Writing The Key with Hearts was pure pleasure. The words just poured onto the page, a flood of ideas that I barely could keep up with.
The trailer is here.
Available here.
Category: Pro Writer
Start January off Right!
Three Books to Enjoy!
From M.A. Lee, we have two Regency mysteries with a dash of suspense.
From Remi Black, we have the second novella in the Fae Mark’d World series, Spells of Air.
We also have the audio Podcast from The Write Focus.
Mysteries Fused with Romance
First up, we have two of the three Key titles in the Hearts in Hazard series. All three have strong male protagonists. With The Key for Spies, Lee also achieved 1.5 million published fiction words. With all the titles that she’s published since 2019, she’s over 2 million published words.
The third book in the subseries is The Key with Hearts. We’ll celebrate that novel in February.
On January 15, The Key for Spies.
Spies and traitors. Lies and treachery. Unexpected love where bullets fly.
One traitor destroys loyalty. What will two traitors destroy?
Here are three links.
- View the trailer for The Key for Spies: https://youtu.be/Ehc7VxUxCp4
The ebook and paperback can be published at online distributors everywhere or ask for it at the library:
- Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MTSQTY7
- Barnes and Noble / Kobo / and others https://books2read.com/u/3RKYpj
A Trio of Keys with Intriguing Men
On January 20
The Key to Secrets, book 7 in the Hearts in Hazard series, published in 2018 and featuring one of Lee’s recurring characters, Constable Hector Evans.
Dark Hearts and Sharp Knives.
Hector Evans has plenty of suspects for a bloody death—including the woman he once loved.
View the trailer at this link: https://youtu.be/1Sj7NfvxzXg
The ebook and paperback can be found at online distributors or ask for it your library.
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0795F86YW
B&N / Kobo and more: https://books2read.com/u/mZj0Ke
Fantasy Fused with Romance
On January 25 is Remi Black’s To Charm the Wind, published in 2021 and now 2 years old!
To Charm the Wind has entered the terrible 2’s!
When Haven isn’t a Sanctuary—
When the untried wizard Orielle enters the Wilding on her journey to Iscleft Haven, she expects threats from bears and mountain lions, vipers and hornets.
She certainly doesn’t expect the creatures of legend: wraiths and gobbers, shape-shifting wyre, and the Dark Fae called the Kyrgy.
Grim, an outcast from Iscleft Haven, is the keen steel that stands with her against these dangers.
Yet when they reach the Haven, the elder arrests Grim. The Haveners aren’t interested in a renewed alliance with the Wizard Enclave.
Is her mission for the Enclave in vain?
Will she ever escape the Wilding?
- Buy the ebook at online distributors:
- Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TY6HLWY
- Online at other retailers: https://books2read.com/u/bzeJ7E
- Buy the paperback bundle containing To Wield the Wind, To Charm the Wind, and To Curse the Air, entitled Spells of Air, only at Amazon: Spells of Air: Fae Mark’d World 1 to 3: Black, Remi: 9781737422648: Amazon.com: Books
- Watch the bundle trailer here: https://youtu.be/PqjouEJtbjY
For Writers, the January series of The Write Focus.
January starts with a free opening scene.
- Last year was Remi Black’s short story, “Godriana’s Font”. You can get the entire story free with this Book Funnel link: click.
- The year before was M.A. Lee’s “The Lion’s Den”, also available as a freebie through Book Funnel: here.
- This year, things are little hectic. (Okay, a LOT hectic.) If we manage the recording, it will be the opening scene from “The Poisoner and the Faerie Huntsman”. You can access the story as a freebie through Book Funnel: also here.
The starting series for 2023, our fourth season, is Discovering Characters. Enjoy!
Visit The Write Focus website for more information and links to every episode.
Here’s the link to the blog site: https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/
Enjoy January and look forward to February.
The thaw is coming!
Snail Speed in Summer
Hi all! It’s Summertime. Is your living easy?
My summer living is better than this past spring when I had a lingering sickness for a solid month which continued as the doldrums until mid-May.
Needless to say, my writing schedule exploded and rained the fragments upon me.
publications to announce for Summer
Even with all of the problems, the ideas never stopped, just the time and energy for the writing of those ideas. Here’s what has developed —
Sailing with Mystery ~ a short story collection that follows artist Isabella Newcombe Tarrant on her ocean voyage from England. She sails on a passenger ship to join her husband Madoc in India.
Four of the five stories are currently available in e-book.
“Amber Dreams” ~ Blackmail threatens a young bride. Can Isabella recover a stolen diary before the bride loses all hope?
“Purple Poison” ~ Poison pen letters filled with vicious invective attack the passengers on the ship Nomadic. Will Isabella discover the culprit before tragedy occurs?
“Black Heart” ~ A trickster targets the passengers aboard ship. When one prank causes injury, can Isabella locate the trickster before the next mishap turns deadly?
“Silver Web” ~ Accusations fly when passengers discover a jewel thief at work. When the thief dies, proof of theft in his hand, will Isabella locate his accomplice and the missing jewelry before they reach the next port?
