Guys, I have a confession:

You know how writers need to be really self-motivated and hold themselves accountable in order to get their current projects on time? Well, turns out, I’m not one of those writers. At least, not one of the ones who can do it all on my own.

Like most of the human race, I suffer from sever bouts of procrastination and tend to get distracted by everything from what’s happening at our dance studio to online quizzes about my favorite anime shows. I never have been nor would I ever pretend to be a one-woman show; the only way I ever get anything done is if I tell someone what I’m up to.

So, as a way to keep myself accountable and give you all a sneak peek of what’s to come, I’ve listed four of my biggest writing projects below along with a few links to them as needed. 

Author Media Course: Obscure No More

As a budding author in the industry, I’m constantly looking for ways to improve. A lot of times this means reading novels by authors I admire, practicing new techniques with my craft, or researching points I want to cover in my stories. 

Other times it means doing the more painful things like setting up a business model and learning how to market my work. One of the podcasters I’ve been listening to offers courses specifically for novelists, and I decided to enroll in one geared towards authors wishing to avoid obscurity. I’m not getting sponsored by these guys or anything, but if you’d like to check out the course you can find it at https://www.authormedia.com/obscure-no-more-course-overview/

Handling the business side of writing has been a headache, but it’s also empowering because I’m learning how to profit off of my work. If I can master this skill, I won’t have to worry about outside forces impacting my career. Or rather, I’ll be prepared to handle those unexpected changes when they arrive.

Podcast Guesting Course

We are trucking along through the ONM course. I’ve completed the mini-courses on website optimization, email marketing, blogging, and am currently chipping away at the course on podcast guesting. I’m excited for this one since, while I’ve been on a couple podcasts, I’ve never actively pursued it as a way of building my platform while contributing to other content creators.

Cut From A Tattered Cloth

Plot Summary:

Special Mage Eijiro Tokuda never wanted to be a mentor. In fact, he didn’t even want to be alive. But when a desperate fourteen-year-old interrupts his most recent attempt to skip out on mortality, Eijiro ends up both alive and a mentor. The worst of both worlds.

Now stuffed into the role of caretaker and father figure for a girl that adores him, Eijiro must show his apprentice how to master her abilities without succumbing to his own inner demons. Which won’t be easy to do when the ghosts of his past threaten to steal his apprentice’s love for him and his second chance at life.

New chapters upload to Wattpad every Friday. If you would like to read ahead of the Wattpad crew, newsletter subscribers get additional chapters every month. 

The Mage of Thorns

*Cover To Be Revealed*

I’m not sure how much I want to reveal about this book, since I’m still not sure what I want to do with it. 

You see, this book actually takes place fourteen years after the events in Cut From A Tattered Cloth. In this story Eijiro’s apprentice is all grown up, and actually takes on an apprentice of her own. I worry about delving deeper into the story because, like its predecessor, The Mage of Thorns deals a lot with trauma. I’m not sue how the public will react if they see that the bubbly girl from the Tattered Cloth books grows up to be sarcastic and jaded.

But, I know that’s more the businesswoman in me rather than the artist. As an author, I’m actually really proud of this story because of the trauma that might hurt future book sales. I’ll finish writing the story, of course–I’m too invested in these characters to do otherwise. Whether I end up sharing this with the masses or keeping it for myself, however, is another matter entirely.

Either way, keep an eye out for stories tagged with #MageOfThorns if you want to follow this one!

Current Read: Advent 9

*Note: All current reads and book recommendations contain affiliate links, which you can click on to support the website. :-)*

I met the author for this book while speaking at LTUE in February. We were both on the same panel and I learned a lot about his experiences with autism and loved his take on autistic characters like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory. I enjoyed our conversation so much I ended up buying his book Advent 9, which is about an autistic superhero. 

I’m about a third of the way into it now, and am seriously intrigued by the plot and character development. Alan’s created a world where hummingbirds have fur and ferret faces, alternate dimensions can be ripped and sewn back together, and enemies are forced to become allies underground. I’ll definitely be posting a review about this one when we’re done, and can’t wait to see where the story goes from here.