If you read fantasy for the magic, the world-building, and the occasional moment of dark humor—I 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 4, 2023
My wife and I spent the last week(s) planning and booking for summer vacation. We had to once again cancel our plans to go to Europe—too expensive, but we can afford a trip to Canada. We applied for passports for the kids, booked flights… way to commit! We're looking forward to some majestic views on a Vancouver to Banff trip. (I assume I will get in trouble if I keep calling it Bamf.)
Basketball — so much of my time goes to basketball right now. My oldest has practices in the mornings for school, and in the evening for club, with tournaments on the weekend. I’m writing this while I wait for one of her games to start. And one weekend we have to fly to Nebraska for a tournament!
Little story — when I clicked to buy travel reservations, the website said there was a problem with my card and reset all the way back to the beginning, asking for travel dates. Meanwhile, my phone is right next to me and I see the purchase go through on my card. I spent the next hour untangling a purchase where no reservation had occurred. At the end, the woman thanked me for my patience. Me: “You misunderstand. When I hang up, I’m going to another company. I’m way past losing my patience.” Yeah, I was a jerk. I'd like to say I'll do better the next time something goes stupidly wrong, but sitting through those automated systems, then getting transferred to three different people... it's a formula for boiling blood.
Marketing derailed my writing this week. SEOSpace released a very cool Squarespace SEO plugin, and I spent my writing time improving my website based on the plug-in’s recommendations.
I also talked with fiction fans podcast for a couple of hours—that was a real treat. It will air on April 12th. I know I fumbled my way through several questions… we shall see how stupid I sound after they edit it. (Make me look smarter than I am, please!)
On the 27th of April, I’m going to do a book signing at Vintage, and, funnily enough, my brother and his wife will play harp & violin at the same place on the 14th. I hope to make both events. Their calendar doesn't appear right for me on their website, but here's the Facebook link to their events.
Finally, I would love help getting the word out for a freebie I’m going to run soon—more info next week.
o To-Do list for writing last week:
Email updates- Keep editing Mother of Trees - made progress, but had to jump back and redo some pieces
- Write ahead - Finish the scene prior to Troll's Teeth, then jump back to the Troll's Teeth story - I've thought that segment of the story through some, and it won't be quick to write. I'll be working on it for a few weeks. Still stuck on the lead up to this adventure. I've broken some of my own rules of first drafts and spent too much time trying to get this right. I intend to barrel ahead this week.
o To-Do list for writing this week:
- Email updates
- Keep editing Mother of Trees
- Write ahead - Finish the scene prior to Troll's Teeth, then jump back to the Troll's Teeth story - I've thought that segment of the story through some, and it won't be quick to write. I'll be working on it for a few weeks.
| Immerse Yourself... |
Previous Newsletters
- Newsletter - March 28, 2023
- Newsletter - March 21, 2023
- Newsletter - March 14, 2023
- Newsletter - March 7, 2023
May you get lost this week in another world.
Steven J Morris
If you read fantasy for the magic, the world-building, and the occasional moment of dark humor—I 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 I’ve 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 I’ve 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 — 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 it—I 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 books—hair 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...