Newsletter - December 13, 2022


Lowe's finally received molding I've been awaiting for weeks, and I finished up a picture-frame molding addition to my office I'd started a long time back. I say finished, but (1) I still have about half to caulk and paint, and (2) I'm not entirely happy with how the framing looks around the windows, and I may change it up.

My wife and I went to a Trans Siberian Orchestra concert during the week--invited by friends that we don't get to hang with as much as we used to with life's busy-ness. I saw TSO back in high school... I'm going to say '86 or '87 at Astroworld in Houston, TX. I'm assuming that the concerts have book-ended my life, and I have about 16 years to go. Better get those stories written!

She did it! Elliah finally made it to the Mother of Trees. I have to write the scene--not an easy one--and then I'll circle back through what I've written so far and clean it up. Once I do that, I'll poke around to see if anyone will read through it for me. This is about a third of the book in terms of plot, which is not a great place to have a pivotal moment. I have a feeling the next 1/3 of the plot will end up being a shorter write, which will push that pivot even deeper into the book. That's a bad thing in terms of pacing. So I'll likely either have to shorten what I've written so far, or add more content to the next sections.

Book Covers. BK Greenwood wrote a blog post on it the topic of book covers this week, but it has been on my mind for a while that at least Book 2 needs a cover makeover, and possibly my whole series. Give me some feedback. Do I (1) keep my current covers, (2) redo the cover of Book 2, Stars in the sand, or (3) complete makeover of all 4 books? (I love the cover of Book 3, and I at least like the cover of Book 1.)

o To-Do list for writing last week:

  • Email updates
  • Elliah meets the Mother of Trees (it’s more of a by-Xmas goal than a 1-week goal) - Yay! she made it!

o To-Do list for writing this week:

  • Email updates
  • Write the Elliah/Mother-of-Trees scene, then start rereading and fixing up.

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​​May you get lost this week in another world.

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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.

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