Tag Archives: updates

#Productivity2020 Summary Sunday – 2019/Dec – Week 51

#Productivity2020, KINETICS, New Release Details, Summary Sunday (SS), updates, Writing, , , , , , , , ,

Well, guys, another bust week. Only wrote 2 out of 7 days, and not a ton of words, but at least I’m making some progress! Lots of barriers lately, with family members’ health, my new responsibilities at work, trying to kickstart some freelancing stuff on Fiverr and my new layout business here,… Oh and don’t forget the holiday season!

But, I believe this’ll smooth over soon, and I can try to reach a good streak with #productivity2020 when the new decade begins. I feel a lot is going to happen in my life in 2020. Not sure what or when, but good things are coming for me, and hopefully, you readers of mine too!

Anyway, onto the accountability portion of this #summarysunday blog post::

 

Summary Sunday

2019/12 – December – Week 51 out of 53

Total WC: 952

Projects worked on: “Cast The First Stone” (First Kingdom Files #1)

Percentage of Days Written (by week):

WriteYN-Wk51

Current Stats for week’s Projects::

“Cast The First Stone”

CurrentWCandPercent_CastStone_Wk51

Here’s a snippet from “Cast The First Stone”, the only project I worked on this week::

 

<<< Start Quote >>>

In a flash, her hand flew forward, instinctively stopping a staff of wood swinging for her head. Her eyes opened wider and snapped to the kNightmaster, who now stood just inches from her, putting light pressure against her aching hand. Through gritted teeth, he growled, “You have no idea who you’re messing with, Princess.”

Her own mouth twitching into a small smirk of her own from rising adrenaline, Chrissy replied lightly, “You know what? I think I kinda like it that way.”

<<<End Quote>>>
Aaaaaand, that, boys and girls, is how NOT to talk to a kNight. You’ll understand why when this book comes out. Hopefully sooner than I can picture right now.

Also, big news within the next week. Just trying to prep a few things on my end before making the official announcement, so keep your screens on watch mode. As a hint, it’s KINETICS related. 😀

****

Anyway, I’ll be checking in every Sunday, keeping myself accountable and giving you all updates as to my current status for my Productivity Goals for 2020.

If you’d like to take this journey with me, I will be uploading a downloadable Excel Spreadsheet template for you all to download and join in for the upcoming year. Also, if you want to participate, use hashtag #Productivity2020 on social media (Twitter, FB, Instagram, etc, etc), so maybe we can all motivate each other when one of us hits a low point.

Here’s where you can find me, keep up to date on me, and follow my marathon that is writing for a majority of 2020:

My Facebook Author Page:: https://www.facebook.com/cmcdonnellauthor/
My Twitter Account:: @discoverywritin
This Website/Blog:: https://terraravikos.com/
My Vlogging Youtube Channel:: @RandomChrissy
(^^^Haven’t been active for a while, but planning to change that. Support my Patreon below if you might want to see video content from my creative and twisted mind. Mwahahaha…)
My Nightcore/Knightcore Youtube Channel:: @TerraraVikos
(^^^Above is part of a partnership with Angel’s Lite Creativity; see this [[POST]] for details)
My Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/discoverywritin
(^^^Pledging to me will help boost my confidence and motivate me to write even more. Even a $1 a month would be AH-MAZING!!!)

Strap in, y’all. This is gonna be a wild ride!

Until next Sunday (or sooner, *hinthint*), Keep Faith.

We got this, guys.

We got this.

– CM

 

 

#Productivity2020 Summary Sunday – 2019/Dec – Week 49

#Productivity2020, Fiction, KINETICS, Summary Sunday (SS), updates, Writing, , , , , , ,

So, to keep myself accountable in 2020, I plan on doing these “Summary Sunday” posts, where I post screenshots of progress, talk about the events that either limited my writing time or boosted my inspiration, and potentially give a random snippet of something I’ve written from that week. Sounds like fun! Right?

This month, as it is still 2019, will be my “Trial Run” month, getting me into a rhythm and giving my mind and muscle memory a fighting chance when the marathon of #Productivity2020 begins on Jan 1st, 2020.

Then here we go!

Summary Sunday

2019/12 – December – Week 49 out of 53

Total WC: 4,933

Projects worked on: Cast The First Stone (First Kingdom Files #1)

Percentage of Days Written (by week):
WriteYN-Wk49

Current Stats for week’s Projects::

“Cast The First Stone”
CurrentWCandPercent_CastStone

Here’s a snippet from “Cast The First Stone”, the only project I worked on this week::

<<< Start Quote >>>
“And you didn’t bother to mention your name, jackass,” Chrissy snarled, “So… ‘Well, well’…” She noticed a slight twitch in the man’s jaw as she mimicked portions of what he’d just said in the thickest, most sarcastic way possible. Okay, appeared she could get on his nerves if she needed to. Bonus news. “What should I call you? Because as of now, all I can come up with is the Man in Black.”

