Good morning, Readers!

Oh boy did I miss punching things.

Last night was the first night back at training.  We're in a new location.  It's weird being there, but I'm sure it'll setting into a new normal very soon.  I saw all the old crew; and I have missed them so much.  It was awesome to be back with them all, laughing and hitting, getting bruised and bruising others.... ahhhhh... life is good now.

Honestly, I adore my martial arts crew.  And I was genuinely so giddy to see them all again.

Today, I am tired.  I was supposed to get up early and go for a brief half-hour run this morning.  That didn't happen.  Instead, I stayed in bed, listening to the cat lose his goddamn mind doing wind sprints between my bed and the sewing room, while happily curled beneath the covers (it was cold enough last night for covers, another reason I'm feeling great today).

Oh well.  I'll try for Friday, depending on how my still-healing foot feels.  Persephone slept on it last night, and it's a bit achy today.  Maybe Monday.  It really does depend on my foot.  For the record, it did very well during training last night.

Tonight is another great night.  I'm streaming.  And I love the game I'm streaming.  I'm going to have to replay it.

Right, I have a lot of work to do today, so here's a great piece about what it's like to have your writing as your sole source of income by Chuck Wendig.

Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

Ignoring the unironic title, I'm really happy today.  Today, sitting at my side, is my gym bag.  In it, my boxing gloves, and my king fu uniform.

That's right.

Tonight, I return to martial arts training.  We have found a place to train.  Now, it is very temporary solution.  I still really want to build a school so that we might have a permanent home, and not have to worry overmuch about losing space again.  Come on, lottery win!  Or... hey... selling film rights on any one of my books.

Ahem...

Hollywood, I know you're currently in love with remakes of literally fucking everything, but I have a few fresh stories for you.  Hey, with the success of Wonder Woman, maybe consider another female-centric film?  Daughters of Britain is pretty damned good... and it has sword fights!  C'mon.  You know you want to at least take a look.

Anyway, I'm really thrilled to be back at training.  It was pretty hairy there for a while.  I hope to see the whole crew there.

Now that we no longer have the backing of Algonquin, I've been put in charge of social media, in the hopes that we might be able to do our own marketing and attract new blood.  I'm not great at marketing (I mean... I can't even sell my own stuff), but I'm going to give it my best.  So, today, I'm setting aside the writing to set up the social media for the school.  Hopefully I can get it all done today, and hopefully it will help the school.

Right, I have a lot of work to do.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

Perusing deviantart.com is one of my favourite things, but it does often leave me feeling so very inadequate.  People are so talented and creative.  And I'm... well... not.  At least, I'm not in the fine art sense.  I don't think, anyway.

But art was my favourite subject in school, and I didn't think I was terrible when I was in class.  I kinda want to take up art again (I've stopped for a bit, clearly), but I feel like I can't without some instruction.  That's stupid, I know.  There are plenty of incredible, self-taught artists.  I just feel that I'm severely lacking the skill.

I think I'm going to start with drawing.  If I get to feeling confident, i might start experimenting with paints again.  The problem there, of course, is buying canvases etc.  Also, I really, really want to try oil painting, but it scares the bejeebus out of me.

I think that maybe I will do a drawing a week in starting in October.  Next pay, I think I'll head over to an art store and buy an art journal, and get all of my pencils and smudgers in line.

I'd like to involve you all, too, so I need a drawing prompt for the first week.  That's where you come in.  Leave a comment down below with something you think I should attempt to draw.  Nothing too complicated, but do feel free to get fanciful.  I'll select a prompt I like and do that drawing.

If I've selected your prompt, you get the original drawing.  This may or may not be a good deal, depending on my abilities.  I figured that since you're helping me out, you should get something in return.  So, leave your prompts in the comments below, or tweet them at me (@smcarriere) or with #ArtPromptsForSonia.  I'll choose the first one at the end of the month, and start drawing the first week of October.  Who knows?  Maybe it'll turn out really well.  And I could use a reason to get drawing again.

Right, I'm off to do things.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

Today I'm still working on IT STILL NEEDS A TITLE, OMG!  I fixed up a scene.  On the agenda currently, inserting additional parts of a battle scene.

If I can get that done today, then it's off to the final beta reader.

I won't be submitting this one this year, even if it's ready to go.  I will be waiting until I'm finished writing Outcast, and can get started on the second book of the series before I start submitting the first book.  If things keep going the way they are, it's not going to be until middle of next year before I start submitting.  I'm excited about it, though.  I really like this story, and the characters, and I'd love to bring them to you as well.

That's really all I have to say today.  It's not a whole lot that's going on in my life at the moment.  It's literally writing, swimming, occasionally weight lifting.  That's my life.

The writing life.  It's not glamorous, folks.

