Category Archives: Book planning

Thoughts about works in progress and how they develop. Back stories that may be interesting to the readers and some of the character development.

blog, Book Promotion

Happy Boxing Day, a new promotion and other news

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Hi, to all my lovely tribe…

It’s snowing off and on here in Reno, Nevada. We had about 2 inches in the city, but lots more on the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Now the wind is howling as the next storm moves in.

Happy day after Christmas, known as Boxing Day in the UK. But here in the USA, it’s more likely to be Happy Returns Day as people begin to take back the unwanted items they received at Christmas. You don’t have any of those, do you? Anyway, Boxing Day, if you didn’t know, originated with Queen Victoria. After the wealthy people celebrated on Christmas, they gave their servants presents or boxes of items on the day after along with the day off to be with their families. These people in turn gave gave boxes to their loved ones.

These days, it’s a time when some people still pack up unwanted items or new ones and, sometimes, food, to give to the poor on Boxing Day. While it’s a charitable custom, the actual practice may be fading out a little. Still, it’s a celebration day in the UK, Australia, and other parts of the Commonwealth.

The other thing I want to tell you about in this update is….

Science Fiction and Fantasy Promotion

My novel, Time Walker, is part of this one week promotion that began yesterday and will run through January 2nd, 2022. I’ve discounted it to 25% off the regular price. While the first book is available for most formats (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple) through the link, the second book, Splintered Time, is only available on Kindle Unlimited and Amazon at this time.

So, are you looking for some new books to read during  the Christmas lull? Check out this great group promotion with about 30 science fiction and fantasy novels to choose from. I’ve picked up three new eBooks  myself.
https://books.bookfunnel.com/xmas_treat/fxfqjqgbce

If you know anyone else who might be interested in this promo, please share the link with them. The more the merrier!

Update on Outer Rim

I am still working on the first draft of the  2nd book of the O’Ceagan Saga series, which is named Outer Rim. I have about a chapter to write, so I’m hoping to get that done in the next week or so. I have some down time coming up after the Christmas stuff, so fingers are flexed and ready to go. I just need to engage my brain.

I think this cover for it ties in terrifically with the first novel. What do you think? Like it? Love it? Let me know in the comments.

Vella Project

https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/product/B093BJMBJ4I am still posting semi-weekly updates to my Vela novel, Cynara’s Destiny. Currently, I am at episode 19 and hope to get 20 up later today, which won’t show up until tomorrow probably. If you haven’t tried reading an episodic story, go out and give it a try. Amazon is giving you 200 free credits to use and the first three episodes of every story on Vella are free.

The stories are designed to be read on mobile devices, except Kindles. I think if you follow a story, it will notify you when a new episode is posted. But keep this link for mine handy so you can easily find it again.

https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/product/B093BJMBJ4

I hope you’ll take a look, read a few episodes and give each one a like. If you really like it, leave it a review. They all help my books to get noticed in the big mass of books on Amazon.

And that’s a Wrap…

Thanks for reading and I wish you a very happy ( and safe) New Year’s Eve and Day. I believe we’re all hoping for a better year in 2022 and more opportunities to get together.

Speaking of opportunities, I may be doing a book signing in Reno in February at Grass Roots Bookstore. More on that as the plans develop. So, until next month. Happy Holidays and happy reading.

Stay safe and warm.
Lily

blog, Book Promotion, My musings

Virtual Con Going and a Reminder

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Here we are – almost to the end of August. And I still don’t have the editing to Splintered Time done! One thing after another has gobbled up my time. So, it’s delayed a little longer, but I do want it to be the best I can make it before I release. New target is mid-September. Fingers crossed (but it’s hard to type that way, so just imagine they are!) If you haven’t checked out the first book of the series, Time Walker, you can find it here.

Convention Going in the Covid Era

One thing I did this weekend was to attend the Highlander Convention hosted by Highlander World Wide. Anyone who knows me can tell you I’m a huge Highlander the Series fan. Yes, I did like the movie, but I really fell for the TV series. I loved the actors, plots, and the flashbacks, yet the heart of the episodes were often the moral dilemmas Duncan MacLeod faced from week to week.  The stories made you think and in the HL fandom,  that meant a lot of online discussions.

I was fascinated by the Methos character, a 5,000 year old Immortal who  looked like a young, hip college student as played by Peter Wingfield. So, I started going to conventions and I eventually became president of Peter’s fan club (under another name). This led to a twenty-plus year friendship with lots of the members as well as Peter. Sadly, Peter wasn’t at the convention this weekend. He’s now a doctor in Los Angeles, so he couldn’t get away from work to make the event. But just about everyone else from the cast and key crew made it. What fun to talk about those episodes again and learn the backstories and other tales of filming.

This was hosted on an interesting platform called Floor, which Adrian Paul uses for his Sword Experience. When you enter, it’s set up with a lobby, then places to click for the stage, lobby, lounge, and vendors. After using Zoom for meetings for the past year, this set up really impressed me. If I were to have a big meeting, I’d definitely consider using the Floor platform.

Reminder about the August Vella Promotion

In case you haven’t had a chance to check out Vella yet, there’s still time to get over and look at the great episodic sci-fi and fantasy stories my fellow authors and I have running there. You can read the first three episodes of any or all of them for free, then Amazon gives you 200 token if this is your first visit to use to unlock additional episodes.

Please check it out by clicking this link. (Feel free to share with anyone you think might be interested.)

I just released episode 10 of my story, Cynara’s Destiny and plan to release episode 11 this coming Friday. So check it out.

This is an adventure story set in another solar system as a young sorceress struggles to control her powers when an outside force threatens her worlds.

 

That’s it for this month. Enjoy the rest of summer.  Look for the release of Splintered Time soon!

