Melissa A. I. Murray's Blog, page 4

Bound Audiobook is Live!

I am so beyond excited to announce that, after many weeks of recording, editing, more recording, editing, and formatting....Bound, the novella that takes place in between Destined (Circle 1) and Hidden (Circle 2--still in progress; sorry, folks) is finally available in audiobook form for your listening pleasure! You can find it on Audible, Amazon, or iTunes! So what are you waiting for? Go download and start listening! I have to give huge props to the narrator, Amy Smolinski, who did an absolutely fantastic job and captured the characters' voices perfectly. I sent her some vague descriptions of what everyone sounds like in my head (cue writing joke about hearing voices), and she absolutely blew it out of the water. She really captured the dichotomy that is Mari, the melodramatic Gren, and Ruv's sly charm. Hearing a professional voice actress narrating my story is an experience I never imagined I would have, and yet here we are. I seriously was so excited to receive the audio files back from the production company, and I am even more excited to be able to share them with you now. Let me know what you think in the comments below, or on any of my other social media pages!

Fabulous Firebirds

I did a thing. My old bag I was using for grad school broke to the point that it was no long worth repairing (I had already fixed it many times over the years, and it was at the point I would essentially have to replace the entire inner lining and sew on new straps and add a new zipper—essentially, to make a new bag). Thus, I said screw it and just made a new bag. In keeping with my obsession with the firebird, that ever elusive figure from Slavic folklore, I decided to theme my new school bag around that. Hence the trim, and, obviously, the firebird on the front. I’m not sure if it shows up in the picture, but there’s some beaded details on her tail, and the eye and beak are beaded as well. The bag itself is canvas (with a quilted lining of faux suede), complete with padded straps, lots of room for my books and binders, and loads of pockets. This thing shouldn’t be breaking anytime soon (not even the beadwork—that sh*t is triple stitched). The firebird has long been one of my favorite folkloric creatures. Like the phoenix, she is—as her name implies—a bird of flame and fierce beauty. She is also a symbol of freedom, of untamed femininity, of the glowing mysteries at the heart of a dark forest. Many heroes seek her (and the golden egg she guards), entranced by her song, doomed to follow after her scattered feathers until they waste away to nothingness. Other heroes have been able, however briefly, to capture her—luring her, perhaps, with apples, another item packed with symbolic meaning—but she never stays caught for long. I have long interpreted these skazki (Slavic fairy tales) such that the firebird is only ever captured when she wants to be, on her own terms. That’s why why she always escapes, why she blinks out of her confines and reappears beyond the bars of her cage, to float freely through the forest once more. I have not yet incorporated the firebird into the world of Aorea, the setting for the majority of my stories, although I have alluded to her here and there. As Aorea is loosely inspired by Slavic myth and folklore, you can rest assured: she has a planned appearance in book three. Until then, the firebird on my newest shoulder bag will just have to suffice.

New Info on the Books Page!

In case you don't regularly check out the website, which likely applies to everyone except my parents, I've been working on the sub pages a lot recently (an indie author's job is never done) and thought I'd share the new Books section! I added a ton of new information, to include a section of where the series is heading plus maps of four of the locations in Aorea: Nomansland, Faerie, Dahrigek, and Pendra. Thus far in the series, we have only seen Nomansland and Faerie, although the other continents have been mentioned a few times, especially in Destined. As the series progresses--which I promise it will!--you'll get to see many more parts of Aorea, like Evra (in the northwestern hemisphere and the original home of the evrae, from which the continent takes its name) and the vast Kemdarian Region (home to--you guessed it--the kemdar, especially now that Proud Sier has fallen). And no, the falling of Sier is not a spoiler. It happened well before the beginning of Destined... Perhaps I'll write more about the glory days of Sier one day as a prequel to Circle, but for now, I'm just trying to knock out the main series! I try to be descriptive and give the readers a good sense of geography in my writing, but I know that it still doesn't always make things clear, especially for you visual folks like me. I draw the maps of each location my characters have (or, in some cases, will) travel to mostly to help me keep distances and directions straight. For those who have read the stories, you may have noticed that distances in Aorea are a funny thing; while the general layout of any given area stays the same, exactly how long it takes to get from one point to another tends to vary, even if they have been traveled many times before. This particular phenomenon is alluded to several times in both Destined and Bound, but it is never fully explained. In Aorea, journeys take precisely as long as they need to. No more, no less. I hope you enjoy the new updates to the Books section, and I hope you'll be back to hear about my latest progress on Hidden!

