Month October 2015

I Finally Figured It Out

N.J. Nielsen/Saddington Leave a comment

collectorcard-2.5inx3.5in-h-frontWhile I was finishing up the galley on The Lines Of Marsden 3: You Make Me Die In Pieces yesterday. I finally figured out who the traitor is. Let’s just say it wasn’t who I was expecting and it blew my mind totally. Now I have 3 more books to bring the story around to my new idea. Sadly the rest of you will have to wait until book 6 to find out for sure. And to my wonderful editor and line editor… it isn’t who you were thinking.

Sneak Peek (Not Edited) – The Freedomers 1: Zephania’s Chance

N.J. Nielsen/Saddington Leave a comment

600full-brian-molkoChapter One

July eighteenth, five-thousand and twenty-three AD changed Chance Hastings life forever. His view of the world had irrevocably been altered for evermore. A bloody rude shock to the system when he found out humans weren’t the only intelligent race inhabiting in the universe. He wasn’t even sure he meant aliens—as by all rights and reasoning they didn’t exist—or so he’d always been taught thought his life. Hell, who was he kidding? The strangers flooding into city all over the world were real honest-to-god aliens. The word passed from human to human was they’d come to take over the world and turn the human populace all into mindless slaves. Others were saying the aliens had come to wipe everyone off of the face of the earth so they could claim it for themselves.

Chance was in the group who believed the latter explanation. So far from what he’d seen the newfound alien race were the shoot first and ask questions never kind of people. Chance sat against the side wall of Guardian Lowell’s residence and took in the destruction around him. Trying to come to grips with what he’d found. Inside the mansion the Lowell family had been slaughtered. And by the decomposition they’d been murdered a couple of weeks ago—if not longer. Deep down Chance knew if his first Guardian had still been alive they would have helped Chance if they could. Guardian Lowell had been one of the few Guardians who had actually liked Chance and his siblings. The whole Lowell family had treated them as one of their own rather than the wards they were.

Chance’s mind wandered over the past as he thought about how much their world had changed with each passing century. Once there had only been the Earth. Now there were interconnecting cities above the earth. Great cities each joined to the other via an endless corridors of housing. In the cities the wealthy thrived and the area’s joining each city was were the poorer citizens resided and they were known as Bridgers. Chance had preferred his quadrant of the world than the city dwellers. The one strange thing he’d seen was there were no imperfect people in the upper world. It had taken a long time for him to understand why and then, it was only through overhearing his guardians talking that he realised anyone born less than perfect weren’t tolerated. Imperfect people were taken to the lower world and left to defend themselves as best they could. Chance didn’t know how long the two worlds had been separated, or even why.

All he knew for sure was that it had been done way before he had been born. He’d learnt since the day he’d eaves dropped on the conversation how those in charge at the time the worlds separated chose who went up and who stayed behind, and the decisions weren’t done fairly. The rich were given preference. All criminals, the disabled, and the dirt poor people were left behind to fend for themselves. Families were torn apart. People weren’t even given the choice of remaining with their family on the surface. They were just rounded up and taken up to the shining new city to live.

Sometime Chance had to wonder why he, Faith, and Maven had been up in the city and not on the surface. They were orphans, or so they’d been told over the years by their guardians. It was odd for the three siblings to be allowed to stay together. Faith had believed there was something special about the three of them. Most people treated them with respect. That was until seven years ago when they had been transferred to their latest guardians. Something had changed and in the middle of the night they’d been woken and been shipped out of the inner cities to live among the upper-class of the poorer citizens. Going from the life of luxury to being a Bridger had been a blessing in some ways. He no longer had to pretend to be someone he wasn’t. Luckily Faith had been like minded. A week after they had joined Guardian Kremmer’s family he and Faith woke up to find Maven missing, and the Kremmer’s weren’t answering any of their questions about where he was. Seven years had passed since then and the reality was it didn’t even matter. Right now it looked like they wouldn’t survive until the end of the week. Chance knew if he was going to die then he was going to go out fighting.

Chance stilled as a small craft flew by overhead. If he didn’t move than maybe they would assume he was dead. At least he hoped they would. From the pattern of their flight he surmised they were looking for something, or maybe someone.

Well, they aren’t going to get me. Not now—not ever.

Updates.

N.J. Nielsen/Saddington Leave a comment

20151022_083954I’m happy to report that I’m still ahead in my word count challenge to finish my last 4 books of 2015. Each day I write a little more and I’m proud of myself that I haven’t been slacking off. I even managed to write 1K on my TLOM Christmas story for next year… Seriously I can’t wait for this year to end and 2016 to begin so I can start on my challenge… I’m so stoked that I just want to jump the last two months of the year.

