Hello and yeah, been a while. How about a political rant?

This is close to the text of an open letter I sent to President Joe Biden, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey and Representative Stephen Lynch, relating my opinions of Louis DeJoy. There are some minor differences between this and the ones sent through the various contact forms, mainly for the President, since that one has (apparently) a 1500 character limit on its messages. At least they don't (yet) use the abysmal captcha asking you to pick photos of dog crap to post.
 

Dear ;

I am aware of many of the problems facing the country and the government as well as the Government. However, when I read this headline and the article on cnn.com the other day,
Postmaster General announces 10-year plan including longer mail delivery times and cuts to post office hours
By Kristen Holmes, Liz Stark and Devan Cole, CNN
Updated: Tue, 23 Mar 2021 18:50:32 GMT
Source: CNN

my first thought was how stupid is Louis DeJoy? He doesn’t need ten years to do that; he’s been doing a brill job since he was installed to do just exactly that.

Then, I realized that it’s the death of a thousand cuts. He figures, over ten years, we won't notice. He’s planning the demise of the Postal Service as a useful organization; one that can therefore be wiped off the face of America, replaced by DeJoy’s Message Service™ (Only a 50% increase in rates [today] over that useless entity that can’t even buy gas powered vehicles to keep our economy strong!”

I have a personal issue with DeJoy’s improved service from the end of 2020, though based on news reports I am one of a great number, and my issue is petty in the grand scheme of things. And it’s a first world problem; the package was finally delivered. Attached below is the image of the USPS Tracking Results which show this package required two plus weeks and visits to Brockton,MA; White Plains, NY; Jersey City, NJ (five times); Kearney, NJ, and Springfield MA to make the trip from Mountainside, NJ to our home in Stoughton, MA. I’d have to say Mr. DeJoy is doing a bang-up job!

If your desire is to have the postal service vanish and all its equipment, etc., trashed the way DeJoy had sorting machines sold for scrap (I don’t think he actually had them sold, just disassembled them and discarded the pieces in parking lots.) during the run-up to the elections last year; and a substantial fraction of the employees trashed along with the equipment (’cause so many are gurls, you know, and not only that, they’re not pure-blooded European descendants, and what does a good ’Murrican company need with those?), then keep Louis DeJoy in his position, where he can continue to follow trump’s orders to get rid of that blight on good American Capitalism.

In other words, do the right thing:
One: Eliminate the need for the Postal Service to self-fund its future pension needs til beyond the date when the climate has destroyed even the most ardent nay-sayer.
Two: Get rid of the person who wants to kill you. In case you’re keeping score, that would be Louis DeJoy.

Thanks for your attention and concern.

 

Your thoughts and opinions are welcome.

Now Ready For Purchase

Available Now!

The first two books in my Dragons Run My Life fantasy series, plus the short story that reads best between them.

Book One. Click Here for Amazon; click Here for other e-tailers (epub version)

The Intermediate Story: Click Here for Amazon; Click Here for epub versions.

Book Two. Click Here for Amazon; Click Here for epub versions.

The Dragons Run My Life series is set on the planet Toile. Follow the trials, heartache and joys of red-headed three princesses urged by beings they call ‘dragons’ to avoid continent-wide war, something they don’t even understand.

The desire to understand their world and the taboos they live with drives them. Of course, they have responsibilities, too, their families, their friends and compatriots.They are princesses, after all. Conflicts, assassins, ordinary day-to-day tasks all must be managed; none can be set aside for the quest.

The dragons speak to a few, without revealing their plans, or especially their nature. Their guidance, to use the term loosely, seems to lack any rationale; the few must make their own choices whether to accept the advice or not. Predictably, they follow when the direction given matches their instincts and hopes. How the dragons will react when their words are not heeded remains to be seen. Perhaps they know well enough how to couch their counsel so it will always be palatable.

Family, friends, country and joy of discovery drive the actions of those we see; others are equally driven, perhaps to seek the same goals.

