If you read fantasy for the magic, the world-building, and the occasional moment of dark humorβI write that. One urban fantasy series, one epic fantasy series, both set in the Fractured Arcana universe, with more coming. My newsletter takes you deeper into the worlds, the characters, and what's next.
Newsletter - April 12, 2022
I had mixed feedback about the frequency of newsletters. In the end, "do what works for you" won out. I'll probably slip into a mix of weekly and every-other-week. Because weeks like the last one... well, some weeks are too hard. But, generally, I like the weekly cadence. It helps me focus (as you'll see from all that I didn't accomplish last week. ππ€£)
My oldest girl had a track meet on Saturday while my middle girl had an out-of-town dance competition, so my wife and I had to divide and conquer, and the youngest managed an all-day playdate with a friend. Everyone did great. I'm shocked that the basketball league is going to have a tournament over Easter weekend--we're going to leave my oldest behind while we travel to see relatives. I can't wrap my head around the idea of that scheduling. I mean, I get that not everyone holds the holiday as sacred, but the schools let the kids out--it's dichotic. "Go spend time with your family! Or basketball..."
I'll share a first pass of the artwork for the cover of Book 4. Really first pass though--the artist is still iterating on feedback, and I haven't put more than a few minutes into cleaning up the title placement and such. The ground is supposed to be a sea of Infected. The stairs aren't right. The tower isn't right. I want to make the notes swirling into a galaxy/black-hole kind of thing. I know, you don't know the story yet, so hard to comment, but I'm open to feedback.
I ordered copies of my books from Amazon and B&N with the new covers, which do appear to be more forgiving for print errors, though I still see them. It bugs me when the printing isn't straight along the edge. Anyway, I ordered them so that I could pick from which I should place the larger order for copies to sell at a farmer's market. I'm still gearing up for that, but my wife pointed out that I don't have any free weekends to participate. :(
Still, I'm trying to create a banner for the front of a table. How is this? Yeah, yeah, Book 4's cover isn't done... so that seems a little weird. But the cover will get a lot more solid in a couple of weeks.
After listening to a podcast from Sasha Black's "The Rebel Author Podcast", called "How to Write Killer Book Descriptions with Brian Meeks," I tweaked my Amazon blurb based on what I learned, and guess what? I killed all sales of my books. I've literally had zero sales since I updated the blurb. So odd to me, because it all made sense, and I think I implemented it correctly. I've had "dead patches" before, so I'm letting it ride a little longer. Still, discouraging.
Soooooo discouraging. On the bright side, I've created a highly successful tax write-off! And I enjoy it. Let's not forget that. And I do get occasional fireworks of positive feedback. Anywho, have a great week!
o To-Do list for writing last week:
Email updates- Gather pieces to work a farmer's market - didn't get it done. Worked on a banner, and that was it.
- insert QR code in bookmark - didn't do it.
o To-Do list for writing this week:
- Email updates
- Gather pieces to work a farmer's market - didn't get it done. Worked on a banner, and that was it.
- insert QR code in bookmark - didn't do it.
Previous Newsletters
- βNewsletter - April 5, 2022β
- βAlmost done Marching - 3/30/2022
- βSpring Break - 3/22/2022
- β#weekendgetaway - 3/15/2022
- βMarch Merch... - 3/8/2022
- βMarch on! (yeah, that's terrible) - 3/1/2022
- βLate-Feb Slog - 2/23/2022
- βNo rest for the weary - 2/16/2022
- βBook 4 of The Guardian League, The Song Unsung - 2/9/2022
- βHappy Birthday to my Wife - 2/1/2022
- βFinding Books "Connected" to mine - 1/25/2022
- βHunting for Silver Linings - 1/18/2022
- βStarting off the New Year with a Bang - 1/11/2022
- ββHappy Neo Year - 1/4/2022
- βTreasure - 12/28/2021
- βHappy Holidays - 12/21/2021
- βA week of promotions - 12/14/2021
- βElf on the Shelf and the Bless-Yous of Winter - 12/05/2021
- βThanks have been given - 11/30/2021
- βReviews, but not bookish reviews... - 11/23/2021
- βLights, digital recording device, actionβ¦ - 11/16/2021
- βAnnnnd... cue Christmas! - 11/09/2021
- βBook 3 Hype-Up Coming Soon - 11/02/2021
- βLosing Faith, a Calyx Twins Story - 10/26/2021 π Losing Faith, a Calyx Twins Story.pdfβ
- βNew pics for Book 1 - 10/19/2021
- βHappy Birthday, Middle Egg - 10/12/2021
- βAge Before Duty -10/05/2021 πβ Age-Before-Duty.pdfβ
- βGrundle's Hope - 9/28/2021 π Grundle's-Hope.pdfβ
Steven J Morris
If you read fantasy for the magic, the world-building, and the occasional moment of dark humorβI write that. One urban fantasy series, one epic fantasy series, both set in the Fractured Arcana universe, with more coming. My newsletter takes you deeper into the worlds, the characters, and what's next.
I promise Iβve made progress on Father of Stones (FoS). Here's a screenshot to prove it: click the photo to get to the live data showing progress But... I have put a little time elsewhere. I want to invite you to try this web-game Iβve been building out. It was meant to be a role-playing game around Thaumatropic Fractures, but ended up being focused on Thaumatropic Roots. https://tfrpg.sjmorriswrites.com https://tfrpg.sjmorriswrites.com The game will ask you to use your email to associate...
I built a tracking page for Father of Stones (FoS) this week. I did not, notably, write very much of said book this week. There's a joke in there about creative avoidance and I'm not going to pretend I don't see it. Anyway β here's what I made instead. Word Count Over Time A live chart of Father of Stones' progress since late June. I'm not smoothing over the slow weeks. There's a very flat stretch from June 'til August where I worked on the Eigenthrope story, then another flat stretch through...
Yesterday I needed to remember exactly how a character destroyed a dragon artifact three books ago. I didn't dig through my own novels to find itβI asked an AI I built to search them for me. It's called the Grimoire: a mini-AI system I put together with Pinecone that I can ask questions about my own booksβhair color in a different epoch, a side character I want to bring back, a detail I'd otherwise lose momentum digging for. It keeps me writing instead of hunting. That's the quiet way AI has...