A Stupendous Launch, Saved from Wildfires, and How I Jumpstart My Writing | THE FELLOWSHIP - Join thousands of fellow fantasy fans in the Fellowship!

A Stupendous Launch, Saved from Wildfires, and How I Jumpstart My Writing | THE FELLOWSHIP

Oct 29, 2020 9:36 pm

Hello, fantastical Fellowship!

It's been a great release for A Queen's Command thus far! But life carries on - so we're back to our ordinary state of affairs!

Here's what's on the menu this week:

Thanks for the stupendous launch of A Queen's Command!
Writing progress
Writing tip (new section!)
Personal update
Deals & discounts

Thanks for the Stupendous Launch of A Queen's Command!

So far, this release has been fantastic! A Queen's Command has earned a couple of #1 New Release spots (in Norse & Viking and Greek & Roman Myth & Legend categories), and folks are still snagging their copies.

Thanks to you all for helping make the book release a success!

And even better is seeing the feedback come in from reviews. Here are some choice ones from this past week:

David said of A Queen's Command on Spain's Amazon store:

"A great story

A great sequel to a kings bargain, the story is full of twists and is a great read. Can't wait for the next installment. Highly recommended."

And Carissa for the Legend of Tal series in general:

"So good. Read it

Well written and enthralling."

Thanks a ton for these reviews, David and Carissa!

In case you didn't know, reviews are incredibly important in assisting other readers in discovering the books. It doesn't have to be long either - even a single sentence or just a star rating helps!

If you have a moment, please leave a rating or review on any of my books - especially on the Legend of Tal books. You'll make this author's day!

And remember, you can grab your copy of A Queen's Command if you haven't already! Just use the button below.

Read A QUEEN'S COMMAND today!

On Writing...

The drafting continues for Secret Project 2! I'm now over 75k words in - well over the halfway point. The story is shaping up nicely, and I can't wait to tell you all more about it!

In Legend of Tal news, the cover for Book 3, An Emperor's Gamble, is in development! I'm excited by the concept, and René always does a fantastic job - looking forward to seeing how it turns out! And I'll share it with you once it's in.

Writing Tip

I wanted to try including a new section this week: a tip for writing fiction that has been helpful for me lately.

The core of it is this: using sense of smell to jumpstart my writing.

As a lot of writers will tell you, one of the most difficult parts of writing is getting the ball rolling each day. It's no different for me. As much as I love writing, unless I happen to have a spurt of inspiration at just the right moment, there's a wall of resistance to setting out and beginning the day's words.

Fortunately, I stumbled upon one way that quickly gets me into a scene: imagining what my character would be smelling. Good scents or bad stenches, environmental or from the people and creatures around them - anything that would be most pertinent for the protagonist in that moment.

It might sound strange on its face, but evoking the senses is incredibly important for a reader's immersion in a scene - so it makes a certain sense it would be the same for the writer.

I've been using this technique consciously for a couple of weeks now, and pretty much immediately, it lands me right in the scene and in my character's head.

If anyone has the psychology on why this would work, send it my way! I'd love to hear your takes on it.

Personal Update

The impending wildfires in Colorado, which have come within 14 or so miles of my abode(!), were dampened by a recent snowfall, but they continue on. Hopefully the wildfire season will end soon!

But the snowfall was also wonderful just to watch. There's something satisfying about being bundled up on a wintry day and seeing it come down.

I didn't have any cozy cat photos, so enjoy this one of Zelda showing off her new dress...