Got a nice review. It goes through the book in detail, points out flaws, and says nice stuff. Nice and balanced and they liked it which is also good! Does worry me that later books are just not as good, though!`Read the review here http://jeffchapmanwriter.blogspot.com/2011/11/considering-shadow-seer.html

Well some of my stock has gone missing. It seems it was delivered to Amazon storage down the road, instead of to me and my house. Amazon won't give them back and Parcel Force are claiming it's nothing to do with them, despite being the ones who took them there. So that's good fun!


Bristol Con was good. I sold copies, met writers, publishers, reviewers, the kinds of people I need to meet! Next year I plan to do a pannel and sell many more copies!

Nearly at 60k with Children of the Shadow. Trying to make sure that ends are tied up, but that things still happen!

Not long now until the convention. Am a little nervous, never done one before. Got sweets, for people who donate to cat's protection or buy a book, and a few cards and things to sell, along with the books and bookmarks to give away. Just hoping that people actually buy the book. Mum is coming with me so at least I won't feel an idiot sitting at the table alone.

Writing is coming along. I always say that, but it is. I had to make an edit to book 2, to have that plot more developed and to fit in with what I'm doing in 3. Thankfully editing hasn't started on that yet (though should be soon) so it wasn't a problem. Candale has made a few shocking realisations, one that was obvious to some readers from the start. He's a little slow sometimes.

Introduced an affiliate for my publisher, so if you're looking for something new to try, check it out. Banner on front page.

This is the flyer that my new webdesigner put together for me to take to Bristol Con along with bookmarks for promotional whatnot. Looks fab, no? As does the rough look to the new look website! I've also ordered extra books, including more part 2s to take along. The convention, and the website, are the only places in the UK to buy part 2 at the moment.

Children of the Shadow is coming along. I've ditched the old prophet idea, I think Candale has actually met far too many, and it seems to be flowing better as a result. So far. Although it's not coming along as fast as I would have liked, it's still getting there and soon things will be coming to a dramatic head, which will be good to write.

Have now set up paypal so that anyone in the UK or Europe can order copies of my book directly from me, cheaper than Amazon.Co.UK.
And to prove that I do have those extra copies to sell:

TADA! :)

The Shadow Seer part 2 is now available from Amazon.com, hopefully be out in the UK before Xmas. If you have the ebook version, this part is included, but feel free to buy it again :)

Ordered the bookmarks for BristolCon to promote part 1 and 2, and ordered 20 copies of the book to sign and sell. Also looked into getting a signing at a local bookshop, though they are likely to say no, they want to see the book first, which I can do.

I finally got some writing under way, I think. The chapters are running short, but that can be fixed, in time, I'm sure. At the moment I'm just trying to get what I know done, Candale is about to have some long overdue realisations (god that boy is daft!) and a bit of a shake, which is also long overdue :)

Well I have booked my table for Bristol Con, so come along, buy my book, get it signed, or just say HI. Bristol Con website has all the info.

Children of the Shadow is coming along, I think! I'm at a point where I need to start developing Candale's feelings for a certain someone, now that the inital panic has worn off. And it's difficult to go from panic, at learning that someone has feelings for him, to him having those feelings back. It's also difficult because Candale is a bit dense and isn't really aware why his feelings are changing and because, as a prophet, Candale has a lot of dreams already and I don't want to appear to be a one trick pony. But, people have dreams, every night, so there's not much I can do about Candale also having a lot of them! :)

Interview with me at the Indie Book Lounge.

Seems that ordering in a tonne of books through the publisher isn't at all pricey, so the convention is a certain. Just need to book a table, which I will do next week. My first convention, scary thought. Just hope I sell lots of books! Planning to organise some book signings here in Swansea as a practise beforehand though.