The first two books, The Faux Princess and The True Princess, along with The Warden's Tale, are available now at your favorite e-bookseller. If you don't find them, please let me know so I can extend my reach.

Book Three: The Journeys Home will be available at the end of February. Pre-orders will be up soon.

Thanks for reading. Comments, as always, are welcome.

Personal Feelings About MailChimp

This is my experience. I hope yours is different.

A the end of November, I signed up for a free account with MailChimp, to have something to do with the email addresses I got from participating in a BookFunnel promotion.

The sign-up was not particularly difficult, though a bit arcane for me, never having tried that sort of service before. I added my mail list, worked for a while on my first message, and sent a couple of test messages to myself.

Instantly (in internet time), I received a notification that my account had violated the TOS, and was suspended until… Never was clear until when. Or how to cure. So far, the answer is 'until forever'.

I responded to the notice the way it pointed to, saying I apologize and what exactly did I do and how do I get reinstated?
The message: Read the Terms of Service.

I did, several times. I still couldn’t figure out what I did. But there’s no way to contact them to ask that question and all the FAQs I found don’t address it either.

I had no response for two weeks, either to what I did wrong or what I had to do to be reinstated, so I closed the account and went to MailerLite. Even now, a month and a half later, nothing from them.

The warning I have is that, in my experience, MailChimp either has no customer service to speak of, or too much business. I can accept that a free account might well not raise any interest, but to ignore a request for help still seems to me a bit egregious.

Your experience may well be different. I hope it’s better.

Congratulations! Also, After a Missed Update, Here We Are

First, congratulations to all who participated in National Novel Writing Month, AKA NaNo. Even bigger congrats if you made your goal, no matter how big or small. You Rock!

The election is over, and had good and bad outcomes, as well as Republican sore losers who won’t give up no matter how the vote goes.



So the writing didn’t do as badly as I feared. Conversely, much time I could have been writing was filled with things like editing and you know, the other things that are needed to make a book come into being.

Over the past two months, True Princess questions have been satisfactorily resolved, as have similar questions with The Journeys Home, the third book, which is pretty much ready for the final read-through and collecting of the front and back matter.

Also, Father Maman, the novella that fits between Journeys and the next book, is off to my reader, for her opinions and assistance.

And the book which follows Journeys and Father Maman has had The End typed where it belongs. Those of you who follow this may recall The Lovers and First Indications. As I read them through, it became obvious that, unlike Father Maman, those two were in fact a single story, dealing with the Queen’s life during the trip home and in the palace. So Queen Immured (which may not end up being the title) came to be, now at not quite ninety-one thousand words.




Latest updates on top. Older ones are below.

Updated  December 3, data from 30 November.



As of (10/1), the WIPs, along with my plans for them, are:


•  The Faux Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book One): 111 109 words. No major change.
 
•  The True Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book Two): 99 278 words. A few additional changes.
 
•  The Journeys Home (Dragons Run My Life, Book Three): 128 479 words. The back and forth with my reader is done. I don’t expect more than minor changes.
 
•   Low Places (A Beckie and Ian story): 107 506 words. Unchanged.
 
•   Queen Immured (Dragons Run My Life, Book Four): 90 767 words.
 
•   Father Maman (Dragons Run My Life, Book Four addendum) 19 757 words. Finished except for things.
 
•   Forbidden Islands (Dragons Run My Life, Book Five) zero words. The file is named.


From two months ago, here’s September’s update:



As of (10/1), the WIPs, along with my plans for them, are:


•  The Faux Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book One): 111 114 words. No major change.
 
•  The True Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book Two): 99 286 words. My reader returned it the 10th of September, and I made most of the changes she pointed out.

•  The Journeys Home (Dragons Run My Life, Book Three): 127 860 words. It went to my reader on September 23rd.

•  Blood Moon (A Beckie and Ian story) formerly Princess: 59 686 words. No changes. Obviously not complete.

•  Low Places (A Beckie and Ian story): 107 506 words. Unchanged.

•  First Indications (Dragons Run My Life, Book Four): 10 709 words.

