Editing and Allsorts

After nine weeks, I dropped the latest round of off-label headache meds yesterday – Candesartan, actually used for blood pressure regulation – because the side effects were becoming too detrimental and the constant/daily headache was completely undaunted. Already feeling slightly better, I happily spent the day working through the story editor’s notes on Compelling Infinity (Archivist 2).

Slowly but surely, I will get the next book in the Archivist series in your hands! Along with the first collection of the Moments of the Adept Universe stories. More info and release dates TBA!

But, more importantly, Michael bought me a treat to aid the editing/story pass.

On MCD’s desk today – editing Archivist 2 with the help of some liquorice Allsorts.

Liquorice (aka licorice) Allsorts!

Allsorts are definitely on the edge of too sweet for me, but I still enjoy the chewy texture. And the childhood connection/memory – one set (of four) of my grandparents always had a bowl of Allsorts on their coffee table when I visited in the summers.

I hope to get Archivist 2 back in the editor’s inbox by the end of next week. Wish me luck!

Round up: Week of Jan 15 – 31, 2021

It’s been a bit of an eventful week – and it is not over yet! – so I thought a round-up might be in order:

I sent Kandy’s prequel short story – In But a Moment (Moments of the Adept Universe 0.1) – to my newsletter subscribers on Thursday. My mailing list service informs me that only half of those emails have been opened so far, so if you’re interested in reading make sure to check your spam/junk/promos folders.

And! If you want to chat about Kandy’s story, I also posted a discussion thread on my blog.

The serialization of Awakening Infinity (Archivist 0) continues through February. The preorder is also available (releasing March 2). Click here for Chapter One. Also, Kim is posting discussion threads over on the Facebook reader-run fan group for those of you interested in chatting with other readers about Dusk, Sisu, and the games that guardian dragons play.

And finally, I’ll be launching the first of the Reconstructionist audiobook mass giveaways here on the blog tomorrow (Sunday, Jan 31 at 2pm PST). Starting with book one, Catching Echoes. Remember these giveaways are first-come, first-served! And the USA codes are generally gone within thirty minutes. So be sure to Google your time zone and refresh/load this page (www.madebymeghan.ca) right at 2 pm PST if you’re interested in scoring a free listen!

All and all a fun week!! And looking forward to February!

Leo knows what Saturdays afternoons are for: napping, not blogging or scheduling giveaways!

FYI. I’m cross-posting these updates to Facebook and Twitter separately because so many readers seem to miss my posts. I apologize in advance to those of you that get hit with it multiple times.

FYI 2. I’m in the home stretch on the first draft of Archivist 1, so I’ll likely be quiet on social media, etc, until it is done.

Archivist Series: bits of inspiration

When I start really digging into a new series, I deliberately surround myself with little visual touchstones. These items usually find a semi-permanent home on my desk or windowsill and I trade them out when working on different books/series. I was in the very first moments of brainstorming the Archivist Series last fall when I indulged in acquiring two new touchstones, one of which is the inspiration for Infinity itself (Dusk’s personal archive):

Under Infinity’s watchful gaze, I added 3800 words to Archivist 1 today for a total of 45k+. I’m pretty pleased with how those words are flowing onto the page this week and I hope the muse sticks with me through the first draft!!

***

Leather-covered sketchbook (aka Infinity): created by Mille Cuirs (who I discovered through Hailey Edwards – Thanks, Hailey!!)

Also enjoying: The 6th Scent Candle, Chocolate with a wood wick. And yes, I just realized I could burn a candle in my office without worrying about Leo singeing his whiskers. It only took me five years to realize that particular benefit of an exterior office.

Pending tech trouble?

I’m very possibly in the middle of losing a battle with a techgod. It’s subtle, but ignoring the signs of the demise of my computer set up might just be pure stupidity at this point.

Firstly, it probably important for you to know that I’m not great with change. See the keyboard I’m still using after all these years as just one speck of evidence.

