Category Archives: Winter Chase!

Ode to the Unpredictable Routine [Alternate Title: An Explanation]

by Hannah
winterchase_proofOur second book, Winter Chase (as well as our first – Tahosa Treasure), will make wonderful stocking stuffers this Christmas! At least, Baby Boy seems to think so 😉

Here I am at 7:30am on a Wednesday morning. I’ve been up for more than an hour and Baby Boy is still sleeping. This is unheard of.

There is a blustery wind whipping through… I was going to say the lone pine tree outside our patio doors…but I was interrupted. Baby Boy woke up. I went to nurse and cuddle him and – also unheard of at this hour of the morning – he slipped peacefully back into dreamland.

I will steal a few more minutes of quiet thought and quiet writing before he wakes again. MiMi is coming today to help us with a few projects and spend some time hanging out. Even though it is a blustery day outside, it will be warm and cheery in here.

I have a “to do” list for the day, as I do practically every day. But I will hold it with loose hands. I celebrate the little victories – like nursing & cuddling Baby Boy off to sleep at 7:45am. What gets done, gets done. That’s what I tell myself.

This has been life since February 15th of this year, the day our Baby Boy made his grand entrance. Being a stay at home mom is simultaneously the best and the hardest thing I have ever done. The pattern of my days is simultaneously routine and unpredictable. One moment flows into the next – from the first waking sounds of Baby Boy until his little eyes fall shut in sweet sleep (at least, most of the time!) at the end of the day.

I didn’t write this post as an ode to motherhood or stay at home moms or parenthood. I wrote it by way of explanation. Our ShadowTime Writers blog has fallen silent as I’ve stretched myself to catch onto my new existence as a mother. BUT we’ve still been creating; I’ve still been writing. Just not in the open for all to read.

Draft after draft has gone through our hands. We’ve critiqued and edited and added and taken away. We’ve written and re-written and then written again. After almost a year and a half, the second book in our Talon Family series is about to go live on Amazon! Winter Chase has truly been an adventure for us and we are excited to let you in on it. More details will be coming very soon!

If you’d like to keep up with my journey through motherhood and occasionally receive updates on ShadowTime Writer’s latest projects, please follow my personal blog. For now I’ll be consolidating so that when blogging is an item on my “to do” list, perhaps I can fit it into my unpredictable routine just a little bit easier 😉

~Hannah

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Book{s} Update

by Hannah

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It’s about time for a quick update on both books.

Yes – both.

It’s hard to believe, but the second book in The Talon Family series – Winter Chase – is making its way steadily through the “draft” stage. We are excited to watch this new adventure unfold word by word, idea by idea. We think our readers will love it and we can’t wait until it hits publication.

In the meantime, we are working hard to ensure that every word in Winter Chase counts. We want the adventure our readers enjoyed in Tahosa Treasure to be matched or surpassed. It’s a challenging and exciting process that takes time, focus, patience…and, well, a whole host of other things. But we’re determined! So keep your eyes peeled for Winter Chase – it’s coming soon!

Tahosa Treasure is doing well. We knew this journey would be more of a marathon than a sprint. Writing/publishing/marketing a book is no small feat. It’s a huge task that takes a huge amount of endurance. And that’s okay; we’re up to the challenge 😉

So far we’ve received nothing but wonderful feedback on Tahosa Treasure. Youth and adults – and pretty much everyone in-between – has told us how much they enjoyed the story.

Here are just a few things our readers are saying:

“This is a great book for children and young adults. ”

“I look forward to the next installment and hope the boys come out on top again!”

“It was exciting from cover to cover!”

You can go here to read more reviews (and leave a review if you’ve read the book and haven’t left a review already!).

So that’s about it – our little update on both books. We hope you pick up a copy of Tahosa Treasure and keep your eyes peeled for Winter Chase!

A New Year, A New Book

by Hannah

Happy New Year 2013!!!

Here at Shadowtime Writers, we are expecting great and wonderful things in the coming 12 months. Tahosa Treasure is set for official release on January 8th – what a way to start off the new year! Look for it then on Amazon, Kindle and Barnes & Noble!

Our number one goal for 2013 (besides successful marketing of Tahosa Treasure) is to see the next book in the Talon Family Series – Winter Chase – published as well. We hope to have it complete and ready for release by this November.

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How? 

Good question! I’ve developed a new (and highly sophisticated) approach called “Write for 30 minutes before I get out of bed every morning.” And, you know what? It seems to be working like a charm!

In fact, I predict we’ll beat our November deadline and already be starting working on the third book. Yes! A third! This is going to be one awesome series, people!

What is your number one writing goal for 2013?

Next Up

by Hannah

Following up on my last blog post – No Time Like the Present – I’ve been tapping away on my laptop today.

I’m working on the rough draft of the second book in our Talon Family series. The working title is Winter Chase! and we are so excited to have it ready as a sequel to Tahosa Treasure.

Why is it that the first word is always the hardest to write? It is this intimidating, monster of a thing….taunting me, daring me to try to confine it to the page. That first word knows that it’s the flood gates: once it is on paper, the rest of the words pour out like a raging flood.

That first word is more than mere letters. It is a psychological battlefield, one I must win every time I put pen to paper or cursor to page.

The. That’s the first word. The great hulk that rose over me, telling me I better just give up now.

The day was perfect. That’s the first sentence. The psychological battle has been fought and won. All that for four words???

Yes. But four words that will now unleash paragraphs…and chapters…and a book.