Edie Roones

All through January, Writers Ink will be in re-building mode: re-working the Writers Ink Books website, polishing up this one and the other allied pen name sites, and constructing a completely new site. Please bear with us during our mess!

Merry Christmas from a 1909 German card! Gifts abound all around / and the Best cannot be seen only felt!

Here's a lovely reward pix. I'm late posting -- as I was late all through November. Lots of disruptions and distractions in November, but I managed to work through a non-fiction project that I'll publish early in 2020. It's actually a combo project :: three things coming together as one. Nonfiction because I had no brain for creative work even though I have fiction hanging over me. Still, some things get done, other things percolate a while longer ~ as long as I'm not making bailiff coffee. Do you know what "bailiff coffee" is?  It's the coffee that bailiffs make for jurors, thick enough to keep a spoon upright, strong enough to keep everyone thinking, caffeinated enough to keep everyone determined to do the job so we could get out of there (which means reaching the consensus that a verdict is). I've served on two juries, one of which didn't want to reach a verdict, and I was grateful for bailiff coffee. Still am. I don...

If you want to improve your writing,  start at the basic level: words and sentences. M.A. Lee offers the essential guidebook for enhancing your words and sentences. Discovering Sentence Craft  covers figurative and structural elements, from metaphors and symbols to zeugma and polysyndetons. The guidebook is A to Z, auxesis to zeugma. What more could you want? Find it here .

What's after Halloween?  The great HORROR. National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo. That sounds like a monster, doesn't it? > Succeed with the Number 1 indicator of writing success: Daily Word Count Tracking. Use the *Think/Pro* planner. > Getting stumped? Consult *Discovering Your Novel*, everything you need to know, from idea generation and story foundations to publication and promotions. > Stumbling over the basics? Use the 7 lessons every professional writer knows, in *Think like a Pro*. Discover more on M.A. Lee's author page. https://www.amazon.com/M.A.-Lee/e/B019PD3Z7W/

The best indicator of writing success?  Writing every day. Track your building word counts with Think/Pro ~ A Planner for Writers. Project planning. Word Counts. Project Meters. Tips and Guidance. Weekly agenda. Monthly review and previews. Seasonal checks and re-starts. Yearly success measures. F ind it her e.

A lot of handy charts and infographic sets on this page. http://writersinkservi.com/ wis-write /

Mary Stewart is one of my favorite writers. Every year I re-read one of her books, and often I try to squeeze in more than one. Of all the books that I have read--and it's in the high thousands--Stewart has three of the top five places. My Brother Michael  and The Moonspinners  constantly shift as #1 and #2.  Also in the top 5 is her This Rough Magic, a stronger book than the other two, but MBM and MS  do capture my heart more. So I re-read a book a year, but somehow this year I've gone for a re-read of five of her books--I don't know if that says something about stress levels or what. Maybe it says something about seeking inspiration from an excellent writer. Maybe it says something about the state of story-telling in my other reading. Re-reading is a constant anticipated pleasure in a good story. Stewart always delivers. You might ask~ "Why do people re-read books multiple times? Don't you know the story?" My answer~ Yes, I do know the story. ...

I love MS Word. This love comes out because I just endured several days of Mac people bashing MS / pc people as if the Apple world is divine. It's good. Sometimes it's even great. Divine? Nyah. Try 25 years with MS Word.

Today is the anniversary of the publication of Edie Roones' first book which is the first book in the Sansward Quarternary. Summer Sieges  introduces the world in the vale of Sansward and the stakes if the allies against the Gitane Witches and the Overlord Summa fail to stop their attempt to conquer the whole vale. Purchase here . A brief story of the writing of S.Sieges can be found here.

I'm running behind.  In my "entity" as M.A. Lee, my current mystery  The Hazard of Secrets  was supposed to be finished on the last day of June. Here it is 25 days later, and I'm still not finished. For  HoS , I have 5 to 7 more chapters to write. My expected word count was 55,000. I am currently at 50,000-plus. When I look at the scenes that are necessary to finish the mystery and solve the crime and close the other threads, I think that word count is going to be closer to 70,000 than 65,000. Those extra words are part of the problem. However, the main problem is TIME.

