Blog Tour Update & Giveaway Video!

Maps of Everealm!

Maps of Everealm are finished (for now)! It took longer than I anticipated to piece together the three regions and create the Master Map, below. The three region maps follow. I have also updated the Maps page in the Guide to Everealm. Now, I'm off to work on Blood Moon. Enjoy!

CLICK PHOTOS TO ENLARGE
(Feel free to save maps, if you'd like. However, if you share or use any of the map graphics on your blog, reviews, etc., a link to the map's page is required. Printing is allowed for personal use as a reference, only. Thanks!)

Copyright 2015 J.D.W. (J.D. Wright)

Mikayla's Bookshelf: Wildfire Blog Tour

Mikayla's Bookshelf: Wildfire Blog Tour: Confession time, I love this book! And I'm not just saying it because I'm on the blog tour (first one ever - yay!). Fantasy books...

Haddie's Haven : Wildfire (Everealm #2) by J.D.W. (@everealmbyjdw) ...

Haddie's Haven : Wildfire (Everealm #2) by J.D.W. (@everealmbyjdw) ...:    Wildfire (Everealm #2)  by: J.D.W. The journey through Everealm continues as new evil arrives, casting mayhem abo...

History from a Woman's Perspective- A Book Blog: Blog Tour: Wildfire (Everealm #2) by J.D.W.: A Boo...

History from a Woman's Perspective- A Book Blog: Blog Tour: Wildfire (Everealm #2) by J.D.W.: A Boo...: Wildfire (Everealm #2) by J.D.W. Release Date: 9/1/15 Source: This book was given by me by YA Bound Book Tours in exchange for an hon...

Million Book Mill: Blog Tour: Review + GIVEAWAY! - Wildfire by J.D.W

Million Book Mill: Blog Tour: Review + GIVEAWAY! - Wildfire by J.D.W: Wildfire (Everealm #2) by  J.D.W. Release Date: 9/1/15 Summary from Goodreads: The journey through Everealm continues as new e...

Voluptuous Book Diva: Review of Everealm (Everealm #1) by J.D.W. {GIVEAWAY}

Voluptuous Book Diva: Review of Everealm (Everealm #1) by J.D.W. {GIVEAWAY}
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Photoshoot & A Paperback Novel!

I've needed to get photos done for a while now, to have some nice pictures for the book, blog, etc. Most authors get headshots and I did, too. However, I put my own twist on them! Fantasy-medieval-ish style! I also got a couple of full-body shots, too. Check out a few of them:

Then, my week got even better when my paperback copy of Everealm came in the mail! Forgive the bad photos. I was in the car and too excited to wait to share!

I am still working on Wildfire for printing. I will be including a copy of each book and a gorgeous hand-made necklace in a giveaway for the book tour next week! So excited about the tour! Well, I'm off to roll out cookie dough (baker by day, remember?)! See ya!

Off to print we go...

I've been working, on and off, on Createspace to get the first two books ready to print. Happy to say that they both were finally approved today! I played around with the inside and cover a bit and here are some screenshots and videos!

Spins of the covers:

New chapter headers!

coffee-inked tales: Book Review- Everealm by J.D.W

https://hercoffeeinkedtales.wordpress.com/2015/09/05/book-review-everealm-by-j-d-w/ Title: Everealm, Author: J.D.W, Series: Everealm #1, Published on: October 31, 2014, Goodreads Synopsis: Breestlin cannot escape her destiny to become ruler of her father’s kingdom...

Tin Cups - New Short Story!

New addition to the Everealm Chronicles! Also, check out the poll on the right side of the page and vote for who/what you want to see in future short stories. Thanks!

~J.D.

Tin Cups Do Not Just Disappear

“Ugh. I can’t do it, Dagan. It isn’t working.”

“Keep trying.”

“I am trying. Maybe we should wait to practice until the rest of my magic has been unlocked.”

“Sid, that’s too dangerous. We don’t know when or if your magic will ever be fully released.” He could understand her frustration and he remembered feeling just as annoyed when he was learning to use his own magic. Only, he had been a child then and his grandfather had been a much better teacher.

Not only that, but Dagan could access all of his magic from the moment he was born. He only had to learn how to develop it. Sidonie was a grown woman who just found out she was a sorceress and could only really use about half of the magic in her blood.

