I’ve been taking time off for the past several weeks. I was a bit burned out on writing and art. I played Hogwarts Legacy. Epic! One of the most fun games I’ve ever played. Everything I ever wanted to do while reading the books, I got to do in this game. I’ve finished that (100% achievement on the challenges and 98% of the collections, which were so hard to find, I finally gave up on the last few things).
Now I need to get back to business and caught up on the things of life along with miscellaneous tasks not associated with writing or art. The rest of this week will be spend doing those things. Next week, I need to incorporate a critique I got a few weeks back for an old book that will hopefully be reissued in the coming years. I also got some feedback on one of my critique partners that made me see I need to write an extra scene in LOST, Book 8: Bloodmoon Cove Spirits Series. Once I’ve finished that, I plan to start brainstorming on the book I’ll be outlining next month (HELL HATH NO FURY, Book 10: Bloodmoon Cove Spirits Series). Simultaneously with those projects, I’ll get started on the next section in the How to Draw course. There are eight “complex” drawing lessons concentrated on light and shadow and value scales for this study. In the meantime, I got my first artist’s desk! It wasn’t too difficult to put together, though twice the directions lacked information and we ended up having to go back and redo sections until we got it right. Also, on the final page of instructions on putting the desk together, we realized it was missing a screw so we couldn’t finish. That’s a form of torment right there! We searched my office and couldn’t find it. We finally had to conclude that they just didn’t include it. {much grumbling} Tim went to the hardware store the next day and got that size screw in silver, which doesn’t match, so he put that one in a less noticeable spot on the desk and put one that matches the final piece that’s on the front. Having an art desk in my office, something that’s not small, did mean rearranging the space. Up to this point, I’ve been working off the kitchen table, and our dining room was a mess because of it. All my art supplies were strewn all around the room and we couldn’t really use the kitchen table much during those weeks or months. Now I have a surface to work on art that has a built-in lightbox that tilts, and I have space for all my art supplies. Everything else I need is in two rolling carts that can be pushed back into the corners when I don’t need them (or when Tim needs to get to the flowers he puts in the window boxes outside my office). I have a section of my office for my writing now and a section for my art. There are Venetian blinds on the two windows, so, if need more contrast between light and shadow, I can get that. Right now I think I can use the same chair for both sides of the office, since this is a chair that can be adjusted height-wise. I’m getting carpets made especially for office chairs so I can roll back and forth between the two sections of the room. I may need a lamp, but I’m waiting to see how it goes once I start working at the art desk. The pictures I’m adding to this post show how my office looks with the writing desk and the art desk. I feel like it’s still open and not cluttered, so it remains a workable space for me. I had to get rid of my story cupboard. This is something I’ve been talking about for probably the last 20 years of my life. It’s where all my WIPs are stored, where my story idea folders are kept, along with miscellaneous stuff to do with my writing. It was very important to my overall progress as a writer. But, as I’m coming to the last of the books I plan to write (just two more that need to be outlined and three more that need to be written!), I’ve found I really don’t need the cupboard anymore. I was able to put all the things that were in it on shelves in other parts of my office that were basically empty. I’m gearing up to make the transition to children’s book illustrator maybe mid-2024. I can hardly wait. But, until then, I want my last few books to be my best ever so I need to stay focused on that instead of making art too much of a priority in my life at this time. I expect I’ll be posting some of my new art projects in the coming weeks again. I appreciate all the comments I’ve gotten. I’m early in the process of learning how to be an artist so the feedback really helps me and makes me think maybe I’m actually capable of doing this.
