Category: Editing

News: The New Title

8/12/2017

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8/12/17

After conferring with all of you, and emailing back and forth with LT3, the new title that will replace Dragon Spy has been decided. There were a number of considerations that went into it, including how well the new title flowed off the tongue and how many previous titles had the same initials. We decided against Dragon School because it doesn't really flow all that well and said no to Dragon Direction because there are already so many stories that are DD. In the end we went with my first instinct and I am quite happy with it.

What do you all think about Dragon Lesson?
I have just finished the first round of edits for Dragon Lesson. They're going back to the editor for a second round, since I rewrote a couple scenes that need to be looked over. Now that those edits are done, I need to decide which of my completed stories--If A Butterfly Don't Fly or The Coup and the Prince--I want to get ready for submission first. Unless the edits for Kelpie Blue suddenly appear in my inbox (which, since I don't have a release date for it to plan myself around, that could happen), I should have a few weeks without edits to focus on lots of other things.
Dragon Lesson is available for pre-order at LT3. You can get it for a 15% discount if you buy before October 11, 2017. You can also add Dragon Lesson to your to-read list on Goodreads in preparation for October. It feels like a long way away, but October will be here before we know it.

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News: Allergies Make Life Difficult

8/5/2017

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8/5/17

These last two weeks have been very interesting. Last week my family and I went to the beach for the entire week. I spent quite a few hours sitting in a chair, my feet buried in the sand, the sound of the surf in my ears, and a book in my hands. Needless to say, I didn't get much editing done. I had hoped to make up for that this week, but then something outside bloomed. When my allergies get really bad I start wheezing and my sinuses fill up. I end up with tightness in my lungs and a sinus migraine. In addition to the fact that I'm not breathing spectacularly well and am coughing to make up for it, the pain in my head is horrible. Plus, I get light sensitive with vertigo. Looking at a computer screen has been almost impossible. The only solution is Benadryl as painkillers don't touch it, so I've basically spent most of this week either suffering at work or asleep at home.
Given the fact that Justified comes out next week, I knew I had to suck it up and get the copy edits completed. I somehow managed it and Justified is now ready to go. Make sure you get your copy for a 15% discount before Justified comes out on August 9th.
I haven't finished the edits for Dragon Spy, which is a problem. If my head behaves, I would like to spend the rest of this weekend working on them. I need to get the edits back to LT3 asap as we're beginning to run short on time. I think I've settled on Dragon School as the new title, but I want to run it by the editor first before I make a decision.
You can probably guess how well the editing is going for the two stories I've completed and want to submit to LT3. I haven't touched them, but I have been thinking. I don't want If A Butterfly Don't Fly to come out too close to Kelpie Blue, the prequel. I don't have a release date for Kelpie Blue yet, but I know I want to give at least six months of space between the two stories. If I submit The Coup and the Prince first (and LT3 accepts it), that will increase the amount of space. It really depends on how the last bit of editing goes for both stories, which I can't start until after Spy is back with LT3.

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News: Edits and Titles

7/23/2017

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7/23/17

I have received the first round of edits for Dragon Spy, the next book in my Supernatural Consultant series. They appear to be pretty straightforward, so I'm making good progress. There was one major plot hole the editor pointed out and a few other smaller issues, but the biggest thing the editor recommended was that I change the title. The editor stated that they thought "Spy" didn't seem to quite fit with the overall theme, which made the title a bit misleading. I can totally see where the editor is coming from, so now I'm bouncing new ideas around in my head. I'm leaning towards something along the lines of "Dragon Lesson", but I'm not sure that's strong enough to fit in with the rest of the series. What do you think? Would you read a book titled Dragon Lesson, or can you recommend something else that falls along the lines of learning or growth?
Sometime in the next week I am going to pull out If A Butterfly Don't Fly and finally give it a last edit. It is ready to be submitted. I always feel guilty bombarding LT3 with multiple submissions at a time, so I'm definitely going to wait until after I've heard yes or no from them on Butterfly before I pull out The Coup and the Prince for that story's final edit.
I still haven't settled on a story to work on next. That's probably a good thing because it means I can focus on the edits I need to get completed. Still, I prefer to be writing. Hopefully one of my stories will jump out at me sometime this week.

