2022

07 Monday Feb 2022

Posted by Jessica Wood in author, Blog, self publishing, writing, writing update

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dieselpunk, steampunk, writing, writing update

Why is it the beginning of February feels so strange? The new year has barely begun, yet Christmas feels like a distant memory.

My new year hasn’t been so bad so far, with many new projects to work on. The only setback I’ve experienced is my Finnish course being cancelled due to few people signing up. Because nobody wants to learn Finnish, even the people who live here! I’m disappointed as one of my goals this year is to improve my Finnish speaking skills, yet I still struggle just ordering pastries from the bakery. It also means getting my citizenship has been set back further. But I’ve had to accept the minor setback and focus on different things for the time being, mostly the writing projects I’m juggling.

One good thing at least is that I finally got an adjustable desk, which can be used both sitting or standing. My physiotherapist told me months ago that I should get one for the sake of my legs, since I kept on getting severe cramps (as in waking up in the middle of the night screaming in pain and scaring my husband). I finally got this one with my Christmas/birthday money and it’s been great so far.

As for writing, I mentioned in my New Year post that I’m working on a dieselpunk sky city series to be released this year. The first book, Sky’s Edge, should be back from the beta readers in the next few days and will be released on May 1st. The second titled City of Devils is close to the first editing stages and is scheduled for release on August 28th. I was going to release it on September 2nd, the anniversary of the day I moved to Finland, but then Amazon had to go and announce they’re releasing their Lord of the Rings series on the same day (Is everybody else as terrified about that series as I am?).

In the meantime, I’m almost finished on a prequel to the Tales From Undersea series which will be used as a freebie for signing up to the newsletter. This one is about the origins of the Undersea world, focused upon Leonardo da Vinci. I’ll hopefully be announcing that one soon.

Writing update – Janurary 2021

18 Monday Jan 2021

Posted by Jessica Wood in adaptation, author, Blog, Editing, indie, pirate, self publishing, steampunk, story, writing update

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am writing, creative writing, dieselpunk, steampunk, writing, writing update

I haven’t posted many actual updates since the first book in my series came out. Rest assured, I’m already in the swing of the next two books in the series.

Book 2 – Stealing From Thieves: I got feedback from beta readers which was mostly positive, but did point out some things to correct, which I have done. The book is almost ready to begin the editing phase. I did plan to have this book finished by the end of 2020, but the feedback took longer than I anticipated. Now I’m planning to have it published by Midsummer this year, and hopefully to have the paperback ready to publish at the same time as the e-book.

Book 3 – Outcast’s Alliance: I’m looking over the first draft which I wrote at the end of last year. I expected it to be full of plot holes and errors, which it is, but not nearly as many as I feared. Dare I say it, it’s actually pretty good. Or at least it will be once it’s edited. Once I’ve finished making notes, I’ll be starting the second draft. I plan to have this book finished and ready to publish by the end of 2021.

Other books: I just can’t help myself. Even with these other two books to write and one to promote, I’m still developing ideas for future books in the series, and other series. I just don’t know which one I will work on immedietly after I’ve finished this current trilogy. I’ll probably leave it up to whatever the readers want the most. I’m already planning two one-off sequels to the first Tales From Undersea trilogy focusing on some of the secondary characters who have already proved popular with readers (and with me!). I’m also planning a dieselpunk trilogy set in the same world but moved ahead to the 1920s and set in an underwater version of New York City. A non-related series I’m also developing ideas for is a series based upon the Jules Verne books (can you tell yet that I like Jules Verne?). But that is still in the very early stages of development, so I can’t say anything else about the plot or characters.

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