Today Nora and the Siren Song has officially been released, and I am so excited for people to get to read it. Nora’s story has grown, and so has her character. I am neck-deep in drafting the fourth and final book for her series, which is due to release in October, so fans of her story will be happy to know that by the end of this year, they will have the WHOLE THING.
No more waiting for another installment.
No more cliffhangers. (cough, ahem, sorry/not sorry)
Nora’s story has been a pure joy to write and I sincerely hope all of you have enjoyed it as much as I have. To celebrate this newest release, here are all of the pretty promotional things I’ve shoved on Instagram/Threads/X/FB.
Because using them all just ONCE after spending 2 hours creating them feels like a waste and I want my money’s worth of Canva now that they raised their prices. Again.
In just 7 days, Nora and the Siren Song will be available to the world. Hurray! Throw confetti!
Which means I’ve officially been alerted that I have 48 hours to make certain all those files are the right files and that I don’t have any further changes I want to make to the book. Which, honestly, induces a mild panic attack and forces me to re-read everything.
Even though I have literally read this book over a dozen times from first draft to finished product.
Nora has come a long way since her inception.
I first got the idea for her books from a conversation on social media where myself and another author were fangirling over the show Lucifer. We both found it deeply amusing that Lucifer had a therapist in the show, and the conversation stretched to… What if all these paranormal romances we read about with vampires and werewolves and other said shifters/magic user suddenly had to go to couples therapy?
What would that therapists life look like?
Enter Nora Grayson, an empathic wizard living in Boston whose private home study sees couples from the typical vampires and elves, to the more exotic creatures hiding in plain sight of humanity.
I made her an empath for two reasons.
First, I love Deanna Troi from Star Trek the Next Generation. You can say what you want about me being a Trekkie or whatever, I really don’t mind. Star Trek was my mother’s favorite show when I was growing up, so I come by my geekery honestly.
Second, because I am an empathetic person myself and I feel like this trait isn’t given center stage a lot. The ability to listen and identify the emotional state of the people around you, and then genuinely understand, feels like a skill that is undervalued in the world today.
We’re too busy.
We have our own problems.
Or worse, we’re scared of people.
I mean, who wouldn’t be given what we see plastered over the news?
I digress.
Nora’s first book, Nora and the Werewolf Wedding has a simple design. It’s basically Clue, but with magic and werewolves. And yes, I learned to embrace my Pantser in that book.
Or, well, this whole series.
Don’t know what a Pantser is?
A Pantser is someone who writes without an outline. There is a vague idea – in this case, empathic wizard stuck negotiating a socialite wedding where at least one of the guests is murdered – and you build from there.
Which means literally everything that happened in that first book came as a surprise.
True story, I honestly thought Derrick’s grandfather would be the big bad guy on the page. Spoilers! He isn’t.
There are pros and cons to embracing the Pantser side of my muse.
First, I’ve had a blast writing. That’s a huge PRO. I sit at the computer, stare out the window for a little as the scene starts to show itself, and then the narrative tends to flow. (Assuming I’m not interrupted. Interruptions are a part of life. I do have pets, a teenage son, a husband, and general biological needs like eating.)
However, that PRO is often checked by the CON where I literally had to build Fairy from the ground up whilst on the go. I have a handwritten notebook with all of my world building notes, many of which required that I flesh out the rules during the editing process of the book.
I mention this as a CON because I know the world is bigger than what has been displayed on the pages and I feel like I can do better.
Another PRO is that I am genuinely surprised by the endings when I get there. Or… things like the surprise wedding in Book 2, which is still one of my favorite moments.
Writing this way has made it feel like this is Nora’s story and she is telling it, first to me, and then to the rest of the world. All my other books, where outlines have been heavily utilized, I was directing things more than the characters on the page.
Sure, Jorry and Trenna both had a huge say in what happened in their stories, but it was still ME telling those stories.
Maybe one day I’ll go back and revise their books from this new, Pantser-loving lens, but don’t hold your breath for it. Nora’s final book is still in the works. It will be out in October of this year. And I have several others novels in various stages of complete or near-to-complete that will get to see publication first.