Well it's coming along. Slowly. I'm getting to a point where I need to try and fit things into the right places, like a jigsaw. Things have to develop at a natural pace, not just within the book's time, but within the words that you're writing, that is, it has to be a few days for Candale, but also a few scenes for the reader, otherwise it all seems piled on top of each other and rushed. I remember when reading the Tamir Trilogy by Lynn Flewelling, in the last book the wife of the King went from hate to love very quickly (and the other way for another character) which seemed very unnatural to me. A lot of time might have passed, but without the scenes to show the development, it just seemed sudden. And that's what I'm dealing with now. Candale needs to make someone jealous enough to strike him, but I need to develop that jealousy properly.

Also working on my book launch BBQ. Hoping to get a cake with a picture of the cover on it. Tasty. :)

After 6 years (I first sought a publisher for the Shadow Seer back in 2005, it was accepted but the publisher went under) I now have a print copy of my book, in my house, on my table, next to me. It's a little surreal and a bit scary, to be honest! Now it's real, when it wasn't before. Before this it was just a picture on the Internet and the little blurb that I wrote. Now it's a book. Now I'm an author.
Exciting!
And now I need to get on with arranging book signings and doing conventions and things. No more excuses.

Nice review on Book Lovers: review. They liked it, which is always good, though they did say I repeat myself, which I do. I try hard to avoid falling into that trap of drumming things home, but it's hard. I do find it interesting how this review, and one other on my review page, all say that I have built a great world and shown it well and so on, yet another review I had said I had not. I suppose it all depends on what your levels are, I suppose.

Children of the Shadow is coming along. Slowly, granted, but Candale is finally learning some long awaited truths, which is good. The start of the book is going to be filled with shocks for the poor boy, I hope he can handle them.

After a very long wait, and a lot of price changing, the Shadow Seer is finally available on Amazon.co.uk

The Shadow Seer
Please check it out, buy it, review it :) Been waiting a long time for this and now it's here, I'm a bit stunned! But this does mean I will be able to attend Bristol Con this year, at the end of October. I guess I better practise my handwriting :)

Well, for some weird reason, the publisher cannot set one price for the UK book and one for the US so all you lucky Americans can get the Shadow Seer from Amazon for ten dollars, instead of it's original 14.99.
http://www.amazon.com/Ellenessias-Curse-Part-Shadow-Seer/dp/1921636122/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1305889567&sr=8-8
It's got five stars (out of one person voting) but still! :)
Not sure how long it will take for it to be out in the UK.

Writing of the third book is coming along. The chapters are a little short, but I should be able to stuff them out when I've had some proper thinking time. At the moment I'm getting on with what I know, trying to get to the scary bits, I think! Also a problem, wanting to write the exciting bits first!

This is the cover for the second part of the Shadow Seer, minus the wording, of course :) Looks fab, I think. We had a few issues with getting the angle of the face right in the foreground, but it's all done now. Suitably spooky. Personally I preferred the child's face when it was chubby, but she's meant to look half starved, and now I think she does.

And on Children of the Shadow:

7448 / 200000
(3.72%)

It's a start! I finally have it underway with a beginning that I don't hate. Now I just have to stop with the facebook games, and sitting out in the sun with the cats, and get on with it.

Just like with buses, there is nothing and then everything happens at once. I have a friend working on a trailor for the Shadow Seer and the book itself is iminant on its way to print. A new cover and side bit had to be put together, to show that it's been split, but that's been done, and now a price just has to be sorted and off it goes! Should be on amazon.com in a week or so. Not sure how much longer for the UK. Just hoping that the price doesn't go up! Last time it was 14 dollars in the US and 18 pounds in the UK which is over double the equivilant. Which is a bit nuts! Charlotte is getting to work on the cover for the second part, and the publisher just needs to ok the synopsis I sent and the blurb and then that's off too :) It's taken a very long time, over five years in fact since I finished it and secured my first publisher (who went under) so I don't think I will believe it's done until I hold it in my hand. But it seems to be going that way at long last.

