Way Walkers

So, my husband and i were offered the one hundred year old family home to live in while his family fixes it up. (we might buy it eventually) So, packing and cleaning at our place while emptying and fixing up the hundred year home. Then my mother decided she wants to move my elderly grandfather in with her so she can take care of him. So then i’m helping pack and clean at his house with the intention of selling that. So since the end of January, i’ve been dancing between three houses, cleaning packing and trying not to go insane. To add to the crazy, a water pipe in my mother’s house burst yesterday and there’s three inches of water throughout her downstairs. o now cleaning THAT. (also we had a bunch of our stuff there during the transition so we lost some things in the flood.)

And yet, through all of this, i managed to finish the sequel to Tangled Paths.

It’s been submitted to Red Adept’s acquisitions, but it’ll be a few months until i hear back on if it’s accepted or not. Meanwhile i’m still chasing my tail on houses. Hopefully i’ll be done all this crazy by May and can get to WW:U3, but no promises.

Pray for my sanity in the meanwhile. >.<

Whelp, for the last half a year I’ve been hinting at something which would hopefully come to pass, something awesome and interesting and exciting. Over my time in writing and building the Way Walkers World, I have had a lot of help from many places– but one voice has always been the strongest. One voice has always called above the din, adding just the right detail or asking just the right question. Once voice who knew the world as well as I, whose ideas fit in seamlessly to the landscape of the Continent. My dear friend, MJ Rea.

And now, I can excitedly announce that Miss Rea will now officially be joining the Way Walkers World as my co-author for all future Choicescript Way Walker interactive novels, including WW:U3.

So what does this mean?
Welp, MJ’s first task has bee to aquatint herself with choicescript and familiarize herself with the first two WW:Us. So the best way to do this is to go back into WW:U1&2 and add in scenes, choices and overall improve the content. This will come in the form of two large updates we *hope* to have ready to go in a few months. This will be free content added into the already existing WW:Us as a kind of ‘thank you’ to all the fans who’ve been loving it and reading it for so long waiting on #3. While she is working on this, I will be finishing the sequel to the Tangled Paths novel. Hopefully we will finish around the same time and also begin working once again on the WW:U3 title. because there will be two of us on this it will, again hopefully, improve the quality as well as the turnaround for finishing. ^_^

But wait, there’s more! I’ve many times mentioned tentatively in the CoG forums that I’ve been uncertain about continuing to write interactive novels for CoG and Hosted Games simply because of the demand on me for them and traditional novels. With the help of MJ however, we have begun drawing up notes for another Way Walker interactive novel after WW:U3 is completed– Way of the Red— with the possibility of even more after that. (and yes, you do get to become a Red Mage. 😀 )

I actually completed NaNoWriMo! Final word count: 50,290 words in a month! I’m honestly really shocked that i was able to do it. I had migraines, aches pains, writs problems, and my back is currently just destroyed, but i finished. The sequel for Tangled Paths went from 114,620 words to 164,360 words in thirty days. Now, while i finished the first of the three sections of the book, i’m still not done this thing. I still have a bit to go, probably in the realm of another 30-40k words if my past holds consistent. Afterwards, it’ll be worked and tweaked and the total number will drop, but my goal is to turn in a 180k novel to my publisher sometime early next year. Then we have content editing and line editing and all that fun stuff– while i’ll probably make notes and outlines for the third book in Jathen’s saga.

And then my loves, i will turn my eyes once more to Way Walkers University 3. ^.^

So, i’ve decided to sign up for NaNo this year to try and push myself to get back into the writing grove. I’m still having wrist, hand, back and brain fog issues, so i’m not certain if i will make the lofty goal of writing 50,000 words in a month, but i’m going to try! (After all, anything is good after so long dragging my feet) I am of course, not starting a new project for this, but rather am working on the sequel for Tangled Paths. I actually believe 50k words might actually finish this thing, though no promises. 😉

if anyone else in participating in this awesome nonprofit program, you can find my profile here.

So, September and a good portion of October have sucked. While my marriage has been doing great, my body is literally falling apart. My hands keep bouncing back and forth between manageable and swollen/numb beyond the ability to use, my attempt to get carpal tunnel surgery has been hampered at every turn ( i still don’t have a surgery date and am waiting on yet a third opinion), and now i’ve got either a pinched nerve or sciatica in my back that is making my left foot swell up and get numb in that sort of painful way that makes it hard to think. Needless to say, i’ve not been writing as much as i’d like.