Secondly, I promised myself six years ago that I would replace my laptop every three years (as the AppleCare ran out) because I’d been left without a computer three times in the past due to massive crashes. The first crash lost most of my early writing (screenplays, etc) and the second one was crazy inconvenient because we’d just moved to an island with no Apple Store (or Apple tech repair).

Now. I’m due to replace my current laptop at the end of December (Michael is operating off my six-year-old laptop, so he’ll get to ‘upgrade’ to my current laptop as well). But … the price has REALLY increased on the MacBook Pros and we’re in the middle of a major addition to our cabin (aka hemorrhaging savings) … plus with the constant headache, I’ve only managed to release two books in 2020 instead of my typical four. So … I’d been thinking about not replacing the laptop as planned, just pushing it for a few more months … maybe another year?

Apparently that line of thought was enough to rile at least one techgod.

Because yesterday my laptop crashed three times in a row. While I was proofing the audiobook for Unleashing Echoes (Reconstructionist 3). It normally crashes – MAYBE – two or three times a year.

Then, this morning, I head out to the office, all ready to write, only to find a strange little plastic dot on my desk next to my trackpad.

Back view of trackpad, with broken ‘foot’.

Apparently this foot is needed to trigger one of the ‘touch’ sensors of my trackpad. And yes, my trackpad is almost as ancient as my keyboard. It’s also cracked across the front. In two places.

Close up of the miscreant trackpad sensor foot.

The point is, I can’t figure out how the hell the foot fell off. There are no moveable (or loose) parts. No way to replace it without cracking off the back of the trackpad.

And that is just … weird.

It also might be a sign [other sign?] of pending computer doom.

I might have to give up, give in, and order new … everything.

But first I’m going to put the $$ I dump into Dropbox to good use and actually back up a bunch of files. Yes, I have a backup hard drive that I use every ten days. But it is also six years old …

MCD: Spring 2019

Posting my spring schedule/upcoming releases, etc so I have it all in one place instead of just occasionally mentioning it whenever I’m asked in various places online.

If you have any spoiler-free questions, let me know in the comments and I will endeavour to answer them and/or add the answers below.

NOVELS

Current release: The Amplifier Protocol (Amplifier 0) and Close to Home (Amplifier 0.5) (bundled together).

Upcoming release: Demons and DNA (Amplifier 1) – April 30, 2019

Next release: Amplifier 2 – late-July 2019

AUDIOBOOKS

Catching Echoes (Reconstructionist 1) is currently in production. Expected release is late May.

CURRENTLY WRITING

I’m brainstorming and outlining the first book in a new series, Jasmine Bytes (21st Century Vampire 1), while SFG (aka the editor) has Amplifier 2 for story editing. Then I’ll be alternating editing A2 with writing the first draft of Jasmine’s first book.

Make sure you’re signed up to my new release list (and that you open the emails, otherwise your email provider will start putting them in your junk folders) so you don’t miss any releases. When you sign up, check your spam/promotions/junk folders for the welcome email, pretty please.

SIGNING

I’ll be at the Nebula Conference from May 16 to May 19, 2019. There is a large, free mass autographing event (<<< click link for more info) on Saturday, May 18 with a 100+ authors attending. I’ll have postcards with me, but you can also bring anything (paperbacks, etc) that you’d like me to autograph. Or just drop by and say hello.

Digging deep into all my notebooks today, putting together background for the 21st Century Vampire Series!!

Other places to find me: FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM

The work in progress.

I sent Reconstructionist 2 off to the editor for his story edit pass yesterday, which means that I have a few days in which to outline Reconstructionist 3. Unfortunately I made the mistake of showering and blow drying my hair this morning before work, so ALL THE STORIES waiting in the wings of my mind started clamouring for attention.

How many stories are waiting to be told?

Allow me to give you a visual:

These are my (current) notebooks, colour coded by series. The collection pictured above represents Reconstructionist 3, Dowser 7, 8, and 9, Necromancer 1, along with two more that I dare not mention by name because one might not happen and the second is rife with spoilers.