Hidden, Music, and Magic

One of the themes I like to explore in my writing is the relationship between music and magic. There has always been a connection between those two concepts in my mind, and in many ways, I like to consider music as a form of magic in its own right. There's a reason Gren is a musician; there's a reason it's his music that opens the portals between worlds. (If you haven't read Destined yet, that's only a minor spoiler--it occurs quite early in the book, so trust me...I haven't just given away something super profound that is going to ruin the entire reading experience for you--but also, if you haven't read Destined yet, why are you even reading my blog? Go read my books!) Music is transportation. Music is life. Of course, as a musician myself (albeit, not a very good one), I am obviously biased in this regard. I vaguely recall blogging about this exact topic--music as magic--probably eight or so years ago, back when I was a small blip in the semi-anonymous pagan blogosphere, writing under a ridiculous pseudonym that I thought made me sound all mystical and cool. Incidentally, I almost published Destined under that very same pseudonym, but boy am I glad I decided not to at the very last minute. Some feedback from my beta readers certainly contributed to that decision, but in hindsight, you have no idea how glad I am that I listened. And now, for the Hidden updates: I've hit a writing wall. Blame it on the Great Laptop Crash of 2019 or the encroaching end of the summer (and with it, the end of my free time), but there is a giant wall in front of me, and I am having the darndest time trying to get over, under, around, or through it. It happens to everyone now and then, or at least so I hear, but that doesn't make the wall any less frustrating. I used to hit walls all the time back when I was writing Destined, which is why it took ten years for me to write it and another two for me to be happy enough with the manuscript to publish it. In those two years, I rewrote the first three chapters, edited the whole thing nine thousand times, changed a few characters names, added a subplot... In those last two years before publication, I spent almost as much collective time on my story as I did in the entire prior decade of writing the first draft. In the initial draft phase for Destined, I would alternate between bursts of massive progress--a chapter or two in just a few days or a week--and then lengthy bouts (think six months to a year) of having zero motivation to even open the document, let alone add to it. That's why it took me ten years. That's why I had to go back and rewrite the first three chapters. From starting the book to finishing it, my author voice had completely changed; the tone, the maturity, the pace had evolved so much over the course of those ten years that my beginning no longer fit my end. Thus, a rewrite. Whatever the cause of my current motivation reduction to finish Hidden, I do know that it won't last six months. I can't quite explain how I know this, but I feel it in my bones; this slump will be short lived. I had managed to stay motivated and crank out four chapters in a matter of weeks back before I lost nearly everything and had to start over halfway through chapter one, so I know I have that kind of energy still inside me. With the school semester starting up again--did I mention I'm currently working on a PhD in Slavic Languages and Literature? If you think there's a lot of Slavic myth and folklore in my writing now, just wait 'til I have a darn doctorate in the field--my available writing time will be significantly reduced. However, I have a plan. Every Friday, once the week has ended and I have had some time to recharge, I am going to devote an hour block to writing. Not paper writing. No essays or literary criticism. No studying or reading for any of my classes. Just writing. Good old fashioned fiction writing. I'll set up on the porch with my laptop and my incense and my little USB powered color changing salt lamp, and I will write. Most of the time I'll work on Hidden, but sometimes I may work on another creative project, like the novella and short story that will follow Hidden or maybe I'll even start sketching the dialogue for the third book in the Circle series. Regardless of what creative writing I'll be doing every Friday, I have already marked off the time on my calendar for the rest of the year. Once I get my calendar for 2020 going, I'll add it in then, too. I am determined to still get Hidden published by the end of 2020, come hell or high water, and keeping a schedule will *fingers crossed* keep me honest about it. So here's what I need from you: If I haven't posted about progress in a while, bug me about it. Ask me why. Ask me how my writing is coming along. Ask me about Hidden. Ask me for a sneak preview. Ask about your favorite character from the series. Ask me anything at all about the books. Not only am I happy to answer questions, if you ask me "So how is the writing?" and I know I haven't written a single sentence in a few weeks, that'll 100% shame me into hopping immediately on my trusty new laptop and knocking out a few pages. I'll try to stay motivated on my own, but we all need reminders sometimes. In the meantime, I've still got two audiobooks in the works (and we're at the recording phase, so those are largely out of my hands) and a ramped up Twitter presence after forgetting my password for a few years, so things are still looking up. I'm also making another desperate attempt to try and recover the original, pre-corrupted file of Hidden with a new program, but it's a long shot. Rewriting the lost chapters is probably what I will have to do. But it's worth a try, eh?

