Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Bittersweet "goodbye"

It's a very bittersweet place I am in currently with the Magicians series having reached its end. If you have told me years ago that at some point I would complete an entire series and publish it... I wouldn't have believed you. Most days I still don't believe the reality of it.
I have not broken down entirely and cried or anything, but I can feel the strain of it resting on my shoulders. The series is over, and alas for both myself and my readers I must move onto something new. It feels like I am entering into an entirely new world again because it's been so long since I wrote something outside of the Magicians series. These characters have been a part of my daily life for years now, and most days they still echo throughout my thoughts. Perhaps it's time I say a proper farewell to them too. Farewell doesn't need to be forever, but for currently it will do.
This isn't to suggest everything has ended for the magicians. I have years ahead of me, and who knows perhaps I'll write a spin off from the original series. I may be taking a break from writing about them, but I'll still be sharing their stories everywhere I go.
Favorite scenes from the books:
  • Cursed With Power -the prologue with the burning church. I rewrote the prologue endless times, but the one about the destroyed church was the most vivid and powerful. It was the first time the prologue introduced both Celestria and Alaire. Alaire became such a huge character in the book -more than what was originally planned- and I'm glad he was there for the readers to cheer on.
  • Shadows and Embers -the training scene involving Nicia and Leal. So many ideas filled my head while writing that scene, and it was a powerful statement of Nicia and Leal's friendship. I felt deeply involved in their relationship, and from there I built on it more.
  • Thicker Than Blood -Alaire's private meeting with Christopher. I won't spoil anything, but both men proved their determination and leadership here. 
  • Bloodline Inheritance -the end of the war... It was probably the hardest scene I ever wrote, but it was also extremely satisfying. So much had led up to this war, and there were a lot of materials to work with on this. 
As for my characters, I could not say one was my favorite over the other. Each character played an important role in this series, and each of them challenged me in different ways. Celestria and I worked together to find ourselves in a confusing world. Leal was so determined to tell his story, it seemed he was begging me during the ending of CWP. Alaire offered a gentle touch and loving manner that no one else quite had. Dyanna fought for freedom and was forced to make difficult choices, and Malin stayed loyal to his friends -whom he considered to be family.

Do you have a favorite character or scene from the series? Comment below and share. If you haven't already started on the series, now is the prefect time. Copies of the books will be available in libraries in the Maryland area soon -which I'll be sharing on Facebook. 
Be sure to check back in. I have a lot I'm trying to squeeze in before the end of the month!
Lindsey R. Sablowski

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Wordpress

I am now officially on Wordpress. However, I have not abandoned ship with Blogger, as I've been on here for far too long to leave. This (my Blogger account) will still be my main website, and the one I will direct people to first and foremost. I'm trying out Wordpress because I've always been curious about it, so I figured why not try it and see what happens. As for what I'll be blogging about I have not decided yet, but it will be different than what I talk about on here. 
In the meantime please feel free to follow me on Wordpress and say hello. I still have a lot of work to do with my Wordpress site, so please be patient while I work out everything. I'll have a link on here (on the sidebar) to easily direct you to it if you're interested. Other than that I won't mention it too much on here directly because I don't want it to be confusing.
Thank you so much to everyone who is supportive of the blogging community. I've been a part of Blogger for years now (long before CWP was published), and I could never give up blogging. With this website in particular I want to set higher goals and reach more followers and views, and I know your support is a huge part of that.

This is turning out to be a short post, but it's 1am and I'm in need of sleep. Please let me know what you think.
In the meantime please know I'm preparing more posts (for here) to share with you very soon. Hoping to get in at least two more before August ends -which is coming too soon! 
Lindsey R. Sablowski

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Goals and Rewards

My new mission is to set up goals for myself and work towards them. This doesn't only apply to my writing, but also in terms with my social media and marketing. Specifically tonight I want to talk about the goal for Cursed With Power's Facebook page. I'm starting with a goal of reaching 350 likes; we've already reached 279. This goal seems possible and is a small start, but I like goals that are realistic. On the FB page I talk about everything relating to the Magicians series. It's been up and running since before CWP was published. The more people who like it, the more they can catch up on news quickly.
So here's the full details of the goal and reward I've set up. When we reach 350 likes on the CWP FB page, I will give away a free ebook to a random person who likes the page. Since now the entire Magicians series is published, I will pick one of the four books randomly to give away -or ask you to vote. Along with the free ebook I'll be sending the person a digital autograph (via authorgraph). I would love to reach this goal, but I do need your help to achieve it.
What's next? Well, I've come up with more goals for the page after reaching 350:
  • Reach 550 likes; Reward: Free Paperback giveaway -includes autograph
  • Reach 750 likes; Reward: 1 free paperback and 1 free ebook (two different winners here) -includes autograph
  • Reach 1000 likes; Reward: Big giveaway offering up free copies of the entire series
I'm ending the list there for now because with more likes the rewards will need to be bigger and special. However, I would love to reach 350 for now and see where we can go with that. If you have friends who love to read or know of fellow writers please send them to the FB page. I love giving away free books for a good cause, and this would definitely be one of them. As always a huge thank you to everyone who has shown their support so far!
Upcoming Post: Very rarely do I plan out my blog posts (unfortunately), but up next I do want to talk about the interior and formatting designs in the Magicians series. After CWP I did all the interior and formatting for the remaining three books in the series by myself. I plan on sharing pictures of how they turned out and talking about the process overall. (And also how to avoid any mistakes I made)
Lindsey R. Sablowski

Read the final book in the Magicians series today! Where will Dyanna's story take us?

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

New Novel

Since the release of Bloodline Inheritance I've been silently "working" on my newest novel. And by "working" I mean thinking... a lot. Ever since Cursed With Power I haven't touched or attempted to write another novel (outside of the Magicians series). Prior to CWP I found out the hard way that I am not one of those authors who can write multiple novels at once -at least not for now. So here we are, I should already be writing my newest novel. Yet here I am to admit I've just been thinking and writing down ideas as they come to me.

As mentioned before, I don't want to go into details about what this new novel is about. Readers still need to discover what's inside of Bloodline Inheritance. However, I did want to share about the process so far because it's a huge part of my job. As an author I know people are expecting me to release my next novel. That's always the rule as an author; after you finish one book, start on the next one. Simple, right? Nope, apparently anything you ever knew about writing just flies out the window.
There are a lot of new journals in my house. I even bought new pens as "motivation" for my new start, and honestly I've been working through ideas here and there. Every time I think I'm going to start writing the first chapter I stop myself. Writer's block already? No, instead I've accepted that this will take time. This is a new novel, one entirely separate from the Magicians series. I can't simply throw my characters from my series out of my head. They're still there -reminding me of the adventures they shared. Now I just need to make room for my new characters... the ones I do not fully understand yet.
It's August, and though I might not have a lot to show for it I am hopeful with the progress I've made. At worst the real work will begin in November with NaNoWriMo. This novel definitely will not make my job easy, but we can work this out together. I've been consistently writing down ideas as quickly as possible. This is a new adventure, and I'm curious as to where it will take me next.
As for where you can see my progress daily/weekly, check on Instagram and Wattpad. I'll be posting the first chapter of the book on Wattpad for a limited time -to get your thoughts. (And also as a thank you for everyone's support.) As always on Instagram I upload photos daily or every other day, and as soon as I have something to share I will.

In the meantime what writing or reading are you invested in? What new adventures do you face, and do they excite or scare you?
Lindsey R. Sablowski