Hi! If you enjoy fantasy with snarky humor, I've got some books for you. My newsletter takes you along the creative journey, and keeps you informed of what's brewing.
Newsletter - August 1, 2024
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My wife and I had a nice little long-weekend trip in the middle of what is otherwise a very hectic and stressful juncture of our lives. I spent one amazing day fishing with my buddy, Bobby off of Anna Marie Island, FL. Other than quick, and much needed, breaks, we’ve been tackling family medical issues, helping with hurricane recovery, and prodding our oldest (often kicking and screaming) toward all the college application stuffs. Bit of a madhouse these days. I'm expecting the structural feedback on Bones of Cenaedth any time now. I don’t have it as of writing this newsletter, but I bet I get the feedback before the newsletter actually gets sent. Bottom line, I plan to switch back to working on Book 2 in August. Ironically, my fishing adventure was a nice but unintentional immersion technique for the reality of being out in the ocean with the sun beating down. 🤣 (Yes, we take to the seas with the Salts in Book 3). There was a freebie on Amazon Ad school since my last newsletter, and I spent time learning a little more about marketing/advertising my books (and slightly less time writing). If you’re interested in what I’m taking away from the Ad School lessons, I’ll have that in a separate email for writers. Send me a note if you’d like to be added to that and don’t already receive it. My wife has a comfort movie, You've Got Mail. When things get too rough, that's often her go to. When I hear it playing in the background, I know she needs a break. (Incidentally, Red's mother did the same in Book 1 of The Guardian League). I have a go to book -- Mirror of Her Dreams. I started reading it last night when I couldn't sleep because I was too worried about all the things. Do you have a go to book or movie that helps you de-stress? Okay, I am hesitantly slipping a short story into this newsletter. I'm pretty overwhelmed right now, but I sometimes turn to writing as a release. As I drove down to Houston, I was thinking about short story ideas for the Thaumatropic Roots series. I wrote something quickly over the last couple of days that I am calling (for now) "Blood Bound." It's the origin story for a character named Trentius, who you met briefly in Mother of Trees (bonus points to anyone that remembers who Trentius is and what "his thing" is... before reading the short story). What, you may ask, will those bonus points get me? Street cred. Massive street cred. Trentius continues on in Book 2 (unless the structural editor cuts him, and I don't think she's going to), and this story ties in nicely. Cut me some slack -- I didn't so much as run it through a spell-checker, must less the more advanced proofing tools I use. I'll clean it up when I get more time. Blood Bound.epub <-- On an iphone, if you have kindle, you can get this to your kindle by downloading it, then clicking it from whatever tools you use to look at downloads on your iphone and share it to kindle. It takes a few minutes, as I think it uploads the file, sanity checks it, then pulls it back into your kindle. Indie Author ShowcasePrevious Newsletters
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Steven J Morris
Hi! If you enjoy fantasy with snarky humor, I've got some books for you. My newsletter takes you along the creative journey, and keeps you informed of what's brewing.
My youngest landed her layout with a twist this week—that was quite cool to see. She hit it on her first attempt. Just had to overcome the fear of it. Prolly a life lesson there somewhere. I do have a video, if anyone wants to see it. They asked her to move up to the elite level after class--for those few of you in Austin, that's Westlake elite, so moving pretty high up the ladder. Speaking of ladders... here was my fun for the week: a hole in the roof that probably happened last winter…...
Today, there's a podcast interview out for Guardian of The Palace. I think it'll get archived, but not 100% sure. Might be a today-only thing. Honestly, I have no idea why anyone would want to listen to authors talk about their books. I sometimes listen with a writer's ear, but as a reader? I don't get it. I'd love for someone to explain to me. I'd also be interested in knowing if my sentiment is right, and no one wants to listen to an author. I downgraded my email plan, so I can no longer...
Halloween season hit full stride here—first with “Scare for a Cure,” our annual messy adventure (this year: mind crawlers!), then a “Trunk or Treat” at my mother-in-law’s nursing home, where the residents—one of them 101!—handed out candy to the little ones. Never fear on that mind crawler issue, our group saved the world. Missed you this year, Sienna! Click here to be removed from family content. It’s been a whirlwind few weeks—edits, algorithms, and endless coffee. But progress is progress,...