In the meantime, here is me, embracing my Pantser. It’s difficult, but apparently well worth the editing time I have to spend after that first draft is done.
It was a rough ride, but we’re here and we’re still kicking.
What did I get done in 2024?
Available Now!
Well, first we had Nora and the Duke of Autumn come out for sale. It came out staggered, with the paperback in April and the digital rights in August, and I learned valuable lessons in this. Basically, you won’t see me do that again. There’s a weirdness in how the publishing dates work with the platform I use, but I’ve adapted and I know how to do it better in 2025.
Second, I completed Nora and the Siren Song. It is scheduled for release in April 2025 (both paperback & digital) and is already generating reviews with advanced readers.
Third, I began drafting Nora and the Vampire Court. This book is also scheduled for a 2025 release, but you won’t be seeing it until October. It has several drafts yet to go, and I am nervous as a cat in a tree about making sure all the little plotlines come together in the end.
Fourth, I began edits for a re-release of previously titled Witch-Born. I still quite love this book, but its publisher sold to another publisher and long story short, I’m getting publishing rights back to it. This is also in the running for 2025 publishing release sometime over the summer. When I know more, you’ll know more.
Fifth, The Last Child of Winter saw its final revision pass and has been on query for some time now. The querying trenches are brutal and frightening, with long stretches of nothing as you await word from various agents and sudden barrages of rejections that seem to come in rapid succession. I still have hope for this one, but if my next attempt at querying is unsuccessful, I may bring it back to the drafting table.
All in all, not a bad year.
I’m excited to say that insofar as orders go for my books, there have been over 500 more orders this year than what I managed to do last year. Which is exciting. Especially since my holiday sale of Nora’s current books won’t hit virtual shelves until the 9th, so that number is bound to go up before the end of the year.
I am sincerely grateful to everyone who has picked up my books. Whether you liked them or not, I appreciate the time it took. I hope every Reader has a book fort made of their TBR piles, the cozy drink of their choice, and maybe a fuzzy pet to curl up with them as they read.
Most of all, I hope everyone has a warm, safe holiday and I will see you all in January.
My first post about Character Growth dealt with Nora Grayson in particular. She is the main protagonist in the Nora Grayson Adventures and my focus was on how she has grown over the past several books. Currently I’m drafting Book 3 and outlining Book 4, so I have a pretty good idea what she looks like at the end of the series compared to book 1.
Today I’m looking at other characters in the books, which might have some mild spoilers but I’ll try to lean on the HINTING side instead of the outright telling you side of things. Because we all know I’m not big on spoiling books.
First, I’ll say that some of the comments from Werewolf Wedding have been about the team in the CEB. That’s Lieutenant Eucilla Norwind, Derrick King, Elliot Cade, Gretchen, and Sam Witters.
Basically, people want to know more about them.
And I get it.
Because I do too.
I should preface this with saying I am a kind of hybrid author. I do a basic worldbuilding bit to start, and then the story surprises me with the details as I move forward. Which means I take a LOT of notes as I write. And I have a Story Bible that is constantly being referenced to make sure I haven’t broken canon already set in stone.
Fun note: the Story Bible is the messiest thing you’ll ever see. It’s my creative brain at its finest, handwritten in multiple shades of ink with circles and highlights and extra punctuation. The outlines are done in here. And the read-through notes when I prep for editing.
Why is this important?
Because it means I only had a hint of who these people were when I started. They grew with the story and told me who they were mid-draft.
Now, this won’t work for every author out there. Some need to know everything from which kind of peanut butter their character prefers to how many times a day they think about their mother. And that’s fine. That works for them.
It does not work for me.
Drafting is a conversation between me and the characters. It’s where they show me who they are and tell me their story. If I knew everything going in, I’d get bored and stop writing.
Now, writing in a series means I have to keep a tighter grip on things. Each of them have to grow, have to show a little more of who they are, without breaking what’s already established. So… I do a weird thing, and maybe it’ll work for someone else but… here it goes.
