Announcements – Page 4 – inklings.co.nz

Phew!

So, my determination to post updates throughout National Novel Writing Month waned a little as I got stuck into the novel.

November brought with it my now traditional late start to the challenge, as mentioned in the last update, and I compounded my risk of failure by taking the weekends off. However, the characters would not be denied, and I now have a shiny new first draft of Bad Habits, the sequel to my Fallen Shepherd Saga.

There is still a lot of rewriting, expanding and polishing to be done, but the characters knew what they were doing – more or less – and the story came together into a shape I’m really happy with.

Remember, remember…

… the month of November
The characters, setting and plot;
When scribes of all ages put novels to pages,
Or (at least) give the challenge a shot.

However, whomever, you write this November,
It all boils down to the text:
Though resolve may diminish, you’ll get to the finish
With one word preceding the next.

Two days in, and I spent yesterday returning from a fantastic holiday and wedding in beautiful Queenstown (I should probably reverse those, but they’re chronological, not in order of importance). So I’m playing catch-up today, after working through a week’s worth of client enquiries and jobs (all done, clients!) collecting the dog and running errands.

This year, I’m breaking the rules if not the spirit of NaNoWriMo: I’m writing a novel that I’ve already started, the sequel to my Fallen Shepherd Saga. However, I won’t cheat, i.e. the first 6,314 words won’t be going toward my total.

That’s it for now, better get back to the characters, and hope I remember where I left them.

NaNoWriMo

Getting this post in early, to make up for the year so far… I’m working on a new project that I’m really enjoying, but National Novel Writing Month approaches, and I’ve had several gentle enquiries about the next novel in the Fallen Shepherd Saga world.

Because flattery works far too well, I’ll be using NaNoWriMo to complete a draft of said novel, tentatively titled Bad Habits. Between now and then, I’ll be head-down on this current project, and finally getting the three parts of The Fallen Shepherd Saga released as a single volume.

And lo, they come…

… the malware distributors and exploiters of sites, slinging their unholy scripts and overcoming all obstacles to speak their gospel of vi4gr4 and other apparent desirables to the heathen masses.

So, yeah. The site was hacked. Better yet, my dutiful backup routine contained one tiny flaw: the archived backups (sorted by month, no less, on redundant devices) were missing almost every second file, and all of my uploads. Thank you [unnamed backup vendor]. You made my afternoon.

Lesson of the week: don’t take anything on faith when it comes to site security or the backup process.

We’ll be using a default theme while I work on a new design for the site, which is much more fun than trying to re-create the lost one. It’s time to get more responsive anyway, and overdue for our long-suffering (but gracious and uncomplaining) mobile visitors.

In better news, I’m working on a new stand-alone novel, and I’m having a great time with the characters and the world. I’ve also got a non-fiction project nearing the editing room, and a few short-stories that are almost ready for publication.

Will post again soon, but now it’s off to test a new backup script, and re-upload at least some of the site images.

On Holy Ground

I’m really excited to announce the conclusion to the Fallen Shepherd Saga, On Holy Ground.

It’s written, beta-read, edited and waiting on a couple of administrative details to go live… Hopefully by the beginning of next week. The blurb is one of those details, so I’ll leave you in suspense until then!

Now available on Amazon for $2.99 USD – link.

I’m also preparing a combined anthology version of the Saga, which will include an expansion to Holier Than Thou, but that will be a few weeks out.

Update 6/05/15: On Holy Ground is now in the publishing queue, and will be live in a few hours’ time! Here’s the blurb, while you wait:

“Lead me not into temptation.” It’s a petition, not a guarantee. And some temptations run deep.

The war is begun, and Rome is on the move. Something is stalking the hunters, and Antonio appears to be their most wanted. It should be flattering, given the circumstances, but they had to get personal about it.

With an ancient evil in play, Antonio must choose between the people he loves and his very soul. And he just might take the world with him.