Books – Ellis Morning's Blog

General Update (aka 2020 Takes Its Toll)

June 2, 2020 Ellis Morning Comments 8 comments

Things have been … surreal lately, for lack of a better word. Protesters tear-gassed in front of the White House, protesters tear-gassed a mile from my house—all while protesting against police brutality. Meanwhile, a global pandemic rages, and will almost certainly surge again. And amidst all this, I spent two weeks in the hospital while being treated for an auto-immune disorder. A one-time occurrence, or something (else) I have to deal with for the rest of my life? It’s too…

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Sword and Starship Book 3: First Draft Completed

February 10, 2020 Ellis Morning Comments 2 comments

The first draft of Book 3 of the Sword and Starship series is done! (Though I still haven’t settled on a title.) It’s about 84,000 words over 18 chapters: a decent novel length, with room to expand if necessary. This is the first point at which “Book 3” exists in a coherent form, without lots of revision notes and unwritten gaps. It still needs tons of TLC before it can be shared with the world, but it exists. I get…

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May 2019 Updates, Goals

May 4, 2019 Ellis Morning Comments 0 Comment

House painting, multiple appliances in need of repair, community events, pre-traveling errands, traveling, decompressing. It never even occurred to me that I needed to write a blog post until April 30. Oops! Mid-May will mark 5 years since my husband and I embarked on what we call our “funemployment”—leaving our corporate jobs to pursue our own interests. Self-employment has been amazing once I learned how to be a kind boss to myself. I’m mostly there, but there are a few…

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April 2019 Updates, Goals

April 1, 2019 Ellis Morning Comments 0 Comment

Happy belated Persian New Year to all! :) Very often it’s after I’ve declared a section “done” that I start getting the flood of ideas I wish I’d gotten when I was first drafting the thing. “Hey, wouldn’t it be better if [x] happened instead?!” Yes, yes it would. I usually go back and make those changes immediately, especially if they precipitate changes that will carry forward through the rest of the manuscript. I also make sure to correct any…

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September 2017 Updates, Goals

October 2, 2017 Ellis Morning Comments 0 Comment

Hello again. This was quite an eventful month! I’ve been frantically trying to do everything possible to protect my credit in the wake of the Equifax hack, while also begging my senators not to jack up my health insurance and kill millions of Americans … again. And, as you see above, our construction adventures continue. When dealing with 70 year-old streets and 100 year-old plumbing, there are always surprises. For instance, did you know it was possible to shake a water…

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August 2017 Updates, Goals

August 31, 2017 Ellis Morning Comments 0 Comment

The eclipse wasn’t terribly dramatic in Pittsburgh. Even with 81% coverage, it just looked like heavy cloud cover (the Sun is kinda bright, who’da thunk it?). Still, the weather was great, and it was really nice how many people came outside to see it, passing around glasses and using telescopes and whatnot. However, 2024 ought to be even more exciting for us! I might be persuaded to drive to a location with full totality. I just have to get over…

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Introducing swordandstarship.com

June 1, 2017 Ellis Morning Comments 0 Comment

New month, new website! :D I’ve spent the past few weeks learning and tinkering with Bootstrap in order to bring swordandstarship.com online. It’s dedicated exclusively to the Sword and Starship series. I plan to eventually include “fun stuff” there (like artwork and device backgrounds), and possibly a store where people can order bundles and/or signed copies of books. If you have any ideas of what you’d like to see there, leave a comment or send me an email! In the relatively near future, I hope to…

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Book 3 Update + Other News

May 30, 2017 Ellis Morning Comments 0 Comment

Say hello to Book 3 so far! :) I’m experimenting with storyboarding for the first time. It’s a little tough because my computer notes change a lot faster than I can keep up with on paper, but I like this exercise because it helps me realize when my ideas don’t have enough “oomph”—too little emotional content, too little conflict. I’ve saved myself several rewrites already. (As a general note, folks: the more you kick your characters in their metaphorical nuts,…

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Harbingers Blog Tour – May 1-12

May 1, 2017 Ellis Morning Comments 0 Comment

Starting today, Harbingers is touring the blogosphere! The tour will run from May 1 through 12, weekends excluded. Each day’s post(s) will contain a guest blog I’ve written or an interview with yours truly. I discuss influences, characters, stuff about me and Sword and Starship, you name it. I’ve worked hard to ensure that each post contains at least some unique information, so it’s not the same exact thing every day. (Which is tough, since there are some questions that tend…

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Harbingers Ebook Now Available!

January 17, 2017 Ellis Morning Comments 0 Comment

Harbingers, the highly anticipated sequel to Blood’s Force, is now available in ebook format! :D You can find it at: Amazon iBooks Kobo Nook (Barnes & Noble) I’m still working on the paperback. It takes a lot longer to get the layout and cover just right, order and approve proofs, and so on. I’ll let you know when it’s available. Also, FWIW, I’ve been trying for over a year to get into Google Play, but they’re still not accepting new…

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