Tag Archives: Publish

K M Weiland’s Creating Character Arcs: The Masterful Author’s Guide

Customer Review

5.0 out of 5 stars This book will stay on my shelf., November 15, 2016
This review is from: Creating Character Arcs: The Masterful Author’s Guide to Uniting Story Structure (Helping Writers Become Authors) (Volume 7) (Paperback)

This book is so good. I was given an e-copy for an honest review, and I just bought the print copy.

I’m a real write-by-feel historical fantasy author, but this comprehensive breakdown of how characters and their arcs tie in and support and drive plot is invaluable. I have a feeling I’ll be coming back to this book again and again. And the nice thing is, the author doesn’t give you the impression that “this is the way it is,” but “this is what’s possible,” and “discover greater possibilities.”

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Azalea’s Scop Talk: Lance and Quill

It’s here!

Lance and Quill is proofed and published in ebook and print. Thank you for your patience. You’re the best. 🙂

This medieval fantasy will romance your summer hours! I’ll be posting a link to friend and author, Kathrese McKee’s post tomorrow. Check back for my author interview. And don’t forget, there’s a special on! Share these with your friends who like books. Link: Lance and Quill.

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And another! Check out Kathrese’s ebook special here: Turning Point.

Product Details

Have a great summer!

Azalea Dabill

Crossover: Find the Eternal, the Adventure

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Azalea’s Scop Talk

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Mythic fantasy often displays the moral war, an adventure we are all embarked on.

Path of the Warrior: First Entry, is my opening story about how Tae Chisun, respected warrior from Korea, Land of the Morning Calm, seeks to save his people from annihilation by making peace with an attacking enemy in secret.

His Kuksun (general) exiles Tae from his love and his life, setting him on the path of a wanderer, where he will save enslaved stronghold daughter Kyrin Cieri of medieval Britain, impacting the lives of many in their stories to come.

Path of the Warrior explores how compassion, anger, and love can motivate a man to sacrifice everything. When Tae sees his Kuksun foolishly determined to die with all under his command, dooming their people to death, he seeks terms of peace with the enemy. He must kill a master above him who taught him what he knows of war, yet betrayed them all.

In spite of his Kuksun’s wrath, and about to be executed, Tae thinks of his wife, Huen, the Kuksun’s daughter, and begs him to give her his sword and his mother’s land. His general decides to let the gods decide Tae’s fate and has him thrown over the wall to the enemy. Thus the Chronicle begins …

How compassion and mercy can coexist with killing, and drive a person to kill to protect others, is important. Warriors are not necessarily evil. In fact, killing is sometimes necessary. It depends on the warrior’s motive. If it is worthy, a warrior is truly a hero or heroine, as the case may be.

Our motives of love, mercy, kindness, fear, revenge, and anger can become quite tangled. Our desires tend to be mixed at the best of times, but that does not let us off doing the best we can. And if we are God’s forgiven child, he is growing more love and compassion in us all the time.

Genuine care for some people’s lives may require the loss of other’s lives. Many people who do evil will not be stopped by niceness—they are set on their path to destroy others, to achieve what they want at any cost—deadly force is the only thing that will stop them. We are given responsibility in the way of the warrior to save life in just defense. 

The moral war yields good story fodder. And always growth. Downwards or upwards. The choice is ours.

Crossover: Find the Eternal, the Adventure

P. S. Lance and Quill is still in my editor’s capable hands, and events there have pushed my publishing date a few weeks forward. Thank you for your patience, and enjoy summer!

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Falcon Heart is official!

Well, it’s official. My book Falcon Heart is finished.

The print proof came in yesterday evening, and it looks great! I’m so thankful and excited. This has been a long time in coming, and the Lord has brought it together.

Falcon Heart is available in both print and ebook on Amazon. My appreciated reviewers, readers, and friends, I hope you enjoy it! I also just applied as a GoodReads author today. Thank you so much!

Have a great day.

Azalea

P. S. Below gives readers a little idea what Falcon Heart is about if you want to forward this to a friend…

A strange dagger…
Adventure beyond fear…

Slavers seize Kyrin Cieri from the coast of medieval Britain and sail for Araby. With a dagger from her murdered mother’s hand, an exiled warrior from the East, and a peasant girl, Kyrin finds mystery, martial skill, and friendship closer than blood. 
The falcon dagger pursues her through tiger-haunted dreams, love, and war in the Araby sands. Kyrin is caught by the caliph’s court intrigue and faces the blade that took her mother. One thing can give her the will to overcome, justice against hate, dagger against sword. 
Murder, sacrifice, vengeance…compassion and the art of war.
Crossover: Find the Eternal, the Adventure

Whether you love historical or Christian medieval romance with a touch of martial arts fiction, or need a young adult epic fantasy series for teens, Falcon Heart, Chronicle I is a solid choice. 
Read the excerpt of this medieval adventure and discover the magic of Falcon Heart. A medieval fantasy of romance and mystery from Britain to Arabia and back.

