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. 

3/22/19

I haven't been feeling wonderful for the last few weeks.  Went to the doctor two weeks ago and all they could tell me is it wasn't strep and it wasn't the flu.  Today my neck swelled up, so I went back to the doc.  Mono.  I have frickin mono.  All I can think is, where the heck did I pick up mono?  I haven't been kissing anyone and I haven't been sharing drinks.  I don't have a roommate either.  My next thought was, how many people at work have I inadvertently infected?  Monday, when I get to warn all my coworkers not to touch anything I've touched, is going to be so much fun...not. 

So, today has understandably been a wash.  Still, I'm concerned whether the mono will have an effect on my writing.  I am still working on the edits for Ground of Resurrection, but (surprise, surprise), I haven't had the energy to really start digging in.  If I don't have energy for that, there's no way I'll have energy for working on any of my in-progress stories.  Hopefully this will go smoothly and I'll keep to my deadlines.  I'll let you all know how goes. 

3/9/19

Yes, you read the title correctly.  Ge-Mi: Part Two is finished!  I spent about fourteen hours today getting the last chapter and the epilogue written and I typed the last period just twenty minutes ago.  I'm super excited because I love this story and I've been wanting to get it written for so long.  I also know a lot of readers will be happy too.  You've waited for what feels like forever to get the conclusion of Taylor and Nevada's story.  I really hope it meets your expectations. 

What's next for the story, now that I've finished writing? 

    First, there's a rough spot in the middle I need to poke at.  It drags and I'm not sure it makes sense outside my own head.  Once I get that fixed, I will have to set this story aside for a month.  It needs to sit and percolate for at least that long, so when I reopen the document to make edits I'm seeing it with fresher eyes.  Only once my edits are complete will I submit it to LT3.  After that it's up to LT3. 

What's next for the series? 

    I've actually gotten a lot of variations of that question over the last few years.  As much as I love Taylor and Nevada, there isn't anything more for me to write about them.  Their story is complete.  I am instead turning my focus to a new city and to two new main characters.  Kay and Sierra are going to be a lot of fun to write, and I do think you'll like them.  Just don't ask me when Di-Na: Part One will be complete.  If you haven't noticed, I'm not good with writing quickly or even with staying on task.  I will get there, though, just like I did with Ge-Mi: Part Two.