In case you haven’t heard, my next book is about cowboys and dragons. Someone suggested it online, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. Also, I couldn’t think of anyone better to write it than this Texas boy.
The story will be set in the mid-1870s with two Texas Rangers trying to uncover the truth behind some rumors of a mountain full of gold and the Comanche thunderbird. (Spoiler: dragon)
This is a whole new type of story for me, so I’m having a lot of fun and stretching my writing skills. Stay tuned!
The latest draft of Under the Moon’s Gaze is now in the hands of beta readers! The cover designer now has the art concept in hand. It’s all coming… soon…
This weekend, I was selling at a Spring Book Fair. We were inside an enormous “event tent,” but it was 80 degrees at first. We were all sweating. Around 2:00, a cold front came through. If you’ve never experienced a cold front in the South, you may not understand, so let me explain:
The temperature instantly dropped about 10 degrees. Heavy winds gusted through (the tables nearest the entrance had to weigh down their stuff). And torrential rain poured down, drumming on our tent. THEN the fun began:
We were all, naturally, looking up at the big tent, hoping it wouldn’t leak. Or blow apart. Then the author beside me looked down and said, “Oh. We have water.” Turns out the parking lot was a bit sloped, so water flowed down it at my feet and under my table… where my boxes of books were sitting.
The water flow didn’t cover the entire area, just one swath angled across the fair. The two other tables I saw in the water had their stuff in plastic bins. I had cardboard. So a mad caper ensued in which myself and three other authors were yanking my boxes out and stacking them wherever we could find: on my table, on my stool, on top of some PVC used for banners.
The good news is: no books were harmed. My boxes were very thick cardboard, so the water didn’t get through. The box holding some of my supplies was damaged, but no big deal. The organizer came by after the rain subsided and asked if I wanted some plastic to put on the ground to put my boxes on. I said: “I’m standing in a half inch of water, so I don’t think that would work.” Good thing my shoes were waterproof.
And readers STILL showed up in the middle of all of this! I had to compliment them, even while I explained why I was leaning on an unsightly pile of boxes. In the end, no real harm was done, and I had another story to tell. Adventures in book sales, everyone. You never know what will happen.
THE SERIES IS NOW COMPLETE!! Chroma, the final book of the Dragontek Lore series, is available today! This science-fantasy action-adventure series (with dragons!) was written with teenage guys in mind, but it’s fun for all ages!
Finally, finally, finally! You would not believe all the behind-the-scenes stuff that has gone on for the past few months to get this done. Unbelievable. HUGE, HUGE THANKS to the wonderful Tremani Sutcliffe for stepping in and creating the special art for this cover. Check out her epic fantasy art here.
But now, here at last is the cover for Chroma, the final book of the Dragontek Lore series:
The danger from outside The Circle may be greater than any of the dragons Beryl and his friends have faced so far. Chroma, mother of dragons, is at work.
But can Beryl deal with that problem while the last and deadliest dragon, his former friend Onyx, still roams? And the draconic claiming to be the dragon Viridia reborn is plotting something sinister as well.
This triple threat sets the stage for the spectacular conclusion to the Dragontek Lore series. It all ends here for Beryl and friends. But will they emerge unscathed? Or even alive?
After significant delays when the cover artist for books 1-6 of the Dragontek Lore series became unavailable in mid-process, we are finally back on track!
(Full cover reveal will come soonish…)
Beryl’s action-packed saga will conclude at the end of February. Stay tuned!
After a flurry of publication in 2022-23, 2024 was… not so busy. I was in a serious writing slump for most of the first half of the year, but things picked up the last few months.
I started the year having just finished the first draft ofWolf Chosen(which didn’t even have a title at that point!). I worked hard on edits and rewrites to prepare for its launch in May.
I spent all of the rest of the year tinkering with Chroma, the final book of the Dragontek Lore series. But I wasn’t getting very far.
Finally, as I’ve detailed in previous newsletters, I took a writing retreat in September. After that, I was able to focus much better. I completed Chroma and made plans for the next two books.
I’ve done the edits and revisions to Chroma since then, and it’s ready to go now (more on that in the next section). At the same time, I started writing the third (and final) book in The Certainty of Blood. I’m about 20% through the first draft right now. I took off a few days during the Christmas break, but I’m back to it now.
My record words in a year came back in 2021 with over 500,000 written. I haven’t gotten near that since. In 2022, I was on track for 300,000, but injured my hand in October. For the past two years, I’ve only written around 120,000. That’s enough to keep things going, especially since I built up such a backlog in 2021-22. But it’s not enough to meet my own standards. Which leads us to 2025…
First up is the long-awaited publication of Chroma. Unfortunately, I can’t say the exact date it’s arriving now. As you know, I postponed it to January 14, but… I don’t have a cover. I’m experiencing communication problems with my cover artist. But as soon as that’s resolved, I can schedule everything for sure. The book itself is ready to go.
I’m aiming for at least 250,000 words written this year, and hoping for more like 300,000. Here’s how that will break down:
I still have about 100,000 words left to go in the current book (The Certainty of Blood, book 3). My target publication for this one is early June.
After that, I’ll be working on a… somewhat secret project (though if you’ve been following me online, you might have discovered it). That book will be at least 100,000, and I’m hoping to have it published by October.
I’m currently undecided on which book I’ll be working on after that, but there are multiple possibilities. Whatever it ends up being, I should be able to easily write 50-100,000 words of it before the end of the year.
I say all this with no knowledge of what else might happen, of course. Things can and do change, as is evidenced by the past couple of years.
In November 2016, I took on the NaNoWriMo challenge and wrote the first draft of what would become Viridia, book one of the Dragontek Lore series.
Today, I wrote “The End” on the seventh and final book, Chroma.
What a journey it’s been. I’m a little emotionally wrecked right now, but I’ll have a lot more to say in next week’s newsletter. Thank you to all who have joined me along the way!
There’s still a lot of editing and revising to do on this final book, but you should see it very soon!