“What if I don’t use my magic? Until then?” she asked.

Dagan shook his head. “If you can’t control it when you want to use it, what makes you think you can when you don’t want to use it? Our magic is affected by our emotions, Sid. You know that. You could hurt someone, even if you don’t mean to.”

“Fine,” Sidonie said, sighing.

She turned back to the tin cup on the table and tried to focus, again. First, she attempted to summon fire. A tiny flame lit up in one of her palms and she turned her hand toward the cup. All she had to do was flick the small ball of fire to send it over to the cup. In her mind, it was a simple task as she imagined the fire leaving her palm. But suddenly the flame exploded into a gigantic ball of fire, sending sparks in every direction.

Immediately, Sidonie extinguished the fire in her hand. But that wasn’t the end of her problems because now she had to help Dagan to put out almost half a dozen small fires starting around the casting room.

“I think that’s the last one,” she said. She was thankful that water magic was the only type of magic she had been able to use without incident. So far, at least.

Dagan ran a hand over his face, obviously frustrated, but he tried to hide it. It wasn’t her fault. None of it was her fault. He just had to remind himself… over and over again.

“Wait,” he said. “I still smell something burning.” He turned and looked around the room, again.

“Oh, no.”

He stopped moving when he heard her but didn’t have time to ask where the fire was before he found his entire backside soaked by her water magic. Slowly, he turned around. His white hair was dripping as he held the back of his robes up and revealed a large hole where the fire had burned through. Any longer and it might have gotten through his trousers, as well. That would have been painful.

Sidonie tried not to laugh but was unable to contain herself.

“I think, perhaps, that is enough fire magic for today,” he said. “Try air magic, instead.”

Still smiling, Sidonie turned back to the cup. She took a deep breath, reached her arm out, and focused her mind on the air around the cup. She squeezed her fingers together while imagining the air squeezing the cup and lifting it into the air. And just as she pictured it, the cup rose up and hovered above the table.

Sidonie’s eyes widened. She couldn’t believe she got it on the first try. Air magic may be the one elemental magic that she could control. But her joy was short lived because the cup suddenly disappeared. When the cup was gone, there was nothing for her magic to hold on to so she stumbled forward, falling toward the table.

“Whoa!” Dagan used his own air magic to freeze her body mid-fall. Then he put his arm around her waist before unfreezing her, to prevent her from hitting the table.

“Where did it go?” she asked, searching around the room. “It just disappeared. I didn’t know I could make it disappear!”

“I didn’t either… Teleportation is difficult, even for the most experienced wizard. Where did you send it?”

“What do you mean? I didn’t send it anywhere. It just disappeared.”

“Sid, tin cups do not just disappear. They have to go somewhere.”

“Oh. Well, I don’t know, then.”

Dagan looked down at his robes, still soaked and charred. They decided to stop for the day as supper was already being served in the hall. Sidonie went ahead while Dagan changed into dry clothes.

He found her sitting beside Sarita. She and the young princess were deep in conversation. He took a seat across from them and started eating his bowl of lamb and leek stew. It wasn’t his favorite, but with all of the magic he had been using lately, he had to eat to keep his strength up.

“And the cup just disappeared!” Sidonie said to Sarita.

“Into the air?” Sarita was mesmerized by the story. Her blonde curls shook as she bounced in her seat from the excitement. “Just like… poof?”

“Yes, poof!”

Sarita giggled, delighted. She had watched Elric doing magic many times but had never seen him make an object disappear. This magic was brand new and fascinating.

Dagan chuckled to himself and took another bite. While there wasn’t much progress made today, at least Sidonie had an amusing story to tell. He continued eating while Sid and Sarita moved on to other topics of discussion, mostly gossip. The tin cup was forgotten. Dagan finished his first bowl and got another one. He had just sat down with the steaming bowl of stew when Sidonie got thirsty and picked up her goblet. She frowned.

“Oh, no. I’m out of wine,” she thought aloud.

She looked around for a kitchen maid and spotted one behind Dagan. But before she could signal to the girl, Sidonie froze. There, hovering in front of Dagan’s face, was the tin cup. Surprised, Dagan pulled his head back and stared at it, slowly spinning in the air. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that the cup appeared just when she had wanted a drink.

“Hey! There it is!” Sidonie said, almost shouting.

