Category: Random

Life, Random, Writing

Some health scares and other things

geethakrishnan75

The week started off with my gut trying to kill me. Spent a whole night, mostly puking mu guts out and unable to sleep. Had to take Monday off and couldn’t even enjoy the break, lol. Slept a bit during the day, though.

I did finish the first draft of the Curse of Souls as I had planned on Sunday before shit went down, so that’s something. Right now, Blue 2 is coming along nicely, and Wizard’s Debt is also looking good.

I have been reading a lot of gay romances, most of them short and enjoying myself thoroughly. I do have one beta read going on and I am enjoying that one immensely too.

I think I may need a developmental editor for Rage of Gods. It is such a mess. I hope once the first round of edits is done, it will at least be palatable to the developmental editor I hope to hire.

My gut still hasn’t returned to normal, and I feel nauseous very often. Hunger too has been remarkably absent, as has appetite. Hopefully, everything will get better in time.

 

Child Loss, Depression, Life, Random, WIP, Writing

Still in February?

geethakrishnan75

Why are we still in February? lol. I feel like time isn’t passing at all. Flame of a Dragon’s Oath and Soul of Magic are with betas and it looks as if Soul of Magic might need a full rewrite. Ah well, time enough for that in the future, I guess.

Memories of Forgotten Waves have also got slowly longer, and now it looks as if it needs a whole new part to be complete. I’m taking it easy for now.

Curse of Souls has got to a point where I’m sure it’s winding to a close, but I can’t be sure. It will need some work, but hopefully I’ll be able to finish the first draft this weekend.

Life hasn’t been too different. The doctor upped the dosage of my meds again, but there still are days when I just want to sit and cry in a corner all day. I feel like I would sell my soul to get my son back even for an hour.

I finished reading Priory of the Orange Tree. Slow start, but once I got into it, I couldn’t put it down. It’s an excellent book, and I absolutely loved it. In the end, 800+ pages seemed too less.

I should write a review, and I will. Right now, I’m just getting through this, one day at a time.

Covers, Depression, Life, Random, WIP, Writing

Another Random Ramble

geethakrishnan75

2021 doesn’t seem all that different from 2020. In fact it might even be worse, I think. Odd numbered years had never been good for me. I’ve lost most of the people I loved in such years. My dad in 2007, my brother in law in 2009, my son in 2019, so I’m naturally wary of years with odd numbers.

My plan of starting a new WIP a day is going swimmingly so far. I’m pretty sure I’ll have 50 WIPs by the end of this month if this keeps up. I have also been buying a lot of covers.

Work is just as meh as usual, a bit more meh this week to be honest. Sometimes, I think I’ll just lose my mind. Sometimes, I wish I could just die, but yeah, safe to say things aren’t good.

There is no joy any more. Not in work, not in life, not in creation, even. I cant stop writing though, because idea are flowing and words are flowing, and even if there is no joy in it, it keeps despair at bay.

I am almost at the end of an amazing book by an author friend, and I love that I get to read so many great books.

I posted the penultimate chapter of my fanfic in AO3 today, and now feeling a little sad that I won’t have that to look forward to. Fanfics are a good distraction, and I’ve been loving all the love my work has got.

I need validation like I need air on some days, and my fanfic was a great way of getting that. Ah well, I’ll just have to re-read all those lovely comments left by my awesome readers.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and I’m leaving a little aesthetic I made for one of my new WIPs

Covers, ISFAB, Random, WIP, Writing

New books and some thoughts

geethakrishnan75

I have submitted Elitist Supremacy to this competition called ISFAB a few days ago, and my book has already been read by the judge it was allotted to, and now I’m in tenterhooks wondering if they liked it or not. I have been setting very moderate goals for each day on working days, so there’s not much pressure on me if I miss my target on a day.

I have finished editing and got formatted There’s Always a Morning, but it seems D2D is being an ass and not accepting my beautiful PDF. I’ve sent an email to their customercare and hope it gets resolved soon.

I got covers commissioned for Soul of Magic and Memories of Forgotten Waves. I also got a cover for Curse of Souls. I feel the books are going to be epic.

Set in Stone has also found a beta reader, and I’m so nervous about feedback. Hopefully, it won’t be anything impossible to repair.

