New Month, New Projects

Well, technically one of the projects I’m currently working on isn’t new. After spending a week going through my universe bible (the document in which I try–and sometimes fail–to keep track of all the details of the world in which my books are set, plot points of the books, characters, and so on) and previous books, and writing a brainstorm that’s longer than some short stories I’ve had published, I’m now working on the rewrite of Bring On the Broccoli (Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat 7). I wrote a draft of this book previously, but because of personal life stuff that was happening, I wasn’t able to focus on it as much as I needed. I also hadn’t done a sufficient amount of brainstorming and planning. I wound up with a draft that left out a couple of really important plot pieces that needed to carry over from previous books, had one character acting far more out of character than could reasonably be explained (even though his acting out of character is an arc in the next few books of the series), and had Kyle Slidell, the narrator, acting more as a narrator and less as a participant in the story.

It needed a LOT of work. So I’m pretty much starting from scratch. This time, because I did the necessary preplanning, I have a better idea of where the story will go and how to get it there. This draft is already going better than the previous one. Bring On the Broccoli will be released in January.

I’m also working on the cover for Ebb and Flow, my next release, which will be out in October. I’m hoping to put Ebb and Flow up for preorder this coming week, and I would really, really like to have the cover done before that.  (A cover isn’t required to put a book up for Amazon preorder, but I would *like* to have the cover when I set up the preorder.) So far, it hasn’t been exactly easy. Finding stock photos of models who fit my mental image of Quinn and Malachi was difficult at best, especially when there are certain aspects of their appearance that are stated in the book and so needed to be on the cover. I’ve seen some people say that models on book covers don’t have to look exactly like the characters, it’s more important that they fit the “vibe” of the genre, but honestly, as both an author and a reader it bugs the hell out of me when the model(s) on the cover of a book don’t match the in-book description of the character(s) they’re supposed to represent.

I think I’ve gotten the right models. I’m a little worried that people will assume the one representing Quinn is underage; he does look young to me. (Then again, now that I’m in my mid-50s, anyone under 40 looks young to me…) But going by some of the other pictures of the model available on the stock site, he is an adult, even if he’s a young-looking one. And Quinn looks young; he’s 22 and “far too thin,” according to the description.

I’m even more concerned about being able to put together the cover the way I envision it. I do make my own covers, because I enjoy doing it, but I’m far from professional and there are some tricks and intricacies of the program I use (GIMP, which is a free program similar to Photoshop) that I haven’t learned yet or am still figuring out how to use. I will end up with a good cover, but it might not be the exact cover I’m seeing in my mind.

So that’s what I’m working on as we begin a new month. And this is the background I’ve chosen for the Ebb and Flow cover. It’s from a picture I took from the ferry between Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia; somewhat fitting since most of Ebb and Flow takes place on a private island in Nova Scotia.

A Fighting Chance Cover Reveal

Now that my newsletter subscribers have had the first look, I wanted to share the cover of A Fighting Chance with y’all. A Fighting Chance is the sequel to last year’s Chance Met, continuing the story of werewolf single father Trey Damone, psychic human Jeremiah Crawford, and Trey’s seven-year-old son Michael. A Fighting Chance will be available for Kindle preorder on April 25 and will release for Kindle and in paperback on May 9; I have plans to release it and Chance Met wide later this year.

I Have a Migraine…

I was going to write something profound-ish, or at least interesting, but I have a migraine and can’t think about anything other than the funny jagged colors dancing in front of my eyes. So instead, I’m sharing this picture  of all of the books I’ve self-published, as Karenna Colcroft and under other names, since May 2021. Lex Valentine did the covers for Salad on the Side, Alpha Receptor, and Messages from Shiva vol. 1; I did the others.

 

Fill the Empty Spaces Cover!

Now that I’ve done the cover reveal for my newsletter subscribers, I’m sharing the Fill the Empty Spaces cover here as well. (And if you want to subscribe to my newsletter so you get future exclusive content, you can go to my free short story page to sign up for the newsletter and get the link to download an exclusive Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat short story.)

The cat in the image is Charlie the Sweater Cat, who was a resident of the cat cafe where I volunteer. Charlie was found as a stray, with fur so matted he had to be shaved. He also had multiple health conditions that kept his fur from growing back properly. When a little girl visiting the cafe swaddled Charlie in a blanket, the cafe staff and volunteers realized Charlie felt comforted, so one of the volunteers started knitting sweaters for him to wear so he would always be warm and feel safe.

