Posts

SoE4 out as a paperback, final thoughts on the whole project

 Phew, well, now the series is complete, and I feel very weird about it. On the one hand, I'm happy I managed it, on the other hand, I have no idea what comes next, if anything, and I'm feeling a little empty. I'm glad to see people visit my blog, and I'm glad to see people buying the books. Putting this story out there in the ether without a publisher was daunting, not to mention time consuming, and the editors didn't come cheap either. Still, it has been lovely seeing that there are people out there who have liked the story, and hopefully, it will keep reaching new readers still. My main goal with this project was just to see if I could write something that people actually liked but do it my way without considering what is popular and what would sell and be easy to market. I wanted to write the story as I wanted to tell it and in the setting I wanted to tell it in, whether it would ever sell one copy or not. There are so many writers, published or self-published,

SoE4 out as ebook

 Hello once more, Just a small post to say that I just managed to finish SoE4: Cloudless Horizon, and it is now live on Amazon as an ebook. The paperback will take me a while longer to put together. Link to the ebook: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CN3ZRQ4D

Soe4 cover

Image
A tiny peak at the last book's cover. I wanted to feature the main four and their dynamics on the cover where the Witch Queen is sort of hovering above them, enveloping the other three in this situation and also growing from the island's bedrock as she is the foundation of the events in the entire series. Rime stands between Isa and Riestel, but also on this shadowy part that looks like a ravine that grows toward the Witch Queen.  

Almost there

 Just a quick update on the last book. The story is almost complete. I'm just doing my last read-through with touch-ups and some little additions here and there. After this, I will contact an editor and then the schedule is really in their hands. Of course, I need to start working on the cover so that will take a bit of time too. The drawing and processing of the cover isn't all that time-consuming, the hardest part is coming up with what to draw. It is a rather funny feeling to be nearing the end of 4 years and 4 books project. What will I do with my time after all of it? I have some ideas for stories but I also wrote many stories that never saw the light of day before publishing this series so I know I will very likely keep on writing but whether any of them will end up as books... Well, only time will tell.

Music for writing

I couldn't imagine writing without music. It helps to surround me with a barrier to keep our world and its mundane worries out and to transport me to other worlds. I rarely listen to purely instrumental music, but writing sessions are the exception (not always). I like music from all sorts of genres and from all over the world but not many of my favorite bands or singers make it to my writing music lists. Normally, depending on my mood, I listen to things like Tom Waits, StrayKids, DPR Ian, Dimash, Moloko, Blondie, Sister's of Mercy, Nick Cave (and most rock 'n roll songs from the 60's, rock songs from the 70's, metal from the 80's and 90's, and many of the poppier song from that era too, oh, and musicals and classical music and Bollywood songs. Yeah..., it would likely be hard to find a type of music I didn't at least find one band or song I liked...). Back to writing music. It needs to have a certain touch of magic and melancholy, a yearning for someth

About halfway done

 Writing the last book in the series has proved quite slow in comparison to the previous parts, mainly because there was one ending to things I personally didn't necessarily want to happen, but the characters demanded it. I tried to look for ways to stall this particular progression of the plot but with character arcs in mind, it just had to happen before the final confrontations. Despite that, I am now getting to the halfway mark of the 4th book. The relationship triangle is now more or less concluded and only the Witch Queen waits for her biggest appearance yet. I'm still aiming to get the book out this year but it will probably be a little later in the autumn than the previous parts (or early winter).

Working on SoE4

 Hello, long time no write!  I've been taking a bit of a pause due to my workload and other stressful things going on this year. But now I'm back to writing, although, it is going slow as I'm doing it by hand to try to conserve some electricity here in Finland as the prices went through the roof due to world events. It's actually pretty fun as I decided to add to the atmosphere and do it with only an oil lamp for light. It is almost meditative and sort of healing instead of working in front of a computer screen like I do almost all day every day anyway when I translate. Of course, I will still need to type it out but it doesn't take long to do. I was also feeling, not a writer's blog as such, as I had a lot I wanted to get put into words and a plot to follow, maybe just a bit depressed, a kind of hollow "meh" feeling, which seems to be greatly alleviated by this odd new way of writing. I'm especially pleased with a scene of Riestel and Isa I just f