Yes. Seven novels. That’s easily two years of work.

Dutiful writer that I am, I distilled all the perfect scenes that had presented themselves to me in the shower (etc) into a few notes in each notebook. [Scenes are always perfect in my mind, it’s only once they hit paper that I get into trouble.] Then I put the notebooks away, leaving only Reconstructionist 3 on my desk.

So, just in case you were wondering, there is a long term plan. And I’m trying to stick to it!!

The day after …

Well, that’s that. Dowser 6 is officially released, paperback and all. All the giveaways and memes and recipes have been posted and shared, etc.

So what is a writer to do now?

Get back to work, I suppose.

But first, I think I’ll play a bit with my new pens and ink samples:

And lug these around with me a bit longer:

And then there is The Bookcon next week:

Hmmm … mix in a bunch of chocolate and that all seems like a good plan to me!

😀

Thank you to everyone who preordered and purchased Dowser 6 yesterday!! You made the release a great success. I hope you like the read, and if you have a moment to spare, a honest review would be lovely.

Dowser 5: paperback

So this beauty just showed up in my mailbox for proofing.

I love ebooks, and I rarely buy paperbacks myself. Though I do have a few author-signed books that I’ve collected lately. But there is just something about seeing your words in print. 😀

I immediately approved the proof, so it’s on sale at Createspace now and should be available on Amazon in 3 days or so, then on other retailers in about a week.

You know what a new paperback means, right?

Yep, more giveaways!

I still have a few misprints I need to pawn off, and someone should get a copy of this pretty baby as well, don’t ya think?

The bone structure of a novel … for me.

I woke up feeling slightly rudderless this morning. This happens pretty reliably when I’m not deep in a story, when I’m just scratching around the edges of an idea but I haven’t found the hook into the plot. If I entertain it, this feeling can easily lead to fretting over the time it takes me to bring a novel to market, and then being daunted by the sheer amount of words between me and a completed first draft.

So I usually beat it back by blaring music through headphones – a specific playlist for each novel – and digging into character bios and building settings.

Fast forward six hours later, and I’ve written twelve hundred words of the final confrontation and know exactly were the novel is going … as well as the twists that get the characters there.

I love that.

This cracks Oracle 2 wide open for me. I’ll play around with the guts for a couple more days, sorting through scenes, turning points, and putting everything in its place. Then I get to dig deep into the first draft, inciting incident to the denouement.

I thought you might find it interesting to see what a story looks like to me in this stage, so I snapped a picture of my paradigm before I filled out too many spoilers. Please ignore the spelling errors.

This paradigm – or skeleton – of the plot is heavily influenced by Syd Field‘s structure of a screenplay, which I used to follow rather religiously when I wrote the first draft of a screenplay and saw no reason to drop when I transitioned to novels. I add my own bits, most likely cribbed from other sources, such as Save the Cat! and the like, but really it’s just an amalgamation of how story functions for me.

This will be a novel in approx. 70K more words.

One word, sentence, and paragraph at a time.

A breath, a look, and a sigh.

A kiss, a touch, and a smile.

The brave, family, and blood. Always blood and tears. Courage and fear.

Destiny.

Rochelle and Beau, beyond the skeleton of an idea and the smear of a pen.

Rochelle and Beau, beyond luck.

Thank you for joining me on this journey.

Dowser 4 – the paperback

This seriously pretty proof for Shadows, Maps, and Other Ancient Magic (Dowser 4) showed up last Thursday, but I thought I would wait until it was available for purchase before mentioning it.

As with all the Dowser paperbacks, the cover and the page break knife image were designed by the lovely and talented Elizabeth Mackey.

While Mark at 52 Novels made sure that the text, formatting, and chapter headings were all pretty, pretty.

A big thank you to both Elizabeth and Mark for helping to bring this beauty to print. I prefer to read in ebook format these days, but there is just something about holding your own paperback that is absolutely thrilling.