Sarah Ettritch's Blog, page 22
November 15, 2011
Threaded Through Time (Book Two) Availability
Threaded Through Time (Book Two) is now available at Smashwords. Barring any unforeseen problems, it should be available in the Kindle Store by the end of the week. Having said that, if there's an approval backlog, it might not show up until the weekend or early next week.
Smashwords will distribute the book to Apple, Barnes & Noble, and Sony. It will take a couple of weeks to a month for the book to show up in those stores.
The print book is on track for December.
Later.
November 11, 2011
November 4, 2011
Threaded Through Time, Book Two Release Date
Threaded Through Time, Book Two, will be available around November 16th. I say "around" because I can't control how long it takes from the time I upload an eBook to the time it goes on sale. It'll first appear at Smashwords, because there's no approval delay there. Here's the description:
Picking up where Book One left off: Two time travellers are determined to embrace new lives, but reality soon dampens their starry-eyed enthusiasm. One time traveller vows not to give up; the other reaches for the black rhyme book. Both struggle with doubts. Were they truly born before or after their time? Will love conquer all?
The print book won't be far behind. I expect to release it sometime in December. It'll contain Books One and Two and clocks in at 350 pages. Price: $15.95.
Enjoy your weekend!
October 28, 2011
Guest Blog, Interviews, Threaded Through Time (Book Two)
I'm visiting with Adriana Kraft today. She wrote the Cancer story for the Sapphic Signs line, so she invited me to talk about my Scorpio story, Like Water and Water. Check out my guest blog here.
I've also done a couple of interviews recently, and I tried to answer at least one or two questions that I haven't answered before. Sometimes I get a choice of questions; sometimes I don't:
Interview at Rainy of the Dark
I'm putting the finishing touches on Threaded Through Time, Book Two, so it will definitely come out (no pun intended!) in November. As for a print version…probably. I'll release Books One and Two as a single book. When I have an idea of the release date, I'll let you know.
Have a great weekend!
October 19, 2011
Sapphic Signs Scorpio: Like Water and Water
My story in the Sapphic Signs line is now available from Torquere Books!
University roommates Rachel and Barb met in their high school's zodiac club, where they spent hours doing their Scorpio charts and became best friends. Now Rachel has fallen in love with Barb, but Barb is dating the sultry Carla. When Barb and Carla experience problems, Rachel is uncomfortable with being Barb's confidante, especially since Barb's relationship issues involve sex. Finding it more and more difficult to hide her feelings and remain impartial, Rachel reaches her breaking point and makes an agonizing decision.
You can pick it up here.
October 7, 2011
Questions about the Rymellan Series or ?
I'm considering putting a FAQ together about my work. If you have questions about the Rymellan series or any of my novels, or you're curious about my writing process, now's the time to ask. If you don't have my email address, you can contact me here or comment on this post.
On another note, last week I added the Threaded Through Time, Book Two cover to my Facebook page. Today I added it to this site's Threaded Through Time page. Patty Henderson has created another wonderful design! Check it out.
Enjoy your weekend. 
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September 30, 2011
The Future of the Rymellan Series
Yesterday I sent Threaded Through Time, Book Two to my editor. At this point, I usually start a new non-Rymellan story, but I've decided to wait until after I've finished the Rymellan series.
This naturally leads to the question, "When will the Rymellan series end?" Last year I did an interview with Julia Rios of The Outer Alliance, in which she asked me just that:
OA: Your other big project, the Rymellan stories, which you publish quarterly online, has enough material to fill two books now, though only one volume is actually in print so far. How much more do you plan to write in that world?
SE: I hope to bring the series to a satisfactory conclusion at the end of Rymellan 3. As you mentioned, Rymellan 1 is already available in print, and Rymellan 2 will be available in early 2011. I expect to reach the end of Rymellan 3 sometime in 2012, so I'll stop publishing quarterly at that point. After that, I might publish stories about significant events that take place later in the characters' lives, but not quarterly.
Serendipity was in play here, because I'd only just sat down a few weeks earlier to contemplate the future of the series. For readers who were there at the beginning, the series started when I posted the first two stories (The Dance and The Military Academy) in March 2008. For me, it began back in 2007, when I started to write those stories. At my three-year mark around October 2010, I thought about how much longer I wanted to write the series. That's why I had an answer at my fingertips when Julia interviewed me.
