Xavier Edwards's Blog, page 13

Paradise Lost, Then Found Again Published

Even though I hinted at its arrival a week ago, “Paradise Lost, Then Found Again” will come as a surprise to some readers. It wasn’t really expected to be out just yet, and with the break I took over the Christmas / New Year period, and the slower pace of writing since then, some might be surprised to see a release at all.
“Paradise Lost, Then Found Again” is an interesting story, capturing the experiences of a travel author and her partner as she struggles to complete her articles on a tropical paradise. Being there in the midst of the build up to the wet season doesn’t make things any easier for her writer’s block, or for her silently suffering partner.
When life starts moving at Island Time, and there seems to be no end to the stifling heat and humidity, things can get strained quickly.

First Book for 2013 Nearly Here

It’s going to be an interesting 2013, with various external pressures limiting how much writing I am going to be able to produce for the first few months, at least. That’s the bad news.
Offsetting this is that I will have my first title for this year available in the next week or so. Without giving too much away, it was an interesting challenge to convey the feeling of “island time” without negatively affecting the story as it flowed.
Mix in an author who is also struggling with meeting deadlines and the stress its placing on their partner, and blend in with the general lethargy and steaminess of the tropics.
It is going to make for an interesting short novella.

A New Year & New Challenges

After a very busy 2012, it was nice to take a bit of a break over Christmas and the New Year period. Despite trying to get away from writing for a little while, I still ended up writing on at least a couple of days over the break and there should be at least on short novella coming out before the end of January.
Probably the biggest thing that is changing with my writing and plans for writing this year is that the stories are getting longer. The next couple of titles in mind are trending towards mid-sized novellas and possibly even small sized novels.
Even with a productive muse, it still takes quite a while to write so many words, and then even longer to ensure the editing and review process is done properly. That will probably mean a slower release schedule but, at the same time, provide what many of my readers have been clamoring for -- a longer read.

My Final Book for 2012 Released

Before I get to the really good news, I have updated the listings for “A Man for the Season” and “Satin & Oak” to reflect the changes in availability for them. Originally planned as a GoodReads-only release, they are now available from many other sites, as well.
The really good news is that my final release for 2012 made it out in time for Christmas. “My Muse is a Demanding Mistress” has made it to most of the retail sites in time for the Christmas rush, despite only having just been pushed out.
An anthology of my 2012 releases, “My Muse is a Demanding Mistress” adds individual introductions to each title, providing some background on why and how the stories were written. There are also some unpublished items that have been snuck in alongside the released titles.
As this is likely to be one of my last posts for this year, I want to thank all of my readers and fans for their support across the last several months. And to wish a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you.
Here’s to another good year of writing and reading in 2013.

Early Christmas Presents

[image error] I’ve been keeping a bit of a low profile of late, and for good reason. Some of the groups that I am involved with on GoodReads like to run competitions from time to time. One particular competition that I offered to assist with was a “get your story written” type of contest, with a special Christmas twist.
When the competition started, I thought I had it all worked out, but it seems I misunderstood which synopsis I was writing a story on, so I actually ended up writing two stories.
These stories are now available for free, from GoodReads. They will always remain free as stand-alone titles on GoodReads, however may be bundled into a new title for sale later on.
To all my readers who took a chance on an unknown male author (self-pub at that) in a female-dominated genre, I want to thank you and wish you all a Merry Christmas.
The first, “A Man for the Season”, can be found on GoodReads here.
It was the night before Christmas and Rachel had no boyfriend to celebrate Christmas with.Her friends eagerly tried to fix her up with a date,night after night.No one could find the perfect man for her.
The second, “Satin & Oak”, can be found on GoodReads here.
Gerome and Sara lived in a small village. They both had small jobs, just enough to pay the bills. It was Christmas time and they had no money to spare between them.

Always Fun

I absolutely love bookshops. There’s something special about whole shops given over to the wonder that is the written word, even if it doesn’t take place as often as it once used to.
Having been stuck with a little bit of free time at a shopping centre recently, I dove into the nearest bookstore and spent an enjoyable 20 minutes poking around the books. If only my to-be-read pile wasn’t so large, and I had the money on me, I would have walked out loaded down with new reading material.
Something that I didn’t realise was so much fun was looking for, and finding, books by people I know. As I get to know more authors, I’m finding more of their books in the shops. Those books have always been there, but now that I know the authors, it makes for a more personal connection to actually get to hold their books in my hands.
In some little way, it tells me that if I make the move to physical publishing at any point, that I, too, could have my books in the shops as well.

Unblocking Writing

Sometimes you just need to call in the plumbers.
I’ve been struggling with Writer’s Block in one form or another for the last couple of weeks. It never got so bad that I was sitting down to write but no words coming out.
Instead, I was finding that I just couldn’t get to the writing stage. There were ideas and scenes bouncing around being mulled over, but nothing was coming out onto the page.
With a couple of deadlines rapidly approaching, I was beginning to get a little bit concerned about not having written anything down for a while, when things just unblocked themselves in the last 48 hours.
After so long without getting anywhere with the stories I have under development, I was very pleased to find that after a couple of good writing sessions, I was a lot further along the path to completion than I thought I was going to get.
It’s a good sign. Not just for the short stories coming out soon, but also for the range of stories that are sitting in various stages of completion.
I hadn’t taken any time off writing on purpose, but it just kind of happened. I was always busy, but now things are settling back down again and it should be all better.
Speaking of time off, I expect that my pace of writing will be slowing over the Christmas / New Year period. I have been wrong before about thinking that my muse was going to take some time off, so there may be even more to enjoy than I initially thought I was going to have.

Happy Thanksgiving

I would like to wish my American readers a happy Thanksgiving for Thursday.
I know that the Canadians celebrated theirs a month ago, but it is the traditional opening to the Christmas shopping season that makes acknowledging the US Thanksgiving important.
For many other countries, the end of November is effectively the start of the Christmas period, with Christmas parties, secret Santas, time to find and put up a tree, and time to work out if it is going to be a white Christmas (Northern hemisphere), or a scorching hot one (Southern hemisphere).
Whatever your season is going to be, please have a safe and happy season and I am going to be working hard to make sure you have plenty to read, wherever you are.

Six Miles High Published

It is a day ahead of schedule, but what better time to release a book than that? “Six Miles High” is now out and making its way across the various retail sites. It should be available from the regular sites within the next few days.
“Six Miles High” is a return to the world of F/F.
Melissa is on the verge of breaking through into the top levels of her life as a stewardess. Hounded by the ghosts of decisions past -- poor decisions, she could be facing the crushing of her dreams.
Into this mix appears Ruby, awakening something that Melissa didn't know existed and helping her face down the ghosts that troubled her.
This is also the first title that crosses the boundary into novella territory in its own right. That means more exciting story to read. This isn’t the reason why “An Introduction to Sappho” received a permanent price cut, but it’s a good place for it to be.
I hope you all enjoy the book as much as I did writing it.

Book Sale, And a New Release Soon

With “Six Miles High” due out in the next couple of days, I’ve decided to re-price “An Introduction to Sappho” permanently to 50% of its original price. While the timing is perfect for the post-Thanksgiving rush, it’s actually positioning for the new release, and also for something a little special some way down the line.
There are still a couple of releases due before Christmas, so there’s going to be plenty of good reading coming up for the beach (Southern Hemisphere), or by the fire (Northern Hemisphere).
Happy reading and I look forward to sharing a new book with you soon.