•  The Lovers (Dragons Run My Life, Book Three addendum): 44 281 words. Following Miri and Rhion, and Sanne and Gareth as they travel from Rendekebing  to Traenthe. Both this and Father Maman are complete except for things I or my reader find wrong.
  (First Indications and The Lovers have been combined in Queen Immured.)
 
•  Father Maman (Dragons Run My Life, Book Four addendum) 20 539 words. A trip to seek out Tanial’s maman in Slot Minear.
 


Here’s October’s work. Added 11 537 words, bringing the Y-T-D total to 177 515 words.  



























Here’s November’s work. Added 30 667 words, bringing the Y-T-D total to 207 849 words. 






















What happened, then?



Overall, I wrote 42 100 words, about 700 words per day. For days I did write, about 1000 words each of those days.



In addition to the editing and other tasks, I opted to put Faux Princess into a giveaway, mentioned here earlier in November. I was pleased with the response, but now I have to follow through. I thought to use MailChimp for my bright shiny new mailing list, and did something that they feel violated their TOS. It’s been five days now, and they still haven’t responded to my request asking what I did wrong and can I be reinstated. If they don’t answer in the next day or two, I’ll find another provider.



I’ve received comments and suggestions on True Princess and Voyages Home.  Father Maman is with my reader now. Recall (if you can) I had one big question last time: would the three stories, Father Maman, The Lovers and First Indications, work better as a single book? I put them together into a single volume, and then read it through to the end (as far as it was then) and decided while Father Maman didn’t fit, the other two did, and make a better story than the two individually did. In my opinion at least. We’ll see what others think as time goes on.

I made the time to move my books to Kindle Direct Publishing (It didn't take long!), but I have to do other things, like new covers and so forth. 

I decided to drop Blood Moon and publish Low Places in December.



 In addition to the routine complaints (trying to figure out where images will appear in the blog, and the annoying having the point of view skip to the bottom of the file whenever a new line is added), now Blogger has forgotten how to import bullet lists, making it necessary to find each one of them, clean up the bullets and spaces that the original had, and then put them all on individual lines (see above about adding new line frustrations) and then use Blogger's bulleted list command. I have too many to spend my life doing that. For now, I've dropped the history section, and I'm looking for a new platform.

As always, comments and opinions welcome.



The spreadsheet: Created by Svenja. See svenjaliv.com for more info and resources, including a free online word meter. All images are © 2011-2016 SvenjaLiv (http://svenjaliv.com).



A Great Group of Books, Free

For a limited time, free for the signing up, and you can unsubscribe if you don't enjoy the book.

Click here for the Giveaway.

But First, Two Critical Words

Go Vote.

Unless you have already. While I care how you vote, this isn't that rant. I ask you to voice your opinion in the only way we have to set the direction of this country.

It's important. Let me repeat:

Go Vote!

Thank you. The routine monthly update will be along soon. If you're doing NaNo, keep those words flowing! If you're not doing NaNo, keep those words and other things flowing, too!

Truly a bad month, continuing to this very day.

Not personal for me more than anyone.

A brief political rant heads us off this month.

I wonder if anyone has any respect for honesty, especially under oath. After the Attorney General, charged with the responsibility of the Justice Department, lied to Congress and was still confirmed, some of us (unenlightened, naïve even) watchers considered it a fluke. Well, after the sham that Bart Kavanaugh just put not only the Senate, but credible witnesses and the American people through, and the Republicans to a one [possibly excepting Sen Murkowski (R-AK), since the vote hasn’t happened as I write this] have accepted this orgy of lying, self-entitlement and privilege the likes of which have seldom been seen outside fiction and “upper-class boarding schools.” In fact, they’ve rewarded it.

 I digress. I suspect that the bad taste of this ‘hearing’ will echo in the form of loss of respect for the rule of law, since at the highest level, there is no penalty for out-right defiance of laws that do not suit the moneyed,  and the privileged. In fact, lying to the Senate provides rewards: Appointment to Attorney General to further the white supremacist, evangelical belief that Sessions’ version of Christianity is the only true way, anti-immigrant policies that Jeff “I lied under oath” Sessions believes and wants to force all of us to live by. Confirmation (unless some miracle happens tomorrow⁠—please god, who- or whatever you believe her to be) to a lifetime seat deciding rules that brown and black people, and women, and all the rest of us, too, no matter what we believe, will have to live by.

