Ready, set...

Feel the angst...

Monday is the big day, readers!  The giveaway for the newly revised Sunstone starts February 2nd at 10 AM Mountain time!  Please review the giveaway rules on the giveaway page, and when the time comes, have fun talking about your favorite books!

Today I finished the fifth and final giveaway piece of art!  Drawing these graphite pieces has been a real challenge and test of my traditional art skills, as I haven't done anything on this level and at this intensity for quite some time, if ever.  All are highly detailed pieces featuring subjects from the world of Libera, Zanoll in particular.

Entry Clarification

There have been people messaging me saying they've entered the giveaway. I just want to make it clear you can't enter the giveaway until you can comment on the giveaway page, which will be February 2nd. Any indications you've "entered" before then won't count. I've updated the page making this point clearer.

I apologize for any confusion. I look forward to seeing entrant comments :)

Update from the Writer

Yay, text wrap is working again!

Now that I've revised Sunstone, what am I up to now?  Well, I've been focused on completing the art pieces I'll be giving away with copies of Sunstone, and making sure I have everything ready for the giveaway.  I'll be getting back into the revision of Book II of The Legacy Incarnate: Incarnate Dream after the giveaway, late February or early March.  It's actually been nice taking a break from editing and writing; I've been building up steam for Legacy Incarnate and for my current writing project, an epic trilogy I'm pumped to explore more.  I hope I'll be able to put all the stored energy into awesome creative use!

I'm getting excerpts put up on my book pages for the enjoyment of my readers.  If you're new to the world of Libera and my writing in general, I hope these excerpts will give you a pleasant taste of what's in store for my writing!

I'm so excited for the upcoming giveaway!  If you're reading this for the first time, I'm doing a book giveaway February 2nd-16th for Book 1 of The Legend of Draconite: Sunstone!

One of the goodies of the giveaway are customized bookmarks.  I created new digital art just for these bookmarks, which I'm so excited to see in print.  I had some troubles with getting my order (I ended up with 51 sample bookmarks with pictures of dogs on them instead of the 25 custom bookmarks I ordered), but me and the printing company got it sorted out and I'll be getting them before February!

Be sure to check out the giveaway page and to carefully read all the rules!  And thanks for reading!

Book Review - Esther: Royal Beauty

Esther (A Dangerous Beauty Novel Book #1): Royal Beauty by Angela Elwell Hunt

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


This novel shouldn't be called “Esther.” It should be called “Eunuchs, Royal Eunuch: a Dangerous Castration Novel.”

I got this book through the Blogger Review Program with Bethany House, and I chose it because I thought it might be a good retelling of the story of Esther. I love Bible's account of Esther. I love her story of internal struggle, trying to live up to the expectations of her people. It is a story of fear and triumph.

This novel slaughtered the original story. But I'm willing to give it some benefit of a doubt. I tend to read like a writer, which can be a double-edged sword for me and the stories I read. However, the cons outweighed the pros so much that this novel got hung on the gallows of bad storytelling.

Readers, prepare yourselves for my brutal honesty as a reader and author.

Draven's Light - Cover Reveal

I'm happy to present yet another cover reveal, although it's not for me this time!  One of my favorite authors, Anne Elisabeth Stengl, has been networking with other bloggers to do a cover reveal for her latest novella, Draven's Light.

In the Darkness of the Pit

The Light Shines Brightest

 

Drums summon the chieftain’s powerful son to slay a man in cold blood and thereby earn his place among the warriors. But instead of glory, he earns the name Draven, “Coward.” When the men of his tribe march off to war, Draven remains behind with the women and his shame. Only fearless but crippled Ita values her brother’s honor.

The warriors return from battle victorious yet trailing a curse in their wake. One by one the strong and the weak of the tribe fall prey to an illness of supernatural power. The secret source of this evil can be found and destroyed by only the bravest heart.

But when the curse attacks the one Draven loves most, can this coward find the courage he needs to face the darkness?

Coming May 25, 2015

Giveaway Info Page!

Hello everyone!  I have made an informational page about the Sunstone giveaway coming up in February, which you can find on the last tab in the navigation above.  This will be the page the contest centers around.  Right now it is for informational purposes only, but I will open it up for entry on 2/6/15.

I hope my readers are as excited about this as I am!  I am eager to give away this cool stuff and to get word out about my writing.

Sunstone Book Cover Reveal, more Giveaway info

Hello everyone!  This has been awhile coming now, but I am happy to present the front cover of the new Book 1 of The Legend of Draconite: Sunstone book cover!

The cover on the proof copy turned out gorgeous.  The character on the front is Tasaru Enkar, one of the main characters of Sunstone.  Like I mentioned in a previous post, I posted about this art on the old blog, intending it to be a T-shirt design, and I still hope to make it that someday.

The design turned out to be simple but clear.  I put my name on a graphic to make it stand out against all the line art near the bottom of the page, and the black-to-white gradient enabled me to use white text up top with black drop-shadows.

New Sunstone page

So I re-created the page for Book 1 of The Legend of Draconite: Sunstone!  It just has the summary and release date for now.  I will add the book cover before the release date.

I finished reading through my proof copy of Sunstone and finished editing the grammar-related/consistency problems I found.  The last thing I need to edit is one of the maps so it's easier to read.

I am super duper excited.  I'm planning on doing a giveaway for Sunstone, so please watch out for further news on that!

Keeping Tabs

Last month I received a proof copy of the newly revised Sunstone, Book 1 in The Legend of Draconite series.  I've had fun reading through it and marking a lot of places that still need changes!  At first I used sticky notes, but now I'm writing notes down on separate pieces of paper that I also use as a bookmark.

I would like to mention a few special things about the new revision.  As you can see, there is completely new cover art, which I will post a better picture of later.  If any of my readers were subscribed to the old Xenithar's Musings, they'll recognize the art I designed, which was originally for a T-shirt design.

Lots of stuff to correct in the digital format!

There are some new scenes in this story as well, which I added to help with story flow and character development.

The book will be 6''x9'' novel format, with a matte cover.  The cover turned out beautiful!  One of the maps inside needs some tweaking, because its text is smaller than I had hoped it would be.

Planned release date will be Friday, February 27!  It will be available on Amazon.  More information to come on Sunstone.

I'm excited for the new year!  I don't normally do New Year resolutions, but one of my goals is to get my weight down and to get in good shape.  I'm planning on hiking and stuff this summer, and I want to be fit for the wilderness.

In December I wrote out a rough itinerary for my current book projects: Legacy Incarnate publishing, LOD Revisited, and my current trilogy in progress.  If I'm able to stick strictly to the schedule, I should have all the finished manuscripts published and the trilogy drafted by 2020, but I'm pretty sure with kids involved it will take a few years longer to finish these three projects.

I'm hoping to get Incarnate Dream published late summer/early fall this year, so keep an eye out for news on that as well!

Oh it's exciting being an author.

Sunday Sketch - Hall of the High Ones

After the stressful and down-putting day I had, I almost can't believe I managed to churn out this picture.  Maybe I needed to do this to try and get away from that stress; art is definitely one therapy for me. (I've also learned that archery is therapeutic for me.)

This is part of the Ramirran Temple structure from my Chronicles of Libera series, a hall that leads to the sanctum of the High Priest/Priestess.  For this picture I went with a blue palette, as the natural walls of this hall are a bluish stone and thus would be the main color anyway.  The main light sources are the windows, with the statues placed between them.  I worked a lot with perspective too.

Fun and experimental picture to do.  It's not often I draw environmental pictures.