Since I am entirely lacking in entertainment for you, leave your own news or things of interest in the comments below!  Entertain each other, is what I'm trying to say.

Right.  I'm off to do things with my day.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

Yesterday, instead of writing, I set about the second round of editing based on beta reader comments.  It's technically they third round of editing over all, but only the second beta reader's comments.  In any case, I thought it would be a lot harsher than it was, and I was pleasantly surprised.

There are a few things I need to fix up, which is what I'll be doing for the rest of this week until completion.

I do have to say, I really do love it when it turns out that the emotional beats all hit (more or less), and that characters I had hoped would be difficult came across as difficult.  It's nice to know that I got that right, at least.

There are things that are legit criticisms that will be resolved in book two, so I'm not so worried about that when beta readers mention it.  And there are things in this manuscript which need to be taken care of now.  On today's agenda, getting rid of a whole bunch of 'then's which typically pepper my manuscript an awful lot.  Then I need to add some more to the scene where one of the protagonists meets someone he immediately forms a crush on.

If I have time, I need to add a whole lot of detail to that same protagonist's first battle.  If not, I'll save that for tomorrow.

I really like this story.  I love the characters; even that jerk.  I love the world.  I love this one almost as much as I love Skylark.  That's an awful lot.

I'm actually excited to be making these changes.  I like being with this manuscript.

Right, since that's the case, I best get to work.  Have a great day, everyone.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

Yesterday was a great day.  I edited together the next highlights reel from my God Of War live stream and uploaded it.  Had a great swim at lunch.  It was smooth and easy.  The shower after was hot and the water pressure was fantastic.  In the morning, when I checked my email following the posting of the blog post, I received notifications from Amazon that I'll be getting royalty payments from Amazon Canada, USA, UK and France.

Now, this is nothing to get overly excited about.  Amazon sends money when the amount owing reaches or exceeds roughly ten dollars.  So, I'm expecting only forty or so dollars to arrive.  I appreciate it all, of course.  I might be able to take myself out to the movies as a treat for this.  That's always nice.  Sincerely, I am genuinely thrilled to have sold at all, and I'd like to thank those lovely folks who bought my stuff.  I really hope you enjoy the stories I shared.  If you're one of them, I'd love to hear from you.  Honestly, hearing from readers can really make a writer's week.  The royalties are nice.  That means we have a roof over our heads and food on our tables (if we sell enough, at least).  But hearing from readers who liked our stuff is even better.

Last night was also great.  Despite my awful headache, I got a lot of cuddly time with the cats.  It's so nice to wake up to both cats curled up against you, purring and warm.  It does make it difficult to get out of bed, though.  I also walked home in the light rain yesterday.  It was nice and light, so I didn't mind in the least.  Walking home in that weather was a lot more fun than it should've been.  It did mean that it took me a while to warm up, though.  The cats helped.

This morning, I put on a shirt that I had bought two years ago...?  Last year...?  Good grief, I can't remember.  Anyway, I rarely wear this shirt because it's too damned tight.  I bought it without trying it on (word to the wise, don't do that), and I didn't know how it fit when I bought it.  So, I don't really wear it. I tried it on this morning, just to see, and, fine, I admit that maybe I've lost a little weight.  The shirt fits.  That's a good thing.  I've been trying for ages, with little effect, if I'm honest.  Maybe it's the walking 2+ hours a day (just over one hour to work and another back) this summer.  Maybe the weightlifting is finally paying off in more than strength gains.  Maybe it's the hot water with lemon slices I've been drinking in the morning.  Who knows?  It's working.  Albeit slowly.  Very slowly.

Right, I have writing to do.  If I can hit another two thousand words today, I'll be pleased.  I have to remember not to be hard on myself if I don't, though.  I'll stop blathering now.

Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

On Friday, a YouTuber I follow uploaded a fantastic cover of a song from the WoW universe (World of Warcraft) and I, being a sucker for sea shanties and folk songs, have fallen in love with it.  Here's the song:

It's supposedly about a character called Jaina Proudmoore.  My brain took it somewhere else.

I don't play Wow.  I don't know much about the lore.  So this song, taken only on it's own, invoked a new story in my head, and this story is part of the world of the Avalon series I'm writing.  It's a love story, weirdly enough, and set thousands of years before the events in the Avalon series.  I'm not saying much else, because I have a feeling that this will be a novella.  I may publish it on Wattpad.

Yes, I have started writing it.  On Friday.

No, this one won't be the focus of my writing, but I will be devoting at least one writing day to it a week until it's done.  Probably Fridays.  It's screaming really loudly for attention, folks.  Really, really loudly.

And that's all the news I have currently am willing to share.  Enjoy the song, and enjoy the rest of your day!

​Ciao!