Before either of them could reach out to grab it, the cup suddenly dropped straight into Dagan’s bowl, splashing hot lamb and leek stew onto his robes, hair, face, and the table. Sarita burst into laughter. Dagan didn’t need to open his eyes to know that he was covered in stew. He could feel it all over him. And just after he had put on fresh wizard robes, too.

Sidonie winced. She thought about offering to use water magic to wash him off, but decided that he had probably seen enough of her magic for one day…

Ta-Da! Release Day is Here!!!

Wildfire (Book Two) just became live on Amazon & Smashwords within the past hour! It will be available on Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and many other sites within the next day or so. I am so excited to share the second installation of the series with everyone and I have been working on Blood Moon (Book Three) while I waited for the Wildfire listing to go live. I am so stinking happy with the direction the series is going in. I will also be working on some short stories to share in between Wildfire and Blood Moon. I plan to create a new page on here, titled "Everealm Chronicles" which will include Apple Tart and many other short stories or snippets with our favorite characters. This allows me to include more backstory and history, and also share things that happen throughout the series but got cut from the books. Perhaps, one day I will publish the chronicles on their own. For now, I hope everyone enjoys Wildfire and I can't wait to hear your feedback!

Click here to get your copy of Wildfire on Amazon!

Click here to get Everealm for FREE, Sept. 1st & 2nd, ONLY!

Cover Reveal - Blood Moon!!

I could have done a cover reveal through the awesome YA Bound, who I have been working with for the review query and blog tour, but I am way too impatient to wait for a formal cover reveal!! So, here they are! The cover (and alternate cover) for Blood Moon, Book Three of the Everealm Series!! Cover is from the amazing, Fiona Jayde Media. Viola!

Here are the covers, all together!

Alternate Covers:

P.S. I am about 90% finished with the map of Everealm, including the two areas that you have yet to see: Southwest & North Everealm. I will certainly update it as the series goes along, but I do have the main 15 kingdoms placed, along with several cities, towns, etc.. Also, I will work on updating the Guide to Everealm over the next few days! (Link is at the top ^)

~J.D.

Note to self... DON'T re-open the manuscript!

So... I've done it, once again. I opened the manuscript for Everealm and started editing.

Again.

I made the rule to leave Wildfire alone but I had no choice but to open Everealm today. I was attempting to get the formatting ready for paperback publishing. And how can you see the story in front of you and NOT read any of it? Well, you can't.

And of course, I had to make minor edits as I went along. It just doesn't seem possible to read it without making changes, mostly removing commas and shortening sentences as I tend to write long and winding sentences. But I do think that my writing gets better toward the end of the book and into the next book when I started to get a feel for my writing style. I'm not as tempted to edit Wildfire again, as I am for Everealm. But in my defense, also I feel the need to polish the first book, constantly, because readers have to be able to finish reading book #1 or they will never make it to book #2.

I started around the "terra circle" (AKA, "Who are your parents?") part and read all the way to the Harvest Festival (AKA, the tragic wine cellar scene). Then I had to stop. I still get the 'feels' when I read certain scenes, and that one just gets to me. It was a hard scene to write, as well.

Speaking of hard scenes to write, I am so excited to really get going on Blood Moon. It will have a few 'steal your breath away' scenes. One scene, especially, has been replaying in my mind for weeks now and I had to finally get the scene written, albeit early. I keep those "snippets" on hand for when I reach those scenes as I'm writing. I still have a few things to work out with the timeline, but it's mostly just figuring out the transition to book #4, which I am still working on a plot and title for. I have so many ideas but I don't want to overload the series with too many plot threads. There are so many already!

Since the sun is about to rise, I'm off to bed!

P.S. Wildfire copies have just been sent to YA Bound for the bloggers who have volunteered to participate in the blog tour for Wildfire on September 21-25. I can't wait!

P.P.S. I made a few updates to the blog layout, including new social media share buttons and these awesome flag icons, to the right. It has been a super busy August!!

~J.D.

Testing... 1, 2, 3

It's 4:30 am, and I am wide awake! I have been playing around with a test book cover design or both Everealm and Wildfire. I hate the idea of changing my covers after publishing them online, however, I came across these fantastic images and would like to test the waters with a new design theme using them. What do you think?

I'm uploading the new covers to Amazon to test the KindleUnlimited for Everealm. We'll see how it goes!

~J.D.