Day 11 of NaNoWriMo, and I’m back on track. Wrote 2k words today.

Yes, it was hard. I’m tired - didn’t get much sleep last night, I blame Jocelyn Drake - and yesterday was a hard day, which means today should have been a recovery day. And I did take it easy for most of the day.

And then I dove into the Wolves tonight and ran with another bit for Alex (who had a really good day, after all), and ended it with Mark noticing something suspicious…

Take a look:

I did another round downstairs, just to stay awake and alert. This time, I moved the curtain of the backdoor just a little and peered outside. Something moved at the end of the garden.

For a few breaths, I stood and watched, holding completely still. The human eye, just like a wolf’s, is better at discerning movement than shapes.

Well. Maybe it had just been a bird or something. Or a rabbit. My mouth watered at the thought of a rabbit, and I knew my Wolf was riled up a little by tonight’s events.

Just as I was turning away, I caught movement again.

This was not good, and I needed to check it out.

Day 14 of NaNoWriMo, and I got nothing.

Yesterday was probably too big of a push. Getting up very early today might have added to it all. I’m also realizing I’m not putting enough of the German Christmas traditions into the story, which means heavier editing than I like.

And I even have my first buyer for the story if I get it out fast. bangs head against desk

Brain is this mix of stress, anxiety, anger and frustration. Because this month is the absolute worst in book sales in over a year. I haven’t sold a single book on Amazon (but I have almost 200 free downloads, yay). Sold a couple on Google Play Store. All of this despite a paid promo early this month.

I do have the plot sorted out. I know what I’ll do for the minor antagonist, while the major antagonist will not escape unscathed. I just have to write it, and that’s where I fail.

Tomorrow is a new day. deep breath

Day 15 of NaNoWriMo, and I wrote 2k words. That actually feels good, and they flowed well.

I’m at a very tense moment in the story - Fred believes that Mark is most likely dead. (I will relieve that tension soon enough, and then they’ll move into rescue and finally showdown mode.)

I’m also almost ready to commission the cover. Looked up the designer, and she’s still there and taking orders. Unfortunately, I need to write a description for the book to go on the back cover. At least I know what I want on the front.

And don’t laugh, but I also need to decide how Fred and Mark actually look. I have a sense of them, but no visual. Fred has German ancestors, so brunette and “normal”, but I might give Mark some PoC ancestors for a change. I don’t think he’s Black, I never got that vibe, but at least something. I’ll tell the designer, and she’ll do something great with it.

Have some Fred. (Alex is in Wolf shape.)

These goons had killed Mark. I had to face that brutal fact, because Luka had admitted that those were their orders.

The rage I felt at that thought was frightening. Right now, I was ready to tear out their throats with my bare hands. If they had killed Mark, they did not deserve to live. And I would find Frank next and do the same to him.

I heard a car pull into the yard and hissed. I also heard Alex’s nails click on the floor as he jumped to his feet.

“Sit,” Luka whispered, and I hid a laugh.

Alex would definitely not listen to his former friend.

Car doors slammed, shoes crunched on wet gravel.

Someone laughed, and the fury inside me burned even stronger.

Day 16 of NaNoWriMo and I wrote 2412 words. Suddenly got on a roll.

I’m also getting closer to the end of the story. Still need to figure out the big showdown - I have a feeling the villain will not survive the end of the story, although murder is a tricky thing in Germany. Maybe they’ll disappear him in a clever way…

I’m feeling better, at least about writing. Still haven’t ordered the cover, the snag is getting the description written. But today was an office day, and they always steal quite a bit of energy. Plus my night was rudely interrupted and lack of sleep makes me stupid.

Have some Wolf fun (Alex is in Wolf shape):

Luka scrambled onto the bench in the back, and Alex jumped in with him. Moments later, we were off, the goon driving fast, but not erratically. Maybe he had bought into our plan.

Nobody was inclined to talk much. Alex gave a growl or two, and I assumed that Luka had tried to touch him once again.

“Your dog doesn’t like me,” he eventually said.

“No”, I answered simply, and Alex huffed.

“I like dogs,” Luka went on, sounding a little miffed.

“This is not your average dog,” I said, doing my best to hide my smile. Luka had no idea, and I wouldn’t enlighten him just yet.

Cover Reveal!

While I was out with my sister, enjoying an awesome day in the snow, my cover designer finalized the design, and now I’m sharing the cover with you.

I love Fred and Mark. Love how sweet they look, love the background and the fact that she incorporated one of my very own images in it (of the tower with the city gate in it).

Enjoy the Wolves!

Day 13 of NaNoWriMo (yes, I’m posting this a tad late, because that day was… intense) and I wrote 1800 words. After writing a 1k blog post and setting up my newsletter. Yeah, that was… intense.

But I finally got mean and hurt Mark, and yes, that scene will probably need some more work to have more impact. I just didn’t feel especially cruel…

Have some… Mark snark.

“This is the end of the road for you,” [spoiler] said, wild satisfaction in his voice. Yes, that man was on a power trip.

I didn’t bother answering him. As long as I wasn’t dead, I’d keep fighting. Right now, that meant staying conscious.

Luka returned with two men in his wake. Yes, those were the owners of the body and beer odors. Another classic mistake of a wannabe drug lord, hiring stupid people. I was beginning to hope for an escape, if I could get my body to cooperate.

I did it!

