March | 2020 | Meredith Mansfield, Author

Archive for March, 2020

Free

Posted in Real Life, writing, tagged first drafts, free books, research, safer-at-home, writing on March 30, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Well, I forgot to post on Sunday, didn’t I? All I can say is that time is beginning to feel a little surreal right now. Really weird to see no one on the streets and almost no cars. Trying to maintain something like a regular schedule, but . . . .

In any case, five of my books are now free for others who are also spending way more time at home than usual. We are all Safer at Home, right now.

The Shaman’s Curse is perma-free and has been for a while:

The next four are free now thru April 12th. (Amazon has price-matched in the US, so far.)

Become: To Catch the Lightning:

Fire and Earth (with its shiny new cover):

The Bard’s Gift:

and Daughter of the Disgraced King:

Meanwhile, I have mostly been doing a little more research for my work-in-progress, so not much direct progress. But, if you don’t get the foundation right, it’s a lot harder to get the whole book to hang together, so not time wasted.

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Pulling Myself Back Up

Posted in Real Life, writing, tagged fantasy, first drafts, safer-at-home, wide distribution, writing on March 22, 2020| Leave a Comment »

I confess to having been knocked a bit off balance last week. A lot of things happened in a short space of time. I know I’m not alone in that. It’s a new reality we’re all trying to cope with.

But this week I am committed to getting myself back up out of that slump and doing things. At least those things I can do. Some work in the yard (I did a little this morning.), some house cleaning, something creative. And figuring out how to manage or work around those that I can’t or shouldn’t do right now. (I fall into the vulnerable group as far as this virus goes.) I’m seriously tempted to restart my vegetable garden (in some other place until I can clean up the old one), even though I know nothing would be ready for harvest for at least two months.

I did manage to get the books and stories I still had in Kindle Select/Kindle Unlimited pulled out and up for wider distribution. So, that’s something. And now that they’re wide–or as soon as the distribution works through the systems of the various retailers, I’ll likely start setting some of them free for a limited time. Everybody needs some form of escape right now and books seem to be one of the only safe ways. And, in times that are just as unsettled financially as they are health-wise, well, it’s something I can do to help out.

Gold Flame Dragon

And I swear I am going to get some work done on the new story. Really. I may even start working on cover art.

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Special Event

Posted in Uncategorized on March 18, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Escape into a Book event, hosted (online) by the Fellowship of Fantasy. Free ebooks. If you’re stuck at home during this crisis, at least you can let your imagination get out.

Enjoy. And stay safe.

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Looking on the Bright Side

Posted in Real Life, writing, tagged fantasy, first drafts, Writer's Block, writing on March 15, 2020| Leave a Comment »

I haven’t really gotten any writing done recently. But, as I’m about to have two weeks off (I hope it’s only two weeks) while the schools are closed, hopefully I’ll be able to make the most of the time.

I’ll also use the time to prepare several books/stories that were in Kindle Select/Kindle Unlimited. I’ll be taking all of them wide (Apple, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, etc.) by the end of this month.

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Some Progress

Posted in Real Life, writing, tagged fantasy, first drafts, relaunch, writing on March 1, 2020| Leave a Comment »

I have actually started writing again on DRAGON AGAINST DRAGON. (I have to think of a better title, but the working title is fine for now.) Unfortunately, I also managed to tweak my back. Not badly, but just enough that I can’t sit for very long without it stiffening up on me. Which is probably good for my weight loss goal. And for cleaning up the back “bedroom”, finally. (It’s probably been about 30 years since anyone actually slept in there, and about 20 since there was even a bed in that room. More of a storage room, now, but in desperate need of organization.) Not quite so good for getting a lot of writing done.

Also a little progress on FIRE AND EARTH–but not complete progress.

I’ve done my part and updated everything I plan to change, but somehow it didn’t all make it through Amazon’s process. The e-book has the new blurb, but not the new cover. On the other hand, the print version has the new cover, but not the new blurb. I guess I’ll have to contact Amazon tomorrow and see if I can get that straightened out. I want to run a promotion before it comes out of Kindle Unlimited later this month, but not with the old cover.

Good news is that THE BARD’S GIFT may not need anything but a little adjustment to the back matter for its “relaunch”.

I want to add a sample chapter or two from BECOME: TO CATCH THE LIGHTNING, rather than the current chapters of DAUGHTER OF THE DISGRACED KING. THE BARD’S GIFT has more than a touch of Norse mythology and the BECOME series is inspired by Greek mythology, so that might be a good match for readers.

Not sure yet what, if anything, I’m going to do about a relaunch of DAUGHTER OF THE DISGRACED KING. It’s kind of an odd book out in my back list. I’ll probably go on to do some relaunch on the DUAL MAGICS series before worrying about that one.

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