October and Junk

I know, I know, I know. I haven't blogged since October started. I'm not good at this.

Since the month started I've written a novella called Iceblood for the new edition of Souls of Salt & Seawater I'm putting out, and tonight on Twitter and Goodreads I announced I'm also working on a new edition of Blood of Midnight.

The new edition is mainly jut a project I took on because I'm a perfectionist. Looking back at BOM as I start writing book two, I realized that there were a few seeds I meant to plant and didn't, a few paths I could have and should have gone that I just didn't recognize for what they were at the time. To be clear this isn't a rewrite or a drastic change or anything - I'm adding new content, not changing what exists.

Mostly it's just going to be sexier, more dangerous, and a tad longer. I wanted to explore a few side characters more and give them the screen time they deserved, as well as taking a closer look at the main trio.

I'm hoping to put those both out around the same time, before the end of this month. But I also have a third little project I'm working on that, should I finish it, I would be sooo happy to share during the beginning of November, too.

Outside the world of writing I'm kind of just pumped for Halloween. Obviously, last month I wrote a book about it, but I'm mostly excited for discount candy when it's over. I know I shouldn't gorge on mini-Mars bars or whatever, but nobody can stop me.

Today Grimes released a bunch of new music videos, including this perfect one for Belly of the Beat, the best song on Art Angels:

I've also been listening to The Black Book by Jully Black on Spotify, which is still a really strong album. I'm actually surprised how much the music still holds up, since I'm pretty sure it came out over six or seven years ago. I remember buying it at HMV but I lost the CD over the years :I

Anyway, I'm in good company as far as writing music goes, and also drinking a bunch of coffee and green tea. Recently I went into a depressive phase where I couldn't write for two months or so, and I almost slipped back into it after publishing Storm of Masks, but writing Iceblood knocked me back on track, so I'm feeling optimistic about getting lots of work done this month!

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Like my blog? You can check out my published works here!

This Is Why I Cry All The Time

Revisions make me cry. I say this because I'm knee-deep in edits for the new edition of Souls of Salt & Seawater:

It's not heavy edits or anything - mostly just finer copy editing than the book got before. There are a few new lines here and there, but the main burnt of new material is a bonus short story I'm including that's never been published.

So why am I crying? This computer screen hurts my eyes, and I probably spend too much of my time off online to be still staring at it. I got new glasses that cut blue light from screens in half, but God, the struggle is real.

Whatever, though. Mermaids take priority.

I don't have much to say about the new edition right now: I'll share a lot more details the night before release. (I have no date picked yet, but within the next month!)

Aside from that I've been hiding from weird noises in the night, eating too much rice to be considered healthy, and drinking insane amounts of coffee. Also fucking around on Twitter, but what else is new?

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If you enjoy my work you can buy my published books here.

Thanks for reading!

Love Will Remember + SOSAS paperback cover!

Right now I'm uploading the newly revised edition of Souls of Salt & Seawater to Kindle and I just finished creating the paperback cover. It's mostly the same as the old one, with a few tweaks and a new font  and layout. I'm pretty fond of it.

The paperback will be 214 pages, and the paperback of Blood of Midnight will be 239. I have no idea how much they'll cost, but I think roughly around ten dollars. I would make it lower, but, you know, Createspace doesn't roll like that.

I'm listening to old Selena Gomez music. I know Revival like just came out a few months ago, but I need more. Mostly I'm hoping tonight will be productive.

I'm aiming to finish editing Shadows of Ourselves within the next three or four days, along with writing a new collection of vignettes, kind of like Things We Saw at Midnight but. . .not. These ones are light contemporary, with a matched theme and interlocking cast. I'm thinking it will be 3 short stories and six vignettes, or something like that. But I'm not promising this, and I don't know exactly when it would be out if I do write it. I don't know right now if I'll have to wait a bit longer than I want or not, because I have to dive into Dreamwalker and Dreamkiller, and then Maelstrom, if I want to get those all out before the end of the year. I have plenty to keep me busy, at least.

Anyway, work aside, I've been seriously lacking in TV lately. Our streaming box is on the fritz and certain titles and shows just won't load. I have no clue. I just wanna watch new iZombie. I miss when the Magicians was on, and I need more magic boarding school shows stat.

Or Lev Grossman could just write a Magicians spin-off, maybe about Plum, or someone in Fillory, and I would bow to him. That could happen.

Anyway, since I've got nothing important to say I feel like I owe you all a look at the paperback cover for Souls of Salt & Seawater. Here:

Too Much and Too Little

While going over SOSAS another time I've been listening to The Walk, by Imogen Heap, on repeat. I've also been stuffing my face with barbecue chips.

