Mary Louisa Locke's Monthly Newsletter
September 2024
Dear Reader,
I am very pleased that my editing of the first draft of In Ddaera’s Embrace (the fifth and final book in the Caelestis series) is going quite well, despite continuing difficulties with my hands. A splint, some aching at the end of the day, and an occasional advil are worth it to finally make progress. When I started back to work on August 13, the incomplete manuscript was 95,561 words with 30 chapters done. I am currently working on chapter 21, and I have cut nearly 13,000 words from the manuscript (which to me is a success.)
In San Diego we are having a bit of a heat wave (back yard got up about 100 degrees yesterday, which is unheard of ), but we expanded our solar panels and replaced our very elderly furnace last year with a heat pump, which means we now have A/C. Consequently, we are feeling quite smug. Not only are we producing enough electricity that the use of the A/C isn’t costing us anything, but we are busy sending our excess electricity out to the grid to help it deal with the current drain on the system. This also means fewer afternoon walks, because it is so hot, so more editing time!
I decided to send this email out today because this weekend the audiobook edition of Maids of Misfortune is part of a special promotion by Chirp (audiobook subscription service), that they are calling Freebie Friday. As the title announces, Maids of Misfortune, plus a few other audiobooks, are free through Monday, and the next two books in the series, Uneasy Spirits and Bloody Lessons are only 99 cents. Click HERE, if you want to check this promotion out. From my perspective, this is working well, with over 3700 copies of Maids of Misfortune downloaded, and another 800 copies of Uneasy Spirits and Bloody Lessons sold. Always happy to get more potential fans to read the Victorian San Francisco Mystery series and I hope fall in love with the exploits of Annie and Nate and the O’Farrell Street boarding house gang!
Meanwhile, I am continuing to put up my short stories for free on my daily substack newsletter, An Aging Author’s Daily Diversions. Starting next week, the story will be Aelwyd: Home, a short story in the Caelestis series. This week I wrote two posts about the origins of the story, so click HERE, if you would like to read these posts.
In addition, the boxed set of the first three books in the Caelestis Series is still on sale on Chirp for only 99 cents until September 17.
Finally, for those of you mystery lovers, I noticed that the first four audiobooks in the Duncan Kincaid/Emma James mystery by Deborah Crombie (one of my favorite authors of contemporary mysteries) are on sale for only $3.99 a piece. A very good deal.
A reminder of my Ebook Perma-free books:
Maids of Misfortune: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery (Book 1) This first book in the series permanently free and you can get it on Kindle and all other Retailers.
Between Mountain and Sea: Caelestis Series (Book 1) This first book in the series permanently free and you can get it on Kindle and all other Retailiers.
For more information about either my mystery or science fiction series, check out my website. For daily information on my journey as an indie author trying to age gracefully, check out my newsletter, An Aging Author’s Daily Diversions.