His wicked grin twitched a few times, with a dribble of blood slowly creeping from the corner of his lips. The man scooched to sit upright with his back against the tree’s trunk and commented flippantly, “Well, last I checked, that name is already taken by the Dark Tower series and movie by Steven King. Gotta say, Matthew McConaughey was brilliant in that movie adaptation, so I am flattered that would be the nickname you give little ol’ me-”

Scowling, Chrissy swiped her arm out again, sending more Wind at him. She heard a slight crack when the man snapped the tree from the force and tumbled further back. The tree crashed to the ground in a heap. She gazed down at her hands which were flashing between her skin color and bright white. How did I…

“Seeing that strong of power makes me a giddy as a kid in a candy store.”

<<<End Quote>>

 

So, in that scene, we are introduced to the mysterious kNightmaster, a young man not too much older than my protagonist Chrissy. He’s both a sadist and a masochist, and loves toying with his prey. Unfortunately for our heroine, in this moment of time of her story, Chrissy appears to be this vicious, twisted man’s new prey. Will that turn out to be true? And why would he want her as his prey? And how long was he on Earth to be able to see “The Dark Tower“, as it released in theaters in 2017. And, you might be asking about the timeline. Trust me, it’s a knot of interweaving stories that I’m still trying to untangle, but I knw it’ll be worth it in the end. Look out, world. I might have just started working on an intertwined universe that could rival Marvel and the MCU at some point.

… A stretch, you say? *shrugs* Eh wishful thinking. Can the chronically depressed author be psitive every so once in a while?

Anyway, I’ll be checking in every Sunday, giving updates as to my Productivity Goal for 2020.

If you’d like to take this journey with me, I will be uploading a downloadable Excel Spreadsheet template for you all to download and join in for the upcoming year. Also, if you want to particpate, use hashtag #Productivity2020 on social media (Twitter, FB, Instagram, etc, etc), so maybe we can all motivate each other when one of us hits a low point.

Here’s where you can find me, keep up to date on me, and follow my marathon that is writing for a majority of 2020:

My Facebook Author Page:: https://www.facebook.com/cmcdonnellauthor/
My Twitter Account:: @discoverywritin
This Website/Blog:: https://terraravikos.com/
My Vlogging Youtube Channel:: @RandomChrissy
(^^^Haven’t been active for a while, but planning to change that. Support my Patreon below if you might want to see video content from my creative and twisted mind. Mwahahaha…)
My Nightcore/Knightcore Youtube Channel:: @TerraraVikos
(^^^Above is part of a partnership with Angel’s Lite; see this [[POST]] for details)
My Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/discoverywritin
(^^^Pledging to me will help boost my confidence and motivate me to write even more. Even a $1 a month would be AH-MAZING!!!)

 

Strap in, y’all. This is gonna be a wild ride!

Until next Sunday (or sooner, *hinthint*), Keep Faith.

You got this, guys.

You got this.

– CM

Promos, Updates, and releases, OH MY!!

#ChaosAccounts, Career, KINETICS, New Release Details, Publishing & Writing Career, , , , , , , , ,

**Read whole thing for news, as this post is a straight running faucet of the mouth, if you know what I mean**

Howdy, Vikans!

So, I’ve been dark on my blog for a while, and I apologize for that. There are multiple reasons for this. One, I’ve been querying agents for an old series of mine. The first 2 books I’ve polished up a ton of times over the last four years, with the 3rd partially written and a chapter here or there for the final 2 books. If you know math, that adds up to a five-book series. I started it in college, and that first book’s writing consumption comes close to how fast I cranked out KINETIC REBIRTH, both only took about a month to write from start to finish.

Speaking of KINETIC REBIRTH…

Unfortunately, this blog post is happening halfway through one of the two Amazon Kindle promotions, but there’s still time for y’all to act. KINETIC REBIRTH, Book One in my KINETICS series, is currently FREE in Kindle form on Amazon! However, this is only through to July 5th at 11:59 PM. Snag a download while you can.

Also, there’s a second promo pertaining to KINETICS. Through the month of July, the second book, KINETIC MEMORY, is only 99c for Kindle. Links for those 2 two books are within the titles in this paragraph.

Since we’re on the topic of new deals, time to talk future publishing endeavors.

Remember my CHAOS ACCOUNTS short stories? If you need the annoying-frustrating timeline….

