This week at A’mara Books:

This week turned out a little differently than planned… Plus, we just found out that we’re having apartment inspections again - which is also prompting travel today/tomorrow as we look for a new place to live where there aren’t so many disruptive/intrusive inspections. (As I am not a great housekeeper, this inspection always throws a monkey wrench/spanner into the works.)

Despite this, I still managed to write...

Over 10,000 new words!

• Neví 4 received all those new words bringing it up to just over 40k words.

I know, I told you last week that I planned to keep working on Janys’ Story but I realized that I was closer to finishing Neví 4 than I was to finishing the 852 TCE set – and with only 8 weeks to go before I need something new to share (and plot development spinning in my head…) I decided to go ahead and work on finishing Neví 4 which gives me another 6 weeks to write either Neví 5 and/or work on the 852 TCE set again – maybe a bit of both.

At the moment, I’m pleased with how Neví 4 is developing. It *may gain the name Games of the Neví which feels like a good description of what they are up to at this time. I think it’s going to be relatively easy to slap those 10k more words on it.

The part that’s not easy is the fact that after extricating pieces meant for another storyline, there are a bunch of loose bits all the way through which have to be reined in, then put together with new words to make it work again. That’s being done one day at a time (which can affect 5-7 chapters sometimes!)

Stephen King writes 6 pages a day…

Someone shared this video on Twitter:

I found it interesting and inspiring to find out that Stephen King writes so prolifically during the initial writing phase of his books. That’s about 2000 words a day. My goal is 1500/daily, so I don’t feel so far behind, and I have children to raise and a house to take care of!

Author Shout-out – Kay Hooper!

It’s official. Romance can be a great launch pad! It certainly was for Kay Hooper.

I initially found some of her older romances in our laundry room. I quickly recognized a great writer – and one whose style is similar to what I’m trying to do – which is to continue a series with characters reappearing throughout. They are books that do* get hot and steamy as a good romance is meant to, but there weren’t stupid characters making stupid choices simply because the book needs to be longer!

(Many romances do that – those ones make me mad – make me want to throw the book across the room… They can also make some women think that a romance isn’t real if there’s not enough drama – my husband has heard this excuse!)

Kay Hooper didn’t need to do that because there was a real (and good) plotline that held the whole romance thing together – giving plenty of drama, without the characters needing to be stupid or play games with one another…

Anyway, after actually taking the time to chat to her on Twitter, telling her how much I loved her old books, I made it a point to watch for more of her books. I found some a few months ago at one of our thrift stores. OMG, they are awesome!!!

If you like FBI-crime-fighting suspense novels with a strong twist of paranormal and a dash of heated romance, this author is totally for you!

The first of this group I read is called “Sleeping with Fear” - and begins with the main character waking up in bed with a man – and has no memory of how she got there and who he was!

Mapmaking

My map of Hailu, X’lea, is nearly done. I’ve been working on Krita to get it done this time, blending the use of the paint layers with the vector layers. It’s a lot of work, but it looks better than any of the city maps I’ve done before. This should be done in the next few days, I think. (Maybe after we get back from traveling.)

Only a few more steps, anyway – including labeling.

Coming this week

• Six more chapters of Name of the Neví on Steem.
• Seven more chapters of Sands of Survival on Whaleshares.
• Complete Hailu map.
• Complete Neví 4 and firm up the name – maybe Games of the Neví – maybe not.
• Encyclopedia work
• End materials for Mind of the Neví and maybe get that epublished.
• Tackle Lulu publishing – at last… get something done.

Reviews?

If you have liked any of my books, please take the time to leave me a review/rating at Goodreads

Anyway, that’s what’s been going on here at A’mara Books this week! I hope you manage to take a few minutes to immerse yourself in my world of Terrenden – which I’m so delighted to share with you!

Crossposted on Steem, Whaleshares, WeKu, Hyperspace and Publish0x.

Writing and artwork copyright myself 2005-2019 – all rights reserved.
If you are interested in helping me publish these works, please contact me on Facebook or Discord, viking-ventures#2883.

Lori Svensen
author/designer at A'mara Books
photographer/graphic artist for Viking Visual
verified author on Goodreads
find me on Twitter
blogging on: Steem, Whaleshares, WeKu, Hyperspace, Publish0x