6/15/19

In case you missed it from my last post, Ground of Resurrection has a release date.  It comes out on July 17th.  I admit, I didn't expect it to come out until August or even September, but I can't complain.  I spoke with LT3 about the date being so close and they explained that it was decided the story didn't need a second round of edits.  It's with the copy editor right now instead, which means I should be seeing those pop up in my inbox any day now.  It also means July 17th is a very doable release date. 

Ground of Resurrection is available for pre-order from LT3 for a big discount.  LT3 is holding a Pride sale, so you can get all of my books for 20% off, and pre-orders are 32% off.  Resurrection is also up on Goodreads if you want to add it to your to-read list. 

In other news, I've been writing again.  The women's soccer world cup is going on right now and I've been watching as many games as possible.  I got a good idea of how to continue the story with the working title "Soccer Story" and have added about 2k words over the last week.  It's a contemporary story, which I don't write often, but I love soccer and have been hoping to work on this story.  If I'm able to get it completed in the next month or two, and if LT3 accepts it, it's possible it might be released to coincide with the summer Olympics, which would be really cool. 

Check out the cover for Ground of Resurrection, the second book in my Wizard Wars series.  The cover nicely hints at things to come, and the scenery is gorgeous yet again.  I also think the cover does a good job of showing the continuation and evolution from the first book. 

Ground of Resurrection comes out on July 17, 2019 and is available for pre-order at LT3:
https://lessthanthreepress.com/books...

6/1/19

Ge-Mi: Part Two was accepted for publishing with LT3!  I'm so excited!  Right now I need to get the contract in the mail so everything is signed and official.  I expect this book to come out in approximately ten months, so first quarter 2020.  Aside from signing the contract, my first step is providing LT3 with a description of what I want on the cover.  Readers either loved or hated the cover for Part One--there was no in between--and I think I'll get similar reactions for my idea for Part Two.  You'll just have to wait and see ;p. 

The Oracle's Golem was also accepted for a contract extension.  There won't be any edits or cover changes for this book, and therefore won't be any break in sales.  I'll get the contract in the mail with Ge-Mi's and Golem will be good for another few years. 

I forgot to mention earlier, but I did get the edits for My Truest Love back to LT3.  I still need the new cover, as well as a release date, but otherwise this story is mostly ready to go.  The second round of edits for Ground of Resurrection should be coming my way soon, as well as the reprint edits for Wings of the Stars, but I'm enjoying the brief respite.  I had to take a mental health break from working on my stories for a few days, but I eventually found the energy to resume working on The Oracle's Current and Di-Na: Part One. Neither story is anywhere close to being completed, but every bit of progress helps.  I hope to keep working on them until another round of edits comes my way. 

5/28/19

According to my records, The Oracle's Golem should be going out of print on May 31.  What does that mean?  Luckily, absolutely nothing.  LT3 has already agreed to renew the contracts for the previous two books in the series and I have not seen any indication that it will be different for Golem.  Since we're not editing or changing the covers for this series, there shouldn't be an interruption in sales.  I'll let you know as soon as LT3 and I have a conversation about it.  That should be it for stories going out of print in 2019. 

I am really hoping to get The Oracle's Current finished this year so I can complete this series.  I've been doing some planning for the book, which has always had a basic outline, but has lacked some of the firmer details.  Right now it looks like pirates will be back in play.  I'm still trying to decide if the pirates will be good or bad (or something in between), but Lichen is going to have some "fun" regardless.  I'm struggling on how to get Lichen away from the Monastery right now.  There's a big, emotional scene that needs to happen first, and the build up to that isn't flowing well.  Only after that scene is written can I really turn my focus on getting him into the hands of the pirates. 

In other news, The Coup and the Prince appears to be well liked!  The reviews have been positive and the comments seem to indicate readers are enjoying the story.  If you haven't gotten your copy yet, it's available at LT3 and on Amazon, as well as on your preferred bookseller's site. 

