I can now confirm that I am exiting retirement. *sigh* I'm joining arm. I love writing that without context. I assume most of you are not part of the semiconductor industry, so it sounds like I'm either supplying weapons or artificial limbs. Either of which are way too cool for me. I really enjoyed spending more time on writing and marketing, and I’m going to miss it. Secrets of Deara is coming together. I sent an early pass to Libby James—I would highly recommend her to my writer friends. I used her skills in developmental editing to get feedback on the early story, and found it useable and useful. I’ve gone through a second pass while Libby went over the first pass, and the story is shaping up. I have a couple of medium-ticket story items to tackle, and then I need to address the information from Libby. (I just started into addressing Libby's feedback). When that's done, I'll send it to Oksana Marafioti for a round of post-developmental storyline editing. After making whatever changes I decide, it will go out to Marla Taviano for copy editing. Cover design should start soon (and goes pretty quickly for sequels). I’m not going to try and guesstimate how long all that will take, but it won’t take as long as the last book to get out. Except that I start my new job in February, which will, of course, slow things. Just for fun, I thought I'd share these early attempts at making video ads for Facebook. Using what folks sent me directly didn't work at all. Adding some of the "image ads" into the videos helped for one (Mother of Trees), but not the other (Guardian League). For some reason, I can't get clicks on the Guardian League ad. If you think you see why, please share. Note that these also have "Headlines" and tag lines on FB, so the failure to get clicks could lie outside of the video. ![]() ![]() All books by Steven J. Morris Indie Author Showcase Previous Newsletters
May you get lost this week in another world. Follow me on Goodreads. |
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.
Click here to rejoin family content. Not a lot of updates. Between the family trip to the Keys, and a trip to see a set of grandparents, I didn't get much writing time. That's okay... sometimes I need a break from writing as much as I do from work. I did write one chapter, so not zero progress. I sent what I have to my mother, still my biggest cheerleader... the beginning and end of Secrets. She had questions about how it all connects to Guardian League. Maybe I hadn't said this before, but...
Click here to rejoin family content. Book 4 is well underway now. I took a different approach this time and wrote the first 4 chapters, then the final 5 chapters. The ending has weighed on me for so long that I just had to get it done. So now I just need the silly midling bits and it'll go out the door. :D Frankly, the parts I have written are missing things. Bits that it is hard to tie up in action scenes without distracting. It'll be fun and interesting to work that out. I'm still trying to...
Click here to rejoin family content. Oddly enough, the twice-a-month cadence for newsletters won out over once-a-month, by one vote. So twice a month is borderline. Maybe I'll skip a newsletter once in a while. And more people liked seeing the indie book options than didn't, so I'll keep them, but I set up ways to opt out of both the non-writing updates AND the indie book showcase. So you should be able to click on your choices in an email, set your preferences, and future emails will be...