Summer 2024: Drafting Complete—What Happens Now?

Hello! For those who are new (or need a reminder), welcome! This is the official newsletter of yours truly, Sarah J. Hoodlet—author of the recently published fantasy novel, The Way of the Wielder (the first book in a series by the same name).

For this installment, I have some milestone updates to share, as well as some bonus content that never made it into the final draft of The Way of the Wielder. Come on, let’s get started.

First Draft of Book Three is Complete!

Coming in at just over 172,000 words, the first draft of Convergence of Connection (the third book in The Way of the Wielder series) is complete!

I started writing this book last November. It took me about a month longer than expected to draft it, but sometimes, life happens. Also, a lot happens in this book (which I can’t go into detail about without major spoilers, so you’ll have to trust me on that), so I took my time making sure I got the character arcs right. I’ll need to do a bit of work adding in some more action beats, but I need to do that after editing book two. Which brings me to the next bit.

What Happens Now?

Now that Convergence of Connection is drafted, I need to turn my sights back to Mysteries of the Material (book two). Several things need to happen with that book.

Editing

I finished the first draft of Mysteries of the Material in February 2023. I gave myself some time away from that manuscript (and wrote Rise of Iron), then did an initial round of editing in October 2023, before starting Convergence of Connection. I haven’t touched it since.

Now, I’m coming at book two with a fresh set of eyes, and a much clearer picture of what happens in book three. I’ve always known the “second action sequence” would span both books, so this is honestly a perfect place for me to be.

Second round of editing happens in two phases for me: a digital phase, and a paper phase. Once the digital phase is done, I’ll print out the manuscript and read it on paper. Editing in two formats helps me find more errors than in just digital format. I anticipate this combined editing to take about 5 weeks.

(Note: After digital editing, I must also work on the dreaded blurb—the back cover text. I shudder just thinking about it…)

Once edits are done, I’ll reach out to my editor and have her do her review. That should take 4-5 weeks, barring unforeseen circumstances. I’ll comb through her feedback and, hopefully, have a clean manuscript by early- to mid-October.

Cover Art

In the midst of all the editing is the pretty stuff—cover art! I’m using the same artist who did The Way of the Wielder, and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with. We talked about a few ideas before, but after reading the manuscript, she might have new ones.

Once I’ve completed my digital edits (or by the end of July, whichever comes first), I’ll send her the manuscript for her read through. I love that she reads the manuscript before starting her art. It makes for such a beautiful, story-specific cover, and I want that to continue for the rest of this series.

If all goes well, the cover will be complete by early September. Maybe I’ll reveal it then, maybe I’ll wait. Either way, stay tuned to future newsletters, or check out my blog.

Publishing Prep

Once I have the cover and clean manuscript, publishing prep begins. This includes a long list of tasks that are, quite frankly, very administrative. Things like: applying for copyright, assigning ISBNs, uploading to Vellum (book formatting software), formatting, proofing both formats, uploading to Amazon, more proofing, etc.

The whole process takes about a month (well, receiving the copyright paperwork can take longer, but applying is relatively quick). Assuming all goes according to plan, I anticipate Mysteries of the Material to be published in November. I don’t want to confirm a specific date yet, but I’ll keep you updated.

What Else is Happening?

Before I do any of what I outlined above, I’m rereading The Way of the Wielder. The purpose of this is threefold:

1. To ensure things are consistent across the series.

2. Fix some typos that I’ve found (or been told about) over the last few months.

3. Because it brings me joy. Seriously. I have never read The Way of the Wielder just for fun, and I’m enjoying it so much already (okay, I’m a little biased)!

Which reminds me…

New Price for The Way of the Wielder

After some deep reflection, I’ve decided to reduce the price of the eBook to $4.99. There are many reasons for this, but my marketing coach said something that really resonated with me: “At the end of the day, the dollar amount doesn’t change how valuable your book is.”

If you’ve been following along with my journey, you know how valuable The Way of the Wielder is to me. In many ways, it’s invaluable. I realized that I originally priced it at what I would pay for it (for an eBook), not what readers might pay for it. That was a mistake. Of course I would pay more for it—I wrote it! And (as previously noted) I’m a little biased.

At the end of the day, what’s most important is that this story is shared with the world. Because the more people read my book, the more valuable it becomes—not just to me, but to everyone.

That’s why I’m reducing the price of the eBook. So, if you haven’t bought The Way of the Wielder yet, and are looking for a new fantasy read for the summer, pop on over to Amazon and buy it now for $4.99.

And as a reminder, it’s also available on Kindle Unlimited.

