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I feel as though the long holiday period is finally over and the new year has started. There are many things I’ve been doing to start off the new year right, like walking, riding the little pedal machine, getting up every hour and moving, etc. I’ve been writing most days, but the current novel requires thought now and again, so I keep stopping and working on other things as well.
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One of the changes I made was to stop having so much light at night. Instead, I sit and read, knit, or do watercolor painting. Figured I could show a little progress on those.
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One of my writer friends was talking about this being the year of finishing WIPs. I only have three novels that I’ve started and haven’t finished. (Plenty of series, but I’m working on finishing most of those.)
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I’d started book three in 2020, setting it during the Black Lives Matter riots. (Title: “Following Orders”.) I can’t keep it during that time period, I’m not interested in setting something during the middle of the plague. However, changing it means writing about current day Seattle, and the city, particularly Capitol Hill, has changed so much in the past few years.
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Plus, I’m not all that interested in writing a book that starts with a kidnapping and is full of psychological torture.
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So I believe this is a WIP that I’ll never finish. As I only have 1700 words or so done on it, I don’t feel too badly about that. I think I’m done with Halley, and that I’m just doing cozies from now on.
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The second is the start of a novel from the short story, “The Alchemy of Coffee.” (https://books2read.com/u/mVWZ24) I have 2000 words of that. It just felt too hard to continue. It’s called, “Magicless” and it’s about a person who has no magic in a world where magic is the norm. It’s all about disability, invisible disadvantages, and it didn’t bring me joy. I don’t think I’ll ever finish this book either.
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The last WIP is the second of the Portal Keepers books. (Huh. Just realized that I never published the first book.)
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The first book was exclusive to a storybundle. Probably didn’t want to publish it because I was afraid that I’d make changes to it while writing the other two books in the series.
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I got 16K words into the second book before I stopped. Reread it this week trying to figure out the problem. Took me a while to realize that there are three problems with what I have that I’ll need to fix.
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First, the main character works as a carpenter, doing specialty cabinetry. She’s worked in the trades all her life. First book has a lot of swearing in it. I completely dropped all the swear words from the second book. It’s far too cozy.
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Second, while I love me some house porn, there’s too much of it at the start of book two. It’s great, but it bogs everything down. I feel as though the book doesn’t really “start” until like chapter three or four.
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I eventually found some notes regarding a possible plot for the book. The third problem is that now I realize what I was thinking about won’t work. I know how book two ends. What I’d written down, while I might be able to make it work, would also triple the size of the book. So I need to change that vague plotting that I’d done, come up with something different. (Already have, for that matter.)
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Went for a long drive with my husband and batted around ideas for the plot for book two. What I’d originally come up with can be altered slightly and it suddenly works, not just for book two, but sets up book three nicely as well.
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Then there’s the novel I did finish but never published. I’m going to look at it and see if I should just throw it out there or not. I never sent it out into the world because it ends with such a cliff hanger, and I wanted to write the other books, not just leave the reader hanging. But I’ll never write the other books in this series. The main character is unreliable. I HATE unreliable narrators. I didn’t understand why I was having so many problems finishing this book until I was almost at the end of it and saw just how unreliable she was. So no, I don’t think there will be more books with her.
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Do you have things that you want to finish? Or will never pick up again?
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Chocolates and Truffles and Bon Bons, O My!
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Shar Opalbender hates her life.
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Okay, maybe that’s a bit strong. Emo, even.
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Despite her Dwarven heritage, and her family’s expectations, Shar finds no joy in faceting, setting, or polishing gemstones.
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What better way to prove herself to her family (and herself) than to enter, and win, the Realms’ renowned contest, Chocolates Galore!
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And maybe, just maybe, with some magic, luck, and a little help from her friends, Shar also can discover the true meaning of life.
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If there is one beyond chocolate.
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Come enjoy this lovely cozy fantasy with low stakes, delicious chocolates, lots of breaking of the fourth wall, and utter silliness.
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AJ's latest vision starts with a dozen people being yanked out of sight by a noose around their neck. It ends with just a single body, hanging from a beam in an open loft.
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What the heck? Did she just witness the work of a serial killer? Or a cult?
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The victim turns out to be more nefarious: a Catfisher, that is, someone who impersonates other people on the internet for attention and possibly money.
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The reality TV show that exposes catfish turns their attention to AJ. As a successful psychic, she must be a fraud. Right?
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Between being pushed for information by one of the show’s host, the machinations of her mother on the Milltown chamber of commerce, and trying to keep her relationship with Roland moving along, AJ has her hands full.
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Particularly when a second, only somewhat reformed catfish comes to her for help after being threatened...
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Witch Mirror?— a cozy paranormal woman’s mystery—continues the adventures of AJ, the quirky characters of the charming Pacific Northwest burg of Milltown, and leaves AJ with questions about magical powers and her path forward, with her family, friends, and lover.
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Let the water—and the magic—flow.
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A tough man in a tough town. He likes Ike, but not many other folks.
Los Angeles in the 1950s hides some weird and menacing things in her shadows. If you have the need, and can pay his daily rate plus expenses, maybe you can hire the man, for whatever strange things need handling, from hunters of forgotten gods to aliens that walk the streets in disguise.
The first six Gunderson stories, collected together and on sale for the month of January.
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