Where Have I Been?

It has been a few weeks since I posted so I have to apologize for not updating regularly. With the pandemic I was starting to feel I had nothing new to say and then I got tied up in book edits, then thanksgiving.

So I will do my best to entertain today. It's mid-October now and I'm looking at a forecast of snow in the very near future. Perhaps by the time you read this I'll be blanketed in the white stuff.

I was 18 days into my next 100 day challenge on my vr when I pulled my shoulder. Always make sure the heights are set properly before you start swinging for those beat saber blocks! I was out of commission for about a week. Now I've eased back in and am at 23 days, (I didn't start the count over, and perhaps I should but decided that I would just carry forward.)

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At the beginning of the year I planned to read 20 books, which did not happen. I never cracked the spine of one. So I've taken up listening to audio books since I can do other things while I listen. This is my dragon making time.

I've listened to the first Dresden files and am now on the second book. But as I said things have gotten busy so I have taken a lot longer to listen to it.

A small review of the first one, I enjoyed it. It took a little getting used to having someone read the book to me. The narrator is the actor that played Spike on Buffy and Angel. I found at times I couldn’t tell who was talking because he never changed his voice and sometimes his inflections.

I can see now though why Jim Butcher is such a popular writer. If you like urban fantasy, I do recommend the Dresden Files.

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I took a week and sorted out my computer, I'd been running a win7 and this computer was about ten years old give or take a few years. It had started to slow down considerably and then started randomly freezing. Usually at the worst times. So reluctantly I switched to a new system. A win10. BOO!!

My worst fear and the only reason I didn’t want to switch to a win10 was that I can no longer play sims2. Seems like a little thing, but when it is your main source of entertainment it can be pretty heartbreaking.

I got they hyper-v setup, which is the win10 built in virtual machine manger, (a virtual machine allows me to run a computer system inside of another computer system) What this meant was very exciting, I could install a win7 into the vm and play my sims there. But of course, if you know me, then you know all things computer systems related never works.

Heartbroken again. Currently my sister-from-a-different-mister, my bestie (as the kids say) is a computer genius. She is on the case and will hopefully figure out why it’s not working. And then I can play my sims again.

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I finished the edits of Tor and it has been sent and since returned from being formatted. Print copies should be available when the digital copies go live. That's very exciting! My eleventh novel completed!

I have of course now moved onto the next novel. It is a remastering and reimagining of my Guardians series. I’ve been asked by a few why I’m doing this, I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before but I’ll explain again. Legacy, Sacrifice, and Obsession were the first three books I had ever written to completion. They were the first books that I had published back in 2012.

I always loved the characters, and the story I was trying to tell. Over the years as I learned more about my craft and became a stronger writer the more I realized those three books were not what they could have been.

What does that mean? Well, I lacked the ability and skill to write those books the way they deserved. I couldn’t tell the story the way it should have been told. Since about 2014 I have wanted to come back to this series. At that time I had only just finished Fire&Water so going back wasn’t a good plan. I needed to write more, learn more, and get more experience.

So I waited, and I pined over those books. Not a day went by that I wasn’t wishing I could dig into them and fix them. The only thing I could do was keep writing so I did. I finished four books in the Dragon series, three books in the Realm Wardens series, and a standalone.

Now eight books later I have earned my right and the skills required to return to this series. My original plan was to just go in and touch things up. Fix a few things here and there, add a few things, you know some housekeeping. About a year or so ago, I did a little re-reading of Legacy to see what level I would need to fix.

*Big sigh* There is no fixing, it can’t be fixed. It’s sad, but it’s also kinda awesome. Why? Because it shows a level of skill that I have gained. I was barely crawling when I wrote Guardians, now I’m jogging perhaps even sprinting. I can’t go back to crawling. So the original versions of the books have been removed from circulation (at least the best that I can, digital age and all) the books have been marked as discontinued. What does that mean?

This means that Guardians is being renamed, rebranded, rebooted. Yup, along with many of the original characters there will be a mix of new faces. Wonderful and exciting new twists and adventures, with the same humour and sarcasm that was loved in the originals can be expected.

From now on the series will be known as The Young Chronicles, and book one due out in March 2021, Darkness Looms.
 
I’m throwing a Facebook live event on November 21st with four other great authors. Then on November 25th Tor will be available everywhere! This is exciting!

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Coming November 25, 2020!

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And that currently is the exciting life of me.
 
Follow your bliss.
Stay safe, stay healthy, love always.