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![]() WIP Moment for EXILED HEARTS, Book 7: Peaceful Pilgrims Series Contemporary Christian Romance by Karen Wiesner Peaceful Pilgrims Series is set in Karen Wiesner's fictional town of Peaceful, Wisconsin. Peaceful is a modern day small community with old-fashioned values and friendly people you'll want to get to know and visit often. Both the Family and Friendship Heirlooms series' are also set in Peaceful. As I said in my post about HEARTS ABLAZE, Book 6: Peaceful Pilgrims Series, I realized when I decided to make the Peaceful Pilgrim a series instead of a bunch of single title novels that were interconnected mainly by the fiction town of Peaceful, Wisconsin that I've followed my muse in which books in this series I feel have enough material to write and feel inspired to work on, but unfortunately I did it out of order. The corrected order has now been finalized as: HOME, Book 1 (Della Flynn and Cade Somers) *currently available* DESTINY, Book 2 (Elizabeth Horace and Chris Riley) *currently available* ONCE UPON A CLICHÉ, Book 3 (Brayla Sullivan and Shaun Levi) *currently available* HEARTS ABLAZE, Book 4 (Riley Levi {Shaun's sister} and Liam "Blaze" Blazel {Shaun's deputy}) *finished and awaiting edits-hopefully a late 2023 release date* A PERFECT MATCH, Book 5 (Lena Young and Dante Robinson) *currently available* REKINDLED, Book 6 (Nickira Cassidy and Landon Robinson {Dante's parents}) *finished and awaiting edits--hopefully an early to mid-2023 release date* EXILED HEARTS, Book 7 (Avery Worchester {Dante's best friend} and Jayne Eyre) *projected 2024 release date* Here's the very long back cover blurb for the book that I'll be using to create the outline of the story, but I do expect I'll be revising it a lot or a little, sooner or later, in the process, since I usually do that: Avery Worchester is 40 and well-aware he's screwed up his life badly. He has three angry ex-wives, three kids of varying ages that he's only just started to get to know after years of allowing questionable monetary compensation and babysitters take the place of actual parenting on his behalf. But, less than a year ago, his best friend made him realize if he didn't start making drastic changes to the disturbing pattern of his life, he would lose everything that mattered to him sooner or later. He started his transformation by breaking up with the woman he'd been dating for no better reason than good sex. Twenty-two-year-old Stella hated his kids, and the feeling was mutual. Little did he realize she was pregnant when he unceremoniously dumped her. For selfish reasons of her own--not limited to being unsure who the father actually was--she didn't bother to inform him. Barely two weeks after the baby was born, she shows up at his modest apartment and unceremoniously dumps his newborn daughter on him, saying she's realized she's not cut out to be a mother and not to call her. Ever. Avery's life is turned upside-down in no time. He's never cared for an infant before. Asking his ex-wives for help isn't an option. With nowhere left to turn, he responds to an ad for a nanny who's living in his building. Twenty-seven year old Jayne Eyre is working toward a Child Therapy Masters' degree and she barely paid her first months' rent in a building that seems downright swanky for someone of her extremely limited means. The only child of an exile from a country where Christianity is illegal, Jayne was raised the opposite of everything her father had known growing up in such a rigid, dangerous country. Like her fictional counterpart, Jayne is fiery, independent, much preferring to be happy than dignified. She refuses to believe her life or choices have any boundaries at all. Avery needs her help badly, and she finds herself drawn into his world so her existence is soon wrapped up in him and the precious little girl along with those of his other, older, justifiably wary children. But Avery has been anything but a reliable, devoted lover to the women in his life, if his past is any indication. When a sensitive, passionate angel ventures into the miry wilds of love, what can her heart expect to meet beyond certain exile? February 1, 2023 WIP MOMENT: This is what I expect will be the final book in the series. The connection to the previous books in the series is that the hero in EXILED HEARTS, Avery Worchester, was Dante Robinson's estranged best friend in A PERFECT MATCH, Book 5. I had originally thought to write Dante's sister Gemma's own story, and the heroine in EXILED HEARTS, Jayne Eyre, was a friend of hers she met at the university when she and her husband moved back to Peaceful and Gemma (who's closing in on empty-nesting) decided to go back to college. I'm not sure if I'll continue with that angle in the outline for EXILED HEARTS. That part is still up in the air. EXILED HEARTS will take place probably a good year after Dante and Lena's wedding (which was prominently featured in REKINDLED)…which was where readers saw Avery and his ex-lover Stella close to breaking up. I plan to start outlining EXILED HEARTS on February 6, 2023. I expect I’ll spend 2-3 weeks working on it, and it'll probably be about 75- to 90,000 words long when finished. I had brand new covers designed for Books 1-6 in this series late last year in preparation for making this a series instead of single titles (they're posted on my