Just discovered there's a review of my book at On a Pale Star. You can read it HERE. It's pretty positive, they're looking forward to the next one, which is nice, and didn't find Candale whiny, but likable, which is also good, especially as that was a bit of a worry for me. All in all, yay :)

Well, not getting far with Children of the Shadow! No surprise there. It's hard to find the right place to start really. Should I start when he's a prisoner, half unconscious, when he's rescued, when he's meeting with the seer who arranged his rescue, or just a general morning at the keep where that seer lives? It's hard to get the right start, one that can easily lead onto the rest of the story, but still be interesting. It's also hard because this time the hero is with a whole lot of new characters, in a completely new place, and introducing them, and informing the readers of how he got to this point, without info dumping is hard!

But, in happier news, the publisher has told me that she wants to get all the print books on the list started first week in April and that I should go ahead and get the cover for the second part of book one done. So i have. So, hopefully, the book will be done soon (not sure how long it takes to be listed on Amazon and so forth) and out in time for the book launch bbq I have already arranged for July. And, of course, in time for the convention November, so I might actually get to do one!

After not getting very far with the Forest of Ghosts I have decided to work on the Children of the Shadow instead. This is the final book in the Ellenessia's Curse series and I'm hoping that working on it, getting it out the way and done, will let my thoughts roam more freely so that I can develop the Forest of Ghosts properly. Besides, I think my hero, Candale, has waited long enough for an end to his tale, to find out what it's all about and find some happiness, and so I'm going to give it to him. As with the Seer's Tower I've had a couple of false starts, trying to find the right place to start the last chapter of Candale's tale, but I think that I've found it now. Only time will tell, of course. Strangely, it's with him in bed. It's where the first and second books both started, it seems right that the last one should begin in the same place, I guess. Why break with tradition?

Bristol Con is selling tickets, cheaper now until May. Really hoping to be there, selling books and whatnot, this year. http://www.bristolcon.org/ if you're interested.

13149 / 120000
(10.96%)

not been doing much. Spring is in the air and it makes me restless. Makes me wonder how I ever got anything done before!

I have written 11,637 of 120,000 words. I am now 9.69% done! no frills wordmeter

(still not sure why the graphics do not show properly but at least you can see the percentage)

Finally gotten beyond the pain that was chapter two to write and things are flowing along nicely now, helped even more by Mr Kitty shifting his bum off the laptop :) Although soon will come the dreaded travelling, always the hardest part for me to write, as there is only so much scenery, or camp life to write about. But hopefully the disappearance of a ghost, and the development of a ghostly crush will make it easier, and more enjoyable to write, and read.

Been reading Carol Berg's Soul Mirror, the sequel to last year's Spirit Lens, and I'm enjoying it far more than I did the first one.I don't usually like reading about female characters, and I do find the style of these books rather formal, as the characters are rather formal. But the book is full of lots of twists and things I never saw coming, the characters are as deep and realistic as ever, and Anne, the heroine, is actually interesting to read about. I actually find myself wanting people to pair up, and that's rare with me, so it must be good. I may try my hand at a proper review, when I've finished it.

Well decision has been made to only split the print version of the Shadow Seer, so I have sorted out the website to represent that. Hopefully the split will go ahead soon and I will finally have a book to force on my friends.

The Forest of Ghosts is still lagging. I have holes in it, two, in fact, but I know that they will be filled eventually. Half the problem seems to be that I'm rushing it. I'm not completely sure why, but that's why it seems to be lacking something. Hopefully the weather will improve, I will be able to get out and about and that will jog my brain into action.

Ordered Carol Berg's latest, the Soul Mirror, my first new book of the new year, just as the prequel to it was my first new book of last year. I'm a little disappointed to learn that an anthology that was going to feature a sequel to my favourite book of hers, Song of the Beast, is going to be delayed. It also features a story by my friend Kari Sperring, which I was also looking forward to, so that's a pain. But it's also comforting to know that even established writers can have these sorts of problems.