As I mentioned, I’m also including some bonus content with this newsletter. This chapter was originally planned as an interlude in The Way of the Wielder, but I removed it in later drafts. I still love it, though, so I have decided to share it with you.

If you’ve read The Way of the Wielder, you’ll be familiar with this side character. If you haven’t, this won’t spoil anything for you—you’ll just know his background when he’s introduced. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading. Until next time, be well, and stay creative.

~Sarah

Trust in Terra 

The citizens of Pyke claimed to be the hardest people in the kingdom of Vastrenar. Sure, there were villages and cities further north, but Pyke was unique. Not only was it in the Mirrored Highlands, but it was tucked high and deep in the mountain peaks. The air was thinner, the wildlife was wilder, and the attitudes of the people were almost as changeable as the weather. Men mined caves that extended over a mile deep, while women butchered livestock and sewed thick garments from their furs and hides. The wealth from such bounties would be invaluable on the market, but Pyke’s citizens rarely traveled more than a day’s ride to the capital city of Strande.

They were a proud people. Nothing went to waste, and they only imported the necessities. A small river flowed into a deep lake, which provided for the village all year long. They had wood, grain, meat, and mead; a blacksmith, an apothecary, a healer, and guardsmen. In truth, there was never a need to leave the village, and Levi never thought he would—until one day, the ground started moving beneath his feet.

Levi worked in the sapphire mine—one of the four gem mines near the eastern border—and he’d been on a streak of such bad luck, he was about to throw his pickaxe off the cliff. The sun was well beyond the tips of the trees when he left the mine and started home, arms empty and jaw clenched in irritation.

“Oh look,” one of the boys called from behind him, “Levi’s empty handed again!”

He didn’t have to turn around to know who taunted him. “At least my hands have experience with more than just iron, Bryce.”

Laughter from a few other boys rolled down the trail, paired with a glare he felt on the back of his neck. Levi smirked to himself but remained on guard. He was taller than Bryce by more than a head’s length, but what Bryce lacked in height, he made up for in muscle. It was amazing how different two fourteen-year-old boys could be.

“Who’d ever fuck a piss head like you?” Bryce yelled through the wind.

Levi turned and walked backwards. “Ask your sister.”

Too far, you idiot.

Rage filled Bryce’s face as he charged full speed at Levi. Cursing to himself, Levi turned and ran like hell down the side of the mountain.

He knew all the paths. All children of Pyke grew up on the mountainsides that surrounded the village. If they didn’t know the paths, they didn’t survive beyond age six. There were too many cliffs and sharp corners to not pay attention. Even older villages sometimes perished on the treacherous terrain that threatened life in the mountains.

Levi dashed through the trees with grace, avoiding moss-covered stumps and loose rocks the size of a grown man’s chest. But Bryce’s muscle gave him an advantage, and the distance between them was closing fast.

Suddenly, Bryce screamed from behind him. “I’m going to kill you, Levi!”

Levi didn’t have time to react. He needed to focus. As he neared the next terraced slope and transitioned from gravel to soil, he kicked his legs with all his might. Long, lean muscles ached with strain, but they were strong after years of climbing up and down the steep mountains daily. He knew these mountains. Knew them better than he knew himself.

Within four steps he realized something was different. He was moving more gracefully than usual, as if the ground itself was giving him very little resistance. In fact, it felt like the ground was cushioning his footfalls, and giving him a boost with every push off the balls of his feet. It was a strange feeling, but he didn’t look down to check it. Not when Bryce was ten steps behind him, screaming how he planned to skin Levi alive and wear his hide as a cloak.

The threat didn’t scare him, but his speed did. Fuck the Four, how does he move so fast?

A large pine tree appeared in the middle of the path ahead, signaling a sudden change in direction. The corner, known as Pine’s Drop, was one of the sharpest corners on the path between the sapphire mine and Pyke. Levi prepared himself to approach, and when he was eight steps out, he timed his feet to land in rhythm with the motto everyone learned. Don’t trip, don’t slip, don’t look right! On the silent eighth beat, he grabbed the tree with his left arm and pushed off his right foot, immediately changing direction.

As he parkoured around the bend, Levi felt as though he’d become one with the mountain. Not only did his feet leave the ground without a sound, but his fingers gripped the bark and felt every notch and crevasse along its surface. He knew exactly where to grip, and for a moment, his contact with the tree was deeply personal. As if he wasn’t just touching it, but he was a part of it. As if he could control it, and it would listen.

He released the tree and landed on his left foot without issue, then pushed on without looking back. Bryce would have slowed around the corner—most people were cautious at Pine’s Drop—but Levi wasn’t going to risk being caught.