I have Scrivener. And Scrivener has this amazing tool where you make character sheets. Before I start each book, I go through that messy Story Bible and type up what has already been established for each character. It’s my Filtered Download of the character, if you will. And then I go through my outline and put what I call CBP — Character Beat Points — at each chapter.
CBP’s are comments and/or questions aimed at each character. Things like; How does Gretchen feel about the pawn shop? or Don’t forget Sam is still new to Earthside and doesn’t get a lot of the customs.
And then, you know… I draft the first version.
The CBP’s are mostly there to instigate questions that can be explored as the narrative unfolds. Oftentimes they lead to more interesting questions that get fleshed out between draft one and draft four.
Anyway, that’s what I do. Maybe it’ll help someone else.
With the second book of the Nora Grayson adventures set to release later this year, a couple of questions have reached me regarding the setting of the novels. This is not your typical Paranormal Romance, nor your typical Urban Fantasy. And I should know, I’ve read plenty of both.
Nora and the Werewolf Wedding walked the line of Urban Fantasy pretty close. We only left Earthside — That’s the here and now for anyone who hasn’t read the book — and went to a safehouse in Fairy, without actually stepping foot in Fairy itself. Instead we were treated to Boston, Massachusetts and Allegany, New York — albeit it with magical creatures walking about in the daylight.
Why?
To be frank, because that’s what my Muse wanted me to do.
There was an argument early on with my Muse about having this as Urban Fantasy, and in truth it does not really fit the framework of your typical urban fantasy novel. On the one hand, yes, you see magical creatures walking in and amongst humanity in a present world, urban setting. On the other hand, humans have been left wholly alone.
We don’t have a human — or a character who grew up thinking they were human only to discover they were a fantastical creature in hiding — stumble into the fantasy elements of the book. Nora knows she’s a Bright creature, has known it all her life, and has a basic understanding of what that means.
In point of fact, Bright creatures have been in hiding from humanity for centuries, and the lore of the novels is such that Fairy was created as a safe haven for Bright creatures to run to if they were in trouble. Also, the urban part of the novel doesn’t last long. By chapter six we’re in the woods, sequestered away from human society so that my werewolf socialites can do… what werewolf socialites like to do best.
In Nora and the Duke of Autumn, we make a shift toward Fairy. 80% of the novel takes place in Fairy as Nora travels to what is known as the Autumnal Estates, where she and the trusty team from the CEB are investigating the murder of a high born sidhe.
Does this mean it’s not really an Urban Fantasy anymore?
Heck if I know.
I’m just writing the books, you guys can categorize as you see fit.
I will say that my steampunk loving self had a great deal of fun describing and creating Fairy for this book. The village of Delporte is my favorite, if anyone wants to know.
Since I am midway through drafting the third book and have a clear image of how the fourth book is meant to go, I can state with confidence that we still bounce between earthside and Fairy at a pretty decent clip. I mean, if you could jump into a body of water and come out the other side in a whole different world, wouldn’t you go for it?
We’re coming close to the release of Nora and the Werewolf Wedding and I thought for sure I had my book cover all settled. You’ll recognize it. Its sort of been everywhere at this point. And I’m not saying I don’t love it, because I do. I just realized that there wasn’t much TO it. And that it might not be a great representation for everything the novel has in it.
I mean, the title alone tells us it is supernatural. You can’t have werewolves and not be smack dab in the middle of paranormal or fantasy genres. And I suppose the title hints to romance as well because of the whole wedding aspect, but it’s vague because we don’t know if Nora is the one getting married or someone else. (Yes, it’s someone else.)
So I went back to the drawing board, as it were, and was hunting for maybe something else that might fit. This one got shot down by my husband pretty quick because he felt the wolf aspect was overdone for the genre. I’m still not sure I should have listened to him, but he DOES read the Paranormal/Urban Fantasy genre, which this book fits into. The romance is really secondary to the plight of poor Nora and Derrick, FYI.