I have seen the second draft of the cover for Ground of Resurrection and it's even better than the first.  I can't wait to have the final version to share!

5/18/19

The Coup and the Prince comes out next week!  Right now LT3's having a big sale in honor of Sam's birthday, so you can get it for a big discount.  Otherwise, it will be available on Amazon and all other retailers very soon.  You can always check it out on Goodreads until then.  This book has been an adventure to write and to edit, and I do think it eventually turned out really well.  I'm excited for everyone to read it!  May 22nd can't come quick enough.

I have seen the first draft of the cover for Ground of Resurrection and it is phenomenal.  I asked for two tweaks.  Hopefully once the changes are made, I'll have it to share with you.  I don't yet have a release date for Resurrection, but given we're already talking about covers, it has to be coming soon. The second round of edits for this story should be coming soon too. 

A quick update on everything else:

I'm still working on the edits for My Truest Love.  I'm late in getting them back (again...sigh), but I'm hoping to get them done this weekend.  I can't believe how involved edits for a reprint are.  There were definitely some small changes, but the overall story isn't different.  If you purchased it previously, you probably don't have to buy it again.  I'm looking forward to the new covers for the series too. 

Wounded Alpha is still somewhere in the ether that is the editing process.  I won't see it for at least a few more months.  Ge-Mi: Part Two is still in the submission pool.  It's only been three weeks since I submitted it (it feels like forever ago!), so I won't hear for at least another two to six weeks.  I'm anxious to know whether LT3 likes it, but I'm also hoping to have some time to work on book two in the series too. 

Writing has been totally stagnant.  I've been burned out by the mono and by work, which isn't fun.  I need to be able to think in order to put words onto paper properly, and I just haven't been capable of that lately.  Also, I keep having interrupted weekends where something comes up that drags me out of my apartment for half of it.  That leaves me with only one day to do all the other chores and things I have to get done, and writing has unfortunately been taking a back seat.  Right now June is looking like a good month with no interrupted weekends or crazy work projects.  I am very hopeful I'll be able to get some real work done on my poor, neglected stories throughout June. 

4/28/19

Those of you that follow me on Twitter already know that I successfully submitted Ge-Mi: Part Two to LT3.  For everyone else, Ge-Mi: Part Two was officially submitted to LT3!  I got confirmation that they received it, so now it's just a waiting game.  LT3's website says it's a 6 to 8 week waiting period while they evaluate the manuscript.  If they accept it, I should be signing the contract sometime in June and the book should be released anywhere from 9 to 12 months after that. 

So what's next?  Editing, of course.  I'm still working on the edits for the reprint of My Truest Love.  After that I'm expecting the edits for the reprint of Wings of the Stars.  The Coup and the Prince might have a copy edit or galley coming my way in the next few weeks, and then the second round of edits for Ground of Resurrection will arrive.  Editing continues to take the bulk of my writing time, but once that list is done, I'm expecting to have a few months without any edits. 

Which means, I finally get to write again!  Di-Na: Part One is, of course, high on my to-do list, but that list is incredibly long right now.  I think I need to focus on the stories that have languished the longest.  I really, really want to finish off my Oracle series and The Oracle's Current, so that's on the top of my list, and I also want to finish my fairy tale project.  There's also Codified and Dragon Spy, which are both patiently waiting for a bit of my attention.  There's so much still to do and I'm looking forward to finally having the time to actually do it! 

4/26/19

Wounded Alpha was accepted for publication at LT3!  This means the areas I fixed when the story was rejected the first time worked.  This story was a ton of fun to write, so I'm incredibly excited to have it accepted this time.  I'm expecting to see the first round of edits for this story in approximately six months, so start looking for publication announcements for sometime fourth quarter 2019 to first quarter 2020. 

I have returned the first round of edits for Ground of Resurrection to LT3.  I think the story is really looking good, but it still has to go back to the editor for another round.  I should start getting word about a potential release date and the cover approximately when the second round of edits arrive. 

