Category: The Magic Council

• November 14, 2023

  Editing update! Under 109,000 words!

  I’m so stoked. The first edition of “The Magic Council” clocked it at 125,000 words roughly. Certainly, it was between 120 and 125k. Over the years, preparing the second edition, I’ve trimmed a lot of weight while fleshing out a limited number of things that needed more focus, like the king and queen and their…
• November 11, 2023

  A new, forced rhythm to the week

  Lately, with multiple Church programs, this blog, and a day job during the week, I’ve been forced more than usual to set aside Friday night through Sunday for my writing (at the moment, revising book two of my trilogy), without much writing at all the rest of the week. In one way that’s not a…
• November 6, 2023

  Tempted to put down book two for now

  This post is a bit of an update. I’m exhausted in general these days. My editor can’t take book two until December 1, and it’s already in good shape. I’m tempted to let it sit until she can take it, but I know it’s worth it to get it in as good shape as possible…
• November 1, 2023

  UPDATE ON BOOK TWO: We have an editor, people! This is not a drill!

  Since my editor for book one is not available, I needed to find someone else for book two. I’ve found a great someone, and I think we’ll be a great fit. I believe she will available for the manuscript in December, which is awesome, unless something has changed since I sent her the sample edit…
• October 23, 2023

  My to do list for today is actually an update: here it is!!!

  I took today off work because I worked a mini-retreat of sorts this weekend with the Alpha course at my Church parish. I always take Monday off after an Alpha weekend. So, here’s what is on my to-do list for today: And there we go! Book two is almost ready for my editor. I’m excited…
• October 16, 2023

  On first lines

  Before I send book two to my editor, I have three things to do: It doesn’t help that I have a very brief prologue now as well as the start of chapter one. So, basically two first lines. First lines are rough. You want them to be catchy without feeling gimmicky. You want them to…
• October 14, 2023

  The key to a hard magic system

  I LOVE a good hard magic system–one with explicitly outlines rules about magic, what working magic requires, and who can do it. The Harry Potter books are probably the most explicitly detailed hard magic system that a VAST number of people would be familiar with. The magic system in my own novels is more hard…
• October 5, 2023

  Thankful Thursday: grateful for my growth as a writer over ten years

  It’s a crazy thing, publishing a trilogy, never doing much marketing on it and taking it all down, and ten years later, going back to it to make a professional go of it. It’s amazing to see the change in quality from first edition to second, given time, greater experience, and feedback from my editor…
• October 4, 2023

  A story of three families

  One of my favorite ways to think about my Herezoth trilogy is as the story of three families. You are introduced to each of these families in book one, largely through a pair of siblings (Kora and Zac, Menikas and Lanokas, Zalski Forzythe’s family). Sibling relationships, for some reason, are very influential and important in…
• September 30, 2023

  Book Two Update: “The Magic Council: The Fight for Home”

  “The Magic Council: The Fight for Home” is back from my beta reader, and I could not be more excited. I had beta readers for the first edition years ago, but I figured some fresh eyes after my changes, before sending to my editor, would be useful. And boy, were they! I got great comments…