 Or he could be impeached after the Senate has been taken back.
I don’t necessarily want Democrats to be in charge, but I’d like people who think for themselves, who are not bought and paid for by billionaires (I know, I know, some of my best friends…). That means repealing Citizen’s United, too.

 I hope I’ll be able to break the habit of giving the finger to the television because a director decides a shot of the orange menace will fill the empty space between my ears as well as it does his.

 But think back and tell me why any citizen would give up all that by telling the truth? When will that honor be restored? Asking for a friend…
/rant

Not as much writing, again; September was filled with angst and disappointment (see above). True Princess came back from my reader with her comments and suggestions (which were not a source of disappointment), most of which have been implemented.

 When I got it, I had just realized a minor difficulty in my world-building: that while I’d modeled my characters on earth-based humans, with attendant aging specifically, the world of Toile has a year that’s only 77% of an earth year. So the ages I included, whether called winters or years or whatever, were low by that amount. The place I found it was calculating the length of a pregnancy. The nine months or 270 days, approximately, of an average pregnancy on earth translates to almost an entire year on Toile: 243 of the 256 days, or 30 and a quarter otto'dars of the thirty-two in a Toile year. For other age comparisons, I made this handy chart for the Author’s Note, to help explain it.

Earth age|   8  10  15  20  23  30  31  40  70
Toile age | 10  13  20  26  30  39  40  52  91

I realized that problem just as True Princess came back, so I made the corresponding corrections to The Journeys Home, and sent it off to my reader.

The Lovers is finished, except for discoveries like the one above.

Latest updates on top. Older ones are below.
Updated  October 5, data from 30 September.

As of (10/1), the WIPs, along with my plans for them, are:
   •    The Faux Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book One): 111 114 words. No major change.
    •    The True Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book Two): 99 286 words. My reader returned it the 10th of September, and I made most of the changes she pointed out.
   •    The Journeys Home (Dragons Run My Life, Book Three): 127 860 words. It went to my reader on September 23rd.
    •    Blood Moon (A Beckie and Ian story) formerly Princess: 59 686 words. No changes. Obviously not complete.
    •    Low Places (A Beckie and Ian story): 107 506 words. Unchanged.
    •    First Indications (Dragons Run My Life, Book Four): 10 709 words.
    •    The Lovers (Dragons Run My Life, Book Three addendum): 44 281 words. Following Miri and Rhion, and Sanne and Gareth as they travel from Rendekebing  to Traenthe. Both this and Father Maman are complete except for things I or my reader find wrong.
    •    Father Maman (Dragons Run My Life, Book Four addendum) 20 539 words. A trip to seek out Tanial’s maman in Slot Minear.


From last month, here’s August’s update:
As of (9/1), the WIPs, along with my plans for them, are:
   •    The Faux Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book One): 111 183 words. No major change.
    •    The True Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book Two): 99 270 words. By the 21st, it was off to my reader again.
   •    The Journeys Home (Dragons Run My Life, Book Three): 127 887 words. Finished til the next round of comments. It was ready to go to my reader on the 21st.
    •    Blood Moon (A Beckie and Ian story) formerly Princess: 59 686 words. No changes. Obviously not complete.
    •    Low Places (A Beckie and Ian story): 107 506 words. Unchanged.
    •    First Indications (Dragons Run My Life, Book Four): 7 737 words.
    •    The Lovers (Dragons Run My Life, Book Three addendum): 34 773 words. Following Miri and Rhion, and Sanne and Gareth as they travel from Rendekebing  to Traenthe.
    •    Father Maman (Dragons Run My Life, Book Four addendum) 20 313 words. A trip to seek out Tanial’s maman in Slot Minear.