Stay safe, stay well. All the best – Lily

 

 

 

Book Promotion

Amazing Vella Promotion

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As I mentioned last post, Vella has arrived at Amazon. Sadly, the big A doesn’t seem to be promoting this new format much, so several of the Vella authors, including yours truly, have banded together to do a promotion through Book Funnel. That’s right, 17 Vella stories are included to entice you to read a few chapters. Simply click on the image below to go to the page to check out the great assortment of stories.

Image for Book Funnel promotion.

Among the offerings is my novel, Cynara’s Destiny. So far, nine episodes are available to read. I’ve been trying to get the eps up every other week, but I hope to pick that up to each week at the end of August when I plan to have Book 2 of my Time Threads series ready to publish. In case you’re wondering, Destiny is completely written and I am doing the final edits just before posting each episode, so it will be a completed book. I know some people don’t like to read a serialized story until all the episodes are up.

But here’s the good part. The first three episodes are free to read. Check out any of these stories you’re interested in, then decide if you want to keep reading. Amazon is giving you 200 free tokens just to give it a try. This format is for tablets and phones, but if you have Google Chrome, you can also read it on your computers. So, what are you waiting for? See what’s being offered on Vella now.

blog, Book planning

New Storytelling Format Is Coming

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Status of Time Threads second book

Gosh, it’s June already and I’m still editing Splintered Time. I am sorry this is taking so long, but the time travel novel is complex and I don’t want to miss anything or make it too confusing for all you guys to follow. I still plan to get it out in the next month or so.

Introducing a new reading format

The latest trick from Amazon is a treat called Vella. I’m not sure when the exact start date for this new format is, but I thought I initially saw July. Since then, the terminology has changed to a few months. But I am working on a sci-fi fantasy story for it. The concept is to publish the story, episode by episode.  Readers can download the episodes to their phones or tablets or read them on their computers. The Vella Store will be a separate area on Amazon.

Initially, the first three episodes are free to read, then you begin paying tokens for each episode after that. The ratio is 1 token per 100 words in the episode. So, if an episode is 2500 words, it will cost 25 tokens to read it. Tokens are sold beginning at 200 for $1.99. The more you buy, the more extra ones you get. For instance, $14.99 buys 1700 tokens. The idea is the offer episodic fiction to people to read on their phones or tablets on their way to work or while waiting for someone.

With this in mind, I’m rewriting and adapting a story, currently called “Cynara’s Destiny” (that may change), for this new format. I’m really excited about the format and the adventure I’m writing for it.  I’m hoping you’ll be enthused about the possibilities and the tale I’m spinning.

Waiting in the wings…

Overdue, but in the works, Outer Rim is the second book of the O’Ceagan Saga. The first draft is almost done, and it will go into editing after I finish Splintered Time. For now, I’m targeting a Spring 2022 release.

We’ll be following Grania O’Ceagan and her brothers on an adventure that takes them back to Earth, then on to the farthest reaches of the galaxy.

Next on the finish the draft list is Gatekeeper, the first book of my Connected Worlds series.  More about this series later, but I am hoping to get the draft completed by the end of this year. It’s about one-third done now.

That’s all I have this month, but I hope to finally get on a more consistent schedule of updating my blog and newsletter once a month.

Hope you’re almost summer days are going well and see you next month.

Lily

 

blog, Book planning, Book Promotion, NaNoWriMo

February Give Away is Winding Up

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Hi, everyone…

Once again, I have lapsed in keeping up with my blog. I’ve been busy over the past few months but I can’t point to much and say that was what I did! But I did do NaNoWriMo in November and got in close to 80k words, but haven’t quite finished the book. I am working on the sequel novel to O’Ceagan’s Legacy. I looked at my publish date and realized five years have passed since I wrote it. It’s past time that I should get the next book out! So, that’s was the November project.

This one is called Outer Rim and carries Grania O’Ceagan and her brothers to the very edge of the solar system with a special delivery for a rebellious group there. I’m excited to get this book done and out there, but first things first…

I am also working on the sequel to Time Walker, which is Splintered Time. I’m running it through my critique group. which is a time-consuming project, but worth it for the comments I get back from everyone. In the long run, it will be a much-better novel than I had after the first three rounds of edits. I am still hoping to get that book out at the end of Spring or possibly early Summer. What was I thinking when I decided to write a time-travel novel?

I have a couple of short stories I was playing with for a writing contest, so I want to polish those up a little, then I’ll post them for you all to take a look and comment. Short stories aren’t my strength, so I am trying to improve on them.

Book Giveaway!

I’ve had the first book of my Funeral Singer series up for a free download on a giveaway at Prolific Works. A Song for Marielle introduces you to Gillian Foster, a struggling musician, who receives an unexpected paranormal gift. She can interact with the recently deceased in an ethereal graveyard where her task appears to be to help them find their way to the pearly gates. Except sometimes, the spirits refuse to go until something is resolved from their lives…like maybe finding a killer?

If you haven’t read this paranormal thriller yet, here’s your chance to download a free copy. Simply go to this link and select my book and/or one of eleven others that are available to download. Of course, we’d love to have an honest review when you finish you or you can write me directly with your views at Lily@LillianWolfe.me. I’d love to hear from you!

By the way, if you’re looking for a fun, fast-moving new series, written by a gal I consider one of the best urban fantasy writers around, then check out the Guild Codex series by Annette Marie. You won’t be able to put it down. The stories interweave between the Spellbound and Demonized sub-series that will keep you entertained. Start with Spellbound: Three Mages and a Margarita and follow the author’s recommended reading order. I highly endorse them.

Thanks for reading. Until next time, stay healthy and stay safe.

Lily