9/28/19

To everyone that celebrates, I hope you have a happy and healthy new year.  I'll see you all again in 5780! 

I also want to let you know I'm still around.  I'm sorry I haven't had any news to share lately.  My contracted stories are in the middle of the editing process, so it's a waiting game of a few months.  I will let you know as soon as I hear more. 

In the meantime, I've been working on Di-Na: Kay and on my fairy tales.  Di-Na is a slow process as I need to get everything set up right in the beginning in order for the rest of the story to flow correctly.  I think I've finally gotten that down, so now it's time to dig into the meat of the story.  I'm looking forward to it! 

My fairy tales are a different kettle of fish.  I've had to scrap Trip Trop Trail, my Billy Goats Gruff/Robin Hood crossover.  It wouldn't write, it wouldn't flow, and the characters all hated my guts.  That story is the reason my fairy tales have been held up so long, and, while scraping it was hard, it has allowed me to move forward again.  I have finally figured out the last bit holding A Heart's Dream back, so I should be able to finish that one soon.  I have also started work on two new fairy tales to replace the one I removed.  The first is called The Curse.  I just need to finalize the epilogue and The Curse will be complete.  The second story is The Beast, which I've just begun working on.  I'm hoping to have it completed soon. 

The question then becomes, what do I do with my fairy tales once they're complete?  First I have to edit them all, and then they'll have to sit for at least a month before I edit them again.  Obviously I'm going to submit them to NSP, but I already have so much I still need to submit.  Once all the books in my Supernatural Consultant series have been evaluated by NSP (either as a yes or no for publishing), I will be able to submit something else.  The plan right now is to send them the two books in my Wizard Wars series next.  After that, as long as my fairy tales are ready to go, I'm thinking I'll submit all nine of those.  It depends on what NSP says, of course, but I think I'm going to try to stick to that plan for the next few months. 

8/9/19

As you no doubt read in my last post, Ge-Mi, Parts One and Two were both accepted for publishing at NineStar Press.  I'm super excited about it, as I love this series and I know my readers love it too.  A new publisher does mean there will be a few changes that I want to make sure everyone knows about:

1. A New Title.  Rather than Part One/Part Two, the books will now be known by the main POV.  Part One is now: Ge-Mi: Nevada.  Part Two is now: Ge-Mi: Taylor.  (I am going to adjust how I'm referring to Di-Na as well to conform to this new title standard.) 
2. Editing.  Nevada's book (Part One) will be going to an editor.  I don't yet know if there will be any substantive changes, but a fresh set of eyes on the story will likely catch new issues.  If the story changes significantly, I will let everyone know.  Right now I can't say what will happen. 
3. Timing.  NineStar just accepted both stories, so it's going to be a while longer before they're released.  I don't know how long it will be or how spread out Nevada's book and Taylor's book will be.  Please be patient with me as we work through this process. 
4. Writing.  I have added over 1k words to Di-Na: Kay (Part One) and hope to add a good bit more this week.  The story isn't anywhere close to being complete, but any progress is good progress.  I have the next two big scenes planned out, and I know who the bad guy is, but there's still a lot to flesh out.  I do hope to have this story completed within the next few months or so, which means I need to get back to writing now. 

As I continue to get more information about Ge-Mi and any of my other stories, I will share them here with everyone.  I hope to have more news to share really soon!  Thanks for all your words of support as we work through this together. 

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. 

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.