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.
Starting off the New Year with a Bang
Okay, the Bang was more of a Cough--we had a bit of a slow week at the Morris household. We passed around covid to those in the house who hadn't caught it in our first go-round back in August, and that put a damper on activities. Unfortunately, I WFH, so it wasn't as restful as it might have been to quarantine. I essentially performed a sleepier version of my normal days.
I wrapped up a phase of a crown molding project this weekend. I'd originally hoped to finish over Christmas, but a couple of the pieces of molding arrived damaged, and I had to return those and order a second set. I'll post after I get it caulked. I didn't do a video this time... and I don't think I even saved a before pic. Dang.
Anyway, we're still jumping through the hoops of what it takes to return a kid to public school after covid.
Writing Updates
bookn.all.night tuned me into the world of book loot, and I dipped my foot in by creating some bookmarks from the characters and book covers of The Guardian League (sticking out of Edith's book on the left there). I have to admit that I'd really like a bottle opener with Grundle on it, so that he can share my beer with me. I started dinking around with images for trading cards just b/c it was fun (pic on the right). I think what it needs is a border image - just a "thick line", but something smooth with elvish glyphs for the elves, something rocky for Grundle, and maybe variants of lines for the human characters.
I also ordered a handful of each of the first three books of The Guardian League with the new covers. They are also the first copies I've received that have all the pictures inside. My oldest girl quickly called me on the front page not looking right. I'll do another round of improvements as I get closer to releasing Book 4 and have to open up all those files. (Also, thanks to the @forteza_twins, I learned how to sleuth out the font the cover creator used--so I can do some more creative front pages next time I release). I see that the first two books ended up with a greenish tint. That's not true in the older printed versions, so now I've got to figure out if that's something I goobered up, or just a random effect from Amazon (probably the former).
I did start my first round of editing Book 4. I'm no closer on a title, but I've got some time. Here's a little un-asked-for insight into my process. My first round of editing is to hit structural problems. I can't help but dink around with little things as I go, and it makes the next round of editing easier, but the book will be structurally done after this effort. I'm on chapter 20 of ~100 right now, but the structural problems are around the corner, and I'll slow down once I hit those. The next round of editing is to tackle very specific problems I've identified with my writing style. It is honestly the slowest of the stages of editing, and the most dull, and requires a lot of discipline on my part. It's a nose-to-the-grindstone phase. I didn't really do that phase for Book 1, and I cringe every time I read from it
o To-Do list for writing last week:
Email updates- Continue editing Book 4 (this will be on my to-do for many weeks).
- Poke on Amazon hardback creation
- Fix the logo on website & books (I can see I'm draggin' my feet on this one. There's a lot of work involved in updating books and getting the various formats uploaded to all of the sites.)
o To-Do list for writing this week:
- Email updates
- Continue editing Book 4
- Honestly, going to back off on the hardback creation and fixing my logo on the books. That's a big ol' can o' wurms.
Previous Newsletters
- Happy Neo Year - 1/4/2022
- Treasure - 12/28/2021
- Happy Holidays - 12/21/2021
- A week of promotions - 12/14/2021
- Elf on the Shelf and the Bless-Yous of Winter - 12/05/2021
- Thanks have been given - 11/30/2021
- Reviews, but not bookish reviews... - 11/23/2021
- Lights, digital recording device, action… - 11/16/2021
- Annnnd... cue Christmas! - 11/09/2021
- Book 3 Hype-Up Coming Soon - 11/02/2021
- Losing Faith, a Calyx Twins Story - 10/26/2021 📜 Losing Faith, a Calyx Twins Story.pdf
- New pics for Book 1 - 10/19/2021
- Happy Birthday, Middle Egg - 10/12/2021
- Age Before Duty -10/05/2021 📜 Age-Before-Duty.pdf
- Grundle's Hope - 9/28/2021 📜 Grundle's-Hope.pdf
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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