Decision: Book Cover

At long last I have found a designer to make the book cover for Bloodline Inheritance. For those of you who follow me on Twitter, now and again I've been expressing my worries. I like to be ahead of the game instead of worrying that by not having a cover now I will be in panic mode later on. So far every cover in the Magicians series has been done by a different designer. The reason being either designers changed their prices or they stopped making covers altogether. Nonetheless, I have finally found a designer I am happy with.

Even better news: it's a custom cover. Currently I am designing between the two different options I have been given, and it's a tough decision to make. I love both of the covers, and I think this one will be my favorite yet.

Naturally your first question to me is: when will I see this book cover? As excited as I am -and will be- once again I must wait before revealing it. If all goes well and I don't fall too far behind the cover reveal should be in late March. The feedback I had last time with the cover reveal for Thicker Than Blood was amazing, which makes me even more pumped for this upcoming one. Just now that while I might not be able to post everyday on the blog I am working hard to make sure everything is coming together for this final book. And after all this is the final book in the series, so I want to go out with a bang!

For the quick little updates stop by on my Twitter or Facebook as I play it out day by day. In regards to revisions I am up to 17 (halfway through). There are 29 chapters in total -if you include the epilogue- so I still have my work cut out for me. 

Before you go... 

Special Valentine's day post is in the works and will be posted this Saturday on V-day. I've had several ideas of what I wanted to post, but I think I will leave it a secret for now. Most likely I will type up the entire post and schedule it for Saturday, since the weekends are usually rather busy. Don't forget to stop by anytime on Saturday or Sunday to read the post and let me know what you think. I will reveal that it will have an excerpt -but from what I won't say! 

Until this Saturday, enjoy your week!

Lindsey R. Sablowski

Snow day: Thank yous and writing

January 4th-5th was the free ebook days for Thicker Than Blood. I want to give a huge thank you to everyone who downloaded a copy of the book. Overall we had 300 copies downloaded -which is the biggest success I've ever had with a free ebook promotion. When Shadows and Embers was available for free a year or two ago it had close to 90 downloads, but 300 is absolutely amazing. I really wanted to share the results with you guys because it was possible because of you and I'm very thankful. I waited a long time to decide on when to make TTB free as an ebook, and I am glad I chose the dates that I did. Also, I noticed people purchased ebook copies of Cursed With Power and Shadows and Embers. This was really great to see; I was so excited that I continued to watch the reports throughout the day as copies were purchased. 

We had people sharing the link on Twitter, as well as posting a picture when they downloaded their free copy. Overall, I had a great time and I am so happy others did as well. I cannot wait to hear what you think of the book, and be sure to leave a review on Amazon.

Now with that out of the way I have some exciting news to share. Today it snowed, so since I did not have to go to work I spent time writing. As you can see from the picture my cats were interested in my work, especially Neo.
While I still have a lot of revisions to catch up on, I added in new scenes to Bloodline Inheritance. The book is at approximately 59k in total, and I only have about another 500 words until I reach 60k. There are a few more scenes I have in mind that need to be added in and then I can just focus solely on revisions. Once revisions are done there are the other mandatory materials I need to add into the book, but other than that I can see the end approaching. I am also still in search for a beautiful cover to go along with the last book in the Magicians series. If you're a cover designer or know of one feel free to leave the link below so I can check it out.
Hope everyone had a great day and enjoyed the snow. I will be back on later, and remember to keep checking Twitter and Instagram for more updates on my progress.
Lindsey R. Sablowski

FREE ebook: Thicker Than Blood

To start the new year off right, I've made Thicker Than Blood available for free in ebook format on Amazon. TTB has been out since July of last year, and I have been waiting for the perfect time to make the book free. I figured with the new year starting and my birthday coming up this was a great time. If you haven't had the time to purchase Thicker Than Blood now is the time to do so. Also, please don't forget that you can still request digital autographs from me via Authorgraph. Whether you grab the book for yourself or a friend, all you need to do is submit your request and you'll receive the autograph in your email and can download on your device(s).

Thicker Than Blood is the second to last book in the Magicians series. Please help spread the word by sharing this news on your other social media websites. I will be posting throughout today and tomorrow about this limited time offer. This offer will last up until 12am on January 5th, so please do not wait until the last minute to grab your free copy.

Haven't read the other two previous books? No problem; you can purchase those for their normal price via ebook or paperback on Amazon.

I'm very excited to see how many people will be downloading their copy today, and if you do please send me a request on Authograph so I can sign it for you. 

Lindsey R. Sablowski

Happy New Year: 2015!