As a woman, I like the picture. It’s pretty. And I want to ruffle some wolfie ears and snuggle in the snow. But. I’m not sure it really tells us what the story is about either. So again back to the drawing board and hunting for ideas here. I want mystery and danger and romance and werewolf-paranormal-magic-something in my cover!
So, I really liked the moon in this one. There was a sense of romance because of the couple, and that great big moon is a little unsettling. The tree, however, did not really match the setting. The majority of the book takes place in Allegany New York, near the lake and some super pretty forests and such. There seems to be too much black on the screen too. It’s not super eye-catching, you know? And while the wolf aspect can be subtle with the moon, it didn’t quite hit the spot.
And BEFORE you ask, no. None of these are AI generated.
SO!
Now we come to the one I think I have settled on. It could change between now and August, but presently I love the blue in this one. It catches the eye. And I have the romance of the couple, and the wolf howling in the background. And that great big moon.
(Brief reminder that you can PREORDER Nora’s first book through Kindle!)
So here’s the plan… Last Child of Winter is nearly complete. It turned out longer than I intended, which I think is probably good because it means I have more I can edit out come the revision pass. In any case, my beloved husband got me a Planner for Christmas and I have plotted out the first several months of 2023.
Why am I telling this to you, gentle, kind, lovely Reader (or listener, if you prefer the podcast version)?
Because those plans include a release date!
On May 9th, 2023, Nora and the Werewolf Wedding will be out for sale. And, fingers crossed, I hope to have an audio version released at the same time. It’s a learning process with audio rights and things, but hopefully we will see them both available on the same date.
Nora’s stories are my first real leap into Urban Fantasy, and for those who have been following along, I’m sure you recognize her name. She’s only been stirring around my creative brain for three years now, after a Twitter conversation gone awry. I started her story as alternate history fantasy, based in a steampunk version of our world but her voice was too sharp and by chapter four of the rough draft I had to change it.
This was the right call because her story opened up as soon as I made the choice and it’s grown enough in my head to be an entity of its own. In fact, her second book was written in three months flat and her third is being outlined.
And really, it makes sense since Nora’s character was inspired by Deanna Troi from Star Trek the Next Generation. (More on this in a later post.) Trying to shove Nora into 1820’s Boston stymied my creative Muse, as it were, and I came to a standstill. So, even if I think Nora doesn’t wear enough leather pants to truly qualify for Urban Fantasy, this is where we are.
I suppose it does have werewolves, and that seems to be on the Urban Fantasy Checklist these days.
This is vastly different from the recent release – Paw Prints on the Wall – which is still doing fabulous and I keep hearing from readers who enjoyed it. Thank you, forever and always, to everyone who has picked up a copy.
Nora’s book is a popcorn novel. Which means it’s a lot of fantastic adventure and fun, something you can enjoy while munching on popcorn or nestled in for a rainy weekend. I poke fun at a couple of tropes, lean into some cliches because, I mean, werewolves, guys. All around, Nora’s stories are great fun to write and I am looking forward to digging into the book once more as we prepare for that May 9th release.
P.S. Totally a placeholder cover. I have another cover in the works. A better cover. The best of all covers.
We are coming up on the holidays and I am about to take a step back from Blogging so that I can concentrate on family and reading and winding down, so this will be my last real post of the year. That means I get to talk about all the amazing things I managed to get done this year AND what I hope to accomplish next year.
This is my happy post because I get to brag a little.
And I do enjoy making goals for next year, even if I don’t manage to get them all done.
DRAFTS
We will start with the number of drafts I got finished in the year because honestly, this is what takes up the most time. I started the year with The World Beside Us, the second of the Nora Grayson novels. The first draft is completed and I managed to run it through the first revision pass, but it still needs another two or three passes before it is up to par and will be ready for publication.
Then I picked up Melody of Bones again, which I know I promised was a “little darling” that had been slain but let’s face it, an entire book as a “little darling” is hard to accept. It was literal years of my life I was trying to kill off and that didn’t seem at all fair. So I found a serial novel place called Novel Cat where I was able to sign the book and it is presently available in completed form. There are some charges you will have to pay to read the whole thing, if you’re interested, but it is relatively cheap. You can find my dragon Pru and her story HERE if you are interested.