But I thought I would take a break from that to post a quote from the book really quickly:

You can buy the book here, or just wait until it's out in paperback. The new edition will have a map of the world in it. If I can figure out how to format that.

Or, you can request a free review copy by sending me an email, which I talked about in my last post. The gist of it is this: you like free books, I like honest reviews. And giving out free books.

So shoot me an email at ApolloBlake@mail.com for a free ebook if you're interested. Now, back to work!

New Covers!

I updated the covers for SOSAS and TLJA:

                    

I love the new designs. I wanted them to be simple and aesthetically pleasing without losing the emotional vibes of either story, and I think they came out pretty great. SOSAS is my favorite, but I still enjoy the cheery new Lilac cover.

I'm hoping that these will increase reads, because they're sleeker and less cartoonish than the old covers. They're easier to take seriously.

They also match up a bit more, design-wise, with a new cover for a new title I have now, and I'm really excited to share it. All I'm willing to say now is that it's a new Midnight City story.

But I'm not talking about that today. I'm talking about these. So in honor of the new covers, I'll share a bit about the inspiration behind the writing of each:

TLJA: I was really driven by cartoons and anime while writing this. I would honestly recommend picturing it as an animation while reading, as opposed to a real life setting. I always wince at this when I reread it because it's so immature and campy compared to my other books, but I still love it and the writing process.

SOSAS: I love Josmea. I have so many more stories to tell in this world. That said, writing SOSAS was torture. I had a lot of expectations for this book that made it hard to not hate it during the work process, so the main burnt of it was getting in a positive headspace, but that said I love the finished book. I definitely won't be using the same POV in future works for a while, though.

So, yeah. The new covers should go live soon, if you're interested and haven't read the books yet. I'm also still working on Rage and hoping to publish that on the tenth, and that's urban fantasy with horror elements, about Myra - whom you may remember as Evelyn's love interest in Frenzy - except this is set a few months before the two of them meet. This one works both as a prequel to Frenzy and Maelstrom, or as a standalone. Although if it is read as a standalone, it doesn't have a happily ever after, which I know some people like.

I'm fairly sure this book is going to piss some people off. But I don't think a cheerful ending would be honest for this story. It's not even bittersweet - more like, I dunno, bleak? It's bleak.

And I'm really excited to share it. Will post more info as we creep towards the release!

Dropping the Blogging Ball and Stealing It Back

I dropped the ball as far as blogging is concerned this month. It really just has to do with mental health, which is always a struggle.

I wish I could say that it was because I was hard at work (and I am) or because I was kidnapped by a handsome foreign prince who now wishes to marry me (I'm still waiting) but in reality it's just because I struggle with my self-identity and caring for myself and sometimes I need to take a step back from the internet and social media and even work, in order to, y'know, not have a breakdown or die.

For a while - a while being the last eleven or twelve days - I've been really struggling to keep myself afloat, and working through a lot of difficult things. I'm feeling better now, and a lot has happened in that time that I can't wait to talk about.

This post is not about any of that, though. This post is just about the fact that I'm back. And that I got lots of work done, even though I wasn't here talking about it.

And that work I got done? It means that. . .Souls of Salt and Seawater is coming out in two days! Yup, I'll be publishing sometime tomorrow morning, so it will be out either late tomorrow night or, more likely, early tomorrow morning. KDP is random like that.

But I can't wait to share this book with you, and it's new cover, and the stories within it. I'm so happy to finally be at this point, and now that SOSAS is coming out I'll be able to work on my full-length novels!

Maelstrom and Shadows will be here before you know it. Keep an eye out for the cover reveal for SOSAS tomorrow!

Coffee & Coffee & Coffee & Maybe Some Other Things?

I've been awake for a lot of hours. And I just drank like 6 or 7 coffees in the span of two of them. So, as you can imagine, I am fucking bouncing off the walls! It's fun.

I am going to be blogging a lot today, because I need to blog more, and I have the day off, and I'm in the mood to write, but I don't have the attention span to write anything longer than blog posts with all this caffeine in me. That said, I feel fine. Better than fine.

I spent some time editing SOSAS last night, which is coming along nicely, and I expanded on the worldbuilding. I've been sitting here for hours listening to Kpop now, though. Mostly f(x) but also a bit of Sunmi. I finished reading the Copper Gauntlet (a pure gem) and made a graphic for it, because I was loving Jasper in this book:

We do not froth.

I'm going to practice french for a few hours sometime today, as well. I really feel like I need to do a million things all at once, because I have so much energy, and I know I'm going to be all over the place like this all day now, but I really don't mind.

