2019, Gone In A Blink

Ah, 2019... Here today, gone tomorrow! At least that's what it feels like to me. This year, it firmly feels like time ran away due to my productivity, so that's good. I mean, I didn't accomplish everything I set out to do, and some plans shifted, but I do feel I've run many miles (in other words, written a lot of words).

Is it time for numbers yet? Remember, I love numbers. No, not yet? OK, I'll wait patiently. Sits on hands. Wait, I can't type up this blog post if I do that...

Anyway, first I'll go over the publications for the year, and then I'll list my progress, including some numbers.

2019 Publications

❦ Born of Blood and Souls: 13 Dark Fantasy Stories & Poems

❦ Thorns Entwine the Blade (Trinity Torn, 2)

So, two publications this year, and I honestly think this is a good goal for the next couple years ahead (Spring and Fall releases?). But more importantly, finally publishing Thorns lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. I hate it that it took so long, but it's finally out there! And I almost forgot to mention - you can get the paperback version now on Amazon, too!

2019 Progress

❦ Completed the revision and three edits of Thorns Entwine the Blade.

❦ Completed the rough draft of Well of Solitude (Fortunes of Fate, 7), which came in at over 15,000 words, and may hit 20,000 during revision.

❦ Wrote almost 5,000 words for the rough draft of Downward Spiral (Urban Unicorn, 1).

❦ A bunch of job requests for Haunted Unicorn Publishing!

❦ Wrote 19,554 words of rough draft material.

❦ Revised 48,690 words.

❦ Edited 205,439 words (this excludes my third edit of Thorns, since that was a quicker edit, applying my editor's suggestions).

❦ 30 blog posts (including this one).

❦ Spent 171.58 hours writing, revising, and editing.

❦ Spent 45.62 hours formatting, working on cover art, and publishing.

❦ In total, spent 344.05 hours on writing and writing related tasks (up to this post, and not including my Haunted Unicorn work or reading, aka market research, this time).

I think those numbers look a lot better than the ones from 2018. Don't you? No, I'm not linking to the embarrassing 2018 post. Let's just forget 2018 ever existed. Yes.

However, I will leave the link to my goals post from the beginning of the year: 2019 - Determination.

You can compare those goals with what I actually accomplished. The initial planned schedule didn't quite work out, but I have adjusted things so I can fit in 3 hours of writing/writing tasks on school days (unless other crazy things crop up). I'm pretty comfortable with the schedules and routines now in place!

Here's hoping 2020 will be even more productive. I'll post my goals in a couple of weeks! Until then, I hope you all have a wonderful rest of 2019. I'll leave you a pic of this year's new ornament on our Yule tree!

Writing Update - June 2019

I figured it was about time I posted a writing progress update. I'm still not quite sure how it's almost the end of June, but here we are -- half the year gone! Eek.

At least I don't have that writer's guilt like I did this time last year.

Why not? I've made progress. Lots of awesome progress. So much progress that I have a tentative release date that I actually think is feasible for Thorns Entwine the Blade (Trinity Torn, 2).

Of course, that could all explode in my face. I'm knocking on more plywood...

If you want a reminder of my goals for the year, pop over to my 2019 - Determination post. And here's what's happened in 2019 so far (and if you want to scroll to the end, you'll see the tentative release date for Thorns):

2019 Project Progress

❦ Though I didn't have it listed in my 2019 goals, I published Born of Blood and Spells: 13 Dark Fantasy Stories & Poems in March. I'm glad I had the chance to get this extra side project done!

❦ As mentioned, I upped my blog posts to once a week again for a while. Then I decided it was too much extra work right now. Got to focus on writing and publishing books, right?

❦ That one picture a day on Instagram thing? Yeah, that fell by the wayside. I got sick and enmeshed in other tasks. I'm still hoping to post more often on there, but it might not happen this summer.

❦ Newsletter has been released monthly, and while I'm a little behind on Critters critiques, it's not so bad that I can't catch up before I need to submit Well of Solitude (Fortunes of Fate, 7). And yes, that's the title I've landed on. Finally.

❦ I've drafted a couple of scenes for Well of Solitude, but it's mostly been put on the side until I finish revisions of Thorns.

❦ Finally, I'm only two chapters away from finishing the main revision of Thorns Entwine the Blade! And I'm pretty much on schedule for the year (after a few ups and downs, it all evened out). Now those last two chapters need the most work, and my final word count is going to be higher than estimated, but that's OK. Once this revision is done, I'm going to do a quick consistency edit, which shouldn't take more than a month, and then send it off to my editor!

I suppose that means you might want to hear the tentative release date for Thorns? Remember, this is still a maybe. It depends on my editor and how Fall kicks off for me. But if everything works out as planned...

Thorns Entwine the Blade will be released in October 2019!

So, three years after Mind Behind the Mind was released, the sequel will finally be out in the world (the exact same day if I want to release on a weekend -- heh). I know, a long time span between. Life, I tell ya. Better late than never?

I'm pretty darn happy with my progress so far this year. It's not at the level of many other indie authors, but I'm still moving forward, and that's what counts. Here's hoping the second half of the year is as productive as the first half!

How have you all been doing on your yearly goals? Whether it be for writing, school, or any other projects?

Born of Blood and Spells - Release and Excerpt

Today, Born of Blood and Spells: 13 Dark Fantasy Stories & Poems releases!

I decided it would be best to combine some of my stand alone titles, while adding in some poems and flash fiction to the mix. This collection includes the previously individually published short stories Dancing in the Wind, Bound, and Sunset Street. It also includes the two titles from Blood & Booze, as well as the two titles from Tales of Chyraine. If you're still looking to get any of those individually, they'll be up for a couple more days, but all aside from Dancing in the Wind will soon no longer be available outside of Born of Blood and Spells.

Born of Blood and Spells is currently $2.99 for the eBook, and you can get it from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo Books, Apple Books, Google Play, and Smashwords. If you want to see a more comprehensive retailer list as well as the description, pop over to Books2Read. A paperback version will be available some time in April.

Since I've posted excerpts of the already mentioned titles before, I thought it would be nice to give a brief snippet of the beginning of one of the flash fiction pieces. Only a little, though, since it's a super short story!

Enjoy Born of Blood and Spells, and the excerpt from Daina's Dance below.

❦

Pound. Throb.

They keep the beat with their movements.

Twist. Bend.

Every night the music makes their muscles twitch.

And I can’t join them.

Black walls, black floors, black ceiling, stiff and wooden, contrasting the fluid forms. A gold anklet here, a scarlet scarf there, splashing color constantly moves against the monotone box. Pale skins flow in the black, beckoning for me to join them. But I can’t blend in – my ears pointed and theirs rounded – so I stand against a wall and watch the swirling bodies.

❦

Drops of crimson and muttered incantations... the stories in this collection are Born of Blood and Spells.

Short stories, flash fiction, and poems – thirteen tales of dark fantasy all written by Alexa Grave.