I have started working on the long list of my unwritten ideas, because we all need more WIPs in our lives, right? Anyway, the reasoning was, if any of them seem like too much to handle while starting, perhaps it’s not worth pursuing. That seems to be backfiring since words have been flowing so easily!!

I have decided not to let my old blog die, so I will be posting snippets over there. Pop in and have a look!!

Covers, Life, Random, WIP, Writing

Happy New Year

geethakrishnan75

Not yet, I know. I have three more hours to go here, and I can’t wait! Not necessarily because I think 2021 is going to magically turn things around, but hopefully it will be better than 2020. With a vaccine already out, there is reason for hope at least.

I have started two new WIPs and my WIP list is back to 20. I’m enjoying most of them, and have plans in 2021!

Bleeding Gold already got back the first beta feedback, and they loved it. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that whatever work it needs can be finished before the scheduled publication dates.

2021 is the year where I’m taking a step back from just churning out books, and taking time to make my already finished books ready for publication. That means covers, editing, formatting, and whatnot.

I have bought so many covers last month that I’m so broke right now. However, I feel like it has been totally worth it. Think of all the beautiful books!

I also dusted up and sent out my newsletter. Yay for doing something productive other than just writing.

Wish you all a Happy New Year, and hoping 2021 will be kinder than 2020 at least.

 

Life, Random, WIP, Writing

Happy Holidays

geethakrishnan75

Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it, and happy holidays to everyone who doesn’t. The pandemic has fucked up our whole year, but hopefully next year will be better. The vaccine is here and perhaps we will all be able to gain some semblance of normalcy in our lives.

My week has been work and meetings and most days when I reach home, I am  a zombie with no energy or motivation to write or edit. I still managed words every day and I am so proud of myself.

I am still adding scenes to Soul of Magic. I do love the premise of the book and I want to do justice to it. Will and Duncan will never forgive me otherwise.

I spent the whole of yesterday evening translating songs in my playlist. I suppose that counts towards writing?

I started a new WIP today which yes. I am thinking of starting another, so I suppose my tendency to torture myself is reaching new levels.

On the plus side, I filed my income tax returns, so that’s something.

Once again I wish you happy holidays.

Random, WIP, Writing

Vampires and Mermen

geethakrishnan75

Ever since the idea that I should go ahead with publishing Bleeding Gold next year, I’ve been rewriting some of the earlier parts, adding new content. My first drafts are often summarised versions of my stories, and I add content during the subsequent edit passes. I’ve added 8k words to Bleeding Gold already. I’ve a feeling I’ve been indulging in some super lazy writing of late, and wants to change that. Bleeding Gold is changing plotwise, characterwise and PoV wise, and it is already looking a lot better. The main plot will stay the same, but there will be a lot more details and character development, especially with Alvin.

Memories are also going smoothly, and I have a feeling I can finish the first draft this weekend. I also plan to finish the first edit pass of Bleeding Gold this weekend.

I had set 30k as my target for December and I’m already at nearly 29k, and it is only the 11th. I was planning to take things easy. Maybe I am. Compared to November in any case.

I have been sick the last two days (no, not Covid, got tested and it was negative) so I’ve been making crappy aesthetics instead of writing.

This month, I do plan to see if I can get one more project edited, either Colliding Forces of Spell of the Gods, and maybe finish Magic and Mayhem. Let me see how my health, work situation and everything else pans out.

In the meantime, I apologise to all who subscribed to my newsletter since I couldn’t send it out the last two months. Mental health issues came in the way, but I should still have taken more of an effort. I definitely plan to send it out regularly starting January 2021.

Stay safe, everyone, and happy holidays to all of you.

Cover competition, Covers, Life, Random, WIP, Writing

A Hectic Week

geethakrishnan75

This week had been unlike any other. I had a breakdown at work yesterday and had to leave early. Mental health issues are no fun, and everything is making me more and more convinced that my decision to quit my job next year is the right one. Whether I will be able to generate enough income from my writing or editing is doubtful at the moment, but that is future me’s problem. Present me just wants to get through today.

Highlight of the week was definitely finishing nano with more than a 100k words written. When I started the month, I wasn’t even sure I’d get to that 50k. There was zero motivation to write and none of the projects were doing anything. Instead, I ended up finishing Bleeding Gold, started and finished Colliding Forces and Spell of Gods, started Magic and Mayhem and Memories of Forgotten Dreams, wrote a few Destiel Coda fics, and got Fiery Magic and Death of Summer to really interesting places. If Memories of Forgotten Waves wasn’t consuming me the way it is, I would have explored those further this month.