Well, I'm late on wishing everyone a happy new year, but better late than never. I am very excited for 2015, especially as 2014 was such a great year. To recap, in 2014 Eric and I moved into our own place, became the owners of two (crazy) cats, and I published my third book, Thicker Than Blood.
As for 2015 I would say we are off to a great start. Today I purchased a Samsung Chromebook 2 -as an early birthday present to myself. I originally had a Macbook, which I gave to my boyfriend. While the Chrome book is a bit smaller and is different software, I am already loving my experience. I also have multiple writing apps already downloaded that I plan to save. And don't you worry all of Bloodline Inheritance is backed up and ready to be revised.
My goals for 2015 are very simple in terms of where I want to be as a writer. I want to publish my fourth book, Bloodline Inheritance, and I also want to start a new book (that is not a part of the series). Reaching the end of the Magicians series is going to be huge for me. I've been so many years of my life working on this series, and I can't believe once this fourth book is released it really will be at the end. That's not to say there won't be additional stories written in the future perhaps if I feel there is something more I want to tell. However, I do realize every beloved series must come to an end. In all honesty I am both excited and terrified at the idea of working on something entirely new. I've had a lot of ideas, few of which have made it to paper, but I am working them out. My main goal is if I can at least publish one book each year I will be happy. And who knows maybe I can also start to offer a bundle including all four books in the Magicians series.
No matter what adventures this year has to offer, I really do want to thank everyone who has been supporting the work I do. Now that I have my new laptop I also want to be blogging more, and this year I want to be quicker with releasing my books. So definitely plan to hold me to those resolutions for this year, and feel free to leave a comment below with what your plans for 2015 are. Also, this month I will most likely post my experience with the Chromebook and how well it works with how I'm using it.
Happy New Year!
Lindsey R. Sablowski

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

It has been such a busy month, and I have been meaning to post more frequently. I have written new scenes to add to Bloodline Inheritance, and I plan to share more about that after the holidays are over. In the meantime I wanted to write up my Christmas post.

I want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas this year. I am so thankful for my readers, and there will be a surprise involving Thicker Than Blood in the coming days. If you have friends or family who love to read, remember you can still purchase Kindle copies and they will arrive immediately.

As for the end of this year I will be posting about the end of 2014 and the upcoming new year. In January I plan to post more about the revisions I am working on. Since I have completed NaNoWriMo I've been catching up with work and writing out new scenes to the best of my ability. Also please let me know what else you would like to see on the blog. As I mentioned on my Instagram if everything goes according to plan I would like to release Bloodline Inheritance in April or March of 2015. However, this means I will need to finish revisions, edits, and interior design plus purchase a cover for the book. I am still behind on finding a book cover, so if you have any designers in mind please suggest them. 

Last but not least I will leave you with a collage featuring quotes from Bloodline Inheritance. These are quotes directly from the book, which I suspect will not change drastically during revisions. Hope you are looking forward to Dyanna's story.

Enjoy your Christmas, and I will be back before the end of this year. Until then, happy holidays!

Lindsey R. Sablowski

NaNoWrimo 2014 Winner!

Today from 11am-2pm I worked solely on my NaNoWriMo novel and finished it. I cannot believe it, but I've finally finished my fourth book, Bloodline Inheritance. It is complete at 54k words, which is very short for my books. Now that it is finished I plan to start on revisions right away and add much more to the book. Since a lot of the chapters were handwritten I did not realize how short some chapters were compared to others. With revisions I am certain I can add on another 25-30k more words. The main point is that I have the entire skeleton of the book written down.

After writing three books I did not know what to expect from my fourth. As I shared earlier this month, Bloodline Inheritance is told from Dyanna's POV. So once again I was working with a new story and a new narrator. Honestly the hardest part about this book was deciding where I wanted it to go. I spent a lot of time looking at art work and finding inspiration. When I first started writing I had no idea how I wanted the book to end. Now I do have an ending, though I will most likely rewrite it during revisions. 

Quote directly from the book!

Now as for how I wrote for NaNo this year... Well that was interesting. I really kept myself writing no matter what. If I didn't have my laptop I would handwrite chapters. At night I usually typed up chapters on my iPad (using Werdsmith) if I did not feel like using my laptop. The only problem I had with having such a variety of ways to write was that sometimes my chapters were split in parts. When I went to type up chapter 11 for instance I found 3 parts of it: one in my journal, one in Google docs, and one in a different journal. Next year I definitely do not want to run into this problem again because it ended up as more work for me. Handwriting chapters might not be as efficient as typing, but it actually was very efficient against writer's block. I find writing in a journal is less intimidating than staring at a blank computer screen.

Now that I've reached the end, what's next? Well, I have a lot of work ahead of me in regards to this book. I want to work on revisions and add in a lot of new scenes. It also needs to go through editing stages. This book will still not release until 2015, but I'm hoping now that I have the skeleton finished the entire book will be ready for publication by early 2015. November has been such a busy month for me, but I'm glad I was able to dedicate the time to finish the first draft of the book. Also I am excited that once December 1st comes around I can receive two free copies of my book from Createspace. This will be great to use as proofs before I actually need to order proofs of the final draft. Once this book is released for publication then I can start thinking about my next project (that won't be part of the Magicians series). 