And That's All I Can Really Say...

Yesterday I worked from 6 to 10:30. Today I'm working from 2 to 10:30. I keep working long shifts that end late at night, and I have a really long commute, and I actually didn't sleep last night when I got home because my anxiety was going off of the walls, so I stayed up and now I'm going back to work without any rest, but I really don't care because I can't afford to care because I'm 600 dollars in debut and I still have Christmas gifts to buy on top of coffee and bus money. It's a hard-knock life.

The thing is, this hard-knock life is very time consuming. And when I do have free time it's usually spent doing laundry/dishes/homework. I may have underestimated just how heavy my workload was when I mentioned some previous release dates. I wanted to put out the first instalment of ADSD next month, and I've barely started drafting it. I wanted to put out SOSAS on the 15th, but I am nowhere near done editing it. And it's not that the book is bad at this stage. I could have something to publish by the 15th, and it would be a good book, but it would not be the right book.

Right now I'm focused on trying not to drop dead, trying not to flunk out, and trying to save up enough money that I can, you know, stop fucking worrying about money. I've got a small ghostwriting gig on the side that helps a bit, but it's mostly chump change, so I can not afford to quit this job right now.

I want to put out the best books I can. I rushed both the Lilac shorts and Things We Saw At Midnight, not during the drafting process, but during editing - and those books suffered for it. I've cleaned up the Lilac Jones shorts, and I'll be revising and republishing TWSAM soon, but right now I'm focused on Souls of Salt and Seawater. On not rushing it. On letting it grow and nurturing the vision of Josmea that I have in my head. This is the first introduction to a world that I plan to spend years and years of my career writing different books in, and I want it to be a good first impression.

More importantly, I know that Alice, Joram, and Rayna deserve to have their stories told in the best way possible. And I know you guys deserve a finished product that is of the same quality you'd find from a traditional publisher. That doesn't happen when I rush.

But I feel guilty. I feel guilty that I don't have more to show you guys, more words for you to read. I want to put things out, and I'm constantly torn between trying to be prolific and trying to be sane, and well-written.

I would rather be the last two.

So I'm not rushing myself anymore. I'm not rushing my works.

What does that mean? Well, it means that SOSAS won't be out on the 15th, this month. It might not be out until the 15th of next month. Or the month after that. I can say it will definitely be out in the next few months. When I say I don't know when it will come out, what I really mean is, I have a good idea of how long it will take me to finish this, but I've guessed wrong before and been mad about it so now I'm keeping my mouth shut.

As soon as it's done, arcs will go out to people on my arc list (I have not forgotten about anyone on Tumblr!) and I'll be talking about it and posting about it and advertising the release date to high heavens. But I've decided that I'm going to take a page out of Amanda Hocking's book and just not talk about my works until they're finished and I'm ready to hit publish. So as soon as my currently announced titles are released, I won't be talking about anything I'm writing until I'm ready to share it with you guys, no matter how much I really, really, really, really want to.

So, I'm sorry, if you were waiting for the Dec. 15th release. The book is still coming. But I want it to be the best quality I can make it, and quality takes time, which is something I don't have much of. And that's all I can really say, for now.

Time to go get ready for work T.T

You Had a Thing No One Could Ever Be Sure Of

Title from the song Weight of Love by The Black Keys.

So. It's Black Friday. I worked from 9 to 5:30 today, then scrambled over to Best Buy and got a new laptop. Then I ran home and did the dishes, threw some chicken strips in the oven, and bolted to open this computer as fast as humanly possible.

I think I've met my one true love. No, but seriously - this laptop if my new golden child.

Anyway, I'm dead tired, but I'm taking a night off editing SOSAS, so I told myself I had to write a blog post instead, so here I am.

The last few weeks have been crazy.

Since I started working this job, I've lost ten pounds. My feet are covered in blisters, and my hands are constantly cut from the cardboard sleeves in the boxes at work, and by the time I'm off ever night I'm dead-tired from spending 8 hours on my feet, interacting with people, lugging out boxes and shelving stuff. It's tiring work, and anxiety doesn't make it easier. It's awful coming home after an eight and a half hour shift to realize you still have to write for two hours, on top of doing stuff around the house (aka picking up after four cats) and cooking dinner, if it's my turn to cook that night. I'm stretched pretty thin. There have been nights where I haven't written anything at all, because I come home and just pass out until it's time to get up and go back to work again. Did I mention I'm glad I'm only working seasonal?