I got a cover for Bleeding Gold despite swearing up and down I am not going to buy any more covers till January. Everything was on sale and now I have pretty covers for Colliding forces, Spell of Gods, Journey of Ages and Bleeding Gold and one more cover for which I don’t yet have anything, lol.

Getting a cover for Bleeding Gold is making me rethink my publishing plans for next year. Should I just postpone Stolen from a Dream another year and publish Bleeding Gold next year so it will be all vampires next year? I never knew I was going to love writing vampires so much I would end up writing four vampire books. Vampires have never been my favourite thing to read. They still aren’t, but I so enjoy writing them.

Life Remains is still my favourite of all the vampire books I’ve written, though I have no idea why. I want to think it’s because Frederick turned out so different from how I thought he would turn out. I love how each of my vampires are so different and their stories pan out so differently too. Bleeding Gold ended up so fluffy and that was a surprise too. I honestly didn’t think Alvin was going to get a happy ending, though he did deserve one.

Memories of Forgotten Waves took a twist late last night, and now I’m pantsing like mad, trying to figure out where it is going. Despite my love of happy endings, and how I end my books on a positive note, even if there isn’t always an HEA, I really want to end one book with some heartbreak, just to prove to myself I can do it. Is Memories going to be the one? Not with how Aderin is behaving lately, that’s for sure. Ellwood turned out such a sweetie too. Sighs in writer. I love it when my characters turn out different from what I thought they were like, and how they change during the course of the story, but there are times when I wish they wouldn’t surprise me so much.

But that’s what makes this whole thing fun, and them so relatable and worth investing time on.

Deathless Ones made it to the Cover Competition on Allauthor.com. So, if you can all pop over here and vote for it, it’d mean a lot. It is a cover that makes me swoon every time I see it.

Nanowrimo, Random, SPFBO, WIP, Writing

Of Nanowrimo and other things

geethakrishnan75

Unlike in previous years, I had a project all lined up for Nanowrimo this year. I had decided on it as early as July. I was finally going to start writing the second book of my Jaya! series, which is a retelling of the Hindu epic of Mahabharata with a twist. I was encouraged to do this by the response received for Prdayutita, the first book of the series in SPFBO 2020 where it was selected as one of the semi finalists.

I hadn’t read the Mahabharata in forever, and despite my love of the epic, and for Karna who is the central character of most of my mythology based books including Jaya!, I haven’t been feeling the same enthusiasm for the epic as I once did. Yet, I was excited to write it. The first draft of Prajwalita was going to be churned out during nano, and I started off well, writing the first 1k words in less than an hour.

And then I hit a snag, or rather my brain did. I am so used to working on multiple projects by now, that it seems my brain can’t really focus on one project alone. So, now I have Prajwalita, another WIP about aliens and magic that I started on Nov 1st, my vampire werewolf WIP as well as Clouds from the Past, a paranormal fantasy.

Let’s not forget that I also thought I should get around to doing the first edits of Flame of the Dragon’s Oath as well as Set in Stone, and they are both looking way better than I thought at the time of finishing them. The writing is good and engaging, and there are a few plot and world building issues that I’m fixing as I edit.

I have also been obsessively following news on the US elections. For a non American who lives in India, I have really been way too invested in those results, but I have friends over there whose well being and very lives depend on these results and I desperately need to find a reason to have faith in humanity.

I lost most of it today after the latest Supernatural episode, of course. I really want to yell at the showrunners, but anxiety brain is far too depressed for the effort.

I’m still on top of my nano goals and have crossed 15k words in five days. I’m planning to get to 20k this weekend.

Supernatural better do something before I start writing fanfictions, though.

Here’s the cool badge I got for Pradyutita which can be puchased here

Excerpt, Random, Writing

Rev Pit 10 Queries

geethakrishnan75

I’ve been on twitter all evening, biting my nails and trying to figure out which of the 10 queries is mine. Pretty sure it’s every adult fantasy that needs the most work.

I submitted Changes in the Wind for the 10 queries. I’m beginning to wish I had submitted something else now, but I’m certain I would feel the same way, no matter what I submitted.

Everything seems to be moving too fast right now, and it’s almost Nanowrimo, and I’m nowhere ready. I’m going to try, however.