I have also received the edits for My Truest Love, which is a reprint.  The story has already gone through the editing process, but I wanted it to get another look through to make sure everything was good.  For the most part the edits are simple, but there are a couple weak spots.  I knew about them before, but couldn't fix them when the story was previously released as part of the collection call.  The editor this time was kind enough to point them out and offer suggestions.  It's therefore going to take a bit of work to get this story ready, but I'm hoping to get it done quickly.  Even though Wings of the Stars, the second book in this series, is currently still for sale at LT3, I'm also expecting to get edits for it soon too as part of the series revamp. 

Next on my to-do list was Ge-Mi: Part Two and I'm happy to say this book is completely done!  After I returned Resurrection to LT3, as promised I pulled out Ge-Mi and ran it through a final edit.  I have to say I'm incredibly happy with how it turned out and I do think you'll love it just as much as I do.  My plan is to submit it to LT3 either tonight or first thing tomorrow morning.  I will let everyone know whether LT3 accepts it.  Next for this series is Di-Na, book two in the series, which will also be split into two parts.  I've begun writing Di-Na: Part One, so hopefully I'll be quicker about it and have it to LT3 within a year. 

4/14/19

I slept ten hours last night and I woke up feeling pretty good, so I'm going to do my best to buckle down on the edits for Ground of Resurrection.  I have a lot still to do for that and they're due next week.  Next week is also the start of Passover and I'm going to be incredibly busy.  Today is my last full day to really get these done and I'm going to do my best.

If I make a lot of progress with Resurrection, I'm hoping to start on Ge-Mi: Part Two today as well.  If not, Ge-Mi will have to wait until after Passover.  I know I promised I'd get the editing and formatting complete this month, but it's just not going to happen.  I will get it done next month.

The response for both If A Butterfly Don't Fly and The Sentinel's Prophesy have both been excellent.  The reviews have been positive.  Thank you so much to everyone that has read and enjoyed either of those books. 

4/4/19

The short answer is, surprisingly I'm doing okay.  Everyone I've spoken with is shocked that I'm not spending my days involuntarily sleeping.  Honestly, if the doctor hadn't told me I have mono, I would have assumed I had a weird cold for a few days and have now gotten better.  My day-to-day schedule has therefore been mostly uninterrupted. 

I work a full 40 hour week, eight hours each weekday.  Thanks to commute times and excessive traffic, it's actually more like a 10 hour day.  By the time I get home I'm wiped and all I want to do is collapse on the couch to recuperate until it's bedtime.  This is the only time where having mono has had a visible effect.  My need to couch-surf every evening has gotten slightly more prominent.  I'm not napping, but my energy in the evenings is definitely lower than I would like. 

Obviously, this hasn't been good for my writing.  In addition to my 40 hour work week, each week I try to put another 20 to 30 hours into writing or book promotion.  I used to be able to spend an hour or two every weeknight trying to get edits done, or working on a tricky bit of plot, or even putting together a blog post to keep my readers updated.  I couldn't work on something consuming as that would keep me awake past my bedtime (and therefore hinder my ability to get to work the next day) but I always tried to plug away at something.  The bulk of my writing is done over the weekend, in between my errands and chores.  Now the bulk of everything is getting done over the weekend and the hours I've been able to spend on writing have dropped significantly. 

What this means is I'm woefully behind on the edits for Ground of Resurrection, haven't had a moment to pull out Ge-Mi: Part Two to give it a final edit and get it formatted for submission, and haven't had any time whatsoever to work on my to-do list.  I never got around to posting a proper cover reveal for The Sentinel's Prophesy.  I never even posted about the excerpt being available (you can find it HERE if you're interested), or about Prophesy going up on Goodreads (for everyone that likes to add books to their shelves). 

I can only hope the last vestiges of mono will fade away soon and that I'll be able to catch up on everything quickly.  Thanks to everyone that left me comments of support.  I really appreciate every single one.