Old grunge paper. And here’s the link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Falcon-Heart-Chronicle-Azalea-Dabill/dp/1943034001/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1428611962&sr=1-1&keywords=azalea+dabill

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The Ultimate Self Publisher’s Resource Guide review

Not quite what I thought, but still good. I give it three stars.

At first look I thought the Self Publisher’s Ultimate Resource Guide was a tome inches thick. (I did not pay too much attention to the description since I’d been pleased with my experience as Joel Friedlander’s customer and blog follower before.) So I was a little dismayed when he asked for a review of his and Betty Kelly Sargent’s book within about a week.

Still, I had signed up, and was determined to do my best to keep my word to give a review of this giant resource for Indie writers. The contents looked extensive. I began reading.

On the one hand I was pleasantly surprised that the topics were flashing by, but wondering on the other if this resource was all the title touted it to be.

I finished the last section on consumer protection agencies. I was disappointed. I had mistakenly thought this was more than a generic index of resources. A place to begin. The Ultimate Guide, I felt, should have more advice and how-to.

But there are many books and blogs, etc., on how-to methods, with endless advice. In fact, the Guide lists many of them. These resources put the ball in my hands and spread the park before me. That is a good place to begin.

There are numerous links in each resource field, and the Guide states that it is a beginning. More information will be added. On top of this, the resources listed are relatively time-tested and customer vetted. This is invaluable.

How many sites have you gone to looking for info on a subject, and come up with info or a company you wished had a track record? An easily accessible record, made by people like you, entrepreneurs with roughly your experience and goals? Many times. If you’re new like me. I have not personally tried and tested these resources, but I’m willing to bet Joel and Betty have done good background checks.

This Guide is especially useful for the beginner. Just don’t stop here. Despite its name, no book can contain all the resources in the world. Many are developing, imploding, or being created at this moment. If you need resources, Indie entrepreneur, search out these and then bravely go beyond. But keep the Ultimate Guide on the shelf for reference.

All the best to you on your journey. Search and try: fail, search, try again. Succeed. Never give up.

One note to the Guide’s formatters: it would be nice if you would add a little more space between listings. It’s slightly hard to read and keep track of my place on the page. Thank you.

Also, I have been given a free ebook version in return for my honest review, though I would pay $8 to own the Guide. It might have saved me a half-year of research time when I started my writing and editing journey. And I may have need of a cover designer soon. 🙂

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Scop Talk: Book Cover.

Here’s something I’ve been working on this last week or so. I’ve been playing around with various comp photos and photos found on Pinterest to compile a tentative book cover mock-up for Falcon Heart. Don’t worry, I’ll be seeking the pic rights even though my sister is just going to use the mock-up for a rough model for her artwork. Then I’m hoping to get the artwork colored so it looks like a traditional fantasy book. But what I really wanted to ask you is what you think: 1) It’s been suggested that I try the falcon flying in, wings outspread, through the the center of the arch, and 2) That I have my sister shorten the sword handle because it distracts the viewer from the model’s face. What’s your opinion? Click twice on the pic to see a larger version. Thanks for your help!

Tentative Book Cover

Tentative Book Cover

 

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A Bit of Soul Baring: Or Glimpses of Adventure

Publishing Update:

For my readers or soon to be readers: Falcon Heart is scheduled back from my editor (professional editors do have their own editors) within the month. After corrections,  Falcon Heart is in queue for formatting in InDesign for e-book and print, and to have a cover of art work designed, with interior art added. The art work and cover are in progress.

Falcon Heart is in the works, and I plan to release this title by December 2014 or earlier.

Meanwhile, the sequel Falcon Flight is going chapter by chapter through my crit group, then it will go through another revision, then off to beta readers, then my editor, and back for a final revision.

If you like historical fantasy and want to join my beta reader team, contact me at azaleadabill@gmail.com.

Keep alert for upcoming sneak peeks of Falcon Heart.

Now an Author’s thought for the day:

There is a purity to the writer’s work. With concentration, it can drive away all kinds of ill winds and disturbing thoughts.

Others have written better than you. Still others will surpass you in the future. Would you want things to be otherwise? Better to accept that we all get our turn at excellence.

This acceptance makes your turn draw closer.

It is deadly to compare ourselves to other writers. Those writers have not lived our lives. They cannot tell our stories.

The telling of your own story is an act of complete absorption. It leaves no room for nibbling, negative thoughts. It drives away everything but what is true and right for this story.

Today, I’ll let my work provide relief from envy and self-doubt. It is ready to sweep me away to a place where comparisons do not matter.

–A good quote from Susan Shaughnessy’s Walking on Alligators, pg 53

Blog and family pics 132

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