As it turned out, Levi underestimated Bryce’s anger. In an uncharacteristically dumb move, Bryce attempted to mimic Levi’s actions, and failed dramatically. By the time Levi realized what had happened to his friend—and they were friends, despite the taunts and pent-up aggression—he was dangling over the edge of the cliff, holding onto a root of the tree he’d just tried to navigate.

“Levi!” The rage in Bryce’s voice was gone, replaced with terror.

Fuck. Levi spun around and ran toward his friend. “Bryce!”

He went to his stomach at the cliff’s edge and extended his arm to Bryce. Hands gripped wrists, and as Levi began to pull, Bryce managed to find a foothold and push himself up. After a minute of struggling, both boys lay on their back, breathing heavy, spent from sprinting downhill and nearly dying in the process.

The sky had turned that blueish purple color of early twilight, and a few stars were already speckling the expanse. Eventually, Bryce laughed. “Fuck the Four, man…” he panted. “You’re fast.”

“I’m fast?” Levi scoffed. “You closed on me faster than a winter snowstorm!”

Another laugh from Bryce, followed by a moment’s silence. “Did you really fuck my sister?”

It was Levi’s turn to laugh. “Hell no, man! She’s pretty, but you and I both know she’d throw me off the nearest cliff if I even batted an eyelash the wrong way.”

They lay there laughing for a few more moments, then Bryce stood and offered a hand to his friend. “Thanks for saving me. I owe you.”

Levi took the offering. “You’d do the same for me.”

“Aye.” Bryce glanced at the tree behind him. “How the hell did you take the corner like that? I’ve never seen anything like that!”

In truth, Levi had no idea. Everything had happened so fast, and the more he thought about it, the harder it was to put into words. He opened and closed his mouth a couple times, but the more he thought about it, the more ridiculous it sounded, even to him.

“It was…” he stared at the tree, considering his words carefully. “As if the ground sort of, moved with me, rather than me running on it. Does that even make sense?”

Bryce suddenly stared at him, wide-eyed, and with a look somewhere between disbelief and fear. “You’re a Wielder?”

Levi blinked. “What?”

“There hasn’t been a Wielder in Pyke for centuries,” Bryce continued. “And for good reason! They’re heretics!”

“I’m not a Wielder!” Levi was astonished at the thought. “There isn’t a drop of elemental blood in my family’s veins. How the fuck would I be a Wielder?”

“I don’t know man, but what you just described…” Bryce slowly backed away. “That’s what happens when Wielders awaken. They control the elements. Shit happens without their knowing. They manipulate things. Oh God, maybe you’re manipulating me right now!”

Levi was pretty sure that wasn’t how Wielding worked, but he wasn’t about to tell Bryce that. “I’m not manipulating you! We’ve known each other our whole lives. If I was a Wielder, don’t you think I’d know by now?”

Bryce seemed to stare at Levi with a new set of eyes. Ones that saw not the friend he’d had for fourteen years, but ones that saw a Wielder—people they’d been raised to think were heretics and abusers of the One True God. If Levi were in Bryce’s shoes, he might have had the same look in his eyes. But in that moment, it made his stomach lurch to think that all it took was something so trivial to spark so much hate.

“Bryce, I—”

“Stay away from me!” Bryce screamed, his tone filled with disgust.

“What’s going on?”

Levi suddenly looked beyond his friend. Nico, Caleb, and Struan had finally caught up to them, but they remained ten feet up the hill.

“Levi’s a Wielder!” Bryce shouted.

“I’m not a Wielder!” Levi shouted back.

“You felt a connection with the ground, and were able to not only grip this tree,” he pointed at it for emphasis, “but you used both hands to guide you, then the ground rose up to meet you when you landed.”

Levi stared, shocked and hurt at the lie. “You’re making that up!”

“That’s what you told me!” Bryce turned to the others. “I’m telling you guys, Levi’s a Wielder. I saw him control the elements myself.”

Another lie. “Fuck you, Bryce. I saved your life!”

Bryce snapped his head to Levi. “You commanded the ground to make me stumble off the edge of the cliff.”

It took Levi a moment to register the accusation. “That’s ridiculous.” How is this happening?

“You commanded the ground?” Nico said.

“Last month I heard a traveling merchant say he saw another person suddenly become a Wielder.” Caleb’s still boyish voice pulled everyone’s attention. “Burned an entire village to the ground and killed dozens of innocent people.”

Bryce nodded. “We can’t let him back into Pyke. It’s too risky to let someone like him into the village.”