Then we come to Paw Prints on the Wall, which went through several drafts before it became available for purchase in November. This story is near and dear to my heart and I am so pleased that people have been enjoying it. There are already a couple of reviews out there and I am hopeful that more people can find something that touches their hearts in the story. You can find it HERE if you are interested.
And to wrap up the year I have written (am nearly finished with) Last Child of Winter, which is a tale about a fairy talent show that I am super excited to see out in the world. It’s got fae folk as refugees on Earth and is a kind of mystery/love story/horror story all bundled into one. I adore it.
Or at least, I haven’t been working on it so long that I’ve hit the point where I hate it yet. Because that’s part of the writing process too. Don’t worry, by the time the editing process is done I’ll love it again.
BEYOND WRITING
Also this year I started podcasting this very blog. Which means you can read it OR you can have me read it to you. It has been interesting learning how to get all this done. I’m still a little wobbly when it comes to vocal editing and annunciating every word the way my high school drama teacher always taught me to do, but I will get there.
For those curious, this is the first step toward audiobooks. I have had several requests for this, and I have some vocal talent lined up for Tapped and Enemy Souls, but it is a process. With any luck, the first audio version of Tapped will be ready about the same time that the third book in the series – tentatively titled Tango Five – is ready for publication next year.
Which brings me to NEXT YEAR…
The first three months of 2023 are going to be dedicated to the completing Last Child of Winter, which is turning out to be bigger than I thought it would be. After this I will turn my focus to producing the audio version of Nora and the Big Werewolf Wedding. I am hoping for this to take no more than 6 weeks out of the year, so by the middle of May I should have something decent to present for Beta-Listeners. And then there will be announcements for a release date of the audio and print versions of the book.
For my second novel of the year I want to dive back into science fiction and get the next Tapped novel finished. Right now it is tentatively titled Tango Five, but that is likely to change mid-draft.
Titles are hard, alright?
I would also like to have edits for The World Beside Us completed, and to have a rough draft of the third novel in her series done.
I’ve learned that three major projects a year is plenty for me. It is an achievable goal and I do so enjoy achieving goals. But here are some things I would also like to complete, and/or at least begin working on:
The Little-Big Book of Testimonies – Christian Fiction
Nora and the Minotaur’s Wife – Short story
Fantasy Anthology – Possible Christmas 2023 release because I only need a couple more short stories to fill the pages. This is basically because you cannot get Torven in print anymore thanks to new guidelines/rules at Amazon. You can still get that book in digital format on Kindle.
The Debrief – Prequel Novelette for the Tapped series. This one’s been waiting in the back of my head for several years now and just needs a clear conclusion.
And that’s it. We will see what 2023 brings because I am old enough to know better than to think it will all go my way.
Happy Holidays, everyone. I hope you stay warm and safe and I look forward to seeing you all in the new year.
(A brief peek into this odd-ball brain of mine since the beginning of the current work in progress.)
Me: Alright! It’s an urban fantasy about a marital counselor to the supernatural. Werewolves, vampires, and all those magical creatures! It’ll be great.
Internal Editor: You can’t be serious. Urban Fantasy is full of women in tight leather pants running around killing things.
Me: Well, Nora is a counselor so she won’t wear tight leather pants unless she wants to.
Internal Editor: You need more romance. Romance sells.
Me: It’s all about romance! She’s a marital counselor so she’s helping people reconnect.
Internal Editor: Readers want to see her happy too, not just the people she’s helping.
Me: I’ve got that covered. Derrick King is the romantic interest for her.
**Several weeks into the project**
Me: I should change this to alternate history steampunk.
Internal Editor: That doesn’t sell.
Me: I don’t care. I like the premise, I like the 1890’s…
Internal Editor: They didn’t have marital counseling in the 1890’s.
Me:….
Internal Editor: Research if you like. I’m not even sure women could vote back then. The clothes are weird too.
