Fun facts Archives - Deb E. Howell

July 5, 2018July 5, 2018

Warrior’s Touch is coming

Hello world!

I completed a first draft in 2014! Completed major edits in 2016! Finalised the formatting earlier this year.

Yes, it’s been a long time coming (due largely to my own tardiness as I grew another human being, moved house, and continued to work towards supporting my family–writing doesn’t do that) but Warrior’s Touch will soon be out in the world. When? Well, I’ll leave that for another post. We need to throw some dates around and pick one (depending on a few other links in the chain).

Shall we take a moment to feel the warm glow of seeing a real, physical copy in existence (and, no, I haven’t touched it… it’s on the other side of the world!)… (photos courtesy of Kristell Ink/Grimbold Books)

Front Cover of Warrior's Touch by Deb E Howell — Front Cover

Back cover of Warrior's Touch by Deb E Howell — Back cover

First page of Chapter 1 of Warrior's Touch by Deb E Howell — Chapter 1

Healer's Touch and Warrior's Touch by Deb E Howell — Healer’s Touch and Warrior’s Touch together

Healer's Touch and Warrior's Touch by Deb E Howell spines — Warrior’s Touch is about 23,000 words longer than Healer’s Touch

You can let the world know you’re planning to read Warrior’s Touch here, on Goodreads.

November 23, 2016November 24, 2016

A Man, A Woman, and A Clown

For no real reason, I’m going to share the results of another writing exercise I did a while back. The prompt was the same as the title of this post, and we had fifteen minutes to write.

Feel free to have a go yourself before reading on and seeing what I did with it.

I think that’s the fun thing about doing writing exercises based on basic writing prompts: seeing what different people turn that prompt into. And, if you could wipe your memory (or exercise great restraint and avoid copying yourself), how different would your little story be if you did the exercise again next week? Month? Year? Decade?

From a basic prompt, what comes about can be influenced not only by your overall life experiences, but also where your head is at in that very moment. What TV show did you watch that might inspire you? What book have you been reading? What were you discussing with workmates over lunch? All these seemingly incidental things can influence your creative output, especially when it is “just” an exercise and isn’t constrained by story rules established for a longer piece.

So… fifteen minutes. A Man, A Woman, and A Clown… what did you come up with?

A Brief History of Healer’s Touch…

A brief history of Healer’s Touch and its sequels

Now, when I say brief, I mean that I am just going to write, and it may turn out not to be brief at all…

So, now you know.

The story of how HEALER’S TOUCH came about really starts back in the late 1990s, when I was attending high school. I enjoyed a wide range of books, comic books, and cartoons that I watched on Saturday mornings and after school. In this sojourn back in time, the cartoon Gargoyles particularly comes to mind. I had also taken up collecting Robin III comics (from Batman fame, of course).

I was always well known for my horse drawings, but I had an interest in challenging myself to do better art, including drawing people. And so, I had a go at developing my own super hero. His name was Equus (of course… and I bet no one has ever come up with that idea before…

June 13, 2014

And so it begins… again

The blank page.

That dreaded blank page. It’s horrible!

Why do we do this to ourselves?

I think, largely, it is because writers are gluttons for punishment. We’re never happy, and if we should be then we will find something to keep us down. And what better way than to start a new project?

Read a 1-star review of our work, you suggest? Yes, that is a good plan, too… Unless you get the kind of 1-stars you’re proud of (and I have been, lately… I’ve really liked them).

I am lucky this time around in that I’ve written two previous books in the same series I’m continuing on, so I have a decent string of events I already know I need to cover to tie off the loose ends. But

My Writing Process Blog Hop

So, yet again, I’ve had several thoughts of possible blog post topics over the course of the week, and even had words flow through my mind that I could have shared. Just not when I had the time to sit down to do it. And when I had the time to sit down, my mind drew a blank… or, the passion was gone. And I’m not much good at topical blog posts when the passion is gone…

Thankfully, though, I was once again tagged in the “My Writing Process” blog hop by Kat Hawthorne and, since I’m onto a “new” project since last time, I thought I may as well. So now I have something to post!

I prefer doing personal posts to scheduled info-only posts… but I have limited writing time, so I tend to prefer to use that writing time to actually do writing of some sort. Excuses, always excuses.

Anyway… in the name of doing a more personal blog post, here is my writing process at this moment in time…

1. What are you currently working on?

I am currently “between books”, but they’re in the same series so it’s not exactly down-time. Beta Readers are checking out WARRIOR’S TOUCH (the follow on from HEALER’S TOUCH) for me, and I’m pondering my plans for MAGICIAN’S TOUCH (the last of the series). I’m also considering

Phew!