website and Facebook Author page, so you can see how beautiful they are and can visualize what the final cover for EXILED HEARTS will look like). After I finish the outline for EXILED HEARTS (hopefully I can finish it), I'll be certain I can write the book and will commission the final cover for EXILED HEARTS, which will utilize the same graphics that are on the temp cover, but in the new design. Find out more about this book and series here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/peaceful-pilgrims-series.html and http://www.writers-exchange.com/a-peaceful-pilgrim-novel-series/ On my Facebook author page http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor, I'll be documenting each day what I accomplish on this project throughout the stages of outlining, writing, revising, incorporating critiques and polish, and doing a final read-through before I submit the book for editing and publication. Stay tuned! ![]() WIP Moment: What I'm Working on Next (November 2021-January 2022) BONE OF MY BONE, Book 7: Bloodmoon Cove Spirits Series Back in February and March 2021, I outlined the book I plan to start writing on Monday. I actually outlined it twice. The first time, I got more than halfway through and realized the story simply couldn't be worked out. But luckily I had a brain storm of ideas on how to fix the issues only days after I conceded defeat and I went to work starting all over again. It was an almost total overhaul. This time the story worked and, when written, should be a great installment to the Bloodmoon Cove Spirits Series. I fell in love with the characters the with the second outline. When I went back to read the outline on Thursday and Friday of this week, the outline still seemed solid so I'm green-lighting the project. I expect the story will hover near the 100,000 words range when it's finished (based on the length and complexity of the outline). Unless I'm super-fast or super-slow writing it, I'm allotting myself until about 3 months to write it (I know, pretty unheard of for me in the past but compensations must be made for old age, lol). I intend to write one scene a day unless it's going so well, I "splurge" here and there and get ahead of schedule. I'm looking forward to seeing how this tale and the characters will develop and how scary I can make it. Fingers crossed for a real horror fest this time! You can follow my daily progress with this story in the comments section on my Facebook Author page, here: https://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor Here are the details with the temporary cover I’ve designed (the final will have the same graphic, though the design will match the previously published books in the series): BONE OF MY BONE by Karen Wiesner Romantic Paranormal Horror from Writers Exchange E-Publishing https://www.writers-exchange.com/bloodmoon-cove-spirits-series/ Coming June 2022 (hopefully) Don’t close your eyes… Nestled on Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin is a small, secluded town called Bloodmoon Cove with volatile weather, suspicious folk…and newly awakened ghosts. How to bury what won't stay dead…? When Bennet Ryan was eight years old, he met Ice and fell for her just as she came to love him and his entire family. With love, trust should be forged. Yet who Ice was and where she came from was an enigma she adamantly concealed. At a crossroads when they were nineteen, Bennet gave her an ultimatum: Entrust her secrets to him or he'd have no choice but to move forward with his life. At the time, he didn't have a clue the price he'd pay for that devastating break. Every year since Bennet met her, she'd disappeared without a trace at the end of September. After Bennet left her, he'd worried she wouldn't come back within two weeks the way she always had before. His worst fear materialized when she didn't return. Now, at twenty, he's the new deputy sheriff in Erie County. The months of investigation that followed Ice's disappearance ended abruptly with no sign of what happened to her…or shred of proof she was even still alive. Still grieving a year after her disappearance, Bennet is floored when Ice reappears in Bloodmoon Cove. As they fall in love all over again, September is approaching rapidly, bringing with it a deadly reckoning. Ice's haunted comment about "how to bury what won't stay dead" compels Bennet to solve the mystery of Ice once and for all. The deeper he delves, the more certain he is that the hole the Mino-Miskwi elders tore in the veil between the living and the dead a century ago has created a maelstrom of twisted horror. How can he possibly save the woman he loves from an entity that wears the name of creation's first murderer, bears an immortal seal, and made a pact with the devil himself? Find out more about this book, available stories in the series, and upcoming installments here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/bloodmoon-cove-spirits-series.html |
AuthorWelcome to Karen's Quill, the blog of author Karen Wiesner. In addition to being a popular writing reference instructor and writer, professional blurbologist and freelance editor, Karen is the accomplished author of nearly 150 titles published in the past 25 years, which have been nominated/won 134 awards, with 9 more releases contracted for spanning many genres and formats. Archives
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