Rewriting Chapter 2: Complete

After entirely longer than I thought it was going to take, I am finally done recreating the second chapter of Circle 2: Hidden. After the Great Laptop Crash of 2019, I had hoped that the process of rewriting everything I'd lost (a whopping 115 pages) and having to start over with nothing but my dialogue notes and a *very* rough first chapter would be quicker than writing it initially. Makes sense, right? It's not the virgin run, it's a second round--a first edit, if you will. Well, I was wrong. Turns out, it is actually harder for me to write these chapters the second time around. What took me maybe a few days to write the first time once I sat down and really got started, has taken several weeks to rewrite. At the height of my writing, I was knocking out an average of two chapters per week, not including edits and tweaks. I'd hoped to match that same pace, but I'm not quite there, and I don't think I'll be able to reach that kind of momentum again in the near future due to the rapidly approaching fall semester, in which I'll be taking another round of full graduate credits in a desperate bid to finish my master's before...well, it's a long story, and I probably won't talk about it here. Anyway, slow as the recreation process is proving to be, hope is not lost. I have still completed the rewrite of chapter 2, and you know what? I think this second version is even better than the first. I've even made it a few pages into chapter 3 already, and I am definitely happy with the way that is turning out. Along with the brief teaser I posted on Facebook and Twitter, Circle 2: Hidden is the book in which a unicorn gets rubbed down with butter. You'll just have to read the novel itself when it's done to find out why. That's all for now, my loves ~ back to writing I go!

New: Youtube Channel

I did a thing. I spent my morning filming myself talking to a camera, which as it turns out is not nearly as easy nor as natural as I thought it was going to be. I can talk your ear off in person about a number of topics, but apparently talking to a computer webcam is a lot harder than it looks. Regardless, I did eventually make it through the initial recording in a semi-coherent manner, and after a wee bit of editing with titles/links here and there and adding an opening title (with a short snippet of some eerie music I recorded this afternoon to go with the video, based on the first measure from the "Song of the Birch Forest," which is really just the song Gren sings in Circle 1: Destined to open the portal between worlds). What I learned over the course of this filming and editing, apart from that the whole process is a lot more difficult than it would first appear (thus, I have a whole new respect for those who video blog on the reg and make it look easy and natural and flawless...mad props, y'all), is that my nose looks way more crooked on video than it does in real life. Or at least, more crooked than I am used to seeing it in the mirror. Perhaps it has always looked that way to others; I suppose I shall never *nose.* (Sorry, my pun game is a little weak today.) Anyway, if you'd like to see me flounder in front of a camera for a few minutes while I try to convince you that indie authors are worth reading, check out the link below: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3Bv...

Slavic Tarot Decks are Finally Posted!