-(Account #1) ACCOUNT OF ANXIETY – Released 01/17/2017

-(Account #2) ACCOUNT OF UNREST – Released 02/16/2017

-(Account #3) ACCOUNT OF FRIENDSHIP – Released 04/15/2017

-(Account #4) ACCOUNT OF SECRETS – Released 01/01/2018

As you can see, the gaps get bigger and bigger when it comes to Division 3’s dangerous missions against ChaosBlaze, but the stories will be created and published soon.

HOWEVER!

My 5th CHAOS ACCOUNTS story, “ACCOUNT OF RISKS”, is scheduled for release on all eBook platforms on July 7th, 2018 (This Saturday). Preorders are up on the following sites as of typing this blog post…

[Amazon (Kindle)]   

[Barnes & Noble (Nook)]

[Smashwords (All digital formats)]

[iTunes (iBooks]]

Those are the main preorder links for Accounts #5. This one finishes the first Story Arc, with an ending that will keep you tense until the next installments, desperately wanting to know what happens when Division 3 plans to-

….

Oh, almost just spoiled the ending. Glad I caught myself.

Anyway, another announcement on the CHAOS ACCOUNTS front. As I mentioned above, Account #5 is the end for Story Arc #1, collectively labelled as the “Priming” set. The PRIMING set includes Accounts #1 through #5. I’m aiming for a late summer/early fall release of this collection set.

The best part?

IT’LL ALSO BE IN PAPERBACK!

Yes, you read that right. PAY-PER-BACK.

So, stay tuned for more news on that collections preparation progress over the next few months.

Moving to the writing front, or at least the craft part of it, I’ve finished me and JV’s first book in our 4-book series, but I’m putting it on the back burner for… well, reasons. I have also edited the first two in another series I’m in the process of pitching to agents, and hope to pick the third in that series back up. That series’ #3 currently sits at about just under 38,000, with a minimum goal of 65,000 or more.

I have also started CHAOS ACCOUNTS #6, the first in the next collection set. Both the story and the set are currently untitled, and my word count is very, VERY tiny, but hoping to continue the journey with Division 3, and I hope you all will too.

Finally, the other project I’ll be working on will be KINETICS #4. I don’t think I’ve publicly announced this yet, but the draft for KINETICS #3, tentatively titled “KINETIC HISTORY”. It’s been through my preliminary edits multiple times, and is now a polished draft.

BUT….

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that KINETICS is a series in homage and dedication of my best friend JV, who died a year and a half ago in a deadly car accident. I finished the first draft of KINETIC HISTORY months ago, and I’ve been itching to get that one published, for both my peace of mind, and for you all – my readers- to enjoy as the adventure continues and the plot thickens. There’s just one factor that stands in my way of getting the third KINETICS adventure to publication.

MONEY.

Now, I know what y’all are thinking: “Save up!” It’s not that simple. For starters over the last two years, I have racked up quite a bit of debt. Secondly, sending to my editor and my cover designer ends up spending money as well. Luckily, I cut costs, as I do decent interior layouts myself, but between editing, covers, copies, and marketing/promotion costs… Yeah, it gets pricey.

Add onto that the fact that I’ll be getting married a little over a year from now (yeah, I know I never announced that here, but YAY, I’M ENGAGED!!!!), and money is scarce.

If any of you all like my blog, my writing, or just want to help an author out, here’s ways you can help me:

 

Pledge to my Patreon

–> Patreon is a platform that allows you to support content creators such as Youtubers, musicians, and authors like me, etc, etc. For my pledges, it’s only a once a month pledge, and the prices and rewards vary. Rewards include anything from getting into a selective group on Facebook that will hopefully help me out with ideas or feedback as I find it needed, to free books, etc. You can change or cancel your pledges at any time, but even a pledge for a handful of months would help. If I’ve learned anything in my life, it’s that every little bit helps, because little bits add up FAST. [Patreon link]

Buy my works

–> If you go to [this] link, you’ll be directed to the “My Works” part of this blog. You can also navigate there by the tabs at the top of this website. Each story or novel I’ve published is listed there, with short summaries and hyperlinks to various eBook platforms, or Amazon for print versions. Though I don’t get much from KDP or Createspace when it comes to royalties, it’ll add up.

Donate to my Tip Jar

–> Digital Tip Jar allows you to donate a ‘Tip’ of your choosing, to help fund my projects. Any amount helps. This is also a one-off payment, meaning not recurring/repeating every month like Patreon. This is a one-time donation, unless you want to do more tips for me down the road. The link to my Tip Jar is [here].

