Soulbound Release Date!

Hey, all! Sorry it's been so long. Between moving to somewhere an hour from my old place, the holidays, and some unfortunate family deaths, I haven't had much time to blog or do much else. Not to mention school on top of all of that. Things have let up, though, and I have some exciting news!

After working on my novel for 12 hour shifts over the span of two days, it's done. Done-done, too, not just a little done. This is the first time that I can put it away and say, "It's the way I want it," in, oh, about seven years. And considering this has been such a long project, I am happy to announce that Soulbound will be available for purchase on April 25, 2014.

You heard right. April 25, 2014 is when it will be released! Between now than then, though, YOU have the opportunity to be involved in the ARC blog tour! Just send me an e-mail at: mcfaddenkira(at)gmail(dot)com, and I'll put your name on the list. The only thing I ask in return for this FREE ARC copy is that you write a blog about Soulbound and your thoughts on the book. If you don't have a blog, e-mail me a review, and I'll post it on mine for the blog tour!

While a lot of this is still a while away (the ARC copies won't be ready until February 15), I am still getting my groove on. I started the massive undertaking of creating a completely animated trailer for Soulbound today. Yes, animated. No, not slide-show. Animated. As in animation. Which is something I've never attempted before, but it's looking pretty darn tootin', if I do say so myself. As I go through the (tedious) process of creating this essential part of my upcoming release, I'll blog about it and post updates. Seeing as today was only the beginning, I'll wait until tomorrow before I post anything, since I doubt there would be much for me to say tonight.

I'm also hoping to have the first book of my Middle Grade series ready for the Soulbound release so that I can reveal them at the same time, but we'll see. Somehow, I think that might be too much for me to handle, even if Frendyl Krune and the Blood of the Sun is halfway done.

Do you have any projects your working on? I'm always happy to share here on my blog about something you might be doing, whether it's a book release, an art project or anything else that's rockin' the world. Take care, stay tuned, and let me know!

Cloak Project

Hey, all! So, I have seen some awesome posts recently of friends making costumes for NDK (Nan Desu Kan), and decided I needed to do something to keep my hands busy, especially since I was laid off earlier this week (sucks, huh?). I've always wanted a winter cloak to wear, one with faux fur lining, and could never find anything I liked. With that in mind, I decided to make my own.

This is the inside when it's open. I chose a dark brown fur that mimics bear hide. It has some highlighting on it to give it a multi-layer sheen, and boy is it warm! Keep in mind that I have not done the collar yet. I hope to finish it sometime this week, but depending on my schedule, I may not get to it until much later. Here's a picture of the outside with it closed:

Nice, huh? I hand-stitched everything except the shoulders, which I snipped and resewed to allow for fit. It's a bit bulky because the outer material is stiffer than I expected. Also, I forgot to wash it before starting. Guess I haven't sewn in a long time. Not to mention to numerous times I had to rethread the machine because I spaced how to do it in the first place. THAT was a nightmare. Thank goodness for the Internet, huh?

And now a close-up of the suede I used and of the fur:

This is the beginning of eventual projects where I design cloaks based on the various high houses from Soulbound. The manuscript will be completed shortly and I'll have it sent to beta readers before Christmas, hopefully sooner. After that, I plan to get to work on the animated trailer I've always wanted to do, write some short stories for a collection of tales from Inrugia, start the sequel to Soulbound, and finalize the tee-shirt designs for the release. I am still hoping to go traditional with publications, but I don't know if that will happen. I've started querying agents, too, and will continue to do so until the first of next year. By then, I hope to have sent 100+ queries. If nothing comes back, I will start querying smaller houses and then we'll see. I feel I've worked hard to make Soulbound entertaining and a well-written read, but that's so similar to what authors say that I worry I'm not good enough.

Either way, time will tell. Once I have some sketches of the amuli house cloaks, I will post them. I want to start with the Anys house, and follow with Rybredel. Of course, the material for these things cost butt loads, so I doubt I will be able to afford them for a while. Still, I have the colors in mind and know where to get the materials! Huzzah!

On the agenda for today: Work on Soulbound and then write a short story for the collection. All before 3 p.m. Oooooh, that's about 4 hours. CAN I DO IT? ;) You betcha!

Children's Book Series

I doubt many of you know, but I work as a tutor of English reading and writing part-time, and most of my students are in the Early Reader and Middle Grade age group. Today, I decided, "Why waste such a fantastic opportunity?" and asked three of my kids what they liked the read about. I figured, that way, I can get a good idea of what my readership will like in general. The most popular answers? Animals, travel, and history. Mostly animals and travel, though, which is fantastic, because that fits VERY well in with what I want to write the MG series about. Now I just have to figure out how to do it without being too similar to amazing series such as The Magic Tree House or The Travel Club. This will be the most difficult part, I think, but it will be worth it when I get a nice MG series out that helps readers learn about Inrugia and its peoples/species.

That also poses a little bit of a problem for my Early Reader series, as none of my students really wanted a picture book. They all wanted chapter books, and were excited to see what I came up with. I need to do more research (as in reading the series I mentioned before) in order to get a stronger sense of the age groups' diction. I want them to learn from it, too; life lessons and the such. I'm fairly excited about it, but need to finish Soulbound and get it to my beta readers before too long. They've been waiting quite patiently, after all!

In other news, the animation for the first trailer is coming along great! I plan to spend most of tomorrow working on it, and hopefully I'll have the animation done before too long. I have to wait for my boyfriend to come back into town before I can release it, though, as he'll play the voice of Clei. After four months in LA on business, you'd think they'd send him home. Naw--it's okay. He loves it out there. :)

I suppose that's not much of an update, but I figured I'd write something. Once I have the illustration for Soulbound that I am doing for my contest winner on my Facebook fan page, I'll post it and a description of the scene. I can't wait to get everything together and see what comes of this gigantic project! One of my favorite sections of the Website will be where I talk about Inrugia and give readers a little more info. Yes, they will get it all in the books, but I want the site to be more than just "buy my book," and I'm willing to work for it, darn it!

In the end, everyone, don't forget to enjoy each day; and if you're struggling, trust me. I've been there, and recently. Writing does not pay well, especially when the books aren't even out yet. ;) Hang in there to those of you scraping through each day, and know that there is a brighter tomorrow around the bend. Crap can go on for months, but nothing lasts forever. Even bad luck.

Write on!