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Reboot is live!

/ melaradark / 1 Comment

Hey everyone! Hope you had a great weekend!

I didn’t post this yesterday because we were out at my Dad’s house all day, but Reboot successfully went live yesterday, and is now available for purchase!

Until September 15th, the ebook is exclusive through Amazon KS/KU. After the 15th the ebook will be launching on pretty much every platform ebooks can be purchased (Kobo+, Apple, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, etc).

Paperback and hardcovers are also on sale through Amazon. Check out the new ‘Available Now’ page for a free preview, share, and purchase link.

Next Saturday is the launch party!

In the mean time I’m still hard at work on several new books and *fingers crossed* hope to have at least one published in 2025, fingers crossed for more! Most likely Vhantalya will be going out in 2025, but not sure yet which of the others is going to make the cut to join her out in the wild. We’ll have to see!

I did learn a lot from this process and hopefully the next launch will be far smoother. Until then, stay wonderful everyone!

The thing about being the worst, it’s only up from there!

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Hey everyone, and welcome to 2024!

I am the literal *worst* it seems about updating the blog posts here and keeping you appraised of what’s what. You may have noticed, especially if you’re a beta of mine, that although I had three stories on my works in progress to finish in 2023, every single none of them actually got completed.

So yeah, about that…

I did quite a lot of work this year. Had a couple of firsts. And by firsts, I mean drafts of course!

*crickets*

Ahem. So, anyway, once I start writing a first draft, I’ve never wiped it and started over from scratch. I’ve certainly never wiped it *twice* and started over…but that’s exactly what I did with The Tree Y’Edenel. I got about 90k into the first draft and realized I wasn’t even a third of the way through. I like a big meaty book, but a 500k word MS was probably a *bit* much. I was also waffling over the direction it was going, so I set that original draft aside and began fresh.

Then, about 60k into that version, I stopped again. Though I liked a few nuggets of this new draft, for the most part it felt even more wrong footed then the first and wasn’t going to be any shorter unless I completely rushed the characters through it. That wouldn’t serve the characters, the book, or my readers.

I read back over the original 90k, approaching it with a bit of a fresh perspective, and ultimately decided to merge the two. I also realized that no matter which approach I took, this story was going to be much too long for just a singular book.

So I made the hard choice to split one book into a duology. The first draft for part 1 now stands at 105k and I am within spitting distance of wrapping it up. I’m also launching directly into part 2, which I expect will round out the first draft at about a similar word count.

Of course this means I had to rearrange a few things. The Rose of Fire, the next book in this same saga, has been bumped now to next year to make room for the duology, which bumped every subsequent book back a year as well. But I’d rather take more time and give you, dear friends, a better quality read.

I haven’t been idle on the other two stories that were slated for 2023 either. I have made good and rather satisfying progress on both So My Grandma Summoned a Demon, and Ferry Tail, and I will continue to work on these even as I start to tackle 2024’s first draft list. I’ve also rearranged (again) and added to (also again) my WIP list. There are also some title changes, most notably to the Willem series that I am starting this year.

And good news! The first draft of one of the stories slated for this year, the Human Heart, is already done! I need to give it some edits, of course, and rearrange the ending a little bit, but it should be up and about and ready to toddle to beta readers here in a month or two.

Even better news: the finishing line for Reboot is now in sight! I’m doing a few more quick edits now based on beta feedback, and then Reboot will be going to the editor. I’m nearly done with the cover as well, just need to give it a final spit and polish. As of this writing, I am bound and determined to at least have ARCs out and a firm launch date set by the beginning of May this year, just in time for BookNetFest!

So exciting! At least, I’m excited, and I hope that a few out there are a little tiny bit excited as well.

Happy New Year, and may yours be filled with joy, love, and wonderful books to read!

2nd Round of Beta Reads!

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Finally!

After gathering all the feedback from the first round of beta reads and making edits, I’m happy (and relieved!) to say that I am ready for the second round.

Vhantalya will be going back to several of my first beta readers as well as a couple of new ones looking at the story fresh. I have put in an alternate beginning, fleshed out the ending quite a bit (no, Caro, I did not change the ending! Don’t kill me!), and added a couple of scenes among the other more general feedback.

Beta readers, you should expect to see the updated manuscript in your post box. Right now I am hoping to get everything back by New Years, but with the holidays I know this might be problematic with some. Please let me know if you can’t make that timeframe and we’ll figure something out.

Now, on to the less pleasant news.