Leave reviews

–> This is just a general piece of advice, and applies to any authors in the world that you love reading. Go on Amazon or other platforms where my stories and books are sold, and leave a quick review. Only one or two sentences needed. Reviews are an author’s best friend, and a quite decent motivator to keep chugging along and doing what we do best: writing adventures for you to enjoy. Reviews also improve visibility for the little guys like myself. So, if you like my stories and want to help without breaking the bank, leave a brief review for me. Please. 🙂

Spread the word

–> If you like my stuff, TELL PEOPLE! You could send them a purchase link, give them a borrow from Amazon for the stories that have the capability to lend, or even just loan them your copy. The more people that know about me, the better my visibility will get. Hopefully, I’ll get

a few more fans.

Here’s a treat for you all to close out this (Exhaustingly long) blog post:

For those of you who have read the first two books, below is a small snippet of KINETICS, Book Three. For those of you who haven’t, there aren’t spoilers. Well, at least not too many.

Signing off before the snippet, so keep scrolling if you want to get a sneak peek.

Keep Faith, guys.

-C

////

Snippet from KINETIC HISTORY, “Kinetics, Book Three”::

Jaden heaved a heavy sigh. She fiddled with photos in her hands. Somehow it had ended up in her backpack when they were leaving Hyndon over a month ago. She’d unloaded the large pocket, mainly because that’s where her bag of dirty clothes was. The smaller pockets probably just had gum, or pencils, or feminine hygiene products or other junk stuff. When she decided to clean it out that day, she came across a small stack of photos. Some had crinkles of bad storage for years, others with bent corners.

The photo at the top of the stack of ten-ish pictures had been her focus for the last five minutes. She just stared at it. Her mind flashed between reality of looking at a frozen snapshot of time and the actual scene behind the photo. And no, not just remembering the memories. The memories flashed into her sight, gifting her with re-living those precious moments while not even leaving her bed.

This photo was her at around age eight in third-grade, with her new friends, Lukas and Pip. She just lost Kohei a few weeks earlier, and her eyes still looked a bit puffy. This was their first Fall picnic at their school. The three kids hung off the jungle gym, making nostalgically wild and crazy smiles at the camera. The scene came to life finally, the shrieks of elementary school children making real Jaden wince. She had now been inserted into the scene, with the memory blessing her with a three-sixty-degree view. However, she wondered how much of a blessing this magic really was.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath in and let it out. When she opened her eyes, her surroundings had returned to her guest bedroom in the Second Kingdom’s palace. Glancing at that photo, she sighed and slipped it to the bottom of the stack. The next photo showed twelve-year-old Jaden, pouting as her sister took pictures as blackmail. The photo yet again came to life.

“C’mon, geek-a-zoid, give us a big smile!”

The glare and hatred in Jaden’s preteenage brown eyes said plenty. Muttering under her breath, she snapped, “Leave. Me. Alone.”

Dove’s musically-grating voice replied from behind the bulky red Poloroid, “One smile, Sneaks. Just one smile!”

When young Jaden’s mouth opened to form a pissed, teeth-grinding frown, she revealed the colorful braces that had been drilled into her mouth. She then grabbed the nearest couch pillow and threw it at her annoying older sister. “Buzz off, prick!”

Her sister simply laughed louder and said, “Ooh, I’m so scared of the female Inspector Gadget. C’mon, throw out your extendable arm and punch me.”

“Oh, is that an invitation?” Young Jaden roared, leaping at her sister.

Real Jaden closed her eyes, breathed, and returned to present day. She knew what happened next. Jaden had gotten sent to her room, went to Dove’s room once everyone was asleep, and cut off a lock of Dove’s long, blonde hair. Needless to say, the truth came out quick, and furious didn’t even scratch the surface on describing how angry the older sibling had been. Furious was actually a very generous term.

THE DAY HAS COME! // “Kinetic Rebirth” Release Day

KINETICS, New Release Details, Publishing & Writing Career, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Greetings, Vikans!

I know, it isn’t Wednesday. But my regular blog posts are Wednesdays, right? Why would I switch up my schedule?

KineticRebirth_promo

BECAUSE KINETIC REBIRTH IS NOW AVAILABLE DIGITALLY ON KINDLE!!

Yes, that’s right, friends. September 19th, 2017 has finally arrived, and I am so excited and beyond terrified at the same time. To me, this book is my greatest accomplishment, and my ultimate dedication to JV (If you don’t know who she is, go read a few previous blog posts. Long story short, she was one of my best friends who was killed early this year, and I have inserted her as one of the heroes, being as true to who she was as I could manage). It’ll give me a little bit of closure, knowing she will be forever immortalized in my writing. She was my beta reader, my inspiration, my co-author (on another series), and my best friend. She was almost like a sister to me, so this is the least I can do to honor her life and memory.