I finished Shades of Spring, and it ends in a cliffhanger. The second book is going to be a joy to write, but I have a fat lot of editing to do before I can start thinking of writing any more.

I’m currently working on the sequel to Blue, and I love how the world and the characters are shaping up. Provided it stays as short as the first one, I’ll have it finished by December.

I’m still not able to figure out which of the 10 queries is mine. It could well be over, I may be losing sleep on twitter for nothing, but I can’t seem to tear myself away.

Here’s an excerpt from Changes in the Wind

The spell ended so suddenly, it nearly left Gavril disoriented. He was aware he was gaping, but he could not help it. The face was familiar, and yet there were subtle differences from the portraits. In every portrait he had seen, the emperor Zathrian had been smiling, his eyes warm, his features soft. The man who stood before him had harsh features, and eyes that were as cold as a winter night, though right now with a true smile in them, and a warmth there. They were a steely grey, unlike the brown the spell had turned them into. His hair was black and grew in waves from a widow’s peak.

“Your majesty,” he scrambled to stand and bow.

The emperor inclined his head. “Please. In here, I’m just another scholar.”

Gavril doubted that. The emperor’s eyes flickered to the desk and to the butterflies that danced on it. His expression changed for a moment, but it was gone so quickly Gavril wondered if he had imagined it.

“Do you have nature magic, Gavril?”

The question was innocuous, and yet Gavril felt something behind it. He wasn’t surprised the emperor knew his name, and he shook his head. At least he wasn’t lying about this one. He still had the feeling that there was something he was not seeing here.

“No, your majesty.”

“Zathrian,” the emperor said calmly as he stepped towards the desk and held out his hand. Gavril watched as the butterflies hopped on to his palm. The emperor turned to look at him, a small smile gracing his lips. “You do know my name, don’t you?”

“I… yes, of course, your.. I mean, Za.-Zathrian,”

Gavril hadn’t meant to stammer or stumble over the name, and he was aware of his face burning. The emperor didn’t seem upset though, nodding at him pleasantly.

“It is unusual for someone without nature magic to attract them as you seemed to have done.”

“Does that mean you have nature magic?” Gavril gestured towards the way the butterflies were positively swarming around Zathrian’s wrist.

Zathrian shrugged, “You could say that.”

“I thought it was some spell that kept them in the garden,” Gavril said. “And they must have come in because the window was open and it was warmer inside.”

Zathrian merely looked curious. “There’s no spell on the gardens as far as I know,” he leaned back against the desk, looking at him contemplatively. “You intrigue me, Gavril.”

Gavril felt something stir inside at the softly spoken words. Zathrian’s eyes were speculative, and his words matter of fact and it shouldn’t have had warning bells ringing in his head. He wasn’t feeling uncomfortable, though. Zathrian’s gaze was magnetic, and Gavril couldn’t keep his eyes away from his.

“Why?” he whispered. “I’m nobody,”

“I very much doubt that,” Zathrian hadn’t moved, and neither had Gavril, but it suddenly seemed to Gavril that they were too close. The room didn’t seem to have enough air to breathe and his heart was pounding within his chest.

“Zathrian,” Keres said from behind Gavril, causing him to whip around. He could breathe again, and he was surprised at how clammy his skin was now. She stood with her arms crossed across her chest, a frown on her face and sounding a bit acerbic. “Is there a reason you’re here, scaring my scholars?”

Gavril couldn’t believe someone would actually talk to the emperor like this, but Zathrian didn’t seem offended.

“Ah, Keres,” Zathrian smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes, which held wariness. “As charming as ever, I see.” Gavril half turned to see him straighten away from the desk and move towards the door, pausing when he reached Gavril’s side. “Am I scaring you, Gavril?”

Keres huffed in annoyance, but Gavril’s gaze was caught in the steel trap of the emperor’s eyes, and he again felt that strange sense of breathlessness.

“No, your majesty,” he said, reluctant to call the man by name now that they had an audience.

A smile rose to the eyes, and the lips, as if Zathrian could tell why he had reverted to formality. He looked at Keres.

“See, Keres? Your scholar isn’t scared of me.”

Keres said nothing, just lifted an eyebrow and Zathrian laughed.

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m going.” He smiled at Gavril again, holding out his hand. “It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Gavril.”

Gavril took the outstretched arm without thinking.

“It’s been my honour, your majesty.”