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News: Writing Continues

7/5/2017

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7/5/17

I got the second round of edits for Justified back to LT3 within plenty of time. Hopefully this means the release date won't need to be pushed back again. It's available for pre-order at LT3, so make sure you get your copy before it comes out on August 9th.
If A Butterfly Don't Fly has been going amazingly well. I am still on track to complete it this month. I only have 3k words left to write to reach my goal of 40k and the epilogue (which is all that's left to write) should get me there. I'm looking forward to finishing this story after three long years of writing it.
Of course, I had firmly told myself that the two books in my Out of Underhill series would be it for the series. Each book takes a huge amount of research and planning to put together, which, while an important aspect to every book I write, takes away a considerable amount of time and energy from my other stories. I wanted to be done with Underhill so I could focus on the rest of my rather extensive current projects list. Then I got an idea for a third book that will tie the entire series together. It's a book that has to be written, so right now I'm very firmly looking at a trilogy. It will be my second trilogy series--Magnified is my first--and I'm looking forward to writing it. I'm not looking forward to all the research I have to do first, so I'm probably going to work on some of my other stories before starting to tackle this one.

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News: Procrastination is Going Well

6/24/2017

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6/24/17

I received the edits for Gathering the Hoard, the Dragon's Hoard short stories, and for Justified and I did start working on them both, but then the next thing I knew I had somehow managed to write 5k words for If A Butterfly Don't Fly and hadn't touched my edits in a week. That was not my intention in the least bit, especially since both sets of edits are already running a bit behind schedule. My plan to bust my butt this weekend and see if I can get the edits for Gathering the Hoard done and get a good chunk of Justified completed too has so-far been successful. Gathering the Hoard was just returned to LT3, so if I can get a lot accomplished in Justified, I can stop feeling guilty about procrastinating from edits by writing.
Speaking of If A Butterfly Don't Fly, that story is going amazingly well. I've added 5k words and I think I've figured out an extra twist that will make the story longer and will also help to strengthen the romantic elements. Right now there is a romance, but it's a little stilted, and the twist will hopefully help to iron everything out. I hope to reach my goal of 40k soon.
The reviews for Dragon Home have been beyond amazing. Everyone seems to have really enjoyed reading it, which I am so ecstatic to hear. The next step for this series is Dragon Spy, which is slated to be released this October. I'm hoping to have the next book in this series mostly written by that point, but that's only going to happen if the edits stop coming in so quickly. Since I still have three more stories I haven't seen edits for just yet, I have doubts on my ability to get book seven completed before book six is released. The good news is, I think I've come up with a title for book seven. What do you think of Dragon Trick? That's still subject to change, of course, but it fits with how the story is writing so far.

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News: Edits and Books Going Out of Print

6/3/2017

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6/3/17

The edits for the first three books of my Dragon's Hoard series are back with LT3! (And I got them back on time for once...) I should be getting the edits for book four of the series and the short stories soon. I also returned the second round of edits for Dragon Home. Those were late because I got distracted by my Dragon's Hoard, but hopefully LT3 will still be able to get the story out in time.
For those of you that receive LT3's newsletter you probably already know this, but a few more of my stories will be going out of print soon. On June 15, 2017, My Truest Love (from Rocking Hard V. 2) and Hearts Tournament (from Won't Back Down) will both be going out of print.
As always when one of my stories goes out of print, I have to decide whether I want to reprint. At this moment I'm fairly certain I will not be resubmitting My Truest Love, which means you only have a few more weeks to get a copy before it'll be gone forever. I'm less certain about what to do with Heart's Tournament. I really enjoyed writing that story, but my readers weren't so enthused. I need to read through Heart's Tournament and see if there are sections I can edit to try to smooth out some of the issues. If I'm happy with what results, I'll resubmit, but I can't make any promises.

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News: So Many Edits

5/23/2017

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5/23/17

I expected this to happen, given how quickly the various deadlines are approaching, but I've been buried in edits. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but I didn't expect the rewrite edits for my Dragon's Hoard series to be quite so involved. I've received the edits for the first three books in the series and have begun working on them. I knew there had to be some grammar and spelling issues given that it was my first full series, but I assumed the overall content would be fine. I was wrong, particularly with Stealing the Dragon, which has one of my minor, but still important characters needing a bit of an overhaul. I started with that story, since it needs the most work, but it's definitely going to be a bit of a struggle to get all of it done in time. (I should probably get to work instead of writing this...)
What I'm really amazed with is how much my writing has changed over the years. Back in 2010 and 2011 when I wrote my Dragon's Hoard series, I was definitely a novice and these stories do show a little of that. I definitely wouldn't have been capable of writing something so involved as Justified way back then. And yet, at the same time I can see glimmers of the growth I've since had in some of the twists and turns my characters go through. In many ways, going back through these older stories is a reminder of where I started, but it's also a lesson in understanding where I've since gone and I think my writing ability will be improved because of it. I can't wait to see what will happen as I keep on writing!
Speaking of editing, I finished writing my Rapunzel story and now I need to give it a quick edit before I set it aside. I want to fix the glaring mistakes now when I know what I meant to write. I also think I might need to bump up the romance a smidge as so much of the story is focused on the tower itself rather than the characters. Of course, this story will have to wait until all my other edits with actual time limits are completed.
Those edits also include the second round of edits for Dragon Home, which I am now remembering I never returned to LT3. I am clearly failing at being a good author at the moment, so I'll stop writing this and will get back to doing the work I would very much like to get completed before the looming due dates.