When you've got a ton of things ahead of you before you can pick back up something you absolutely love, you need a little inspiration to keep going. Summer requires a little Wonderland (untouched by Disney, please). Here's Alice in Through the Looking Glass. "Can you do addition?" the White Queen asked.  "What's one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one?" "I don't know," said Alice.  "I lost count." What have you lost count of?

One of my favorite authors is Mary Stewart. My mother loved Mary Stewart's books, and I can remember so wanting to read Stewart when I could barely handle chapter books. I had to wait--though I remember peeking inside several of the books on the shelf.  The vocabulary defeated me--I was only in third grade! My first Mary Stewart was This Rough Magic , and it remains in my Top 5 Books of all time.  (Top 1 & 2, which remain neck and neck, constantly shifting position, are also Mary Stewart books: My Brother Michael  and The Moonspinners .) By the time I glommed all of Stewart's books, she started putting out her Arthurian saga, the first of which was  The Crystal Cave .  This is the cover I remember, before I replaced the mass market paperback with the hardcover. I haven't read The Crystal Cave in years.  I was looking for a good comfort read while my back was messed up--yes, I strained my lower back and had spasms and great pain every time I brea...

Looking for how to start, work through, and end your novel?  Looking for keys to publication? Look no further. Discovering Your Novel is a self-paced guidebook that takes you on the journey from idea to book-in-hand.  F ind it her e.

Read the first chapter of To Wield the Wind at this link . See the previous blog for the link to Amazon.

Available on Amazon. Orielle, sent from the Enclave to renew the alliance with the Rhoghieri in Iscleft Haven, discovers the Wildness is filled with dangerous eldritch creatures: Wyres. Sprites. Gobbers. Cryge--Choosers of the Slain.  And all view her as prey.

The last snippet that I'm going to share from the Killer Nashville mystery writers conference last August is this . . . . REV to recharge the creative spark.   R ead other writers.   E xercise body/mind/soul.   V isit people, places, things, and ideas. I'm never looking for a high-speed race although I enjoy watching them. I do seek ways to keep the creative flow going.  I never want to dam it up.  I've been there.  That's not a happy place. public domain image

Remi Black has released To Wield the Wind , a high fantasy with Dark Fae and wyre shifters, beautiful sprites and dangerous gobbers. This is the book that she blogged about all through April. Join the adventure!

What is a Writer's Month like?  Remi Black details her daily deeds in a blog series while she writes her newest To Wield the Wind .  You can read the series in its entirety by starting here . To Wield the Wind  is a fantasy set in her Enclave World series, the first of three novellas about  Oriella and Grim, sorcerers and shifters, Crygy and sprites, gobbers and trolls.

More Advice from the Killer Nashville Conference ~~ Do not write and revise at the same time.  This is MAJOR .  Writing is creative.  It uses the intuitive side of your brain. Revision is critical .  It uses the objective side of your brain. Creative flow is not critical flow. Never should the twain meet. Start saving now to attend the 2019 Killer Nashville conference, where pros meet newbies, trads meet indies, and everyone works to write the best novel possible. Guests of Honor this year include David Morrell, writer of First Blood;  Joyce Carol Oates of We Were the Mulvaneys  and numerous pivotal short stories, and Alexandra Ivy, with her acclaimed writing for multiple series, including Guardians of Eternity, ARES Security, Immortal Rogues, and Sentinels.

More advice from the Killer Nashville mystery writers conference that I attended last August.  The Writer magazine voted this conference as THE BEST! The Advice: Record accomplishments as well as what you still need to work on.  Otherwise, you'll focus on your failures. Well, that's true.  Doing this keeps me focused and moving forward--and when distractions and obstacles and obstructions hit, as they always do, I can see where I've been and know how I need to move forward. Planners are a great way to record your accomplishments.  Whether your goal is your writing dream or exercise or a new diet, find a way to write everything down. Two great planners for writers

On this date last year, after weeks of struggling, I published Winter Sorcery , third book in the Seasons in Sansward Quarternary. The characters of Winter Sorcery  were the first ones that I envisioned when I first conceived the Sansward quartet. Join Rolf and Catal as they escape Gitane Witches and troops from Overlord Summa's Watrani army.  Cheer for Niijai and Legeeta as they aid the two spies in their escape. When the Gitane and the Watrani close a trap Niijai and Legeeta never expected, what will happen to them? Available on Amazon.

