Monthly Wrap Up
Productive and Fun June
It’s already the first day of July. Half the year is gone and, as always, I’ve been busy writing and enjoying time with family. My husband would say I’m married to my computer because of all my writing, but I also take out time to play games with my friends. It takes some work to balance everything.
June proved busy with quite a few doctor appointments. Nothing major, but we bother had appointments with our primary care. He had some specialist check ups, and we both had eye exams. Nothing has changed for me other than in August I see a new neurologist since mine had finally retired. I was pretty lucky to have the same care team with no changes for fifteen years, unlike my husband. We both have our issues, but overall we aren’t doing too bad and some changes have actually helped. Now, if I could stay on track with exercising and eating right, I could get closer to how I felt before last year flummoxed me. Multiple sclerosis is unpredictable, but I also wound up off a therapy med and once that wore off, I’ve actually felt better. I’m not sucking down pain meds several days of the week, but down to only a couple days in a month without my MS symptoms changing at all.
Since my health says I should live for a while, it’s time to wrap up the writing side of things and share what is in store for the future.
The Light Series
My trilogy is now available far more places as announced in the last monthly wrap up. Wrapping my head around marketing and what would be the best thing to spend my money on has led to me doing several things. To find all the books and links check out my Books2Read author page or find the main retailers on my website’s book page.
One, I figured out if I wanted to have fun with special edition books for a quick starter that it would cost a minimum of 500 to 600 dollars per series book. And that is with a plan to do a nice, but simpler print on demand set up with this printer. I really like how they handle everything and help you figure out the best options. Even better, they are a US printer that is only a few hours away from me if I wanted to go get books in person. However, that would probably turn into an overnight trip. My cats would probably freak out that both humans were gone that long. But I’ll probably pay for them to ship them to my house if I decide to make a special edition hardcover.
Two, to up my graphics design with 100Covers for many cool marketing graphics and fun for bookmarks, mugs, and shirts. If I want to go that far, it will cost 400 dollars. I may do this anyway because it would help me out in the long run.
Three, I had the chance to apply for a grant that could help put this series into audio format. It’s a long shot, but you never know unless you try. The final submission day was June 30th, and I’m not sure when they make their choice. They have been doing these grants for a few years now and have proved legit. There are so many hacks out there promising great things to dreamy writers that I do my best to vet everything these days. Let’s not talk about that Reader’s Magnet guy that still calls me after I said I was not interested two years ago when Champions of Light came out.
Having said all that, if I were to run a Kickstarter as mentioned more than once over the past year, I’d have to aim for 2000 dollars to at least cover production costs. So I’m presenting you with a poll of what you would actually buy to support a Kickstarter if I did one for this series. Please be serious about this and answer, even if the answer is a flat no to everything.
Cyborg Claude
I’ve reached a more challenging, but fun section of this serial where I have been rewriting from scratch a chunk of the messy middle. Thanks to everyone that is reading and your comments and email replies have assured me the tale is worth telling. All of your feedback will wrap this up in a better format for a book in the future. For now, it remains entirely free until fully spun out so that you can jump in any time and share your thoughts.
Book Review
My reading has been a lot slower than I like with life’s schedule, but I finished Karyne Norton’s Salt of the Seas this month along with a short story and a couple novellas that wrap around the main series of books. I enjoy her stories and now for the wait until next year’s release. Check out my review post for all the details.
Last of Dragons
I’m adventuring into this novel per last month’s toll. July will be primarily focused on this novel, which is set a couple centuries prior to the Light Series. I will have to split some time to keep Cyborg Claude going, but I feel I can make some good progress this month. I should have the draft done by the end of summer. It might not be until January or so that I need beta readers. It all depends on the editing phase after the draft and I will not make anyone do it during the holidays at the end of the year. I’ve learned a lot about what I need to do with my self-editing phase, that I’ll probably get more done on this one before I share it for beta reading. Regardless, this should hit published in the second half of 2026.
Allies of Majesty
I’m looking forward to seeing my author copies sometime this month. Everything looks on track for them to be ready for the table at the RealmMakers Expo July 18th through the 20th. I would have loved to be there, but I’m praying I can make next year to meet everyone in person.
Events Coming Up
It’s not finalized, but I plan on having a presence at a local library during the village’s big community day in August. I will have my trilogy and the Allies of Majesty anthology there. All books I sell will be signed and some proceeds will go to the library. This is where further graphics could come in handy for bookmarks, character cards and other fun items. However, I need to jump on this sooner than later so I can be ready beyond what I can self produce.
Final Notes
I’m ever busy and there is definitely more to come. Thanks for all your support, whether you bought my books, read my serials, give feedback, or simply hang out to see what I’ll do next. This writing life has been so much fun and I’m glad I finally took all my training to turn into something series back in 2021. Don’t forget to fill out the poll, so I know what you all would do if I ran this Kickstarter idea… finally.