Back From the Dead!

So, this is just a little post for some general info on Peacemaker and other sundries. A FAQ, if you like. (though, in all fairness, FAQ sounds like you’re saying something rude.  Just sayin’.)

Is this a new book?
No.  Peacemaker is the same book that was published by Intermix back in 2014.  However, it was only published in ebook format at that time, and so the print version is a new beastie.

If this isn’t really new, why should I buy it?
If you haven’t read it yet, then duh, buy it.  If you HAVE read it in ebook, technically, there’s no reason for you to buy it again.  However, if you want a print copy, this is your first shot at that.  AND… There is a small teaser at the end of it, the first chapter of the sequel.  So that at least is new material.

When will the sequel be out?
I have no idea.  I haven’t written more than the first couple of chapters of it.  My major goal at this moment is to get JJD6 written and out, and THEN start on the Peacemaker sequel.  Ideally, I could have both JJD6 and AW2 out next year, probably one toward the beginning and one toward the end.  (Don’t hold me to that.  Life happens.)

Where can I get the print version?
You will be able to order through Amazon, as always, and as part of my newest endeavor, your local bookstores can also order copies in.  (Not just a copy for you personally, but ones to have on the shelf!)  Please please PLEASE make sure that your local bookstore knows about it.  I am one person, I do not have a huge publicity department, and that’s where I rely on you!

Where can I get signed copies?
I’m working on this.  Not only for Peacemaker, but for all of my Pirate Ninja Press books.  Ideally, I’d like to partner up with one of the local indie stores here in KC to be able to provide that service, but it’s a work in progress.  HOWEVER…  Because my books are now “order-able” for bookstores, this also means that I COULD do signings again, in bookstores.   I haven’t arranged anything like that, because frankly I’m scared to death to approach these people and have them laugh at me.  But give me time.

I want you to come sign books at MY store, how do we make this happen?
If you have a connection at your local bookstore, by all means, mention it to them and have them reach out to me if they would be willing to host a signing. (kari.stewart21@gmail.com) My travel budget isn’t huge right now, but I am totally willing to see what I can do.

If you have any other questions, feel free to leave them in a comment at the bottom of this post, or even email me if you like.  Hate mail & sexual harassment will be graded and ridiculed publicly.

More Ingram & Other Pleasantries

Tada!!!

All four of my self-published books are now available on Ingram.  This means that your local bookstores & libraries should be able to order them with no problem.  However, this means that YOU have to go ask them to!

If they need specific ISBNs, here they are:

A Snake in the Grass - 9780997950410
A Line in the Sand - 9780997950427
Second Olympus - 9780997950403
The Music Box Girl – 9780997950496

Also, Peacemaker’s official re-release will be on November 1st, but it should be available for pre-order well before then.  I’ll keep you posted on that one!  I’ve seen the rough draft of the cover art, and it is swoon-worthy.  It makes me really want to write the other two books in that trilogy, just so I can see what covers the amazing Robin Ludwig comes up with.

And speaking of writing.  Now that I seem to have the administrative portion of self-pubbing caught up for the moment, I really need to get back to writing.  JJD6 is on my agenda, as is AW2 (the Peacemaker sequel).  And at some point, I should really write something new to get to my long-suffering-but-amazing agent.  I’ve dabbled all summer, but nothing has really taken hold of me.  Hoping I can turn this latest rush of book energy into writing energy.

The Beginning of the End

I’m sitting here on my lunch at the Real Job™, making notes about JJD6.  Just notes.  No actual writing yet, because if I start writing it, then I have to finish writing it at some point in the future.  And then it’s over.

I mean, I always knew it would be over someday.  Jesse’s story has been plotted out, beginning to end, since the first day.  I’ve known since May 20th, 2007 how this would go.  That’s a really long time, when you stop to look at it.  For nine years, I’ve had this guy living in my head.  I feel like I know him just as well as I know any real person in my life.  Maybe better.

How do I say goodbye to that? I have to, of course.  The story ends, like I always knew it would.  I wonder, three years from now, five years from now, will I think “I wonder what Jesse is up to now?” and be tempted to write about him again?  Right now, I have no plans to.  The only thing worse than a story ending is a story dragging out long past its natural life.  No zombie stories here, thank you very much!

Jesse’s been good to me.  Better than I have been to him, that’s for sure.  I have dreams that in some alternate universe, Jesse probably hates my guts for all that I’ve put him through.  But he’s soldiered on, coming out on top against long odds again and again.

All I have to do is start typing the words.  Some of them will be a surprise to me, because even though I know how it goes, I don’t know how it gets there.  Some of them have been floating around in the dark spaces of my brain for nine years.  Once I put them down on paper (on computer screen), they’re out.  There will be a hole in my cranium where they used to be.  There will be a hole where Jesse used to be.

So I make notes, for now.

Because I’m not ready to write it just yet.

Who is The Music Box Girl?

BOOK REVIEWERS!  I will be ordering proof copies of The Music Box Girl within the next few days.  If you want me to reserve you a print copy, email me at kari (dot) stewart21 (at) gmail (dot) com.  If you’d rather have an ebook copy, I can make that happen too, just let me know what format you want it in.  (sorry, folk, I can't just hand out books to everyone who asks.  You need to have an actual book review site before I can give up my proof copies)

Thus far, you can pre-order the ebook here:
Kindle
Nook
iBooks
Kobo

The print copy will be released approximately a week prior to the ebook release (which is April 26th), so that everyone can be reading it on release day!

Any questions?