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Given my lackluster success at last month's goals list, I'm going to be a bit more broad this month. Since there aren't any major holidays this month, I should have three solid weekends for writing. The last weekend is my cousin's wedding, so I'll be traveling for that, but that's the end of the month and I'm really hoping to have all my goals completed by then. Here's the plan:

Writing. Any writing at all will accomplish this goal, but I'm hoping to complete my Rapunzel story this month.
Editing. It's getting to be crunch time for some of my stories. The release of Justified is coming very quickly in June and I haven't gotten the second round of edits yet. Plus, the reprint of my Dragon's Hoard series is this July and I haven't gotten any edits for them either. I'm certain there will be a lot of edits to complete this month.
Planning. Two of my stories need more planning before I can really start writing: Book Seven of my Supernatural Consultant series and Book Three of my Magnified series. If I can finish this, I hope to be able to start writing next month.

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News: Things I'm Working On

2/11/2017

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2/11/2017

Reviewers are really liking Ge-Mi: Part One, which is so amazing to hear. This story is so different to what I normally write, since it's sci-fi and there isn't a single dragon, and I was a bit worried that my usual readers might not flock to Ge-Mi the way they have to my Supernatural Consultant series. I'm glad to learn that my fears were unfounded. If you've read and enjoyed Ge-Mi, don't forget you can always post a review to Goodreads, Amazon, or wherever you purchased your copy. I am always eager to know what you thought and to learn from any constructive criticism you can offer.
I'm still plugging away at the edits for Justified, but I'll have them back to LT3 this weekend. There's a few more little things to fix and an overall read-though, and then it's back to the editor for round two. I need to start working on the final book of the trilogy (although my editor has already asked for an additional side story about the dragon in the book). I have some ideas and have started building the prologue, but each of the books has been set on a theme and I haven't settled on what my theme for this book will be. I'm leaning towards a Passover/Exodus sort of idea, but I need to flesh it out a bit more before I can really start working on it.
Once the edits are back with LT3, it's finally time to return to Kelpie Blue. I've let it sit for a bit to marinate, and now I need to go over it with a fine toothed comb. Editing for submission is always exciting because it's my last chance to polish a story before LT3 makes the decision if they want to accept it for publishing. This story is also a bit quirky in that it's different to what I usually write, but I really, really love the story and the characters so I think it will go over well. My only concern is that it has some odd formatting that LT3 and some readers might not appreciate, but I'm going to give it a try anyway.

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News: Happy Holidays

12/26/2016

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12/26/16

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday, whether you celebrate or are simply having a good weekend. My siblings and I went to see Sing and lit candles together, and then we went for Chinese food last night. It was a lot of fun.
I'm a little behind on the copy edits for The Case of the Wandering Wolves. That's not good because it's coming out soon. My plan is to spend all of today working on it, so I can get it back to LT3 asap. The edits are considerably more involved than I expected for a copy edit, but they're all absolutely necessary. It's time consuming, which is why I'm devoting an entire day to it.
I've been working on Dragon Spy, which I am really excited about. It's at 24k words and all I have left to write is the conclusion to the final action scene and the epilogue. It's come a long way in a short amount of time, but now I've reached the stage of 'what next'. Nickel and Platinum have a story that occurs at the same time as Dragon Spy, so do I want to write that one next? Lumie needs another story too, however I haven't planned anything for him yet. There's also Alloy's story which I'm still dithering over. I'm also certain that after you all read Dragon Adventure and Dragon Home I'm going to start getting requests for more Aqua and Rios. There are so many options to choose from. Do you all have a preference?

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News: The New Title

News: Allergies Make Life Difficult

News: Edits and Titles

News: Writing Continues

News: Procrastination is Going Well

News: Edits and Books Going Out of Print

News: So Many Edits

May Goals

News: Things I'm Working On

News: Happy Holidays

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