News & Announcements:

First of all, Merry Christmas! I hope your holiday is full of warmth and love!

I've come down with a cold, and on top of that, I've been extra achy. I really don't know what brought on the recent pain, but I've been staying away from the keyboard as much as possible, which means I don't have much of a word count for the week.

But I've shared a character journal (from Samandriel this time) and an excerpt, plus a new Spotify playlist for the holidays, a video series (also for the holidays), and a new (to me) book I've just started to read.

Happy reading!

Lois

News & Announcements:

I've been getting a bit of writing done. I've also been reading a lot, and I'll tell you what I've been reading below. My hands are still achy, but not quite as bad as they were. I'm still trying to keep it under 3K per day, which hasn't been difficult, since most of the chapters so far are very short. They should start to get a bit longer, now that I'm about to start writing the second act.

I'm also getting more into the hygge mindset and the Christmas spirit, as usually happens about this time every year. I've got almost all of my Christmas shopping done, so there's that. Now we need to focus on getting a tree and decorating, then Christmas celebrations/dinners. Hopefully, things won't be fraught with stress, as it seems every Christmas season tends to have this problem.

I've included a very long character journal entry from Zachariel's point of view, plus a brief excerpt from one of the chapters I wrote this week. I hope you enjoy them.

Happy reading!

Lois

News & Announcements:

My wrists have been pretty achy this week, which makes it hard to type a lot. Despite this, I'm still getting in a daily word count of at least 500 words. So far, I haven't missed a day.

I've started reading a new book and am loving it. I've linked it below. I highly recommend it. It's told in first person point of view, where James and Emma, the two main characters, tell the story in alternating viewpoints. I have a hard time putting it down each night, but I have to sleep, so I do. ;) You can read the description on Amazon at the link I've posted.

Happy reading!

Lois

News

First of all, I'd like to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving. My next post won't be until the day after, so I thought I'd get that in now. I hope you have a warm, cozy, fun-filled holiday.

I've been taking it a little slower this third week of November/NaNoWriMo, but I'm still writing. Just not pushing myself. My hands have begun to hurt a little, so I need to take it easy. You can see my daily word counts, along with the novel's total word count, below.

Otherwise, I've finished reading Russell Blake's Black In The Box. Really loving this series and wish there were more books. I've also begun his The Day After Never: Nemesis book. I highly recommend these two series, along with his Assassin series (link takes you to the first book in the series, King of Swords, on Amazon). The Black series is noir mystery with a lot of sarcastic humor. The Day After Never is post apocalyptic with a western feel. Assassin is, duh, about an assassin. Ha ha! But you find yourself rooting for the assassin, El Rey, especially in the last two or three books.

Have you read any great books lately? What are they? What did you love about them? What made them hard to put down? Let me know in the comments!

Happy reading!

Lois

News


* Reminder: This year's Halloween short story, "The Hellhound," is up, and you can read it for free here.


If you've been following my blog and caught my last update, you'll know that I'm gearing up for this year's NaNoWriMo. I'll be writing the first draft of Fallen: Vendetta, the first book in the Fallen series. The outline is ready to go, so come November 1, I'll be ready to write it.


In the meantime, I'm revising the outline for book 5, Vendetta. I plan to have it ready before NaNoWriMo begins on the first so I can focus on the book I'll be writing.


It's finally cooling off here, and I'm starting to think of ways to add hygge to my home and daily routine. I found a really great article on the concept, and you can read it here (http://hyggehouse.com/hygge). I started getting ready for the season by ordering some Yogi tea and Oregon chai tea concentrate from Walmart, and I plan to pick up some more tealight candles, as well. And some chocolate covered coffee beans, if possible, though that's my reward during NaNoWriMo and really has little to do with hygge beyond old memories they bring. If I get my words in for the day, I have some. If not, I don't. I also have my white fluffy throw ready to go, and my yeti pjs, which I've yet to wear. Of course, I do intermittent fasting most weekdays (four-hour feeding window, 20 hours of fasting), so I'm not sure when I'd work in the chocobeans and chai. I'll figure it out, though.


I've finally finished reading Ivanhoe, by Sir Walter Scott . When I read this book years ago, I thought it was an awesome book. Now that I know a bit more about writing, I see all the purple prose, and it makes me cringe! It's still an awesome story. Just wish it didn't have all the flowery descriptions, explanations of every little thing, and so on. Now that I'm done with that, I've moved on to Black In the Box, by Russell Blake. It's a much faster read, and much more exciting!