parter–the villains, Essie’s father and stepmother. Let’s focus on her father first. I can’t disclose the reason why he’s such a bad guy without giving away spoilers, but let’s just say that it was even darker than I expected and not really something I wanted to see in a book I otherwise was really enjoying.

As for her stepmother… It’s clear that she wants Essie out of her way, but I’m never quite sure why. The queen didn’t seem to have any children (at least, I recall no mention of them), so it’s not like Essie was threatening their status as crown prince(ss), and the queen’s already queen. I guess that if she planned on killing the king, then Essie would be in the way depending on how the crown is passed along, but that was never suggested, so I’m left with the flat caricature of an evil stepmother. That’s fine for an old-fashioned fairy tale, but for a novel developed upon said fairy tale, I would have liked more than a flat fairy-tale villain.

Despite its flaws, Stitching Snow was a gripping and delightful retelling that stands on its own in its category. Essie especially helped make it shine, with her strength and determination, as well as the care she shows her companions and her people. I give this story a solid four stars.

If you’re intrigued, Stitching Snow is available on Amazon, as well as other retailers. You can learn more about R. C. Lewis through her website.

 

Author Interview: JR Creaden

The second interviewee for the Blog World Tour: Science Fiction edition is JR Creaden! I’m happy to have her here today.

Welcome to my blog, JR! Let’s begin.

My first question is which writers inspire you?

So many authors have inspired me, but I’ll narrow it down to not sound boring. First and foremost, Isaac Asimov is my greatest inspiration. His plain speak approach to storytelling sold me on science fiction for life. The character arc of his android, R. Daneel Olivaw, over millions of years across eleven books—this is the type of hero I want to write and read about. And the concept of psychohistory? Don’t get me started—Asimov drove me straight into a history degree with the secret hope that, just maybe, I could contribute should anyone get some Seldonian ideas.

Second to Asimov, I owe a great debt of inspiration to Tom Robbins. His transformative ideas, his humor, his audacity—I’m blown away each time I pick up one of his dog-eared novels. One day, I hope to be so fearless with my art and voice.

R. Daneel Olivaw is one of my favorite literary characters! Asimov’s Robot Novels series ranks as one of my three favorite series (next to The Chanur Saga and Redwall). It’s amazing that Asimov inspired you to pursue a history degree. I haven’t read Tom Robbins but I’ll definitely search him out.

Since you have a clear love for science fiction, is there a particular fictional world where you would choose to live if you could?

I would choose the one I’m creating for Contact Files. While there are many fictional worlds that involve space travel, none of them feel so familiar, so hopeful, as the one I’m building. It has its problems, for certain, but the allure of alien planets, spaceships, and morphic technology is where I feel I belong.

I’d love to live in a futuristic world myself…though I’d also enjoy a world filled with magic. Let’s talk about your writing now–are there types of scenes you find more difficult to write? How do you handle that?

I hate writing setting details. As a reader, these bore me to tears if longer than a couple of lines, and I resist writing anything I don’t enjoy reading. I’ve learned a few techniques that help me offer scene details without it being too heavy or skimmable, but I’m still learning to “like” doing it.

I understand that! I also find it difficult to remember to add detail–usually critiquers of my first drafts spend a good part of their time shouting at me for not describing things! I like a minimalistic description myself–I’d rather let the scene develop in my imagination than be spelled out to the smallest details.

Now, since you’re writing science fiction–and I’ve run into this myself with my own writing–are there terms in your book that readers might be unfamiliar with? Can you explain some of these?

Initially I called the tech on Relativity holographic, but it turns out many readers are completely thrown by that term. Since the tech is not made of light but solid matter, and because the matter is changeable to suit the users’ preferences, I shifted the term to “haptomorphic” meaning touchable and adaptable. Now, rather than the short “hologram”, “holosuit”, or “holosuite” I use haptomorph, haptosuit, and haptosuite.

Also, there are different “states” of time—natural time, sliptime, and Between Time. Natural time refers to time as we know it, which moves in a forward progression. Sliptime is what Relativity exists within whenever it’s not visiting points in natural time, and is outside of natural time.

Between Time, or as my villain calls it “temporal stasis”, is my take on Stephen Hawking’s Imaginary Time—a concept I’ve studied and failed to understand so I came up with a version I could control. It is in between natural times, when all times are possible. Intersecting. Badan, one of the first cadets, slips into Between Time. From here, he can access other versions of himself in alternate times.