Me: (after some research) Maybe she’s just an empath and a counselor and the rules for Fairy are vastly different than the mundane?
Internal Editor: Still doesn’t sell. Even if you manage to make this believable.
Me: If I cared about what sells better I’d be writing straight romance novels with all the steamy scenes that make standing in the same room as my mother difficult.
**Makes the change from Urban Fantasy to Steampunk Alternate History**
The Orange Beast
Internal Editor: We’re nearly done!
Me: Maybe I was wrong. I can’t feel this setting. Maybe I forced this steampunk business and broke the whole story.
Internal Editor: The outline looks fantastic. You can worry about that on the next pass.
Me: But if I stop and go back, alter it all to be urban fantasy again…
Internal Editor: Tempting, but you’re so close to the end, you should finish first and then go back.
Me: And every time I read the blurb it feels like Urban Fantasy.
Internal Editor: Probably because you wrote the blurb when you still thought it was urban fantasy. Finish the book. Tell the story.
Me: Steampunk alternate history doesn’t sell. If I want to sell this, I should make it young adult. And I can’t have a marital counselor as the main character in a young adult novel.
Internal Editor: … Just tell the story you want to tell, the way you want to tell it.
Me: How would this even be marketed? Did I just waste the last four months of my life on a novel that has nowhere to go?
Internal Editor: It’s only a waste if you quit.
Me: I should just tell the story.
Internal Editor: The way you want to tell it.
Me: Alright then, 1890’s Boston alternate history steampunk. Adult. Because even when I was a young adult, I absolutely did not understand young adults.
Internal Editor: Back to work, lady!
Me: Deep breaths. Just tell the story the way I want to tell it.
From Achilles to Captain America, Perseus to Luke Skywalker, our stories have been saturated with soldier heroes. We play them in our video games, we read them in science fiction; super soldiers who have the strength to fight when others fall behind.
AVAILABLE September 8, 2020
We love them because they fill us with hope.
And because they can do really cool things on the screen or on the page.
When I set out to write the Tapped universe, I was researching pressure points and Chinese legends about chi. For those unfamiliar with the term, chi is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as: vital energy that is held to animate the body internally and is of central importance in some Eastern systems of medical treatment (such as acupuncture) and of exercise or self-defense (such as tai chi).
But that dictionary doesn’t bring out the cool stuff.
The cool stuff, are legends of people having such mastery over their chi that they could perform kata’s (martial movements meant to practice control of the body) while balancing on top of, and not breaking, delicate teacups.
Think Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.
Now we hit the pressure points – these are specific spots on the body that, when manipulated in a specific manner, can bring about significant pain or other effects. Like the Vulcan neck pinch, only with practical applications like acupuncture.
Enter Fiction Author Brain, which asks; “Hey, what would happen if we developed that more? What would happen if we decided to try shoving those acupuncture needles in specific pressure points on a permanent basis? Would we be able to permanently access our chi?”
Thus was born the Tapped soldier, whose surgery to unlock their chi managed to unlock an entire universe of energy.
As an author, I knew I couldn’t go giving that power out willy-nilly. I also couldn’t have them invincible. That’s just boring. So, while my Tapped soldiers can access the energy around them, they can only do so within the limitations of their own bodies.
I know, I know.
We have a lot of super heroes.
As a fan girl who squeals with delight any time a new Star Wars anything comes out, I know that we have sooooo many super soldiers out there for entertainment purposes that it can be overwhelming.
We’ve even started debates meshing worlds together to see who can beat who. Hulk vs. Superman, that sort of thing.
So why write a story about super soldiers when we already have too many to choose from?
Long answer?
Because the compelling parts of a super soldier’s story are never the feats they perform. Sure, it’s cool to see Captain America race through a battlefield and take out a dozen enemy combatants, but it isn’t what keeps us watching him.
It’s the choices he makes with those powers that keep us watching. We want to see why he fights, not just how he does it.
Short answer?
Because I wanted to.
So here’s me, embracing the cliche, and I welcome you to join me! Maybe we can all learn a little something about the power of human choice in the middle of it.