Here’s September’s work. Added 24 714 words, bringing the Y-T-D total to 166 106 words. 

What happened last month, then?

Overall, I wrote 24 714 words, just over 820 words per day. For days I did write, about 1370 words each of those days.

Aside from the dismay caused by politics, the change in time was the biggest thing to show up and it took two or three days to puzzle through. (Could I posit that my characters’ development was sped by the shortened year? No.) Then, figure out what changes were needed and make the changes.

As I said, The Lovers was intended to be about the same length as Father Maman, about 20Kwords. Finished, I managed to hold it under 45Kwords, barring any other changes that show up.

The plan was to get comments back on True Princess, Voyages Home and Father Maman. I’ve gotten True Princess completed, and Voyages Home is with my reader. Father Maman and The Lovers are both ready, but one big question I have is: would the three stories, Father Maman, The Lovers and First Indications, work better as a single book?

A look at this image, the time spans for the seven books that exist in one form or another,  may show the genesis of that question.

 The top line is Amerith; the second, The Faux Princess; the third, The True Princess, the fourth, The Journeys Home; the fifth, The Lovers, the sixth, Father Maman and the last, First Indications.

While CreateSpace has shut down, I haven’t made the time to move my books to Kindle Direct Publishing. In the plans for October.

I haven’t completely decided, but I may just drop Blood Moon and publish Low Places. I have been unable to decide where it should go, and as a result, can’t gen much interest in it.

As always, comments and opinions welcome.

The spreadsheet: Created by Svenja. See svenjaliv.com for more info and resources, including a free online word meter. All images are © 2011-2016 SvenjaLiv (http://svenjaliv.com).

Earlier updates

From last month, the July update:
Here’s April’s update:
As of (8/1), the WIPs, along with my plans for them, are:
   •    The Faux Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book One): 111 114 words. No major change.
    •    The True Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book Two): 99 253 words. A third version following the reader’s comments on the earlier version; earlier comments are now included. By the 17th, it’ll be off to my reader again.
   •    The Journeys Home (Dragons Run My Life, Book Three): 123 131 words; continuing this draft. Still incomplete, two threads to tie up. It will go to my reader by 8/17, after finishing and rereading.
    •    Blood Moon (A Beckie and Ian story) formerly Princess: 59 686 words. No major changes. Obviously not complete.
    •    Low Places (A Beckie and Ian story): 107 506 words. The new version back and changes made. Ready for publish one Blood Moon is done.
    •    First Indications (Dragons Run My Life, Book Four): 7 982 words.
    •    The Lovers (Dragons Run My Life, Book Three addendum): 17 216 words. Following Miri and Rhion, and Sanne and Gareth as they travel from Rendekebing  to Traenthe.
    •    Red Hot Maman (Dragons Run My Life, Book Four addendum) 15 646 words. A trip to seek out Tanial’s maman in Slot Minear.


From two months ago, here’s the May update:
As of (5/1), the WIPs are:
   •    The Faux Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book One): 112 338 words. No major change.
    •    The True Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book Two): 99 676 words. A third version following the reader’s comments on the earlier version; it’s back with my reader (April 25) to see what problems I’ve left in.
   •    The Voyages Home (Dragons Run My Life, Book Three): 113 529 words; continuing this draft. Still incomplete, two threads to tie up. In the hands of my reader (April 28), to see what problems she spots.
    •    Blood Moon (A Beckie and Ian story) formerly Princess: 50 924 words. No change. Obviously not complete.
    •    Low Places (A Beckie and Ian story): 107 784 words. After my reader’s suggestion the rethink the ending, again, added and subtracted words for net reduction of about three thousand words. The new version is back with her (April 25) to point out places that don’t match or still don’t work.

Added three new WIP. Titles are working titles only. More hours spent with Aeon Timeline, to lay out the plots for these:
    •    First Indications (Dragons Run My Life, Book Four): 1 394 words.
    •    The Lovers (Dragons Run My Life, Book Three addendum): 5 453 words. Following Miri and Rhion, and Sanne and Gareth as they travel from Rendekebing  to Traenthe.
    •    Red Hot Maman (Dragons Run My Life, Book Four addendum) 1 424 words. A trip to seek out Tanial’s maman in Slot Minear.

