I scream, you scream, we all scream for .... books!

Oct 08, 2022 2:10 am

Hello again!

A big congratulations to T.A. Hernandez who got through to the finals of SPFBO 8 with her book Tethered Spirits!

While unfortunately that means my book The King & Kishar won't be going through, I'm proud to have made it to semi-finals. Hopefully one year—maybe next year—will be the one.

In the meantime, I'll definitely be picking up a copy of Tethered Spirits which can be found here.

As much as I had wanted to win, it's kind of nice to know I can just relax now. No more anxiously checking the SPFBO page to see how my book is doing! You can only cross your fingers so much before they start to ache, after all.

With that, I can get back to focus on the main event: writing.

Beta Reading

The deadline for beta readers is 5th November, but some people have already finished reading War with Elves and given me very valuable feedback. I'll start making the needed changes on 5th November and get cover art and other release-related things organised.

Based on the overall feedback, it looks like I'll have to make a few minor tweaks, but there are no glaring plot-holes or anything that would take major rewrites. That's always a win in my book!

In the meantime ...

While I wait for beta reader feedback to come in, I've been workshopping the outlines for four or five different books / series. Each of them have a wildly different tone and style, and three of them will definitely be short novellas. Still, I don't want to give into temptation and start writing any of them. If I do, 5th November will arrive before I know it, and I'll be stuck having to choose between delaying War with Elves and leaving a draft unfinished.

So, basically, I'm just procrastinating at the moment.

I've been playing a lot of the farming game, Stardew Valley. If you're familiar with it, then you have some idea of how addictive it can be. I can confirm that I have been thoroughly taken over. I see rows of pixelated parsnips and scarecrows when I close my eyes.

So I'll be pottering around in Stardew Valley until November comes around, and then I'll get to work on the final draft of the book. With hard work, and a great deal of luck, I might just be able to make the finals of SPFBO 9.

Fingers crossed!