Elizabeth Schechter's Blog

Have you heard the phrase “The only constant is change?” It’s true, especially in publishing. Trends change, and you have to go with it.

And that’s why the entire Blood of the Raven series is getting new covers to celebrate the release of book three!

Wait, what? Didn’t book 2 just come out a few months ago?

Yes, yes it did. And yes, I do love that cover. But it appears that the cover art trend is shifting, and that shiny new cover is already dated. So… shiny new covers! AND… new titles...

Tap. Taptap. Is this thing on?

I’m back. Did you miss me? Honestly, I know that the odds are good that most folks didn’t notice I was taking time off. But here we are in September, and it’s time for me to get back to work.

Sort of.

Because it took me much longer than I was planning to get The Coral Throne done, I’m not technically getting back to work yet. Not entirely, anyway. I’m working on edits for Tales from the Arena; Dead Man’s Hand. I’m blogging again, starting today, and the ...

We interrupt this interruption to bring you… an interruption? Or something. I’m not back yet. Not exactly. But….

The Coral Throne
(The Coral Throne, book 2)

DONE!. It’s DONE!

And now I can go on break. Which… roughly two weeks isn’t much of a break, so I’m compromising. I’ll start back to the regular routine with my September newsletter, but I’m not going back to working on King of Swords until October.

And now, I’m crawling back into my reading hole. See ...

My original plan was for this to be my last blog post before my break started on July 1st. Instead, while this is still going to be my last blog post until September, it’s crunch time that starts tomorrow. My break will start August 1st or whenever I finish writing The Coral Throne. I’m currently about two-thirds of the way done with the manuscript, and I will be spending the next month getting it to something approaching a draft.

I may not get much writing done today because today is the e...

If It’s not one thing, it’s two things. Or six. Usually, it’s six. Last week? It was a doctor appointment every morning, then heading out to the writing retreat after, going right into the Renaissance Faire on Saturday.

Which, I suppose, is my way of saying I’m tired today.

The retreat was amazing, and there are some exciting things that are coming out of it that I can’t really talk about yet. Things are written in warm Jell-O right now, but are solidifying nicely, so I’ll tell you more o...

I’m off for a writing retreat tomorrow, so I’m coming to you live from Sunday night this week. I’m hoping to get some quality words written. I’ve pretty much admitted to myself that there’s no way that I’ll be getting 50K words written in 15 days. It’s not happening. So I’ll be continuing writing into July, until this book is done. My incentive for getting to a complete draft as soon as I can? A stack of books that keeps growing.

This past week was full, and the upcoming week promises to be ...

Happy Book Birthday Eve! Tomorrow is the day! The Sea Prince releases tomorrow, at long last. My earliest notes on this novel are from 2009. So technically, The Sea Prince is older than Princes of Air. The concept, anyway. It’s really kind of bizarre to think that, after so many false starts, broken plotlines, and rewrites, this novel is finally going to be published. It’s a very different book from when it started, way back in 2009. But in some places, it’s very much the same.

And tomorrow,...

I’ve hit the halfway point of The Coral Throne... sort of. Why sort of? Because today I made the decision to increase my wordcount. I took it from 90K to 100K words, which means that my percentage complete dropped. However, I’m still hoping to have this book done this month. It’ll be just like that November book writing challenge that we don’t talk about anymore! I do still think that I can keep this to a two-book series.

No, that is not permission to come and giggle in my general direction ...

Sumer is icumen in,
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweþ sed and bloweþ med
And springþ þe wde nu,
Sing cuccu.

If you’re not familiar with old songs, Sumer Is Icumen In is the oldest recorded song. Some people may have been introduced to the song through the movie The Wicker Man, but it’s far older than that — first written down in the mid-13th century. It’s in Old English, and roughly translated, the first line means “Summer has arrived.” It’s very pretty, and meant to be sung in six parts, as you can hear ...

On your mark… get set… GO! This is the point where I close the file for King of Swords and put those notes to the side so that I have a hope of finishing a manuscript before the end of June. I’ll pick Teren’s story back up once I finish The Coral Throne, or in September, whichever comes first. Which means I may be pushing back on starting The Iron Virgin until January of 2026. (or I may launch right into it while I’m still in a nautical state of mind. Which means I need to get on with my researc...