3/7/19

I want to start off by reminding everyone that If A Butterfly Don't Fly will be released next week!  If you want to pre-order the book for a 15% discount at LT3, now's your chance: https://lessthanthreepress.com/books... It will be available on Amazon and all other major retailers by March 13th. 

I'll give you one guess as to what I'm working on now.  If you immediately thought "edits!" you're right.  I'm actually on time for all my edits, which is a nice change, but when I really want to be writing instead...  Anyway, here's what I'm working on right now:

First were the edits for The Coup and the Prince, which I have completed and returned to LT3.  I decided I liked the way the story ended as it was and I didn't want to muddle it up by adding an epilogue.  I instead added a couple of paragraphs to the last scene that should hopefully address why the editor was thinking an epilogue would be useful.  Next for this story are the copy edits, after which it will be ready for publication. 

Speaking of copy edits, I just received those for The Sentinel's Prophesy.  I've read through and for the most part they're very straightforward.  There are one or two minor tweaks I need to address, but overall I don't think they'll be a heavy lift.  Once the copy edits are completed, this story will be ready to go. 

The last set of edits I received were the first round for Ground of Resurrection, the second book in my Wizard Wars series.  I haven't had a chance to look through them yet, so I don't know how onerous they'll be, but they're going to be interesting either way.  I won't be able to get started on this story until Prophesy is back with LT3, so I'll give you an update on it soon.

I have also resubmitted Wounded Alpha to LT3.  I think (I hope) I fixed the issue, and I will find out in a few weeks whether LT3 also thinks it's fixed.  I'll let you all know whether they accept it this time. 

2/18/19

Good news first:

I have an official release date for The Sentinel's Prophesy: April 3, 2019.  You can also preorder it at LT3 right now: https://lessthanthreepress.com/books...  All that's left before Prophesy is ready to go is the copy edit and the galley proof, neither of which should take too long, and the cover.  I haven't seen the cover yet, but I'm sure it's going to be as amazing as the rest of the series, so I'm definitely excited for it. 

If A Butterfly Don't Fly also comes out in a month.  If you haven't had a chance to pre-order, now's a good time: https://lessthanthreepress.com/books... 

Now for the bad news:

Wounded Alpha was not accepted as part of LT3's Bound by Nothing call.  They were kind enough to tell me the two reasons why:  1, I wasn't as original as I hoped and they had too many similarly-themed stories.  When they had to choose which of those stories made the cut, mine didn't.  2, There was one scene that needed a bit of work, which is why mine didn't make the cut.  However, they did say if I fixed that scene they would reconsider the story as a regular release. 

I was originally planning to spend the entire long weekend working on the edits for The Coup and the Prince and  I made a lot of progress until I got that rejection email.  After reading the email, I had a good idea for how to fix the issue, so that's what I spent today doing instead of my edits.  (I wanted to get it down on paper before I forgot it.)  I've finished my fixing and I'm going to let the story sit for a few days, which means it's back to edits. 

Of course, all of that means I haven't had a chance to work on any of my waiting stories.  I was happy to have added about 1k words to Ge-Mi: Part Two, but haven't been able to get back to it since.  I also started fleshing out the beginning and basic outline for the third (and likely final) book in my Wizard Wars series, but again, I haven't had time to really dig in.  Hopefully once I'm done with this round of edits I'll be able to get back to it. 

And that is the last of my bad news.  Hopefully next week will only be good news to share. 

12/16/18

Today only, Magnified is .99 cents at LT3.  If you haven't read it yet, this is a great chance to get a copy: https://lessthanthreepress.com/books...  Magnified is a vampire story and is probably the closest I'll ever come to writing horror, and is one of my favorite stories that I've written.  I think you'll like it too. 

Ground of Resurrection was accepted for publishing by LT3!  I'm really excited and I honestly hope this is a sign that I will be able to get back on track.  I'm still waiting for word on If A Butterfly Don't Fly and The Coup and the Prince, but having this small success is definitely helping me get my confidence back.  I'm hoping this week will therefore be a good one for writing.  I am soooo close to finishing writing Ge-Mi: Part Two; with a couple days of focused effort I just might be able to do it.  Wish me luck!

Ground of Insurrection, the prequel to Resurrection, is available to vote for at the M/M Romance Awards on Goodreads.  I'm trying not to spam your inboxes with this, but I'm still so stoked about being nominated and I really want Insurrection to do well.  I have recently learned you have to be a member of the group to vote, so if you are a member please consider Insurrection as your choice!  You can vote here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/181365-best-fantasy-you-must-click-on-the-book-you-would-like-to-vote

LT3 has confirmed receipt of Wounded Alpha, so it continues to be a game of patience on my part.  I have to wait for the call to close and for LT3 to go through all the submissions before I'll hear, but the story was so interesting to write and I just want to know now.  I can be patient, I promise, but it's definitely something I'm super excited about.  Until then, it's back to writing!

12/2/18

I don't know what sort of crud I've got, but it's been a slow recovery.  The fever finally broke, but I've still got a bit of a cough.  The problem is, I'm still finding it hard to concentrate.  My body just wants to curl up and sleep it off, while I wanted to spend this weekend writing instead.  That's just not going to happen.  I need this crud to go away so I can get back to a regular routine that includes getting some writing done. 