Here's a book for you, an unexpected joy of a re-written Sleeping Beauty fairy tale.  Yes, I didn't expect that either. When I look for books, I often skim the review. SPINDLE was both up and down.  With the mixed reviews, I almost didn't give it a chance. However, I loved 12 DAYS OF FAERY and WOLFSKIN, also by W.R. Gingell, so I continued on to this book. I won't give you a summary of the book;  you can head off to the link below for that. I want to persuade you to give this book a chance. The first 10% percent of the book made me unhappy: a cursed princess confused by everything, a hero who is not heroic but definitely full of himself. Then into the story came Onepiece, a boy hiding by shapeshifting into a dog, and I lingered in the story, enjoying his charming interactions with Poly. The pacing is quick, the dialogue amusing, the characters attractive even for their problematic behaviors. Without those three elements--and Onepiece--I would have abandoned th...

For Projects that are Monsters Like Novels or Website Builds This unassuming little booklet is absolutely GREAT when you have to tackle Project-based To-Do lists. The left side is a check off.  On the right is a Gantt Chart to denote progress. If you haven't met a Gantt Chart, it functions like a progress meter.  You can denote Started, In Progress, and Completed in 12 segments.  OR you can use the Gantt Chart as a monthly calendar.  (The developers even have little numbers to help the page function as a calendar--I prefer the Gantt Chart method.) I like this method. I can set a project per 2-page spread then breakdown that project into its various segments and track each segment to completion. I wish I had had this for the Great Website Rebuild last summer. That project had so many different segments that it was like fighting a many-headed hydra or herding cats (please see that commercial ;) or maybe the GWR was both hydra and cat related. It’s done! ...

Dagger Meets Wizard ~  Here's another taste of the story that's currently intriguing me more than it should.  I should be writing Spring Magicks.  Oh the woes of the indie writer:  trying to stick to the proper deadline. However ~~ Enjoy! Brom sensed the attention his questions had roused in the greatroom.   He had sensed magic in use, subtle and passive, but his ward hadn’t flared, warning of magic in direct use against him.   The magical aura faded as he told Faldo and his four friends the story of the ground troll’s assault on Hardraste. He told it as if he’d seen it first-hand.   He hadn’t.   He’d been there that night, but he hadn’t see the rocks being tumbled from below-ground.   His brother Sverr had freed him from that power-draining cell, and together they had gone to find Corrie, the girl Sverr loved.   Corrie, the bane wizard who had killed the Prime Wizard Enstigorr.   It had taken all of them, Mannemous included...

Looking for a Viking fix? Northmen manages to satisfy your obsession while entertaining you more than you would expect. Yes, the classic tropes are there, not only for action adventure fight scenes but also for expected settings (cliff climbing, rope bridge crossing, etc), but you will pleasantly pleased by a coherent story line well enacted, more than decent battle scenes with bro in arms moments, and an internal logic to everyone's behavior, from Vikings to mercenaries and all caught between. And for once the Christians aren't trashed because that's "the easiest story-telling thing to do". The Vikings, their hostage, and the crazy monk are extremely likable. The mercenaries are extremely hate-able. No fancy-smancy hoodoo with the supernatural, either. The ring of fire is possible. The ground-touch sense makes "sense". And you might pick up a few history lessons to investigate. Good entertainment and well worth the hour and a half entertainmen...

In 2015 I ventured into publication with my book Summer Sieges .  That marked my first-ever ebook, uploaded to Amazon, under this pen name of Edie Roones. Second out under my Edie Roones was my first ever publication, a short story that originally published back in 1992 (yes, the Dark Ages of indie publishing).  That story was immediately accepted after worked on it for over a year.  I had tried to sell other stories before then, but this one--well, it struck some kind of spark and wound up in FANTASY Magazine in the Spring edition. This week marks the fourth anniversary of my electronic publication of "A Matter of Trust". View a trailer at this link. I have a special place in my heart for this little story.  Some day, when everything else slows down, I might return to Coello and the wizard.  For now, the original short story is on Amazon for $1.00. OR you can read the story free by contacting winkbooks@aol.com.  Use the subject line for your re...