Great news! The Slavic Tarot decks I have been working on for the past six years are *finally* ready, printed, boxed, and listed on my Etsy store. You guys have no idea how excited I am to have completed this project, not least of all because I now can use the deck myself. I originally began working on this because I wanted a tarot deck based on Slavic mythology or folklore, but could not for the life of me find any on the market. I scoured the internet, checked out every store I knew that sold tarot decks, and looked at every fair and festival I came across. Nada. Nothing. Zilch. Never one to let a simple thing like “it doesn’t exist” stop me, I decided to make my own. How hard could it be, right? Turns out, a lot harder and more expensive than I envisioned. But after years of research for the figures I chose to depict in the Major Arcana and the themes I wanted to tackle in the Minor Arcana, not to mention the hand cramps that resulted from all the drawing, they are finally complete. Although it took longer than anticipated, I couldn’t be happier with the way they turned out. In hindsight, I am glad that I waited until this year to begin the illustration process, because my skills improved so much in the time between initial planning and the execution. But they are done, they are listed on my Etsy, and within twenty minutes of being live I already have five orders. Yay!! Thank you to everyone who supported this project, whether it was by liking my incessant posts and pictures and updates, by sending me words of encouragement when I wanted to give up, and of course, those who have already purchased a set for their very own. I cannot emphasize enough how psyched I am to be at a place where I can be writing this post. If you haven’t checked out the listing on Etsy yet, now is your chance! Hit up www.etsy.com/shop/acjade. Thanks!

Bad News and Good News

As I am sure you have figured out by the title, I have bad news and good news. I have been making fantastic progress the past few weeks, and was beyond psyched at the story just positively flowing out of me as fast as my fingers could type. Yet there was that nagging voice in the back of my head that said, “This is too good to be true. Something is bound to go wrong.” I assumed the voice was just implying that I would lose momentum, as I have many times before. But no. It was far worse. I was halfway through chapter 5, in the middle of typing a sentence, when my entire document, every word, every page, every number and header and footer, everything, gone. Replaced by page after page of size 14 calibri asterics. I clicked undo. No change. I exited out and opened it again. Nothing. I restarted my laptop. Nothing. I tested other files...totally fine. I checked my temp files, my autorecovered files, I talked to my tech savvy friends, I talked to customer support. The file I was working on is irretrievable. It is apparently a known bug from previous versions of word, that you can fix with an update. But I have been using the same laptop for nearly ten years, and updates are no longer compatible with the version I have. In those entire ten years, I never once had an issue with my laptop. Never. I have written countless stories and poems, edited thousands of photos, recorded dozens of songs. It has never failed me until now. So that’s the bad news. The good news, which feels meager even to me, is that I have been backing my progress up in a separate file...just not as consistently as I should have, clearly. So the latest version I have saved of my story is from about a month ago, and therefore does not reflect the bulk of the work I have done in recent weeks. But it is something. And I still have my notes and my dialogue sketches, and a damn good memory. So here’s to hoping I can get back on the horse and rewrite those chapters, even better the second time. I suppose the other dim light at the end of this bad news tunnel is that I am finally buying a new laptop and an updated external hard drive. Clearly, the purchase has been long overdue. Farewell, 2011 MacBook. You have served me well, but it appears our time together is at an end.