However, what i have managed to get done has been good, and thats at least something. I just wish i could get back so some standard of normal.

So, the big day was on August 17th, and i am now officially wed to my one true love and twin flame. Yay! *faints from relief*

Now that’s officially over with (it did go wonderfully, btw) i can once more turn my eyes back to Way Walkers. A year ago i told myself i would be done the sequel to Tangled Paths and be halfway through if not completed WW:U3 by now, but i had not the power to foresee either the wedding nor my crippling carpal tunnel. Though i have despite these troubles managed to more than double the word count in the TP sequel, from 40k words to 95k, i have done very little with WW:U3 beyond notes. However, as said, i am now married, and in a few weeks shall become one with my new husband’s health insurance, and thusly will receive the carpal tunnel surgery so very much needed. This will hopefully clear up a huge chunk of my writing issues, as i will actually be ABLE to write again for more than 20 min at a time. I am also, as said, working diligently on a plot that will increase the speed of not only the release of WW:U3, but perhaps make it possible for more CoG type of interactive novels to continue to be released for the Way Walker World. It’s still hush-hush at the moment, and i can not reveal it until i am 100% positive it’s going to go through, but cross your fingers with me, and wish for the best. On all fronts.

j. leigh

…but i’ve had to limit my writing due to the development of carpal tunnel. I’ve been honestly expecting this for years, as i am a writer and it was inevitable. My best option is surgery, but b/c of insurance and timing i need to wait until after my wedding August. In the meanwhile i hen-peck away, doing my best to write when i can. it is sadly not often. 😦

I’m doing my best, and i promise to get these sequels out as fast as i can.

Until then, thank you all again so much for your support–sales on Tangled Paths are going well, and i am very grateful! Please remember to drop by Amazon or whatever platform you use and leave a review! I love to know what my fans think, and how to make it better, or keep up with what you love. ^_^

j. leigh

So recovering from release day excitement, i just want to take the time to thank everyone out there who went and bought Tangled Paths.  We had a very respectable first day, jumping up in Amazon’s rankings to the 9k range, and even making the top ten on some of the Hot New Release lists!  There’s still a long way to go before we’re really a hit, but thank you so much for this wonderful start!  If you bought it, please do read it and if you read it, please review it (good or bad–i cant be a better writer otherwise) and if you loved it, tell your friends!

thank you again,

j. leigh

Yep, just got the big news, the ebook will be released this April 11th, 2014!!  *excited squees*  It will be available on Amazon, Nook, BarnesandNoble.com, Kobo.com and more!  There will a special first-day only release price of 3.99, so grab it quick!

The print-book copies of Tangled Paths will be coming out about a month afterwards in early May, and i’ll post when i know exact dates.  There will be an official book release party sometime after that around the last weekend of May/first weekend in June. This will be a public event, and i will post info about that as well. ^_^

Thank you again to everyone for all your love and support!  I hope you enjoy the new book!

And don’t forget to go leave a review! ;D

So i’ve started receiving the requests for the blog tour of Way Walkers: Tangled Paths today, which means i get to do interviews and talk about stuff like inspiration and my characters and the whole thing is just getting me so excited!!  😀 The tour is scheduled to start in early June, so we’re definitely looking to have an ebook release at the end of April, with the print book soon to follow.  Keep an eye out here for details! Also if i have any fans out there who have book review blogs and want to be included in the tour, you can apply here: tour sign up! (profestional book bloggers only! ;p)

Other fun news: the map and link to the prolog and first chapter excerpt of Tangled Paths is up on Red Adept’s website, so if you want to have a sneak peek of the book  you can head over here: map and sneak peek!

I’m also happy to report that though i’m still struggling a bit with my hands (i’m going soon to see if it is, indeed the dreaded carpal tunnel) i did actually manage to have my first 4,000-word week last week for the first time in FOREVER it seems. (well, really since October) So while i’m quite distracted with wedding plans, book release plans and all the other normal stuff in life, i AM writing again, and well, that just feels great. ^_^

j. leigh