Life After a Series

Self-publishing is a constantly changing animal.  When I first wrote Outcast and the Blackguard, it seemed easy to market.  But as I was writing the final books of The Blue Dragon's Geas, the marketing dynamic changed.  Tactics I was using to sell 400 books a day suddenly fell flat.  When you self-publish you have to both write and then sell the books.

When Fallen Tiers, the last book, was finished I set about marketing the series.  So far, I haven't found a new magic solution to put me back at 400 books a day but it is still relevant on Amazon.  I can get it to number one when I give it away but that kind of  defeats the purpose of selling your work.

I then turned my attention to a book on the journey of fighting cancer.  If I Told You, Would You Listen will be out soon.  It is written to not only cancer patients but also to family, caregivers and professionals.  It is my message of hope so that others can fight with a sense of peace, something I have learned on my way.  I am four years into my cancer journey and felt I had a lot to offer to those at the beginning of their fight.

Now my attention is returning to Death's Door.   It will be a spin-off of the series with more focus on Jon than Alador.  The premise is that souls are starting to turn away from Death's Door and the Goddess of Death has tasked Jon her High Priest,  to figure out why.  Of course with all my books, there are other plot lines and the typical twists to make it a Dragons' Geas novel.

The other project I have been working on and am just now completing is that I opened a life coach business.  CreateGoodLiving.com opened a couple of weeks ago.  As many of you know, I am trained first and foremost as a counselor with a specific focus in cognitive behavior therapy and addiction.  Since I prefer to write rather than punch a clock, I have found myself missing helping others find success in their own lives.  Life coaching is something I can do around chemo and writing making it the perfect business to round out my daily life.  When coaching others, I find myself reminded to do my own activities to keep inner peace and balance.  You learn best by teaching after all.

I believe that is everything I wanted to update you all on.  I know I fell silent there for a bit as I became hyper-focused on writing the cancer book and opening my business.  I also know many of you have contacted me about that spin-off novel. I promise you, I am still working on it.  Talk to you all soon, may fantasy fill your days and bring joy to your life.

Fallen Tiers Cover Reveal

 Becky Hunt is doing my final cover for the series and this is our draft reveal.  She wants to make adjustments but this is the basic idea of the cover with maybe some small adjustments.  I thought you all would want to see since you have been waiting so long.  It shows I am making progress. As soon as it is in the window, I will be launching pre-sales on both Smashwords and Kindle.  This just means you don't miss the release and get it a day ahead of everyone else.  I hope you love the cover.  Feel free to give Becky and I feedback.  If the change is demonstrative, I will post the next version when it is in its final form.

Anxiety of Readers Waiting for Fallen Tiers

Hi all,
So... where is Fallen Tiers?  I know it is my most asked question.  It has been a hard year in my cancer fight.  However, it will be going out July 1, major edits have been required do to chemo brain and the length before it is going to be available.  Chemo and creativity don’t mix.  While I know the story’s frame, those intricate details are what makes the story really flow.  It will be up for presale as soon as I get the cover.

More after the jump...

Cancer Fight, the True Mole in My Life!

Well here we are again!

Journal entry by Cheryl Matthynssens

I had hoped my days of needing to have an outlet and to write here were over.  My Oncologist told me today that it will never be "over".  He had hoped that I would have more time cancer free then four months, but it just wasn't to be.  My cancer is anchored throughout my body.  It does not appear it will go into remission.  The best hope I have now is to continue to play whack-a-mole with it.

Somewhat expecting this, my oncologist had been monitoring me closely so that the moment it reared its ugly head, we would attack it.  Right now, the tumors are small and they are in my lungs.  One lung has a fair sized nodule of about 1/2 inch and the other one looks like a piece of moss, weaving in and out air passages or the blood veins.  I couldn't tell which.  Because it is in both lungs, it is considered inoperable.  Now that it has shown up in multiple organs, it is unlikely I will achieve remission.

I Don't See it As Amazing?

Mia and I recovering

Repeatedly over the last year I have been told that I am strong and amazing.  Oddly, I don't see myself that way.  I see myself as doing what must be done to live, to write and to have shelter.   As I look back over the year, I see triumph over struggles, but it doesn't seem all that miraculous to me. It was just what I needed to do to live.

I was asked to write out what a typical day for me was like in the last year.  I will write up two because it was either one or the other.   I was either chemo sick or traveling.  I know that my fans have been crazy for the next book and my publicist suggested I share these two schedules to create an understanding.  

A Writer's Secret Life

By Photographer: Caroline Rogers, U.S. Geological Survey [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

I joke with my friends that I hope a crime is never committed in which I am a suspect.  As a writer, when you hit something you do not have first hand knowledge of, you look it up.  Now, in this day and age there is a record of everything that you have looked up even if you clear your browser cache.  Only the top notch IT person knows how to really get that off your computer.  

Prologue From Soon to Release: Fallen Tiers

Here is a tidbit from the upcoming novel: Fallen Tiers - Book 5 of The Blue Dragon's Geas

Art by Rebecca Hunt

Jon nodded to the acolyte that took the reins of his lexital.  His robes were gray from the dust of travel and his hair unkempt.  It was not this that drew the eyes of everyone in the stable yard, it was the little black dragon curled tightly around his neck.  The thin whip of a tail looked more like a choker tight against the mage’s throat.

He looked around in amazement.  He knew of this temple, all death mages did.  But, this was more than he had imagined.  It was fashioned similarly to the tiers, the levels though were not as distinct and black spires rose up here and there.  Where Silverport was built of white glistening stone, the temple was represented in black.  Where he stood now was in a courtyard outside the main wall of the temple.

The death mage’s eyes traveled up to see cave openings lining the far off cliff walls.  How many dragons had the High Priestess managed to gather?  If they were all full, it was a concern he would have to relay to Alador.  He cast a clean spell absently as he continued to take in the breath-taking view.

His eyes caught the far off movement of three dragons flying together.  They looped in and out of one another before making some far off diving run.  As they dropped down, he lost sight of them.  Their choreography in flight had been amazing.  He stroked Nightmare’s small muzzle bringing a soft sigh from the hatchling.