Finally, a Writing Update

Sorry I have been dark so long. No blog posts. No newsletters. If not for a few tweets and Facebook posts, you guys might have decided I dropped off the face of the earth.

Other News first:

A Blog Series – I was recently part of a series of blog posts put on by the lovely Sarah Addison-Fox on what does it mean to write clean/Christian fantasy. You can read my post here, but it is worth reading all of them starting with the introductory post, then authors Hope Ann, Claire Banschbach, Serena Chase, Lauricia Matuska, and Kate Willis. Lots of different perspectives and food for thought!

Black Friday Sale – I will once again be a part of a Black Friday sale put together by fellow Christian indie authors. I think we have over 36 authors participating this year, which is huge considering we had about 7 of us the first year. Check back here on Friday for a link to the sale.

Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to answer the poll I posted a while back! Of the 90 responses I received, 62% mostly read fantasy (which is good. Fantasy is my first love and I struggle to write anything else). When asked if you would like to see more Blades of Acktar, over 75% answered either Yes, right away or Yes, but let’s see something new first. Very, very few said they don’t want to read anything more in The Blades of Acktar.

I was also surprised by the number of people who asked for either more about Ranson or more about Brandi and Jamie. Good news is, I have ideas for both of those characters that I would like to write someday, so there is a good chance you’ll see more about them in the future.

If you would like to still take the poll, here is a link to it.

If you took the poll, then you probably already guessed, but the current project I’m working on is a Christian allegorical fantasy. It has been a tough book to write, as allegorical elements are much harder to make sure they come across the way I intend since they aren’t as clear as writing full on Christian fiction the way I did with The Blades of Acktar.

But while this book is allegorical, it isn’t an allegory. What does that mean? Well, an allegorical book still has lots of story elements that aren’t necessarily part of the allegory. Think Chronicles of Narnia. A full allegory would be a book like Pilgrim’s Progress where nothing in that book doesn’t have some sort of symbol or meaning.

Due to the trickiness of writing allegorically, this book has been tough. My word counts have been drastically reduced compared to what I did each day when writing The Blades of Acktar. BUT I am ALMOST finished. If I keep on track, I’ll finish either before the end of November or early in December. That means I should be able to start telling you details, back cover blurbs, and stuff like that by the end of December or early January. Yay!!!

I’m both excited and nervous to share this book with you. Some days, I can barely write I’m so terrified this book will not only disappoint, but offend and turn away readers. That’s the chance every author takes with every book, but especially when I know many of my readers personally. I don’t want to disappoint a single one of you!

 

 

Black Friday Sale

Like last year, a group of fellow indie authors and I got together to cross-promote Black Friday deals on our books. Unlike last year, I have 3 books instead of 1, and the deals will be better.

For example, Dare and Deny will be selling at $9 (plus shipping). This is $1 off from what I normally sell them on my website. Defy will also be $1 off. But, the real deal is going to be the 3 book set. If you buy Dare, Deny, and Defy as a 3 book set, it’ll be $25 (plus shipping). If you figure that out, that is $8 for Dare and Deny and $9 for Defy. In other words, if you’ve been waiting to get your hands on the paperbacks, this would be a good time to do it.

To promote the Black Friday sale, we’re looking for bloggers to post about the sale. In return for your time and effort of posting, you’ll be able to choose a free ebook from the ones offered by the below authors:

If this interests you, please fill out this form to participate:
Thanks so much!

Cover Reveal for Deny

Yes, as you can see from the title, I have a cover for Deny! Whooohoo! My cover designer worked her magic once again, and I think this cover is even better than the one for Dare.

A few reminders before I get to the big reveal.

I’ll be at the Covenant Christian Craft sale this Saturday in Walker, MI selling signed copies of Dare. Since Deny releases 1 month from today (Eeep!) I’ve decided to also offer pre-orders for signed copies of Deny, which will be available for pick up the Saturday after Deny‘s release. More information will be available at the craft sale if you wish to place a pre-order.

I also still have a few spots left in my launch team for Deny. If you wish to sign up, please follow this link and fill out the Google form.

Okay, okay. You’re impatient to see the cover. I’m getting to that. 😉

Like with Dare, I emailed Deny to my cover designer Ashley and pointed her to a few scenes that I thought would work best for the cover. We both picked out the same scene that we thought would work best, and she drew up a concept for it and put it all together.

Into this: the cover for Deny (The Blades of Acktar #2)

Deny_cover_resize; regular

Isn’t it spectacular? I can’t wait until I get my first proof book so I can hug it. 🙂

What do you guys think?