Updates

With each passing day I feel more and more like Duncan, except he had money and wasn’t constantly interrupted by equally isolated children. Thankfully we were able to get our vaccines started, but we aren’t going to be considered fully vaccinated until 2 weeks after our second shot, which puts us at mid-June for immunity. Obviously, I’ll take it. I already have several hundred autofill water balloons ready to go for anyone with a genuine vaccination card to come and have it out with me and my tribe of feral Covid kids. A knee high plastic pool and more super soakers than any adult should have collected will be waiting beside a barbecue of ludicrous proportions for any friend who can provide a genuine vaccination card signed in actual ink.

Depression can be a real bitch, and although I definitely do not struggle as much as many of my close friends, this last year was hard. I’ve employed every self-preservation tactic I know of and still ran out of drive constantly.

I was writing a scene two weeks ago and was struggling even though it’s a scene that I knew I shouldn’t have any trouble with. In it, one character is sad about something that happened to another character. If there was a way he could argue about it, that’s like… 90% of what I write. But, I couldn’t do it. I kept trying to make him angry, but the situation definitely didn’t call for it. It would ruin the scene. The fact that it would have such a drastic effect on him was the selling point of making the story go in that direction, so I stepped away after failing for hours. I eventually realized that I’d become so apathetic towards everything that I couldn’t even hit sadness anymore. All I had left was rage.

A ton of cardio and Covid- responsible socializing gave me a slight boost and I was able to make it through that scene after another two attempts, but that’s been the way my last year has gone. Having to take three times as much work to accomplish the same task. I’m not unique: everyone is struggling right now. I’m just grateful I was able to get a temporary burst of motivation to power me through, and even then it was on my third attempt. I’m looking forward to getting back to work over the summer when the kids are out of school and don’t need me to stumble through the steps of long division or factoring equations for them.

Math and I are old adversaries. Not because the math is necessarily difficult for me, but because the way I learn is sideways and hard for people to teach, which makes regurgitating math instructions for others very difficult. Let’s just say that I never wanted to grow up to be a teacher. My top three choices were Writer, Comic Artist, and Millionaire (as a child this was considered a job, walking around and being encumbered by how wealthy one is.). For anyone who has seen the cover of Swordmaster Dasan Part 2 – That was my art. After worrying for years it wouldn’t hold up to scrutiny, I no longer care if it does! I get very stressed doing my own covers though, so we’ll stick with the writing. That stresses me out too but I seem to be able to enjoy it more.

It’s just a matter of getting both time to write and energy to do it simultaneously.

Updates for all of my current projects:

Playing with Tiger Series – I’m surprised by how much I’ve been working on the third one. The only thing that surprises me more than the amount I’m working on it, is the amount I’m enjoying it. Taking a hiatus from writing as long as I did allowed me to look back on the book with fresh eyes. I really do love those stories, it’s just hard to see that sometimes through the many errors that made it to publication. I was a young self-pub author with no money to invest in an editor, and the first two books definitely show that. So, as I work on the third, I occasionally go through a few chapters of the first and second books and clean them up. There will eventually be a re-release of the first two books, closely followed by the release of the third and final book for this story.

Swordmaster Dasan – Much like the Playing with Tigers Series, this one is riddled with errors. Unlike the Playing with Tigers Series, each installment is much smaller and easier to fix. As for new books, there are some changes coming in the near future. The first two SMD books take place before the PWT series begins and after some deliberation I am planning to add another before the PWT series. That would be followed chronologically by a small free story that takes place during the events of PWT3 between Loki and Kyo, and then the conclusion of their series would take place after the PWT series reaches its end. Expect two and a half more books for Loki and Kyo before they’re done. Once I have the final draft of the last Playing with Tigers book, these can be released.

Warren & Iyren – This one takes place in the same setting as the PWT and SMD series. It was written as the story of how two of the new characters in the final PWT book meet, and turned into one of my most loving couples. Also there’s some attempted murder, treason, dubious consent, a handicapped tiger, one or more bombs, suspected boar assassins and one very unimpressed Grandmaster Localem Arada. This one’s done but can’t be released until PWT3 is ready, and it needs a final edit and a cover, which is a whole different issue.

Luda – I am destined to just never be satisfied with this book. It’s not like the others, maybe that’s why. Duncan had a lot going on, Playing with Tigers has about fifty different story lines inside of it, one of them was even good enough to become its own series, and Tarro? Well he’s the sexiest clever mess I could conjure. Luda, on the other hand is mentally healthy and tries to avoid terrible mistakes. He has good habits and out of all my characters, he’s probably the most wholesome. Apparently, I’m so cynical that I can’t tell if I’m writing a kind and caring individual correctly. I keep writing way more of the book than it needs, then cleaving half off and trying again. I’ve probably thrown away more pages than there are in Duncan, which is saying something. Hopefully I’ll have a serious talk with myself in the future regarding my expectations, because I want Luda to succeed as a book, but it can’t until I finish changing it and finally publish it lol

Duncan 2 – It’s hard to follow an act like Calvin, especially when Calvin is still present in the story line and available to loudly critique whatever catastrophe follows him. I believe I’ve FINALLY succeeded, but the draft is unorganized and needs work. I need to write the planned conclusion to the Cartwright story line within Duncan’s books as well, since Duncan is going to ALWAYS be released as two books packaged together if I can do it. I’ll throw an excerpt up somewhere when I get a chance

Cat & Crow 2 – There’s a decent amount of this book written, especially now. I tend to write Tarro when I’m at the very limit of my sanity, and doing virtual schooling for two children throughout Covid seems to have worked out well for this manuscript. We’ll see how this one goes.
That’s it for now. There are more, but they aren’t worth mentioning until I have more of them finished.

Feel free to leave me a message here or message me directly through goodreads!

Happy Hunting

S. K. <3