Quick update before I return to regular programming…

So, my NZMM turned into a bit of a fail this year… let me share the reasons…

So, my family took a “holiday” at the end of April. We decided to drive from Dunedin to Hastings (New Zealand), because it was half the price of flying and it’s a great way to show the child the country (and see it ourselves!)

First up, we didn’t leave as early as planned due to there having been a crash on the highway we needed to take, and no detours available…

We eventually left and still got held up for an hour. Turned out to be an incredibly tragic murder-suicide… Yep. Even in NZ…

So, about four and a half hours into the journey (and about half an hour from our accommodation for the night… in the heavy, heavy rain and dark) the exhaust (with it’s newly-fitted bullet-muffler) began swinging between the car body and the drive shaft (4WD car, so it has a drive shaft)… Of course, we did not know this at the time. All we knew was that the car had begun making a horrendous noise. The car is 1996, so all sorts of things can start falling off in 2014, right? Yeah…well, considering our history with the car (for instance the engine mounting bolt that fell off just as we pulled up in Nelson – 9 hours north of Dunedin – that one time…) we were freaking out. (I was picturing the drive shaft falling free and firing the car – and all of us – from the road…)

We made it to the camp ground and our cabin in the pouring rain (surface flooding) and… managed. Got some sleep.

Spent the following morning trying to figure out what the problem was… well aware that time was ticking as far as getting to our ferry crossing on time. It was very, very wet.

Then we called Roadside Assistance, drove (carefully) to the guy on duty and got the car up on a hoist to figure out the problem. Problem identified, but not exactly fixable (just manageable), we carried on.

My Writing Process – Blog Tour

I was tagged twice in the same week (same day) for the My Writing Process Blog Tour, so, I have both Zoe Harris and Clare Davidson to thank and introduce you to (if you haven’t come across these lovely ladies already).

Zoe is an Australian now living in Bærum ( just outside Oslo), Norway. Zoe makes up one half of Grimbold Books, and is the driving force behind Tenebris Books. She also writes her own fiction, and will be my editor when I submit WT to Kristell Ink… Phew!

Clare is a mother, wife, teacher and writer, based in Lancaster, England. She first published the fantasy novel Trinity in 2012, before going on to work on her YA Paranormal series Hidden. The first two books in the series, Reaper’s Rhythm and Broken Bargain are available now.

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The next part involves me answering a few questions:

What am I working on?

Well… I’m still working on Warrior’s Touch at the moment, although, I am in the final stages.

WT is the sequel to Healer’s Touch, which was released early in 2013 and enjoyed a quiet first year in the market. Then Kristell Ink did a promo in February this year and, well, it’s done quite well. So, yes, people are waiting on WT. I’m working on it!

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Probably the easiest way to answer this is to look at what my work is like…

March 1, 2014

Welcome New & Faithful Few

Well, hello there.

So, about ten days ago, my publisher advised me there had been some 37,000 free downloads of HEALER’S TOUCH. Now, this is where I have to remind myself that these are downloads that would not have happened had it not been free… because, well, I still have a student loan sitting there… looking at me… and I’m looking at it… yeah. Maybe next time.

Anyway, that was a highly successful promotion we had there… and we didn’t expect it. I guess it just goes to show what a decent cover, blurb and the few kind reviews I already had can do…

Over the course of the month, I’ve gone from having just 22 reviews on Amazon US to over 90. That’s amazing. 22 in a year… another 70 in a month. Goodreads has seen a jump, and I even got my first review on Smashwords. B&N also got some action.

It has been an amazing time

My bliss…

When I write, and manage to get “into the zone”, I find my bliss. It’s cool. But it’s work. And when it’s work it can be hard to turn it into bliss as well.

But, I have another string to my bliss bow.

Because, not only am I a writer-mother (and part-time worker and wife and all that), I am a writer-gardener.

Yes. I admit it.

Gardening makes me happy.

And why wouldn’t it, with results like this?

Greenhouse – Right hand side as at end of January 2014: strawberry plants at the top with a marigold to help keep insects down (not working). Tray attempting to germinate apple seeds at the top right. Below that is carrots in cut-down Coke and Pepsi bottles, with Rocket taking off in front (get it? taking off… ha!), and a tomato plant at the bottom left and more lettuce and another marigold…

Just wait… there’s more…

Hippy Self-Sufficiency Stuff Update

So, a few weeks ago I told you all about how I had come into possession of some seeds and was beginning my own pot-garden…

…um, I mean…

Well, you know what I mean. I was beginning to grow edible plants in pots (because that’s how I roll when it comes to gardening).

So, I thought I might update you on progress.

Here is my first lettuce. Now, in that first sowing, I planted about 3 lettuce seed… yeah… this is the only one that did anything. Since then, I’ve sown another 3 or 4 lettuce seeds… no dice. However,