From a quarter ago, here’s January’s update:
As of (2/1), the WIPs, along with my plans for them, are:
   •    The Faux Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book One): 111 909 words. No major change.
    •    The True Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book Two): 103 135 words. A few changes. New version now in the hands of my reader, when she gets to it.
   •    The Voyages Home (Dragons Run My Life, Book Three): 94 601 words; Continuing this draft. Still incomplete, two threads to tie up.
    •    Blood Moon (A Beckie and Ian story) formerly Princess: 50 924 words. No change. Obviously not complete.
    •    Low Places (A Beckie and Ian story): 110 405 words. Added and subtracted per my reader’s comments. Returned the changed pieces for her review on January 28.


As of (1/1/18), the WIPs, along with my plans for them, are:
   •    The Faux Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book One): 111 140 words. No major change.
    •    The True Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book Two): 102 272 words. Comments on old draft received early in December, triggering another round of revisions, which continued through Dec 15. New version now (Dec 16) in the hands of my reader, when she gets to it.
   •    The Voyages Home (Dragons Run My Life, Book Three): 59 038 words; draft underway. Not done by mid-December, but one major point has been hit.
    •    Blood Moon (A Beckie and Ian story) formerly Princess: 50 924 words. Reduction in word count is due to leaving out double counted sections and annotations. A few words, but not much. Obviously not complete.
    •    Low Places (A Beckie and Ian story): 108 027 words. Got my reader’s comments back on Dec. 15th, and began addressing them.


As of (12/1), the WIPs, along with my plans for them, are:
   •    The Faux Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book One): 111 491 words. No major change.
    •    The True Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book Two): 104 131 words; minor changes in draft. Revisions finished October 23. My reader has her own life to worry about, so I haven’t sent it.
   •    The Voyages Home (Dragons Run My Life, Book Three): 52 045 words; draft underway. Parts of this story went very well; others were slower. Still have a couple major points to hit.  I still hope for mid-December to have the draft complete.
    •    Blood Moon (A Beckie and Ian story) formerly Princess: 54 313 words. I’ve committed to a direction but haven’t put much flesh on those bones. I will probably finish the draft of Voyages before coming back to Blood Moon, which will put it into January.
    •    Low Places (A Beckie and Ian story): 107 954 words; haven’t heard back since my reader has a life.

As of (9/1), the WIPs along with my plans for them, are
   •    The Faux Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book One): 111 490 words. No change.
    •    The True Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book Two): 106 324 words; draft is complete. On 9/1, received comments back from reader; problems. I’ve started a new version as a result. Plan for revisions to be done in September.
   •    The Voyages Home (Dragons Run My Life, Book Three): 22 255 words; draft underway, although on hold for now,  til True Princess is revised, as the changes will affect it as well.  I hope for mid-October to have the draft complete.
    •    Princess (A Beckie and Ian story): 51 508 words, the first breakthrough occurred; now to put some meat on the bones. Plan to finish draft in October.
    •    Low Places (A Beckie and Ian story): 109 912 words; sent the first half (57 000+ words) back on 8/15 to see if the issues have been addressed. On hold til those comments are back.
    •   Amerith (A Dragons Run My Life Addenda): 19 900 word; no change.
    •   Rhion Prequel (A Dragons Run My Life Addenda): 6 042 words; no change.
Amerith and Rhion have had no attention paid them; I’ll drop them from the updates.

As of (8/1), the WIPs along with my plans for them, are
    •    The Faux Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book One): 111 490 words. Took care of the few questions and said, that’s done.
    •    The True Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book Two): 106 324 words; draft is complete. Reread and revised, and sent to beta reader on August 5.
    •    Princess (A Beckie and Ian story): 49 336 words, the understanding of where the story is isn’t complete.
    •    Low Places (A Beckie and Ian story): 104 578 words; Received comments back, fixing is started.
    •   Amerith (A Dragons Run My Life Addenda): 19 900 words; last questions answered and it’s done.
    •   Rhion Prequel (A Dragons Run My Life Addenda): 6 042 words; done.