The words hit Levi so hard the air left his lungs. “I’m not a—”

“Enough!” Bryce’s tone made everyone stop talking, moving, breathing. He advanced on Levi, who quickly realized he had nowhere to go. In his state of defense and denial, he’d positioned himself with nothing but the edge of the cliff at his back. He wouldn’t be able to go left or right without being cut off by the others. Nico, Caleb, and Struan might have listened to his pleas under different circumstances, but Bryce had always been the leader of their circle. They would listen to him without question, especially in this.

Panic hit, and for the first time he could remember, Levi begged. “Please Bryce, I—”

“If you say you’re not a Wielder one more time, I’m going to punch you so hard you’ll fly off this cliff.” As the words tumbled out of his mouth, a spark of something heinous flickered in his eyes. “In fact, maybe I should push you off. If you’re a Wielder, you can manipulate the elements, right?”

Levi hardly heard Struan whisper something about that being extreme. He just stared into Bryce’s gray eyes, which were so filled with malice it sent a shiver up Levi’s spine—because he knew Bryce meant what he said. “You know that’s not how a Wielder’s power works.”

Everyone knew that Wielders only had an affinity for one of the four elements. And if, by some sick twist of fate, Leviwas a Wielder, he was likely a Terra Wielder. And if he was pushed off the cliff…

“So, you admit it!” Bryce sneered with satisfaction. “You’re a Wielder!”

“I didn’t say that! Please Bryce… You have to believe me!” Levi took a step back as he pleaded with his friend, who approached in earnest.

“You want to know what I believe?” Bryce stopped an arm’s reach from Levi’s chest. One more step and Levi would be forced over the edge. Sweat trickled down his neck as Bryce continued. “I believe you tried to kill me, and that’s how I’ll justify pushing you off this cliff. Only the hardest people survive in these mountains, Levi. And you just aren’t one of them.”

Levi swallowed his fear. “Please…” he begged again, hating himself for it. “You know that’s not what happened.”

“I’ve always hated you, you know.” The words broke something in Levi. The last piece of hope that this was all just a misunderstanding. “You and your handsome face. The beloved son who took care of his mother after his father and little brother died in the rockfall. I’ll make sure to tell her how you betrayed her love by not just becoming a Wielder, but by ruining my sister’s life, too.”

The lies made Levi’s knees wobble. “Please, don’t lie to my mother like that! She’s all I have, Bryce. I’ll leave the village and never come back, just…don’t break her heart with those lies.”

“You broke her heart, Levi.” Bryce stepped up to him and placed both hands on his shoulders. “Remember that as you fall a thousand feet to your death. If anyone is to blame for ruining your family’s name, it’s you.”

A cry of fear finally escaped Levi’s chest. This isn’t happening. This can’t be happening!

Bryce called over his shoulder, but stared directly into Levi’s eyes. “Let’s see if Levi’s manipulation of the elements can save him now!”

And with a shove that was harder than necessary, Levi was in freefall.

Bryce’s figure lingered atop the cliff for a couple of heartbeats, watching Levi fall with a smile on his face and hate in his eyes. But then he was gone, leaving his childhood friend alone to die on the mountains he loved.

Emotions ripped through Levi’s mind as fast as he fell—denial, panic, confusion, guilt, rage, shame, regret. Most were fleeting, others lasted a few heartbeats. Time seemed to standstill as he tumbled through the sky, even while everything around him whizzed by. As the ground grew closer, he realized his emotions wouldn’t save his life. Levi had always been good at reacting to changing situations, and if there was ever a time to react to a changing situation, it was now.

How did I control Terra last time?

He’d been running from Bryce, out of fear that he would be attacked and beaten to a pulp by his friend. The friend who’d just thrown him off a cliff—

No! Think. Focus!

Levi knew Wielders manipulated the elements, but he didn’t know how. He screamed into the wind, frustration and anger echoing off the rocks that guided him to his death maybe seven seconds away. He pleaded to the One True God out of habit, but he knew—somewhere deep inside, he knew—that he needed to plead to the Goddess of Terra.

“Zola!” He screamed, tears falling too fast to even hit his skin. “Please! Help me!”

Three seconds until he hit the canopy of the trees. He closed his eyes and pleaded again. Please, Zola! Help me and I promise I—

Impact.

Branches whipped across his face and arms as he descended through the canopy, his speed slowing but not enough to avoid death. He hit a large oak branch that knocked the air from his lungs and skewed him in a different direction. It slowed him further, but not enough. Not nearly enough. I’m going to die here.

Softer branches suddenly surrounded him. Tender deciduous leaves and pliable coniferous needles cocooned him like the fragile thing he was, bracing him for impact. He landed on a hard surface a couple seconds later, but bounced off the branches and smacked his head hard on the shell that formed around him. Another bounce, another smack to the head, then he was on his back, and the world came to a standstill.