Have you fallen off your Resolutions yet? Are you having trouble keeping track? Did you hope to make changes for your whole self, not just exercise or money management?  A couple of checks on that Bucket List?  Plan to read something better? Did you sing "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength"?  And did you think, If Only. If you answered YES to any one of those questions, the 2 * 0 * 4 Lifestyle Planner  is for you.  It's designed to help you move and muse, feast and fast, and live and love. With 7 covers to choose from, you can find the perfect addition to help you maintain your goals.  You can start anytime, for it's not dated.  Just open and go! Shown above, the Meadow (left) and Floral covers.  Below is the Mountain River edition, with a cover front and back from the Smokies.  Also available are ~ Teatime ~ purple flowers on the front, a garden ...

My pen name of M.A. Lee has just published book 8 in the Hearts in Hazard series. The Key for Spies Spies and traitors.   Lies and treachery.   Unexpected love where bullets fly. One traitor destroys loyalty.   What will two traitors destroy? The British spy Simon Pargeter scouts the terrain for Wellington’s army in French-controlled Spain.   Miriella de Teba ye Olivita, the famed Doñabella, wants to give him aid, but she must first find the traitor lurking in her band of guerillas. Can Simon escape the French patrol hot on his trail?   With Major Pierre LeCuyer actively seeking Doñabella’s identity, can Miri hold her guerrillas together long enough to get the information Simon needs?   Can she locate the traitor before she is unmasked? Or will the traitors reap the reward while Simon and Miri swing from a gallows? The Key for Spies clocks in at 98,000 words.   Set in the Regency era, the Hearts in Hazard series combines s...

Dagger Meets Wizard ~~ Here's the opening of a story that's currently intriguing me.  Rabbit holes are problematic. Foolish. Or magicked. He’d asked Faldo and his cronies about the Keirne.   That question was going to get him killed. Which was a shame, for he was a fine specimen of a man. He’d walked in like he owned the tavern, never stopping on his way to the bar.   He stopped beside Faldo and his cronies.   The tapster waited for his order, but the fine specimen ignored him.   He leaned an elbow on the scrubbed plank that had to be sticky from spilled liquor and broke into Faldo’s conversation, a conversation that Dagger had listened to, hoping to get information about which brothel the men were headed for their night’s entertainment. “Keirne?” Faldo repeated.   “I don’t know no Keirne.” “The Keirne of Kirchwald,” the fine specimen clarified.   “You’re Faldo, aren’t you?   You were there for the charge on the Red Tower.  ...

Actually, I just finished this book.  And I have to recommend it.  It's well worth your time and money. I love a good mystery.  I love a good snarky voice.  I especially love a local well-drawn setting that is necessary to the story. Last October I purchased a first book by one of our classic mystery writers Christianna Brand.  I'm on a mission to read the first outings by writers who became great.  Brand authored two dozen mystery novels. Death in High Heels was Brand's first mystery, inspired by an irritating co-worker that she dreamed about killing.  No lie!  It's in the biography. I didn't get to the book until New Year's, and I've just finished it.  And I was surprised--pleasantly so.  Why? Well, for a book that was dreamed up as a fantasy about killing a co-worker, it was hilarious! The puzzle was even better.  For most mysteries, I can figure out the puzzle before the first third of the book is complete.  I ...

For an Afternoon Cuppa to keep you Warm I brew my coffee (freshly ground, filtered water, slow perk) every morning and limit myself to 2 cups of caffeinated daily. Sometimes, though, I just want coffee in the afternoon. One cup, that’s all. Prerequisites: Organic. Decaf. Quick. Good tasting. This hits those four marks, and the taste is better than good. I like my coffee black, but sometimes a bit of cream is an indulgence. This stands up to the cream: the coffee flavor becomes smoother but isn’t overwhelmed. It also is a great base on which to build Irish coffee (a spoon of whipped cream, a few crystals of turbinado sugar, a splash of Makers Mark, and this: now that’s Irish coffee!). The coffee flavor doesn’t get lost; all the flavors come together for divine relaxation on a winter’s evening. This is a repeat buy. If traveling and needing decaf (or caffeinated), Mount Hagen offers little convenience packets as well. Thank you, Mt Hagen, for making travel still organic! Oh, and ...

A Planned Transformation?  Easy enough . . . with the 2 * 0 * 4 Lifestyle Planner. 7 cover versions:  Mountain River, Woodland, Meadow, Floral, Teatime, English Cottage, and Cityscape. The Mountain River cover Need more information?   Available exclusively on Amazon, $1.-- for each month for a total price of $12.00.  What a bargain!