I can definitely see “holographic” being a confusing term, given the material involved. “Haptomorphic” is a cool description and makes more sense.

I love the concept of different time “states”, and the fact you created your own sort of time “state” with Between Time. It’s clever and also sounds like a fun plot device!

There’s time for one more question, so I’d like to ask one on the behalf of all the readers out there who dream of following in their favorite authors’ footsteps. What advice would you give them?

Don’t wait for the “best” idea to come along to begin learning the craft. Write right now. Experiment with different genres and story formats and find your voice. It may never be too late to start, but it’s never too early to begin either.

Great advice, JR! Thank you so much for being here today.

JR Creaden began her writing career as a child disgruntled with song lyrics. After some early success with poetry and essays, she spent decades distracted by songwriting and academia until her story dreams became too interesting to keep to myself. A Major Shift, JR’s first novel (rife with first-time novelist problems to solve), may permanently be “under revision,” but her current YA scifi project will soon be ready for public consumption or vivisection. Her goal is to share stories that inspire readers to embrace cultural diversity, the promise of science, and the value of humor and imagination to build a future that’s more Star Trek and less 1984. When she’s not writing, JR enjoys exchanging “your mama” jokes with her children, floating in lakes, and slaying virtual dragons.

You can connect with JR Creaden through her various social media:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Ensign’s Log, Entry 35: September Month Map–Week 2.5

Obviously, I forgot to update for Week 2 this month, so instead you’re getting an update midway between Weeks 2 and 3. I also missed Magic Monday, which was last Monday, so will instead post a book review on the 26th (the last Monday of the month.) There will be another Blog World Tour–SciFi Edition interview on the 23rd.

Overall, progress has been fair this month. The month map is gathering colors and goals are reaching completion. Here’s a rundown of what I’ve gotten done since my last update:

Upgrade: I printed out a copy of the latest draft. It’s currently sitting in my laptop case, waiting for me to slash at it with a red pen. I’ll get to that either later this month, or early next month.

Demon’s Blade: My beta reader had less feedback than I expected, so I’ve moved ahead with my plan to post this novel to Scribophile. Unfortunately, I hit a snag–after posting about half of the book, I ran out of karma and thus need to gather more before I can finish posting it. However, my next Fast Critters cycle–starting this week, I think–is running Upgrade through the gauntlet one more time, and will also offer me a chance to get more karma through critting a full novel. I also have some other novels waiting to be critted, so I’ll focus on those as well in the coming weeks.

Once Demon’s Blade is fully posted, I’ll begin seeking people to trade crits with. I already have at least one person interested in reading it, and I’m sure to find others once I start looking.

Of Beauty Within: I made a little more progress in this, but not as much as I would have liked…

Although I managed to set aside the last shiny plot bunny that bounced out of my subconsciousness and begged for me to write its story, another one tackled me full force a few days ago. I’ve already finished the first chapter and am almost three thousand words into the first draft. Now that Demon’s Blade simply needs to be posted, though, I think it’s time to really dive back into Of Beauty Within and finish that first draft, however rough it might end up being.

Author Interview: Eleanor Konik

It’s time for another author interview for the Blog World Tour: Fantasy Edition!

Today’s interviewee is Eleanor Konik, a fantasy writer who loves history. Her current work-in-progress, The Last Collared Mage, is in her own words “a fantasy mash-up of Rome’s greatest defeats”. I’m very much looking forward to reading it when it’s done! In the meantime, I’m so glad to have her here on my blog today. Welcome, Eleanor!

My first question is: What inspires you to get out of bed each day?

This is a really hard question for me. I have depression–though thankfully I no longer need medication–so some days it really is a struggle to get out of bed. For me, though, it’s social obligation that gets me going in the morning. I need to know that someone else–someone I care about–is going to be negatively impacted if I don’t get up and get moving.

I always joke that my brother and I are total opposites–he’s intrinsically motivated by external values, and I’m extrinsically motivated by internal values. Which is why he’s running a million dollar business and I’m a teacher. I think I’m a happier person, though, which matters to me a lot more than the money.

I understand that struggle, and I admire you for sharing it with us today. As for you and your brother–you do sound like complete opposites, and I’m glad you’re happy where you are. Happiness is worth far more than money.

