Busting Through That Series TBR List

Trying not to pat myself on the back too much, but guys I am making such good progress on my "finishing up all the series" list!!!

(If you're looking for a WIP update, go back one entry.  This one is all about reading life.)


So here is my list as it stands right now:
Finishing Up My Series TBR list.  Let's take a look, shall we?

1. The Lotus War books.  There is no good reason for why I haven't finished this series.  The main character is AWESOME.  The world is AWESOME. AND I OWN ALL THREE BOOKS.  Like what is wrong with me?
2. The Lunar Chronicles.  I loved these books, but for whatever reason whenever I look at how long Winter is, my brain fails.  But this year I will read the last book!!!
3. Under The Never Sky. I got partway through the last book and just quit.  What is wrong with me??? I really liked the other two books.  *sigh*  I have a problem.
4. Dust Lands.  I really loved the first book in this series, but the second book and its sibling drama (not to mention that whole rapey type scene at the end) really turned me off.  Still, I do want to find out what happens to Saba, so I need to buckle down and finish that one.
5. The Fifth Wave.  I was absolutely blown away by the first two books in this series, but I admit I am terrified of what might happen in the conclusion.  I will face my fear and read that book when it releases in FOUR DAYS??? EEP!
6. Daughter of Smoke and Bone.  Honestly, why in heaven's name haven't I finished this series?  I freaking LOVE Laini Taylor.  Is it just that I'm a coward and I can't face how it might end?  Not sure.
7. Penryn & The End Of Days. Okay, I'm just afraid that Pen and Rafe don't end up together, so if someone could just spoil that detail for me, I'll finish this series posthaste.
8. The Heir Chronicles.  It's been so long since I read the last one that I really can't even remember what happened.  I just need to see if they have it on recaptains or something.  Because I loved every one of those stories. :)
9. Lumatere Chronicles.  I read the first of these books, but honestly, Finnikin didn't excite me very much.  But EVERYONE AND THEIR BROTHER keeps telling me I have to read the other two because they are amazing.  So I added this series to my list.  

So I only have 3 left!  There are two to finish in Lotus War, and two in Lumatere.  There is just one in Dust Lands, so I'll probably go with that one next. :)  I am all about the easy wins.

That's all on my update for now.  I'm reading a lot of unrelated stuff too, and you can check out my goodreads for that. 

Happy Reading!

Good News

Hey all,
Sorry for my slightly ranty post previously.  It just sets off my "fairness" radar when Gooreads would just DELETE hours of effort on the part of readers and without any warning.  How is that respect for users who have used the site for YEARS?  Not cool.  Decidedly not.

However, let's move past that now.  Let's pretend such things don't exist for the moment.
I have some great news!  Well, lots of great news, actually.  Firstly, part one of Terris is done!

It's been a long time in coming, I know.  Apologies to all my fans and thanks to their patience.  :)  Let's hope the rest of it goes fast!

Announcement number two: The first fifteen minutes of Compis' audiobook is done!  There will be a lot more good news on that front.  The audio is amazing, I'm so happy with it.

And third announcement: I will be the Cuddlebuggery.com Buzz Worthy News correspondent starting tomorrow.  This week's news was a lot of fun to write, so I hope you'll hop on over and enjoy.

That's all for now.  But enjoy the fact that Terris has 75,000 words written.  I know I will be.

Happy Reading!

Eeny Meeny Miney Moe...

Sorry, there was no official end of ROW80 posting last week.  Because my family celebrates holidays on days other than holidays.  So last weekend we did Easter Egg hunts with the kidlets and had a generally fabulous time with the family.  Little C. was a sight to behold.  He may be 18mths old, but that kid totally gets the idea of stashing loot in a basket. hahaha

So, how was my last ROW80 round?  Not great, honestly.  It could have been much worse, so for that I am thankful.  But MAN ALIVE did I get railroaded by the sick.  And just when Little C. started sleeping, too.  I'm much more hopeful that I'll get some major words out next round.  It will be warmer out and the cold and flu season will be nearing its end.

