Shanna Lauffey - Blog

Sometimes It Flows...

3/18/2019

...And sometimes it goes slowly.

Once again, I must apologize for taking so long to finish episode nine. There have been times during this series when a full chapter flows out of me in one sitting, sometimes even with the beginning of the following chapter. As I get closer to the end, that isn't happening as much.

It isn't that I'm losing interest. Far from it! I'm really fascinated at the direction this one has taken and I can hardly wait to see what Kallie will do with a new situation I've developed for her. Yet even when I know what's going to happen in a chapter, sometimes I only manage to get a 400-500 word transition written before something distracts me.

That's part of the delay. I've had a lot of family related distractions. Nothing to complain about, just things that need my attention. You would be amazed at how much going out to grocery shop early to beat the crowds can disrupt a writing flow!

But not to worry. It's coming along. I'm past the halfway mark and it's beginning to snowball. It's always the middle of a story that takes me the longest.

I'm Working!

2/5/2019

In case you wondered.

I'm finding that beyond the research for the science bits, the series requires that sometimes I go back to previous episodes to make sure I'm getting the continuity right. Mostly I can work out things from outline notes but occasionally I actually have to read chapters from past episodes to get the details I need or see where I last left a character!

So, I'm making no time estimates anymore, but episode nine is on a roll and I'm diligently working on it every day and will keep doing so until it's finished!

Meanwhile, I've been told that the audiobook version of episode seven has been finished and approved so it should become available on Audible very soon!

I love how Akalya is leading me into more intense drama in these later episodes. As any author knows, there comes a point where the characters lead the action and the author is just along for the ride!

I'm looking forward to getting to the final episode soon, but I do know how this one finishes and I'm steeling myself against the inevitable emotional backwash that I know is coming.

Please do leave your comments in the reviews of your retailers website! Feedback tells me if my readers are enjoying the series as much as I am!

December 28th, 2018

12/28/2018

Happy New Year to everyone!

I hope you've had brilliant holidays, whatever you celebrate.

Well, my grand plan for finishing the series before the end of the year hasn't worked out, largely due to the holidays themselves. It's amazingly difficult to settle down to write when what to get for various family members and keeping track of other holiday preparations takes over the thinking process.

But we've got past Christmas now and I don't tend to do anything for New Year as I'm not a drinker. It's time for me to get back into my work pattern and get the next episode out!

I promise it will be worth the wait. This one starts with a bang and there is plenty of action throughout, despite Akalya's ability to deal with anything life throws at her with stoic grace. Well, anything might be a tall order.

I should at least have episode nine in edit before the finish of January. Then I'll launch right into episode ten, because these last two episodes are closely tied together.

That's all the hints I'm dropping for now!

Artwork for Episode Nine!

11/9/2018

I sometimes wish the individual episodes were still coming out in paperback so that I could have a whole set, just for the artwork. But, the publisher deemed the five episode collections more practical in paperback, so that's how it is. Still, the e-book covers retain the variety.

Episode Nine has a hard hitting image. It does reflect some of what's going on in the continuing series. If you've read Episode Eight, you know that gun crime has come into the series. I also dropped hints about the implications of a Time Shifter slipping through time at will with an attitude and a gun.

This is a subject I want to be careful about. I'm not here to make a political statement, only to tell a story. Since the story is set in America, the proliferation of gun use is a natural part of the setting. Los Angeles is too well known for drive-by shootings and road rage, and the recent incident in Thousand Oaks is disturbingly close to home when I'm writing about a gunman in Los Angeles. Perhaps I should use trigger warnings (no pun intended), but the issue is not as prevalent in Episode Nine as it was in Episode Eight.

Anyway, as you can see from the picture, the cover art for Episode Nine has some chilling imagery in more ways than one.

Episode Six Now Available in Audio!

9/14/2018

Just released! Episode Six of The Chronicles of the Harekaiian in Audio!
Find it at Amazon, Amazon UK or Audible stores!

The audio production team is catching up to me! Not to worry though, Episode Nine will be finished in E-book before the audio version of Episode Seven is ready for release in December/January. It's so exciting, getting close to the end of the series at last!

Episode Nine in Progress!

7/28/2018

I had a lot of the plot of Episode Nine forming in my head while I was still writing Episode Eight. Despite all that inspiration, I decided to work from a basic outline this time. With only two episodes remaining, a lot of loose ends need to be tied up once and for all and I don't want to miss any details!

I haven't got a book cover to show you yet but I know what it's going to be like and I'm looking forward to seeing the finished design! I don't have a release date projection yet, but I'm hoping to finish up both final episodes before the end of the year. As much as I enjoy writing this series, it's time to bring it to a conclusion and move on to other things.

I've really enjoyed the cover art for this series. As much as I like the combined volume art, the individual books have been fascinating. How many variations on a clock design can an artist come up with? I will give you a hint: the next one is going to be a little steampunky. Just a little. I'm not going to start writing airships into the story! If this series were to add categories beyond time travel science fiction, it would have to be magical realism.

Anyway, the next one is in progress! We're going to explore the newest character more fully revisit certain longer established characters as well. Personally I can't wait to see what happens.

June 28th, 2018

6/28/2018

Episode Five has been released in audiobook! Now you can listen to the first five episodes of The Chronicles of the Harekaiian, narrated by the talented Kalinda Little!

On Audible and through Amazon.com and Amazon UK

Episode Eight is Released!

5/27/2018

Believing herself free of the torments of the past, Kallie seeks renewed tranquility in the past and present, but the events of the recent few years won't go away that easily. Someone from her past comes back into her life reviving an old friendship that unwittingly makes Kallie a target of a crazed gunman.

Meanwhile, distracted by studying the effects of a magnetic field to fold dimensions, Harlan Edmondson receives a surprise visitor. Mason is a man with a reputation for cold-blooded murder and he, too, wants answers to questions of time travel.

Behind the seemingly innocuous façade of a doctor and fellow scientist, Mason approaches Edmundson to seek explanations for the events that occurred over fifty years earlier that resulted in the birth of his son. Edmondson becomes an unwilling time travel guide when the secrets of the past meet with his future to reveal a convoluted temporal loop.

Now available on Amazon, Amazon UK and all international outlets and on Smashwords for all other e-formats!

Introductory price .99 until Sunday June 3rd!

Finished!

5/4/2018

Good news! I finished the first draft of Episode Eight, so now it's just the edit and then release!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the editor had a head start and she's actually given me some feedback for a little re-writing in one chapter so I'll get onto that and anything else she might point out in the second half.

Meanwhile, Episode Five is currently in audiobook production! I don't know how long it will be before release, but that will be half the series out in audio! So far the same narrator has done all of them, so hopefully she'll stay on board for the other five books because I really like her voice for Akalya.

So, back to work for me. I need to finish any edits before I move on to writing Episode Nine, but I've left myself set-up with a story line to follow so hopefully it won't take as long as this episode did! Don't worry, no cliffhangers!

Hopefully I can stay just ahead of the audiobook production so that the last episodes will come out with similar frequency to the earlier ones.

Not Long Now!

3/31/2018

Great news!

Things are moving along and the editor now has the first ten chapters of Episode Eight in hand. I just have to wrap up a couple of story lines in the final chapters and I'll be done!

This means Episode Eight isn't quite out in March as I had hoped, but it will certainly be released in April. Hopefully the world coming to a stop for Easter Weekend will give me time to finish up!

Meanwhile, Easter Weekend is also Sale weekend for the combined edition of Episodes 1 - 5!

This is the last time the boxed set will be on sale for 1.99, so grab it quick if you haven't already!

Tell your friends!

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