KINETIC REBIRTH is also available for Kindle Unlimited (KU) subscribers as well. Also, for those of you that don’t have a Kindle, there’s a Kindle app for smartphones, tablets, and any other AppStore technologies.

Just for a brief update on projects, I finally beat a week-long writing slump and cranked out almost 2k on my KINETICS #2 WIP, bringing rough word count to over 42,000 words. Chaos Accounts #4 also got hit by that writing slump, so it won’t be out as soon as I had hoped. Also, I dabbled just a tad on me and JV’s series, but can’t work on it too much for a lock-up of JV’s notebooks. No worries; I’ll get them eventually, but it’ll be a while. I’m also considering an attempt to go the traditional route with our co-authored series. When the book nears completion in a year or two, I’ll decide for sure.

You can grab your digital copy of KINETIC REBIRTH off Amazon [here]. If you’re more of a print version, subscribe to my newsletter [here] to be reminded closer to Print release day and on actual print release day on October 19th, 2017.

Hope you all enjoy reading this adventure as much as I loved writing it.

As always, Keep Faith, everyone.

And… Remember this::

“Assume Nothing.”

 

Kindle/KU link:: http://amzn.to/2vFyZGA

Email Subscribers link:: http://www.subscribepage.com/a5h2b9

Updates for some and for all

#ChaosAccounts, New Release Details, Out in the World, ToTV saga, Writing, , , , , , , ,

Hey there, Vikans! Been a while. Last you heard from me, I was prepping to return to RavenCon, as my 2nd year as a panelist. First off, IT WAS A BLAST!! I had my boyfriend, along with the amazing [Tee Morris] and Sonic Boom, accompany me this year (minus one [Pip Ballantine], unfortunately), which made it even better. I struggled a bit though. This RavenCon was the first in three years that JV didn’t join me. I took JV Jr (my stuffed Haruhi I take everywhere, symbolic of JV still near me), and snapped a few pics, though not as many as I’d planned. There were some amazing people that joined the panelist’s list, who I wanted to spotlight, because I’m nice like that:

[G.B. MacRae]

[David A. Tatum]

[Sean CW Korsgaard]

[Misbehavin’ Maidens]

There were a LOT of amazing talented acts, but only the above answered with links, so they really take their networking seriously. Props to you guys!

Anyway, all of my panels went well, aside from a stupid mistake I didn’t realize until my last panel on Sunday. When I go to Ravencon, I discount THE PROTEKTOR’S REALITY for a Ravencon-only price. It wasn’t until the end of that Sunday AM panel that I realized my mistake and was able to squeeze in the info about the con-pricing. Then, a few minutes later, as people filed out, I had two purchases of TPR, as well as a handful oTheVikanQuartetProofsf others taking the printouts of “Account of Anxiety”, detail postcards, and business cards with the 100% discount of THE VIKAN QUARTET for RavenCon participants, valid only
until the end of May (If you got that code, time’s running out! Only 14 days left for that code!!)

Now, onto next order of business: THE VIKAN QUARTET.

It released yesterday in eBook, and print on Amazon the day before. Go grab your copy as soon as you are able! It is essentially my four Tales of Terrara Vikos short stories in one copy. Around 4:30 EST on eBook release day yesterday, I went onto Amazon and found this::

 

VikanQuartet-ReleaseDay_2017-05-15_16-25

 

😮 I KNOW, RIGHT?!

Alas, I really have no idea how many people have actually purchased these, as it seems there is a lag in reporting. -_- I know, right?

So, spread the word!

Alright, topic #3: THE CHAOS ACCOUNTS. I put Account #4 (tentatively named “Account of Secrets”) on hold, due to this post’s topic #4 below. Topic #4 needed my undivided attention, and still does. I’m working on AoS as much as I can manage, but my #secretproject takes precedence. So, I am still working on Account #4, but when it will be completed or released is still majorly “TBD”.

Now, my last topic of interest: #secretproject. No, I’m not saying anything now, other than this project is my ultimate dedication to JV and her amazing life. I’ve finished editing it, and it’s about to go into post-production.

BUT!

My Patrons will get more details on what this #secretproject is this coming weekend. The rest of you who are not Patrons will have to wait another two weeks or so. My Patreon also has a lot of awesome reward tiers, including news first, booklets of short stories, even FREE, AUTOGRAPHED books!! Interested? Click [here].

Well, that’s all for this post. Be back on soon, hopefully.

And, as always…

Keep Faith, guys. 😀