His eyes were clamped shut. I’m dead. Of course, he was. No one could fall a thousand feet and live to tell the tale. I’m dead, and I’ll roam these mountains as a ghost for all eternity.

Slowly, he opened his eyes and raised his hands to his face, and gawked. His skin was normal. I thought ghosts were white. Or translucent, maybe.

A tiny creature—a wysp, he recalled them being called—drifted into his field of vision. His breathing stilled. Then he realized… I’m breathing.

With a groan, he sat up and looked around—and was shocked into wonder.

The branches that had sheltered him were…flying. Cedars, oaks, and pines had all become part of the shell that protected him, and they were returning to the trees from which they came. Some connected to trunks close by, while others skittered across the forest floor, disappearing in its thick darkness.

The wysp lingered, its green body hovering just above the ground. It bounced off a pile of moss thicker than any mattress Levi had ever laid on, but then that too moved away. Strands of green and brown retreated into the darkest shadows around him, and his body jostled as he was lowered to the soil below.

The wysp suddenly appeared in front of his face. He jerked back, but the creature seemed unperturbed. It spun once, then rose into the air, as if asking him to do the same. He did.

His body ached and was likely riddled with bruises, but he was alive. He brushed himself off and searched for the wysp again, spotting it ten feet to his left. Ten feet south. He watched the creature with curiosity, wondering why it lingered the way it did, when suddenly it darted toward him.

Levi didn’t flinch this time, he just cocked his head and inspected its body. At first, its color was strikingly green, but it quickly shifted to a mottled greenish brown. A few moments later, it was entirely brown. Then it was green again.

On his next inhale, Levi closed his eyes and somehow felt Zola all around him. Or maybe he was all around her. Either way, it was strange to feel her so close. Strange, but also comforting.

When Levi opened his eyes, the wysp wasn’t alone. Swirling alongside it was another, slightly larger wysp. They spun together, then merged, creating an even larger wysp than before.

Levi stared in awe, but he knew—without really knowing how—that this creature wasn’t just any wysp. It was Zola herself.

“You…” he felt a fondness for the god building in his chest. “You saved my life.”

The wysp spun in place and bobbed in the air once.

Levi smiled. “I thought you were all evil and dangerous, but… thank you.”

The creature spun again, then bounced around his body—his shoulder, knee, then to the hand he held out before his chest.

Levi chuckled at its playfulness. “Thank you,” he said again, knowing it wasn’t enough to truly express his gratitude.

“We are bonded,” a soft voice spoke in his mind.

His eyes went wide. “Zola?”

A moment’s silence. “Once our bond becomes familiar, verbal communication will not be needed. Until then, you can speak, if that is more comfortable to you. Is that more comfortable?”

Levi stared, perplexed and speechless. He’d been raised to believe the Elemental Gods were evil, but after what had happened over the last five minutes, he questioned where the root of that evil truly lay. Zola helped me when I was being chased, and when I was destined to die. She wants me alive. Why?

“You are a being of this world,” Zola answered in his head. “There is no other reason.”

Was that true? Could he really trust Zola? She saved my life…

The wysp changed color again, this time to a shade of pale brown flecked with green—the color of Levi’s eyes. The fondness he’d felt earlier became stronger, and with some intuitive sense he couldn’t understand, he knew he could trust Zola. And not only was she trustworthy, she was good.

Bryce had tried to kill him. There was no doubt in Levi’s mind that his friend would soon be back in the village, going on about how he’d been attacked by Levi—a newly awakened Wielder—and pushed him off the cliff for everyone’s safety. The thought made Levi sick, but in his heart, he knew there would be no going back to the village he grew up in. The village where his mother lived. Where she would be alone for the rest of her days. His chest ached at the thought.

Levi stilled his mind and swallowed his guilt. His sorrow. His rage. There’s only one path left to me now.

He gazed at the wysp and nodded. “You saved my life. I trust you, and promise to follow you always.”

Warmth suddenly filled Levi’s chest. As he inhaled a deep breath, the larger wysp spun in place, then separated into three smaller wysps. They drifted into the woods, disappearing behind branches and leaf litter, where they had likely been from the start. And although the voice he’d heard earlier was gone, he still felt the bond between him and the Terra Goddess. And that bond told him to head south.

Darkness would soon be upon him, but adrenaline was pumping too fast through his veins for him to rest now. Levi squared his shoulders, and made his way east, toward the Highland River. There, he’d follow the riverbank south…

Until Zola guided him otherwise.