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Nineteen Years

Submitted by Stuart on Tue, 05/11/2010 - 4:27am

When I was nineteen years old, I slung a backpack over my shoulder and headed to Europe for six months. I spent the first eight weeks or so traveling around the UK. I started off in London, then headed south-west to the end of Cornwall, before veering back north all the way to the highlands of Scotland, before turning back south passing through York on my way to Dover and on to the continent.

There and Back and Gone Again

Submitted by Stuart on Tue, 05/04/2010 - 12:29pm

I know the blog has been more silent than usual this last month or so. I've been doing a lot of traveling. Two weeks back in the States was just enough time to get a houseful of stuff loaded onto a truck, drive it all back East, unload it, paint the storage shed, do some shopping, and then fly back to Ecuador.

After two weeks home, I'm off again on Thursday, but this time to London. My wife has two weeks of training there, so I'm going along to, um, carry her bags. :)

Twitter Blogs

Submitted by Stuart on Wed, 03/31/2010 - 12:14pm

I know I don't update my blog very often, but that's because I try to add something to the discussion, so to speak. I doubt most of you want to hear daily updates about how many words I've written or cut in my current WiP. The thing is, I've enjoyed looking back at blogs of new authors to read their pre-published posts. There is something fun and magical reading posts by someone who was once where I am now: finishing a manuscript. Except they have done that, and then foun an agent, then got a contract, and finally counted down the days to publication.

rambling

A Bit Premature?

Submitted by Stuart on Mon, 03/29/2010 - 2:59pm

I just figured out how many words I need to trim to get the manuscript down to 165,000 words, and I'm still four chapters away from finishing this version of the revision (which included both story, flow, and word count cuts).

Too soon? :)

This final draft will be only about cutting words and incorporating the thus far minor comments from my beta readers. With luck, I'll start this final draft next week.

(And the answer to "How much?" is cut 13% of the current manuscript, which amounts to about 24,000 words)

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Rediscovering Information

Submitted by Stuart on Mon, 03/29/2010 - 12:35pm

I'm one of those strange people who reads historical non-fiction for fun. Yes, I do it as research for my books as well, but sometimes I'll pull a random book off my shelf and sit down for ten minutes or so and just read. Doing this, I find tidbits and facts from history and mythology that end up in my stories. Usually this amounts to cultural details or even place names based on real events.

The funny thing is when later I can't remember where I got the tidbit.

July, 22 2010

Echoes of Truth is revised and polished. I'm ready to start querying agents, the next step in seeing this novel published. In the meantime, work on the Condotierre is underway. I'm as excited to start this new book as I am to have finished my last.

September, 2 2008

SAEtter.com version 2.0, the Professional Edition is now live! Feel free to explore the new site and features.

While reading The Fellowship of the Ring at the age of twelve, Stuart A. Etter was told by his teacher that he should be reading shorter books. Undaunted, he finished the trilogy and promptly moved on to other novels ranging from fantasy/sci-fi to historical fiction to horror to thrillers.

Prologue: The Prisoner

Damion rubbed the dull ache of age from his hands. Countless years wielding a sword had strengthened his tendons and muscles, but time had worn them down, replacing power with chronic pain. Closing his eyes, Damion dreamed of his youth. Battle and victory marked most of his memories, but darker images tainted his successes, reminding him of his one great...