I’ve been gone for a while. I hope I can stop doing that soon. It’s been a bit of a strange period for me. I’ve been adjusting to the demands of school, work, and writing. In the last month, I’ve made some decent progress on The Shadowed Land. It is now roughly 2/3 of the way done (well, the first draft at least). I might actually be closer to the end than that. My word count goal is just a rough guess of what I think the book will be in the end.

I’m happy with the way it’s turning out. As usual, I have a nice healthy dose of action. For me, it’s just not a story if I don’t throw in some battles and monsters and chase scenes.

The Shadowed Land is perhaps the most challenging book I’ve ever written. I’m balancing four stories in one, and that’s more than I’ve ever done before. My usual number is three (or fewer in the case of my middle grade fantasy).

Speaking of which, I’ve been working a little bit on that middle grade fantasy. It’s titled The Man in the Crystal Prison, and it’s kind of a “what if” game with Harry Potter. Instead of a low-tech magical world, I’ve decided to merge magic and technology into one. In my mind, that can be even more exciting. It combines my two favorite genres: fantasy and science fiction.

But I probably shouldn’t talk too much about that one just yet. For now, my focus is on the Empire of Chains series and the Sunweaver series. The God War series, starting with Watersong, will probably factor in at some point. I’ll have to see how much I can manage to do without driving myself insane (oh, the joys of stress and mental illness).

While I hate to admit it, I’ve been going back and forth again on self-publishing. Today, I decided I should go through with it. Let’s hope that decision sticks this time. I’m tired of wondering how I would do.

I really think I can make this work. My biggest doubts aren’t about the books. I think they’re ready.  No, it’s the marketing that terrifies me. I definitely have an online presence. I’m a member of some writing and genre-related forums (an active member, I should note). But I’m still getting the hang of Twitter. I have close to a hundred followers, which is pretty good when you consider that I haven’t been all that active.

I also know some other authors who’ve done the self-publishing thing with decent success. I can always ask them questions. It’s just terrifying (as I’ve probably said many times before).

So that’s what’s been going on with me.