In case you were wondering about ME, I'm going to be just fine.  Got to the doctors just in time to figure out that I'd completely recovered from my own malady.  Isn't that just the way of it?  Like trying to take a twitchy car into the mechanic but your car won't reproduce the symptoms.

I probably got around 10,000 words written, total.  This is not a personal best for me, but it's better than nothing.  I'm not going to set a word goal for next round, but my goal is to be finished with part one of Terris.  That's about 30,000 words.  That means I'd have to do 10,000 words a MONTH, not per 3 months.

Instead, my goal this time around will be to write one hour a day.  In an hour I can write anywhere from 1,000-1,600 words, depending on my writing flow.

Will I make it?  I don't know.  Stay tuned to find out!  :)

Onward towards today's topic.  A week or so back I got a lovely fan letter from a reader of my Angelic Agents stories who wanted to know if there would be any new stories out soon.  Oh boy.

That really got me thinking about how my writing has gone thus far.  How do I decide what comes next?  How do I decide to do YA fantasy, or Western Fantasy Romance or Contemporary Romance or...

I'm a woman of eclectic tastes—in both my reading and writing.  So how do I choose what gets written first?

Well, I could go by what's popular.  I could say to myself... you know, those vampire books seem to be what everyone wants.  I should write a vampire book.  More likely, I should write a vampire, dystopian, New Adult book, if I really want to appeal to the majority of what's out there.  I should write more fan fiction about vampires and humans sexing it up.  I should write sci-fi about missile silos doubling as mass habitation(Hugh Howey's Wool, if you didn't catch the reference).

But I don't write what's popular.  I probably should, but it's hard to write well when you're just following a trend and not your heart or the spirit of your creativity.  Now if you have a brilliant story idea that also happens to be a popular trend (Angelfall comes to mind), then you've got it made.

I could also write what gets the most reviews.  Thus far that's my Five Tribes series.  But I don't write what I get the most ratings or reviews for.

I could go by downloads.  The Angel & Her Gun (permanently free) gets the most downloads hands down.  But downloads aren't an indication of READERSHIP.  Unless someone decides to READ that short story and tell someone else, or review it or email me... I have no idea if they actually read it or not.  I know that I don't read a significant portion of my freebies.  Some I'll start and discard, others I just forget about.  Sad, but true.

I honestly go by reader feedback.  What do my readers want more of?  So far, they seem to want more of The Five Tribes.  At least, if I go by the emails.  So, when the readers ask, I listen.

If you like something else, like The Angel & Her Gun then tell everyone you know to read it and email me.  It is free, after all.  It's not like it costs them anything.  If I get enough feedback saying that is what my readers want, then I'll break out my magic Wonder Woman notebook and get cracking!

And now, I'm off!  Happy Reading!

Solved

I think I've decided to wait and see if I get any feedback on the first draft of Compis before I run off and publish the ebook. This will give me a few weeks to do the following: 
1) Finish up and polish the collection of short stories I've been working on. My plan is to sell them for dirt cheap on Kindle and maybe post a couple for free here on goodreads. Before I was a novelist, I was a short story only girl, and a let's start this book, write about 6 chapters and go on to the next thing girl. Now I am a FINISH IT girl, but I may as well get some use out of the stories I wrote along the way. 
2) Get started on the next section of Compis. Even if I decide to release what I have as a book, the next part is dying to be written. Every night I lie in bed plotting where the story is going to go next. These characters are so easy to write about. It's like they're alive somewhere and their lives were recorded for me and all I have to do is put the description down on paper. What a pleasure. 
3) Work on marketing Six Keys better. I am getting pretty good at it, not great, but pretty good. I need to be better. To that end, I've been researching my butt off online, figuring out what others have done to mild success. I keep telling myself, it's only been two months and I'm averaging 1 sale a day right now. That is great, and I'm very happy about it. But it's not my goal. My goal is 10 books a day by 6 mths. We'll see if I reach it. I've got one month to bump up my average by a LOT. :) 

It's good to have goals.