Overall, I am very happy with my choice to participate in Nano this year. I updated my Twitter and Instagram throughout the weeks with my progress. It definitely was not easy, but I am glad I did it and am farther than when I first started out. While revisions might not be as exciting as writing the book, I will be updating my social media with my progress. Perhaps I will even share teasers of any new scenes I add in. 

Last but not least, I hope everyone enjoys the Thanksgiving holiday. I am thankful for my boyfriend, our home, and my readers. I doubt I will post tomorrow because of the holiday, but on Friday I am considering a special giveaway in honor of Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Be sure to leave a comment below with what you are grateful for, and also tell me about your Nano project if you participated this year. 

Lindsey R. Sablowski

NaNoWriMo: Day 4

 
Two hours ago I started at 5921 words, and just a few minutes ago I reached 7047. Nano definitely makes November more stressful than usual. I've stayed in comfy clothes all day, and after some other work around the house I finally sat down and wrote. Lately I've been reading a lot of the Nano email, the ones they send you to remind you that you can do it. Truthfully they have been helpful. In one I read that you just have to keep writing, even if at some point you think "what a minute, this isn't good enough." That's something I find myself running into a lot. There are times when I want to go back to a previous chapter and change everything. For right now, however, I need to stay the course. First I need to reach 50k, then I can go back and change whatever needs to be changed.
So how are you getting through NaNoWriMo? Here's some of the things keeping me afloat:

• Keeping a journal and pen nearby -that way whenever an idea strikes me I can jot it down for later. No need to be neat, but it will help so that I remember later on.
• Rough outlines -outlining in Nano for me means keeping it to the point. Everything else is extra detail that will be in the book. If you're like me and need some kind of outline before you just jump into the chapter write down several ideas of what you would like to happen. Outlines I've used for one chapter sometimes even help with the next one.
• Inspiration of some sort -usually I keep pinterest (with fantasy related pins) or just my Nano page up in the background as a reminder for me to keep going.
• Drink lots of water -stay hydrated and don't forget to eat too! Writing is hard work
• It's okay to take a break -every now and then I just need a break from writing. I cannot write for hours on end. It would probably drive both me and my characters insane. Instead I take short or long breaks, depending on how much time I need. Then when I return to my book I have new ideas and a fresh slate to work with

Today was all about reaching the daily goal of 6666 words for me. I like setting little goals for myself because thinking that I need 50k to make it to the end is overwhelming at times. The book has been coming along. Since I already starting working on Bloodline Inheritance before Nano, I'm only including new chapters in my word count. This way I'll have an entirely new 50k words added on to the book at the end of this. With that in mind I've made it up to chapter 18 and am about midway through that chapter. This morning I came up with a new plot twist I am slowly weaving into the book, which has been really exciting. I love that a new idea can give me new motivation to keep writing. I might write more later tonight, but all in all I am very happy with the speed I am going at.

If you want to stay updated with my progress, check in on my Twitter. I usually update it throughout the day when I am writing. I also have been posting pictures on my Instagram as well.

While this is a busy month I do plan to continue posting on the blog. Hopefully if times permits I can make a few posts that don't relate to Nano at all. In the meantime best of luck to everyone who is participating in Nano. Just a reminder to you and myself: we can do it. 

Lindsey R. Sablowski

Book 4 announcement and NaNoWriMo

mock cover 1

mock cover 2

NaNoWriMo 2014 officially started three days ago, meaning my project is up live on the site. This year I have decided to work on Bloodline Inheritance as my NaNo project. Since the release of Thicker Than Blood (book 3) I've written about 30k, but the goal with NaNo is to add an additional 50k (or more) to the book. If I do reach this goal I should ideally come to the end of the book, meaning I can start working on revising as soon as I'm finished.
Ready to hear what the fourth book in the Magicians series is all about?

Above is the synopsis and a brief excerpt, which you can also view directly on NaNoWriMo. As mentioned in the synopsis, Bloodline Inheritance will be the final book in the Magicians series. Since this book follows the war and the aftermath I do not foresee any chance of a fifth book. Years ago when the series first began I thought there would be enough room for five books, but it looks like this one is the last. As I write this book I also come to the realization that after this the magicians end their story and I must start a new one entirely. What a challenge that will be when we reach that point.

Currently I'm a bit behind on my word count, being at a little over 2k so far. Fortunately I have today and tomorrow to catch up. It has been both exciting and challenging to write this book so far. If you're curious about more don't forget to catch up on my latest release, Thicker Than Blood.

All in all, I expect November to be a very busy month. For those of you participating in Nano this year I wish you the best of luck. I've buddied up with several people from reddit who are also participating in hopes of keeping each other motivated. Inspiration and motivation are essential during this challenging month. I will post as often as I can with my progress, and until next time enjoy your writing.

Lindsey R. Sablowski