I’m still waiting on galley for The Lines Of Marsden 3: You Make Me Die In Pieces…I might have to drop them another email.

THE CHALLENGE HAS BEEN ACCEPTED

N.J. Nielsen/Saddington Leave a comment

open-book-clip-art-1816875I was chatting with Penny Brandon and said that if I managed a certain word count every day – I think it was 2,138, then I could write 20 (40K) Novellas, and 2 (100K) Novels in 2016… so now that I have opened my big mouth the challenge has been set. I have no clue what order I will work on said books but I am going to give it one hell of a shot… Here is the list of stories I will choose from I’ve added the length and if I’ve done any work on them… This way everyone can keep an eye on me.

FBP ~ MLR ~ TEB ~ Not Yet Housed

40K Novellas—I’ll be picking 20

  • Lancaster’s Way 3: Pre-Loved 1,208/40K
  • Lancaster’s Way 4: Riding Fences 0/40K
  • Experimentals 3: Messages From The Dead 0/40K
  • Moon Runners 2: I Won’t Let You Go 0/40K
  • Day Walker’s 2: All That Shimmers 5,000/40K
  • Toowoomba Boys 4: Securing The Heart 0/40K
  • The Freedomer’s 2: Aratol’s Destiny 0/40K
  • Sons of Evenmore 3: Fear The Scarlet Moon 0/40K
  • The Diamond Rose 2: So Pretty On The Outside 0/40K
  • Quaide’s Crossing 1: Meghan’s Way 903/40K
  • The Soul Guardians 1: Loving Callum McKenzie 1,582/40K
  • The Soul Guardians 3: Dancing To The Beat That’s Broken 4,041/40K
  • Spam Inc 1: Claiming Roxby’s Heart 8,405/40K
  • Taking Chances 1: Lie To Me 30,584/40K
  • The Brothers McCrieve 1: Justice 129/40K
  • Hidden Hearts 3: Going By The Book (Travis) 0/40K
  • The Gaean Prophecy 1: Admetus Gaea 5,883/40K
  • The Gaean Prophecy 2: Broken Serenity 0/40K
  • The Gaean Prophecy 3: New World Alliance 0/40K
  • Christmas short TLOM (Spin Off Asher’s Coven) 1,000/40K
  • Christmas short Lancaster’s Way (Spin Off Riley’s Aussie Family) 0/40K
  • TASH 20,983/40K
  • Flagstone Creek Pridelands 1: Waiting For Superman 0/40K
  • Flagstone Creek Pridelands : Battle Scars 2,402/40K
  • Masters of Time 1: Shadows On The Heart 19,139/40K
  • Masters of Time 2: Same Thing In Reverse 211/40K
  • Barbwire Roses 1: I Belong To You 3,673/40K
  • Curiosity 1,756/40K
  • Do or Die 1: For What It’s Worth 1,096/40K
  • Forever & Always 7,126/40K
  • He Sends Me pictures In My Dreams 3,126/40K
  • Preternatural High 1: Welcome To My World (YA) 2,823/40K 
  • Right Here Waiting 1,117/40K
  • Scream My Name 19,842/40K
  • What The Hell Am I Supposed To Do 554/40K
  • Jettermane 17,215/40K

100K Novels

  • The Lines Of Marsden 4: The Trail Of Red Roses 622/100K
  • The Connelly Chronicles 3: Because Of You 0/100K

Update Time

N.J. Nielsen/Saddington Leave a comment

open-book-clip-art-1816875I’m happy to announce to announce I’m ahead on my word count for for the last 4 books I have planned for 2015.  Hopefully I will stay this way so that I can get the following done and subbed by December 31st. It’s doable… I just have  to make sure I don’t get distracted by everyday life around me. so keep your fingers crossed for me.

  • Seasons of Mystery:Summer~Lay Your Body Down [0/30K] NaNoWriMo (paranormal)
  • The Connelly Chronicles 2: Beautiful Goodbyes [30/100K] (contemporary) 
  • The Freedomer 1: Zephania’s Chance [13,601/40K] (paranormal)
  • Day Walkers 1: The Real You [21/40k] NaNoWriMo (paranormal)

Computers and Updates

N.J. Nielsen/Saddington Leave a comment

20151022_083954Yesterday I had to once again get my computer fixed. one of my emails stopped letting me reply or send out emails. $55 later and it’s all fixed by the wonderful people at CUBE Computers in Gatton, Queensland; Australia.

Still no word from MLRPress on galley for The Lines Of Marsden 3: You Make Me Die In Pieces… hopefully I will hear from someone soon (15 days until release).

Also still on track to get the last 4 books finished by the end of the year… fingers crossed it stays that way.