Almost a year later, my answer still stands. In fact, I can now say that the March 2012 story will be the last one in the web series. The guesstimate I gave in the interview was pretty good, considering that I don't outline. But I knew at what point I wanted to end the series, and I had an idea of what it would take to get there.
Will March 2012 mark the end of Lesley, Mo, and Jayne? Probably not. In my answer, I also said, "After that, I might publish stories about significant events that take place later in the characters' lives, but not quarterly." That's still true. After finishing Rymellan 3, I have a lot more I can write about the triad and Rymellan society. If I do, I'll write standalone novellas (no more cliff hangers!) on a "when a story tugs at me" basis, and I'll make them available at eBookstores.
To recap:
1. I'm not starting anything new until after I've finished the Rymellan series.
2. The Rymellan series will end in March 2012.
3. After taking a break, I'll probably publish more Rymellan stories, but not to the web, and not quarterly.
Later.
September 20, 2011
Rymellan Fiction: Convergence
I've just posted the latest story to Rymellan Fiction, called Convergence. If you haven't been following along, I'd recommend starting with The Dance.
Enjoy!
September 16, 2011
Guest Blog: How I Met a Dead Woman
Today I'm guest blogging over at Buried Under Books. If you've read my blog series about Kate and her 1911 journal, some of the content will be familiar to you, but I go into a tad more detail about how the journal influenced Threaded Through Time.
Read it here: How I Met a Dead Woman
On another note, I recently created a Facebook fan page for me. It will allow me to post stuff about writing and my work without boring the family and friends who are on my personal profile. You can check it out here:
My fan page (
)
Talk to you next week!
September 9, 2011
My Harshest Critic
This week, as I filled in the marketing and cover art request forms for the Sapphic Signs Scorpio story, I thought back to my mad scramble to submit the story on time.
I'm an organized person. I manage my time effectively. When I signed the contract to write the story, I immediately started an "ideas" file, even though my story was only due in a year. I allocated plenty of time in my schedule for it. So what happened?
The evil beta reader
If you've read the acknowledgements in my books, you might have gathered that my beta reader is my partner Jennifer. I'm sure some people roll their eyes at this and think, "Oh sure, her partner just tells her that her stories are wonderful and not to change a word." Not so, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
When I first asked Jen to beta read for me, I made it clear that I wanted her honest opinion. Asking a family member or friend to provide feedback puts them into an awkward position. They don't want to hurt your feelings. We get to snicker through god-awful auditions on shows like American Idol because the families, usually waiting outside, were afraid to tell someone the truth. Okay, I suppose it's possible that they were all tone-deaf, but I doubt it. It's more likely that they've been keeping the local ear-plug manufacturer in business.
I reiterated to Jen that I'd much rather hear about problems from her when I can do something about them, than when a story is already out in the wild. It took a few tries, but she eventually started to believe me. It helps that, after criticizing a story, she doesn't come home from work the next day to find her stuff on the sidewalk and the locks changed. We've built the trust that's required between the writer and first reader.
So, back to the Scorpio story. I finished the first draft, Jen read it, and we sat down for the talk. I could tell from her face that it wasn't going to be good, and it wasn't. She didn't like it. After discussing her problems with the story, I concluded that I couldn't submit it. I must have looked angry, or maybe ill. Jen said, "Maybe it's just me." I said, "No, after talking about it, I agree with you, and this is exactly what I want from you when you read for me. I'm not upset. I'm thinking, what the hell do I do now? I have to submit a story soon."
In my mind, I had two options: try to salvage the story I'd already written, or write a new one from scratch. Trying to quickly fiddle with the story could have dug me a deeper hole, so I decided on the latter route. But that meant producing another story, and fast! I always allow time in my writing schedule for edits. I hadn't planned for the scenario of scrapping the entire story.
I set my other writing projects aside, put my nose to the grindstone, and managed to write another story in record time. Funnily enough, I went back to the very first idea I'd added to my "ideas" file almost a year earlier. I don't know why I didn't write that one in the first place. Lesson learned.
Fortunately Jen liked the second story much better than the first, and so did I. When I have time, I'll see if I can do anything with the original story, or if it's a lost cause.
So yeah, my partner is my beta reader, and she doesn't pull any punches. When the Sapphic Signs Scorpio story, called Like Water and Water, is released in October, it'll be the second story I wrote for the line. The first didn't make it past my harshest critic.