I just wrote The End under the Epilogue of the Wolves, after a thorough edit.

Tomorrow, I’ll do a final, final read-through and plonk the file into Atticus. Tomorrow evening, I’ll have the epub and the print PDF, and can tell my cover designer about the page numbers.

I saw the final cover just now, and it looks awesome! I hope can find the time to do a quick cover reveal. Will upload to all stores on Thursday.

I’ve done this so many times. And yet, it’s still exciting!

Guten Morgen.

Here’s the promised post with a snippet of what I wrote yesterday. (It is getting harder to find passages that do not contain spoilers… but I doubt that what I’m sharing is a huge spoiler, especially if you read my series.)

Writer Brain also ambushed me again at night, and I have another new series idea, this time Vampires with a twist. Not quite the never-ending series that the Shifters offer, but similar. A bit darker than my usual stuff, maybe, with a romance subplot and happy for now endings.

Yes, I have an ideas folder. I truly need to live a few hundred years to write all the books I want to write. (Does anyone know a friendly vampire or demigod who could grant me a nice extension of my lifetime?)

Have some Wolf:

It was a relief to have Mark sitting next to me. He still looked like hell and he carried himself as if in great pain, but he was alive and, well, going to be fine.

That kiss kept playing out in my memory.

I knew what it meant. Every Wolf girl did.

It was a surprise and yet it wasn’t.

Being with Mark had always been fun and easy. He treated me like an equal, he celebrated my successes and commiserated with me when I messed up. And I did the same for him.

Playing dog for him was just as much fun.

Feeling hugely accomplished: I just formatted A Wolf’s Christmas and gave the cover designer the number of pages in the PDF.

Now we wait for the finalized cover. I’m fairly confident I can upload both versions tomorrow.

Phew.

Okay, so no uploading today. sigh

Cover designer hasn’t finished the cover yet, which is fine. But it also means no cover reveal. I do hope I can get all of it done tomorrow, but it will be a close thing.

You see, my sister comes over for the weekend, arriving around noon tomorrow, and while she knows I might have to take time out of the visit for my book, she also has PLANS.

I’m writing a little for Penumbra. Still need a good title for that little prequel (and all the others that might follow).

“Winston. We have at least one Shade in this town, and we really must stop it. We need better leads. I’m sure it has already killed, and I know it’ll kill again.”

“Well, why don’t you go and explain all this to the good detective? I’m sure he’ll hurry up just for you.” Yes, Winston was good at sarcasm. He had plenty of time to perfect it.

“You know we can’t do that.” Melody whirled and stalked away, unable to face that man any longer. Unfortunately, she needed him. Nobody was better than Winston at digging up lost information.

Just wrote a few words for Sun because today, I spent my energy and brain power on finishing setting up my new store. Yes, you can now buy books directly from me - well, almost.

It’s a store through PayHip, with the fulfillment through BookFunnel. That helps both me with my bookkeeping, and it helps you, because BookFunnel makes it very easy to get your ebook into whatever reading app you use.

Hannah’s Book Store

I’m also going through yet another iteration of cover creation for Zell, and I actually made a sketch today to show the layout I have in mind. Find that below.

And well, have all the words I wrote for Sun today. shrug

It took them two nights of walking south, keeping the mountains to their right, until they found a sizable stream that flowed east. They stayed an extra day, washing their clothes and themselves.

Laisal also dug up some thick roots from the ground that she claimed were edible, wrapping them in her spare shirt.

deleted by creator

Status Saturday:

Writing:

A Wolf’s Christmas, A Wolf’s Hacker, Sun Burns (Winds and Pillars), A Mustang’s Dream (new series)

Editing:

Sun Burns (Winds and Pillars)

Released this year:

North Shatters (Winds and Pillars), Earth Splits (Winds and Pillars), Der Ritter von Lar Elien (German Epic Fantasy)

Wrote about 500 words for the Penumbra tale. Skipped ahead to a scene that was occupying my mind.

Still no Wolf cover. Apologies. Still hoping for a weekend release.

Sister is here, and it’s good. We’re also getting a LOT of snow, so walking will be fun tomorrow. Definitely Lake Effect at work here.

I’ll share a bit of Leander. Have fun:

The woman sighed. “There’s a lot to explain, and I don’t want to do that here and now. You’ll find clothes on the dresser. Meet me in the sitting room.”

He stared after her when she simply marched out of the room. After a while, he shrugged, slipped out of bed and dressed in the clothes she had laid out for him. They were a shockingly good fit and of a much better quality than he was used to. Strange, really. What was going on here?

There was only one way to find answers, so he went in search of Melody. Walking down the stairs to the first floor, he realized that he felt just fine. Maybe even a little stronger than he was used to, and there was a bounce in his steps that he rarely felt. A single day after almost dying?

Day 12 of NaNoWriMo, and I failed. Wrote 60 words. You can read them all below.

Not sure what happened, to be honest. Just couldn’t wrap my mind around hurting Mark, although that usually isn’t a problem. I hope I feel sufficiently brutal tomorrow. (But tomorrow is also Newsletter Day, and I’ll see how much writing I have in me.)

Have Mark. Watch him make a colossal mistake:

I quietly opened the back door and slipped out, pulling it close behind me. The big flashlight I was carrying would work as a club in an emergency.

For a moment, I wondered if I should wake Fred, call her in for backup. I shook my head at myself, she was probably fast asleep and this was most likely nothing.