Here are links to the first story.
Worldwide Distribution: https://books2read.com/u/3yWAAl
Amazon:
The fifth and final story for Summer is “Red Mask”.
Isabella receives a disturbing letter—only for it to be stolen before she deciphers it. The letter claims that a spy is aboard, but is that the only person hiding their true identity on the passenger ship?
. ~. ~ . ~ .
Sailing with Mystery, the collection, will publish very soon after the final short story. The ebook will be up very quickly, with the paperback and the audiobook in the following weeks.
After Summer Fun, Autumn Mystery
These short stories injected themselves, wholly unexpectedly, into my writing schedule. I thought I waved goodbye to Isabella when I published Portrait with Death. Imagine my surprise when she demanded this ocean voyage while my writing brain was telling me to write something else.
That something else is the next novella in the series Miss Beale Writes: a Touch of Mystery, a Touch of Gothic, a Touch of Romance.
The Bride in Ghostly White is a Victorian gothic, and I can’t wait to see this mystery develop.
The Bride will pair with The Dark Lord, which came out in Winter 2022.
Following in the Miss Beale Writes series are medieval / renaissance and cavalier / Georgian novella.
All of these stories will definitely keep me busy.
And that’s a good thing!
Visit the Writers’ Ink website ~ www.writersinkbooks.com or https://maleebooks.blogspot.com/ for updates about the publication of “Red Mask” and Sailing with Mystery.
Survive the Heat!
M.A. Lee
Summer with The Write Focus
How’s Summer with you?
At The Write Focus, we are wincing whenever we step outdoors. After a wettish June with moderate temperatures, July brought the sudden onslaught of high temperatures and dry days. That means fine mornings in the shade until the sun and steam of summer drives us inside.
The best way to beat the summer’s heat is with distractions. The best distractions give us an incentive to achieve more and more. How do we achieve more and more? We set and pursue our writing goals: Write More, Learn More.
Write More this Summer
The Write Focus featured the June Writing Challenge. Host M.A. Lee set a goal of 1,000 words per day, starting on the 1st and continuing to the 30th.
In addition to the weekly check-in for the Challenge, each of June’s Wednesday episodes offered information about writing.
1st, the Stages of Writing, original idea to proof-plus & publish.
2nd, the age-old writer question of Plotter / Pantster / Puzzler and the 7 Steps of a Perfect Scene.
3rd, Writers and their Ideas
4th, Vaccine against the Writing Doldrums and commentary on an excerpt from Phyllis A. Whitney’s Guide to Fiction Writing.
The final Writing Challenge Check-in occurred at the first of the July 5 episode.
You can replay this challenge anytime, to receive ideas for your own craft and productivity.
Learn More this Summer
All through July and August is a series on Branding: the Way Writers Reach Readers. We talk brand creation for a book, a series, and a writer’s business.
Successful examples from previous bestselling series and authors focus on Ellis Peters’ Cadfael series, Tony Hillerman’s Leaphorn & Chee Navajo mysteries, and Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody series.
We capture browsing readers with 3 Glances and 6 Keys, all to develop the best cover, titles and taglines, and market copy (blurbs) for our books.
The series closes out with developing a short video script. The advertising world tells us that buyers need 7 sights of a product before they commit. Short videos are an active and interesting method to snag the readers’ attention for a couple of those “sights”.
Coming at Summer’s End
September starts a series on story structure: Plot ~ the foundation for every story.
Start with character, the writing gurus say [which we did, last January 🙂 and Discovering Characters concluded in May]. The gurus are right about writing. Now we the best plot structure for our characters. To improve story craft and flow / pacing, we must focus on Discovering Plot.
Autumn’s Coming
Our next newsletter update will be in October.
Don’t sweat the Summer heat and humidity too much!
As always, thanks for listening to The Write Focus. We focus on productivity, process, craft, and tools. Our podcast is for newbies who want to become writing pros and veterans who are returning to writing after years away.
For more links and resources, visit www.thewritefocus.blogspot.com .
Listen on your favorite podcast site: from Apple to YouTube, Spotify and Podbean (my favs), Google Play, Amazon Music / Audible, Samsung and Player FM, Podcaster, the rivals iHeart and Tune-in, and too many to list.
Here are links to the easiest:
My favorite podcast is Podbean. https://eden5695.podbean.com/
YouTube direct link to the Mixed Miscellany playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na5LXb-83iM&list=PLXi3M_aM-d7ISCaEcoK4JV5wSUkGCmx_Z
Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-write-focus/id1546738740%20
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/4fMwknmfJhkJxQvaaLQ3Gm?si=ffeb71ed17c3409d
Amazon/Audible https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/062ecc60-d61c-432a-ad99-8234c1044ef1
ListenNotes https://lnns.co/y_Jg5rpaMNo
Google https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZGJlYW4uY29tL2VkZW41Njk1L2ZlZWQueG1s