My next question is a hopefully easier one: What is your favorite motivational phrase?

Heinlein has a quote–“Writing is nothing to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.” It reminds me that writing is supposed to be fun, though when I first read the phrase I was too young to get the joke.

*laughs* That’s a great quote! And it relates well to my next question: do you see being a writer as a gift or a curse?

I think it’s a gift, really. My boyfriend likes to point out that it’s a pretty cheap hobby, and there’s something fundamentally fulfilling about entertaining people. I’ve also made a lot of friends writing, so it’s brought mostly positive things into my life.

Your boyfriend has a good point! Now, I know you’re still working on The Last Collared Mage, but do you plan on leaving the book to “stew” for a month before returning to edit it, or do you have a different revision process in mind?

I have the most success when I edit as I go, almost like stutter-starting. It still lets me have a change of pace when I get stuck drafting or can’t stand the thought of editing, while still staying on track. I don’t do well when I just put the book down and focus on something else for awhile, although I’ll go through phases where I get wrapped up in something like a video game for awhile.  When that happens, I still try to do at least a little on my novel every day, so that my ideas are fresh in my mind when the pendulum swings back around again and I get really passionate about a project.

That’s a neat way of doing it. It’s great that you make sure to write every day, too–that can be really important for keeping the threads of the story together. Speaking of story threads… How what is your plotting process like? How do you brainstorm your story ideas?

My process is highly collaborative. I do a lot of brainstorming by chatting with my Ubergroup team. A lot of times, I’ll ask a question, or for help hashing out an idea, and wind up with a much better idea than the one I started with. Or I’ll vomit out a really rough draft of an idea, show them, and the questions they ask help me refine it into something usable.

Brainstorming with others is really helpful for me, too–my sounding board is usually my sister, who is amazing at helping fill in plot holes and figure out character motivations and such. It’s also a lot of fun to discuss stories like that.

The clock’s ticking down, but we have time for one more question. You mentioned before that you’re a teacher–how does being a teacher impact your writing?

It makes me a lot less interested in writing young adult fiction, that’s for sure! But more seriously, I learn a lot of things at work, and I get a lot of inspiration from topics I talk about with my students, like endangered species or colonization.

*chuckles* That makes sense. It’s cool that they provide inspiration for your writing, though! It’s time to wrap up this interview. Thank you so much for being here today, Eleanor!

 

Eleanor Konik was born and raised in a close-knit neighborhood just outside of Baltimore, where she is putting the final touches on her teaching certification. She spends her free time gardening and playing cards with coworkers. She also enjoys fishing, hiking, and visiting attractions around the city. Her blog showcases insights she’s gleaned while researching THE LAST COLLARED MAGE, a fantasy mashup of Rome’s greatest defeats.

Ensign’s Log, Entry 34: September Month Map–Week 1

It’s time for an update for the first week of September! I’m already making better progress than I was at this point last month, and my wrists are also doing better. Yay!

Here’s what the map looks like right now:

Yes, that’s right! I finished revising the current draft of Upgrade. It’s now printed out and waiting for feedback from a beta reader (Mom, who is amazing at catching all the little (and not so little) problems that might have cropped up in the latest edit). Once she’s read through it with a red pen, it’ll be my turn… And then we might be on the second to last draft–or even the final draft!

As for my other two goals for the month, I haven’t made much progress yet. I wrote about 360 words in Of Beauty Within, way less than I should have gotten done by now, but between Labor Day weekend and work-related stuff, I didn’t have as much free time to sit down and write.

I really wanted to make some headway on Demon’s Blade this past week, but I’m still waiting for my beta reader (in this case, my sister, who probably knows this story and its characters better than I do) to get me an annotated draft to work from. Hopefully that will arrive this upcoming week, and I’ll be able to dive into edits.

In the meantime, though, I’ll work on catching up to where I want to be in Of Beauty Within. The month is still young!

How are your September goals progressing?

Ensign’s Log, Entry 33: September Month Map

It’s a new month with new goals and a shiny new month map to mark my progress on!

I have three main goals for this month. Revise Upgrade, revise Demon’s Blade, and finish Of Beauty Within.

The first two days haven’t been extremely productive for various reasons, but the month is still young and I’ll definitely make up for that soon.

For now, here’s the fresh new map, and I’ll be back on the 8th with an update of my progress.