Ellis Morning's Blog

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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I’ve Finished 2 Novels. Here’s What I’ve Learned.

February 15, 2017 Ellis Morning Comments 2 comments

With the release of Harbingers, the story I began working on in 2009 with the hazy goal of finishing a single novel has now materialized into 2 published books. Hooray! But something looks a little off there. 8 years to finish 2 books? Lots of authors publish novels on a yearly basis. I’ll tell you right now: I’m not “lots of authors.” I haven’t distilled novel-writing down to a crank-’em-out science. But, I also don’t think it’ll take 4 years to outline, draft, and finish Sword…

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Don’t Know Any Iranian-Americans? You Do Now!

January 30, 2017 Ellis Morning Comments 0 Comment

Salaam (Hi)! I was born and raised in the United States. My mom was born and raised in Tehran, Iran. After earning her Ph.D., she came to the US for post-doctorate work. This is where she met my (American) dad. It’s also where she happened to be when the Islamic Revolution broke out in Iran, so she decided to stay. Mom converted to Christianity, and I was raised Lutheran; I’m now an atheist. As a family, we celebrate Nowruz, the…

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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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Book Club Visit + Harbingers Update

November 2, 2016 Ellis Morning Comments 0 Comment

What a great group! I’m second from the right, desperately skimming my manuscript for an answer to someone’s question. Taking a brief break from Harbingers edits (I’m still working on it, promise!), I headed south to Washington, PA to meet up with a book club who chose to read Blood’s Force for the month of October. My very first book-related event! How exciting—but you bet I was nervous! Fortunately, this was a great group of ladies to cut my teeth…

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Sword and Starship’s Having A Good Month

August 18, 2016 Ellis Morning Comments 0 Comment

A small update on Harbingers: I have the first 1/3 of feedback notes from my editor, so my last editing pass has begun in earnest! There are 30-ish chapters to review, some of which need more work than others. Sometimes it’s just a matter of fixing a comma or plugging in a better word. Other times, I gotta tear down what’s there and start over from scratch. If you’re curious about the details of my last-pass editing process, I’ve written more…

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Harbingers Cover Reveal And Progress Report

May 17, 2016 Ellis Morning Comments 2 comments

You guys! Sword and Starship Book 2: Harbingers is making progress toward being a thing you can read! :D This beautiful cover, just like the last one, was done for me by Chris Howard. Here’s the full-wrap version that will be used to make the paperback cover: And here’s the current draft of the back cover blurb, something I’ll continue to chisel at right up until publication: The Quest Continues To Stop A Killer “Curse!” Dame Jessamine is a woman…

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The Grand Experiment: What I’ve Learned From 2 Years of Self-Employment

May 13, 2016 Ellis Morning Comments 0 Comment

Two years? Really? Wow, that flew. Thanks to hedonic adaptation, everything becomes mundane after a while, even kicking the 9-5 rat race routine to the curb. But this is still the best mundane ever. No regrets. I haven’t spent a weekend in fear of Monday morning for two whole years now! I love what I do, even when I get temporarily sick of certain tasks (editing, barf). What’s New My husband and I recently celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary, which…

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