Thomas Howard Riley

This is the face of an author who is extremely hyped to finally be able to say this

It’s done. It’s finished. It’s a BOOK.

No more tweaks, touch ups, edits, revisions, second thoughts

I am very, very, VERY tired but I am oh so happy right now

I can’t wait to share it with you

best eyebrows in the biz

I’m getting really excited about book related stuff here. For the first time in a long time. This story has been cooking in my brain for years and it feels so good to have it nearly ready.

🤣🤣 it’s so true

Ok so JUST the final action sequence of THE HEROES WE NEVER WERE is now longer than the entirety of THE LIGHT OF KASABAN

I think I’m finally back to my epic chonky ways

at the end of the day, appropriate grammar is whatever you say it is

Penelope thinks you should be reading right now

whether you love editing or hate it, one thing is certain:

by the time you are finally done revising your book, no matter how much you love your characters and story, you have gone over it so many times you can’t stand it anymore and would do anything to work on something new

epic fantasy author: *trying to come up with wacky ideas for this effed up brutal execution scene*

2yr old: “daddy, hang me upside down by my feet and swing me around”

epic fantasy author: 🤔💡😱 “are you writing this scene or am I?”

me: *receives criticism*

“I shall respond to this eloquently, reflect on it as it pertains to my overall growth as an author, chuckle about it with friends and peers, and consider it a positive experience”

me: *receives praise*

*deer in headlights for literally hours or days*

As a book reviewer you should always rate books however many stars you want.

Just remember that any rating less than 17 stars is literally murder and murder is illegal.

If you know me even a little this should not come as much of a surprise

I keep telling you all that I’m editing but all I seem to be doing is adding words

I go to remove a less than stellar line of prose and suddenly get an idea for a whole new paragraph

I may need an intervention

I think about this scene a lot

Rest assured, the moment you are most confident in your WIP you shall see a video online of someone saying *whatever kind of book your book happens to be* is the worst kind of book and the video has 50k likes 😂

The 0th rule of writing:

Don’t be a petty douchebag. It’s not cool.

It looks like I’ve gone ahead and written another novella….

We lie the hardest to ourselves. I have sworn for weeks that I am finished tinkering with this manuscript and yet here I am STILL DOING IT.

Granted I am adding important little touches to flesh out one aspect of the story I’d left a little shallow, BUT STILL.

Same

A few gifts going out to readers today

The wrapping is color coded to the book covers of course

My books don’t always have prologues

But when they do, I don’t care whether you like prologues or not

I blame my brain for waiting so long to think of it

I admit being surprised Keluwen gets flack from readers for pushing back against male leaders of her group, some of whom are extremely condescending

Especially when they plan to use an innocent girl as bait for a sorcerer serial killer until Keluwen demands a different approach

My final act in editing this book will be to figure out where to fit this SINGLE LINE OF DIALOGUE that perfectly evokes the core theme of the main character’s internal conflict that for some inexplicable reason I only just now came up with

I’ve received some VERY good news

The seemingly endless saga of my quest to secure the cover for this book may finally be nearing its end and I am so stoked to be able to finally say that

So this is not a cover reveal. Yet

But watch this space

My reasons to have a prologue:

to show there is more going on than what main characters are aware at first

to show the danger waiting for the main characters

to deliver tension/action as a promise of what’s to come so early chapters do not need to be rushed

never to lore-dump

Where’s Gandalf? Something’s gotta be done about this.

That’s EXACTLY what I was thinking!

Author: you’ve finally got a big chunk of time to write!

Author’s brain: yay!

Author: so what are we going to do all day?

Author’s brain: procrastinate!

I am very hyped for this. 👀

Old disgraced warrior, feisty young child, lots of brutal killing.

This is all the vibes of the book I’m writing, only mine also has animal companions.