After a lot of frustration I have decided to put my draft of Scarlett on hold. As you might know I lost the original last year and I am struggling mightily trying to rewrite it. I find myself trying to force the story and continuing to do this will only do a disservice to the book and my readers. Its a story I want to tell, but I want to tell it well and do it justice, not try and hammer it into the box of the first draft until I make it fit.

Instead I will concentrate on getting Reboot’s first edits done and get it heading to beta readers.

I am still planning on starting 2023’s stories – So My Grandma Summoned a Demon, Ferry Tail, and As You Witch – as scheduled on New Year’s Day. I will probably come back and revisit Scarlett where I have time between them, but I for now I’m letting it lie. As we come closer to the New Year I’ll update the front page with 2023’s works in progress, and move Vhan and Reboot to a new page of ‘Pending Publication’ (fingers crossed).

Oh! Speaking of page updates, some of the feedback I received about Vhantalya was in regards to the book cover. So if you sneak over to the front page you will see I have replaced the old cover with a new one I hope works much better. Take a peek and let me know what you think!

Thank you everyone!

Where has the time gone?

/ melaradark / 1 Comment

Edit: So a big part of the reason I did this update is because I revamped my book order yet again, then totally forgot to mention it in the update. Apologies for that. I’ve revisited my book order and my projects and did a bit of shuffling around again. Nothing major, and nothing that will affect my writing the remainder of this year or for 2023.  Thank you.

Hello everyone! Sorry I’ve been a bit incognito for a while. Lots of things going on!

I have gotten all beta reader feedback from this first round with Vhantalya and am deep in edits on my final draft based on the feedback. Thank you so much to everyone who participated!

Overall, the feedback was excellent though there were some constructive, actionable points that I am taking into consideration. Almost universally, there were issues with the beginning of the story so I am rewriting the beginning (again!), adding a bit more of a fleshed out ending, and an additional scene in the body of the work. Other than that, most of it is just polishing up typos, grammar, and revamping an occasional sentence to flow better. After my edits are done there are a couple of new beta readers (and at least one old one) this will go to in order to wheedle out any final pain points that might come up.

I’m very pleased so far and extremely excited to get this finally finished and start querying agents!

For Reboot: the edits and second draft are ticking along well. I’m hoping to have it to beta readers by end of October. If you are interested in beta reading Reboot please remember to send me an email with the subject heading ‘Reboot Beta’ and I’ll get you on my list.

For Scarlett: the rewrite continues to go slowly. I’ve broken 50,000 words and I am hoping that by the middle of October I am back up to 90,000 (which is where I was when I lost the original copy). Even with the slow pace its looking good that the first draft will be finished by the end of the year as I’d planned.

Lastly, I hope everyone out there is doing well and thank you so much for checking out my tiny corner of the interwebz. Stop in for tea any time!

Damn you muse!

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So here I am, innocently writing away on Reboot. I’m doing a particularly difficult scene emotionally, and my writing tends to slow into short bursts when that happens.

I’m staring at the screen, my brain deep in the story, trying to get into the heads of the characters. Who would say what? What are they feeling right now? What would their reactions be? The usual. Totally focused.

And in waltzes my muse, a rolled up manuscript in her hand (my current editorial draft of Vhantalya, of course), and whaps it across the back of my skull.

BAM!

Just like that, I’m getting all sorts of ideas for a brand new book, a prequel to my Immortal Elements series. Characters, details, setting, plot; lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Ok, ok, fine. I indulge my muse, flipping over to my bible for the series and jotting down some quick notes. Maybe if I get it out of my head and stored somewhere safe, I can get back to concentrating on Reboot. If I *do* write a prequel book to an already planned ten book series, it’s going on the end of my publishing timeline. There’s no rush.

Done, back to Reboot. Get another hundred words down.

My muse, the wonderful and hateful bitch that she is, is not to be daunted. The Immortal Elements series – of which Vhantalya is the first book – is a favorite of hers. In fact, Vhantalya itself came in the same way; with that glorious, furious nymph backhanding me over the head out of nowhere.

Honestly, I think she only talks to me at all so I’ll write this series. Allowing me to do my other books is something she (barely) tolerates in exchange.

So she hits me again. ‘Oh! I could do this in the prequel, that would explain that character in the main series!’

Jot it down again, start to look back at Reboot. My muse braces herself, lifts the manuscript high…

So, now I have a headache, and about ten more ideas written down for this prequel, and not another word of Reboot written. I’m afraid to look at it now. She hits wicked hard.