In the story, Del volunteers at a cat cafe modeled on the real-life one, and Charlie (and other feline residents of the real cafe) became characters. Charlie, in the story, winds up adopted by Del and goes home with him.

Sadly, Charlie in real life was in too much pain from conditions that couldn’t be treated. He crossed the Rainbow Bridge on July 7 of this year. The cafe has a small memorial to him on top of one of the shelves (where the other cats can’t get to it), and the cafe’s owner gave me permission to use one of my photos of Charlie as part of the cover art for this book.

To find out more about the Kitty Cat Cafe and Adoption Lounge, located in Peabody, Massachusetts, visit their website, where you can learn how the cafe operates, schedule a visit, and/or make a donation to help them care for the current kitty residents.

Fill the Empty Spaces will be available for Kindle preorder on Sept. 28, and will be released for Kindle and in paperback on Oct. 12.

Writing Updates

I’ve been working on a few things this past week, trying to get some stuff done and some stuff started as I prepare to go back to work. I start a new job on the 18th! Which I’m honestly a bit nervous about; it’s been a long time since I worked a full-time job, and part of me worries that my physical and mental health won’t be up to it. But I’ve made my employer aware that I have health issues, and I’m looking at this as a good stepping stone. We’ll see how it goes.

Meanwhile:

  • I’ve still been working on A Fighting Chance. And fighting *with* it. I had ideas of where the story was going to go, but the story doesn’t seem to want to go there. Even so, I think I’m hitting a good stride with it and hope to have the first draft finished before I start my job. Assuming all goes as planned, A Fighting Chance is slated for release in March.
  • I finished editing Tempeh for Two (Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat 5, the last book of the originally-published series). This involved scrapping a few plot points that I’d added the last time I edited, which were no longer relevant to the series as a whole; they’d come from a heterosexual romance novel I’d written that was intended to be part of the companion series to this one. Since I scrapped the hetero series, I decided the plot points I’d added to Tempeh not only didn’t work anymore but weren’t really needed, so I removed them. Which, fortunately, streamlined the story and re-increased the action. Tempeh for Two is slated for release in January.
  • I did final(ish) proofreading of Fill the Empty Spaces and created the cover for it! I wasn’t sure I liked the cover at first, especially since one of the features I needed in the GIMP program to make the cover I wanted doesn’t seem to be working on the newest version of the program so I had to find a workaround. But the cover has grown on me, and I’m particularly happy to have been permitted to include Charlie the Sweater Cat on it. Charlie was a resident at the cat cafe where I volunteer; due to a cluster of health issues, he unfortunately had to be put down at the beginning of July. He became a character of sorts in Fill the Empty Spaces, though, and the owner of the cafe approved that and granted me permission to use one of the photos I took of Charlie as part of the cover art. Fill the Empty Spaces will be available for preorder on the 28th of this month, and will be released in Kindle and paperback formats on Oct. 12! (Stay tuned for whether I put this one in KU; based on some issues other authors have been experiencing lately with KU, I’m considering not going that route with this book, but I haven’t completely decided yet.) I’ll share the cover here soon, but I’ve promised to reveal it in my newsletter first.
  • I started plotting the rewrite I’ve decided I need to do on Take Some Tahini (Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat 6, the first *new* RWDEM book since 2014!) I love this book as I’ve written it, but it’s kind of a “breather episode” of the series, and I have the feeling the lower-stakes, lower-action nature of it won’t meet reader wants or expectations. So I’m revamping it to match the stakes and action level to the previous books of the series, and I will probably be pulling the “breather” aspects of the story to release as a freebie or a newsletter subscriber perk. Take Some Tahini is slated for release in July 2024.

 

Skipping This Week

Yes, I’m doing a blog post saying that I’m skipping doing a blog post… Because making sense is not part of being a writer, at least in my case. I have quite a few things going on this week, including trying to make the cover for Fill the Empty Spaces, which would be going much more easily if the developers of the GIMP program would fix the known bug that’s causing me to be unable to use one of the program functions I need…

Anyway, so I’ll be spending my day dealing with that, because there’s now less than a month until Fill the Empty Spaces goes up for preorder! I hope your August has gone well and that you have an easy transition into September.

This is the picture I’ve chosen to represent Del, the main character of Fill the Empty Spaces, though I might change my mind between now and the time I actually finish the cover…