I was able to get a last edit of Wounded Alpha completed and I went ahead and submitted it to LT3.  The call doesn't close until the end of January, so LT3 won't take a look until then, but now it's one less worry on my plate.  I can instead focus on all the other things I know will be coming, including a lot more edits.  Until then, I am going to continue plucking away at all my stories to see if I can get some completed. 

One thing I was able to take a look at was Thunderbird (one of the stories I'm hoping to submit with my fairy tales), and I'm concerned about it.  Way back when, I submitted it to LT3 and they rejected it.  They were kind enough to provide a reason why and after looking through the manuscript again, I can see that they were right.  I need to add a few more scenes in order to smooth out the issue, but I'm not finding that an easy task.  The problem is, as the story stands now, it flows nicely.  The plot and the world building both work as they are.  I just need to make a few tweaks to one of my characterizations, and one or two additions to the romance, yet I can't  decide where to cut into the story to start adding those changes.  Anywhere I try, I leave blatant hatchet marks in the plot and the flow immediately dies.  I don't want to scrap this story as I think it's the most unique one in the bunch, but I can't resubmit it as it stands, which means I've reached an impasse.  Does anyone have any suggestions? 

Aside from fixing Thunderbird, I have two other stories in my fairy tale bunch to finish.  A Heart's Dream started out as yet another Cinderella rewrite, but I'm trying to get it to go more of a Sleeping Beauty route.  I think that will fit better with the characters, but planning that out has been really slow going.  Trip Trop Trail, my Billy Goats Gruff rewrite, hasn't been worked on at all.  I was trying to get A Heart's Dream completed first, which has left Trip Trop Trail patiently waiting.  Unfortunately, it's going to have to continue to wait as I have a few other things I need to get done first.  Only once all three of those stories have been completely worked out can I start looking at final edits and formatting, which is months away. 

11/29/18

I am home sick today.  Sore throat, low grade fever, cough.  Ugh.  I keep waking up from a nap and wondering when I can take another nap.  It sucks.  Even if I had the energy to write, which I don't, I can't use my leave from work for writing purposes.  Instead, I'm hoping to read a good book.  Since I didn't have edits this past weekend, I got to read Mercenaries of the Stolen Moon by Megan Derr, which just came out.  I enjoyed it so much I went and reread the rest of the series...again...and bought Mercenaries in print.  Now I need something else to read in between my naps today.  I've got an overstuffed bookshelf in my apartment and a bunch of ebooks on my computer, so I'll figure something out. 

Here's some super wonderful good news: Ground of Insurrection has been nominated in the Fantasy category in M/M Romance's 2018 Members' Choice Awards on Goodreads!  The last book I had nominated was Hadash Aviv back in 2013.  Given I only have two books eligible for nomination this year, having even one of them chosen is amazing.  Voting opens next month and I'll post all the links you'll need then. 

I don't have any news to share about my upcoming books.  If A Butterfly Don't Fly and The Coup and the Prince are still in process, I know that much, but I don't know anything else about them just yet.  The Sentinel's Prophesy is also going to start the editing process sometime soon.  Ground of Resurrection has been submitted, but I won't hear whether it's been accepted for a few more months. 

As for writing, I've had a good week.  Ge-Mi: Part Two is almost there!  I've had to pause actually writing in order to organize and plan the final battle scene, but that's led to good progress.  I am hoping to have it completed by the end of the year.  Wounded Alpha, my story for LT3's Bound by Nothing call, has been sitting for long enough.  I'm thinking if I have some energy tonight, I might start giving it a final edit.  I've decided it would be better to get it done and submitted sooner, just in case I get drowned in edits again.  The last thing I want is for the submission deadline to arrive while I'm busy with other things.  This way it's one less thing on my plate. 

For now, though, it's time for another nap. 

11/18/18

I've seen some questions regarding where If A Butterfly Don't Fly is.  It was supposed to come out last week, and it has instead vanished.  The short of it is, the edits were too much.  I couldn't rewrite entire sections in the two week timeline before the story had to be back to LT3.  Missing that deadline meant the story couldn't come out in time, so LT3 had to pull it.  That said, LT3 is still moving forward with publishing, but are (understandably) not going to decide on a new release date until we are 100% certain the story will actually come out on that date.  I have since returned the completed story to LT3, so I believe the next step is copy edits.  I'm hoping to see them soon, and once those are done I should have release information to share with you. 

Given my working flat out on Butterfly for three weeks straight pushed back my ability to complete the edits for The Coup and the Prince, that story has also been temporarily pulled.  I returned the edits to LT3, where it will go on to even more edits.  I guesstimate Coup will now come out sometime in 2019, possibly second quarter, but again, no release date will be decided on until we're certain Coup will actually be ready for it. 

In happier news, I have had some writing success.  I submitted Ground of Resurrection to LT3 this morning.  I should hear whether they accept it sometime in the next few months.  I have also completed Wounded Alpha, the story I wrote for LT3's Bound by Nothing call.  All of my worry about whether it would be long enough or even get completed in time was apparently baseless and I'm quite happy with how it turned out.  It's not due until the end of January, so I'm going to let it sit until after the new year, and then start editing and formatting it for submission.  I have also added over 5k words to Ge-Mi: Part Two, which means I'm getting to the finish line.  All I have to write is the last confrontation with the bad guy and the wrap up afterwards, and this story will be complete.  I'm hoping to get it done in 2018, but this last section might be the hardest to write so we'll see how it goes.