Hopefully if I placate her she’ll go back to sleep for a little while and I can get back to it. For now, I need to dig up my ibuprofen and probably some neosporin for all these papercuts on my scalp. Oh, also, I’ll be adding The Ruhkend Blade up on my book timeline of works in progress.

I’m afraid she’ll bludgeon me senseless if I don’t.

I artify as well!

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Hello all you crazy cats and kittens!

So I don’t only write, I do art as well. I’ve been doing digital paintings for years (as well as photography). I have been getting back into it more lately to do my book covers, and figured why not do some illustrations of my original works as well?

I have created an ArtStation account to post my works, including my book covers and some fan art, as well as these illustrations. This is a WIP, but I will be slowly adding my past art as well as the two book covers I’ve done so far (For Vhan and Scarlett). Some of it may eventually go up for sale but for now I’m going one step at a time.

If you like what you see, feel free to favorite and comment! Heck, if you hate it too…why not?

Still ticking along on Reboot, and as soon as I get the end of the first draft in sight I’ll be doing a cover for that as well and posting it up. I have to say, so far I am loving this story!

Till next time!

Cover is up!

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Finally! So it took a lot longer than I was expecting. Clearly I have a lost a bit of the old speed that I had (breaks out the walker and hacks a few coughs in geriatric), and this cover has a lot of little fiddly details that took a lot of time. Still, here we are!

I’m about halfway through my reread of Vhantalya, highlighting areas that I need to quickly neaten up, and then we’ll be to the beta readers. If I have talked to you about being a beta reader, or if you are interested in being one, please email me and include in the subject header which story you are interested in beta reading. I only need about four per story, and I believe Scarlett is full. Also, don’t limit yourself to just what’s on the front page! Look at my future project timelines and if you see any there you’d be interested in trying your hand at, give me a shout. Just keep in mind the timelines those will be finished.

For those that I select for beta reads, there will be a deadline to get it back to me, as well as a form that will ask particular questions or what kind of specific feedback I may be looking for, in addition to the usual general feedback. Mostly, looking for plot holes, inconsistencies, good pacing, things like that.

So that’s where I am with Vhantalya. I’m on schedule with Reboot as well, knocking out a nice ten thousand words plus a week. At this rate I should be finishing on schedule for June/July with the first draft. I might be a bit biased, but so far I think it’s some of the best writing I have ever done. After that, it’s off to find an agent!

Lastly, I’m also working on my artwork, not just book covers. I used to have my work on Deviant Art a long time ago, but l looked at it recently to see if I wanted to revive it and I don’t think I want to keep on with that site. Instead, I will be building a website and portfolio for my art on ArtStation. Once that website is up and running, I will be linking it to this page. I specialize in digital photorealistic/semi-photorealistic paintings but I want to expand my hand into more cartoon/animation/comic styles as well.

Love you peeps!

Here we go…

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Reboot is now at 3 chapters, 24 pages, and sailing along. Some of my best work, if I do say so myself.

As far as Vhantalya, the cover is almost done, and the final once over and polish before she toddles off to beta readers begins…now.

I Dudditz!

/ melaradark / 2 Comments

Hello everyone!

I was going to wait to post this until I had finished the book cover as well, but it’s looking like that’s going to take several more days worth of work to get it where I want it to be, so look for that to be up soon!

Exciting news to share! Yesterday at 2:22 pm I finished the second draft of Vhantalya! Yes, that means on Twos-day, 2/22/22 at 2:22 pm I finished draft 2. I laughed when I saw that. Hopefully it’s a sign of good fortune ahead!

Vhantalya, the first book in my Immortal Elements series, has been a passion project of mine for well over a decade. I wrote the first draft in just about two weeks, flat out. Over the next several years (longer than I’d like to admit), I changed the beginning a hundred times, added some here, took away a little there, tweaked this and that, and started writing even more stories in my fictional world of Kaloran. Intended at first to be just a little stand-alone one-shot, this story has blossomed and bloomed and inspired what is now a ten book series that will continue with The Tree Y’Edenel, due to be done in 2024.

This project has been especially near and dear to my heart, and I’m beyond excited to get it finished up and out there.

Next steps? Well, I’m not even going to look at the story for at least a week. I am using this time to finish up the cover and get started on my next book, which I’m aiming to have finished around June/July of this year. In a week I will do a start to finish re-read of Vhantalya, making notes and tweaking little edits here and there. Then, it will be ready to go to the beta readers. Once I have feedback returned from them, hopefully there is only one last spit-and-polish, and then it’s off to find an agent!

More to come, stay tuned!