Updates on Circle 2: Hidden

I have some awesome news regarding my progress on the second novel in my Circle series! I have now completed four chapters in their entirety, with the remaining eight chapters already mapped out and the dialogue written! So the current page count up through chapter four sits right at 100, which is not quite as long as Circle 1: Destined was by the end of the same chapter, but it is still longer than I first thought Hidden was going to be at this point, especially considering the later chapters will cover a lot of ground. If I manage to keep the current pace (I’m knocking out about two chapters per week), I’ll have the first draft completed way ahead of schedule, and possibly even by the end of the summer. Then, of course, comes the lengthy process of edits, rewrites, more edits, sitting on it to give it some time to breathe and then taking a fresh look before executing yet more edits. Then we have sending that millionth draft out to the first wave of trusted readers for feedback, suggestions, help identifying any plot holes or awkward sections, and three or five more rounds of edits before we actually make it to publishing. But hey, at least the cover art is ready! The cover art is, of course, not the picture posted above...that’s just a fun sketch I made of some of the supporting characters who make prominent appearances in the book. Some are from old stories, some are new. Left to right: Killer, Brae, Derek, Wendy, Frostbite, Micaleth. If you’ve read Destined, you are already familiar with Killer and Derek (members of Ruv’s wolfpack), Brae (the leshii who leads them to Vesna’s cottage in the wood), and Micaleth (the niethera who prompts their journey in the first place). If you’ve read the short story “Faerie Stones,” published right here on the blog in January 2018, then you’ve already met Wendy (Cerridwen MacEunrig, the geologist). But Frostbite? He’s a new face, and I hope you are looking forward to learning his own story. Hidden has a lot more action than the first book did, and—as my main protagonists are a few years older, and have a wider cast of supporting characters who join their journey—a LOT more flirting (and a few fun innuendoes). That said, not everything in this book is lighthearted fun and games. There’s a lot more darkness, too: shadows of history, legacies of death and deception that revive to play a significant role. It’s not something they can defeat with their customary sarcastic banter. And so the big question is, are my plucky heroes ready to face what they find at the end of their journey? I have four more books planned in the series, so the obvious answer would be yes. But at what cost? Stay tuned for more weekly updates (and perhaps even a few sneak peeks here and there).

Slavic Tarot and (sorta happy) Hidden Updates

I’ll begin with my Slavic Tarot update, and then I’ll move onto my semi-good news about the progress on Circle 2: Hidden. As far as my Slavic Tarot is concerned, I would like to thank all those who have bought a deck already, and the other 16 who currently have it saved in their shopping cart on Etsy (and who I am hoping will hit that “check out” button soon). That leaves just 39 decks left, so if you’ve been sitting on it, now is your chance! I also an extra special thanks to those wjo not only purchased a deck (and those amazing people who also bought the original art that went with it), but left me reviews on Etsy. Your feedback goes a long way toward making me look like a genuine operation instead of a crazy person who can’t stop making things. As much as the latter may be true (as I writer I must admit I often hear voices in my head...namely, my characters), I’d like to think the first is trie as well. If you haven’t bought a deck yet and are interested, you can find them at etsy.com/shop/acjade. Please pardon the shop name...it was a pseudonym from long ago, and my shop is too established now to change it. And that brings me to my story updates. As I mentioned in my last post, my laptop crashed, and I had been lax in my back ups because I am an idiot. The end result was that I lost the entirety of the three and a half chapters I had written during the past month, all 115 pages of story and another 100 of dialogue and notes and outlines and detailed summary. In an effort to ensure that *never* happens again, I acquired a new laptop, an external hard drive with infinitely more storage than I probably will ever need, and have been diligently saving backups for my backups as I begin the lengthy process of rebuilding the narrative I lost. I have done a little bit each day to that effect, but I am also approaching the end of the summer (and thus, the end of my free time) when the academic year kicks off and I am suddenly drowning in Russian literature. I will attempt to make as much recovery progress as I can until that point, but I still have about ten books left to read and lots of language study to brush up my skills remaining. In the meantime, the laptop crash has given me reason to go through all my old notes and sketches for the story, and in one such venture I found the above picture, depicting our fearless heroes, Gren and Mari. I drew this back when I was first testing out my copic markers, and I can’t remember if I posted it to my instagram or not at the time it was drawn (if you don’t follow me already, and you are a fan of gratuitous photos of dogs, cats, chickens, art, and shameless selfies, you can find me @maimurray_is_writing). That’s all I have for now. Stay tuned for more updates and excerpts as I continue rebuilding what was well on its way to being a beautiful manuscript!