As of (7/1), the four WIPs along with my plans for them, are
    •    The Faux Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book One): 111 343 words. To my reader on June 6; comments back and revisions complete. A few more q for the reader, and this one will be finished.
    •    The True Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book Two): 94 750 words; draft is not complete. Two more scenes; I can see the end. The title has changed because I liked where the characters ran off to. Update July 6: Draft complete.
    •    Princess (A Beckie and Ian story): 49 370 words, began understanding where the story is; draft complete by July 30,
    •    Low Places (A Beckie and Ian story): 100 178 words; almost no work. First read to beta by July 6.
    •   Amerith (A Dragons Run My Life Addenda): 19 848 words; sent to beta June 6. Comments received and incorporated; Q’s back to reader by July .6
    •   Rhion Prequel (A Dragons Run My Life Addenda): 6 018 words; sent to beta June 6. Comments received and incorporated.

As of 6/1, the four WIPs along with my plans for them, are
    •    The Faux Princess (Dragons Run My Life, Book One): 115 518 words. Did the revisions, but need to reread, then to my reader by June 5
    •    The Voyages Home (Dragons Run My Life, Book Two): 62 162 words; draft is not complete. Now plan by June 30.
    •    Princess (A Beckie and Ian story): 51 000 words, no change; draft complete by July 30,
    •    Low Places (A Beckie and Ian story): 99 247 words; corrected most significant problems; revising. First read to beta by June 15,
    •   Amerith (A Dragons Run My Life Addenda): 19 848 words; proof and send to beta by June 5, and
    •   Rhion Prequel (A Dragons Run My Life Addenda): 6 018 words; proof and send to beta by June 5.


As of 5/1, the four WIPs along with my plans for them, are
    •    The Faux Princess: 110 651 words. Found even more holes with the aid of my reader; plug them with the revision to beta by May 15
    •    The Voyages Home: 37 735 words; draft may be complete by May 15, but more likely, the 30th;
    •    Princess (A Beckie and Ian story): 51 000 words, no change; draft complete by June 30,
    •    Low Places (A Beckie and Ian story): 99 053 words; found significant problems; revising. First read to beta by May 30,
    •   Amerith (A Dragons Run My Life Addenda): 19 854 words; proof and send to beta by May 15, and
    •   Rhion Prequel (A Dragons Run My Life Addenda): 6 013 words; proof and send to beta by May 15.

As of 4/1, the four WIPs along with my plans for them, are
    •    The Faux Princess: 108 807 words. Went over notes from my reader. Revisions complete by April 20; return to beta by April 30.
    •    The Voyages Home: 13834 words; draft complete by May 15;
    •    Princess (A Beckie and Ian story): 51 000 words, no change; draft complete by April 30, and
    •    Low Places (A Beckie and Ian story): 96 958 words; proof and send to beta by April 15.

As of 3/1, the four WIPs, along with my plans for them, are:
  •    The Faux Princess: 90 954 words was sent to beta reader Jan 30; notes came back by 2/12 and have lain waiting for Low Places to be complete. Goal is to have it ready to publish by 3/31.
    •    The Voyages Home: 8382 words; draft complete by April 30;
    •    Princess (A Beckie and Ian story): 51 000 words, no change; draft complete by April 30, and
    •    Low Places (A Beckie and Ian story): 81 365 words; failed to complete draft by Feb 15. The goal is now to have the draft by 3/15, and on to my long suffering beta reader by 3/31.


As of 2/1, the four WIPs along with my plans for them, are:
    •    The Faux Princess: 90 956 words, sent to beta reader Jan 30;
    •    The Voyages Home: 2500 words, no change; draft complete by April 30;
    •    Princess (A Beckie and Ian story): 51 000 words, no change; draft complete by April 30, and
    •    Low Places (A Beckie and Ian story): 65 932 words, still on track to complete draft by Feb 15.