I go back to school in January, and that will make work harder, too, but it's only for one semester, and then I'm free! I still totally failed Nano this month (actual life took over my life) but this job pays better than royalties right now, and I need this money so I can buy stuff that makes my job doable - like a laptop with a functional keyboard - and stuff that I desperately need; a phone, new clothing, gas, food - you know, the annoying shit we all need to live. But I'm hoping that now that I have this laptop and can write in bed, I'll put more work hours in.

Goodbye, external keyboard. Hello, productivity!

Work aside, I've actually gotten in a lot of reading lately while waiting for the bus or my ride home from work, and I just finished Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (my new favorite book! Review here) and Ruin and Rising, by Leigh Bardugo (review here).  What I really want now is the new Amanda Hocking, which doesn't come out until after new year's, so maybe a Kanin re-read is in order. . .

I've been listening to a lot of PVRIS and Tor Miller. I am obsessively watching Scream Queens. And you. Always. At night, when you think you're alone, I see you, staring into the dark, wondering . . .

Or maybe not.

And that's all I have to mention. As soon as I have a day off I'll have a blog about work and a blog about all this epic pop culture that I've been taking in lately, but right now I'm too tired to delve into much of it, outside of listing shit off.

Now I'm going to pass out, and wake up, and work another eight hour shift. Wish me luck. (I really, really, really need it.)

Coffee and Electronica in the Wee Hours

It's 2:30am, and I should be asleep, but I'm not. Being up late isn't anything new to me, but tonight I'm only up because my acid reflux is making it really hard to sleep - the sounds of my own choking on stomach acid? Not the sweetest lullaby.

So I got up and made myself a coffee, grabbed my laptop, and turned on some music. I'm listening to Disclosure, because I really like their new song with Lorde, and I like a lot of their older stuff. I wrote up a writing schedule the other night so I know what I'm working on up into May 2016. I like to plan things. I'm following Rachel Aaron's 2k to 10k method, because I have a lot to do and a lot more I want to do. But some nights I get lazy.

Some nights my brother comes home and I have to be quiet because his room is right below mine, and the sound of my clacking on keys keeps him up all night. So, here I am, not working, drinking coffee, blogging, listening to electronic music in the middle of the night, in the wee hours of the morning.

But because I still love my WIP and I want to work but have to wait until morning, I thought I'd write up a list of all the things I love about the projects I'm working on right now.

1. Evil Scary Mermaids
2. Poetic Verse
3. Teen Banshees
4. Cheesy Puns
5. Dragons
6. Gay Witches Saving the Day
7. Red Bull Name-Dropping
8. Spooky Encounters
9. All the Angst & All the Kissing
10. Lesbian Monster Hunters

So yeah. If that doesn't get you excited about my books I don't know what will . . .

Souls of Salty Snide Remarks

So, Souls of Salt and Seawater is coming along. Coming along as in, I'm going to be ready to send out ARCS by November, as in, I'm having fun with it, as in, the cover came out and I forgot to post about it here.

I'm a pretty forgetful bitch, if I'm being honest. I'll forget something is a dream and wake up excited to use my new laptop or go find my new husband in the backyard and then realize - wait a minute, I didn't actually go on an electronics shopping spree or marry Brandon Urie! It was all just a dream!

My dad says it's because I smoke too-much pot, my mom says it's because of my dad (his genetics are cursed with this pesky thing called alzheimer's - my gramma has it really bad) and my brother says it's because I'm plain stupid. But then, he's probably just salty because I got better eyebrows than he did.

So anyway, I forget important stuff, and then I make up for it by posting it late and trying to make it seem like it's still relevant and exciting. Which is what I'm doing now. So here's the cover:

 Isn't it beautiful? Don't you want to marry it, start a family, have a child together, and then run out on it one day by telling it you're going for cigarettes and milk and then never coming back? Me too. And the plus side is, it won't be able to hunt you down and demand child support because it's just a book cover, and your child together is purely hypothetical. All I'm hearing is a bunch of pluses, to be honest...

Anyway, aside from beginning an ill-advised affair with my book cover, you can also support the project by talking about it on Twitter, Tumblr, or the micro-blogging platform of your choice, or giving the Lilac Jones Adventures some love on Wattpad. Seriously, guys, word of mouth is so important as an indie author. I so appreciate everyone who has reviewed one of my books, or shared it with a friend, or retweeted/reblogged a post about it.

I'll have more news about SOSAS out closer to release, and when arcs are available (everyone who requests an arc of this book is getting one, no questions asked) and more. I'll also post more news about Shadows when I have it.

Thanks for being cool and not making salty, snide remarks when I take too long to post updates, guys! Love ya's!

-Oliver