The Nuts and Bolts

First things first, thanks to everyone who purchased Second Olympus during my birthday sale!  I hope everyone loves it (or at least doesn't want to throw tomatoes at me). Once again, I beg,implore,grovel at your feet to PLEASE post reviews to places like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  The number of reviews a book has (doesn't matter if they're good, bad, or indifferent) dictates which books get picked up by the system for things like "If you liked this book, you might also like THIS one!" which can bring me to new readers.  The general rumor is that 50-ish reviews is the golden spot for being included in the system algorithms, and you'll note that not a single one of my books has that many reviews on Amazon.  Love an author?  Leave a review.

Secondly, A Line in the Sand, better known as JJD5, is now available for preorder!  Ebook only, of course, because preordering the print copy isn't something that's available at this time.  The release date is currently January 23rd (bonus points if anyone can guess why), so I'll try to have the print copy released prior to that, so that we can all hopefully be reading on the release date.

Kindle
Nook
Kobo
iTunes

Now, you might be saying "But why is there no cover art?  We want a cover!"  Well, yes, so do I.  Very very much, in fact.  But, things have to go in a certain order when designing a cover, so I'll gladly bore you with excessive details.

Pick up the book nearest to you.  Look at the spine.  Most likely, the cover of the book has a front piece, a back piece, and a spine piece.  Well, the front and back covers will always be the dimensions you designate.  For example, my self-pubbed JJD covers will be 5x8.  The spine dimensions, however, are determined by how thick the book is.  More pages = thicker book = wider spine.  Everything has to fit just so to line up with the edges of the book.  So, you can't begin designing a print book cover without knowing how many pages your book has, first.

Look!  Visual aids!

So where does that leave me?  Well, last night I finished making editing notes on JJD5. Some were handwritten new paragraphs, others were things like "Awkward sentence", or "re-order" or "WTF?".  My next step is to start typing all those changes into the actual Word doc that is my manuscript.   Once that's done, I can copy/paste the document into a template that will become my print book file.  I have to decide all about the front-of-the-book material, and if I want to include pages at the back from any of my other books, that sort of thing.  Only when that is ALL done, and I can get a final page count, do I then request my cover from my cover artist.

I'm hoping to have the edits all done by the 16th at the VERY latest.  That was the deadline I gave myself, and getting it done sooner would make me do a happy dance.  I'll probably spend a couple of days (or three, or four) getting the print copy formatted and prepped, and then I'll email about the cover.  I'm pushing the time limit to get everything set for a January 23rd release date (all final files have to be uploaded by January 13th at the very latest), but I'm way behind where I wanted to be originally anyway, and I hate to drag it out any longer.

In the meantime, while we wait, I give you my Christmas Groot.

Five Years In

On July 6, 2010, A Devil in the Details released.  Over the past few weeks, I've been contemplating what it means to be five years into my publishing adventure.

Of course, to say that I'm five years in is probably inaccurate.  Prior to the actual release of Devil, there was the whole getting the sale, and before that, there was getting the agent, and before that, there was the writing... And it seems like I've been writing SOMEthing forever. 

So where am I now?  I'm on my second agent, I have six books published (four traditional, two self).  I've written quite a few other books in the spaces in between.  Jotted down ideas for a LOT more than that.  I'm obviously not rich and drinking mai tais on a beach somewhere. (does anyone know what a mai tai actually is? I've never had one)  I've changed Real Jobs once, in the interim. My kiddo went from seven years old, to twelve. (a teenager soon, wtf?  Who allowed that?)  I went from seeing my ten-year anniversary with hubby, to my fifteen.

Not sure I'm where I wanted to be (see aforementioned beach and mai tais), but I also think that my wishes and expectations were based on a misconception of what this whole "being an author" thing is really like.  The journey I've been on so far is actually fairly typical, from what I've been given to understand in the time since.  Very, very few of us get the Big Sale and go on to Fame and Fortune and Movie Deals. I have to remind myself of that on the days when I've slipped down the hill into "why bother land".

In all honesty, I can't complain about where I am. My stories are in the hands of so many people that I don't even know.  People are living in my worlds, even if just for a little bit, and that's really all I could ever ask for.  I think about this a lot, especially as Jesse's story is slowly reaching its end.   Even though I know how the story ends (and a little bit about what happens after the big finale), I'll miss running around in Jesse's world.  I wonder if other people will do the same.  I wonder if they'll be willing to follow me into new worlds.  I have plans for the Arcane West world.  Caleb and Ernst are waiting patiently for me to get back to them.  I have plans for new worlds, amazing worlds.  I want to visit space, I want to adventure in dustbowl era Kansas.  I might revisit Elysia, sometime in the future, to check on Geoff and Lia. 

I'm looking forward to writing another post like this in another five years.  They say (y'know, "they") that the ten-year mark is when an author really starts to have a career.  Not sure I believe it, but the only way to find out is to keep moving forward.

So I guess maybe what happened in the last five years is not so important as what might be coming in the next five.  Stick around, you'll probably be as surprised as I will.

Gooey Sticky Syrup

I suppose by now that it’s pretty clear that I’m not gonna hit the March 24th release date for Second Olympus. Well, it was worth a shot.

The good news is, the cover art is still in progress, and that’s really the only thing I’m waiting on.  Once I get that, I can hit the button and get this ball rolling.  Still hoping to give it a “pre-order” period, even if just for a couple of week.  Still hoping to have this out in April, but no promises, and no set date.

Other than that, I’m just plodding along.  Got that feet stuck in thick syrup feeling, lately.  I’m making progress, but it’s slow and steady, rather than abrupt and thrilling/terrifying.  Truthfully, I’m not sure which is better.  Patience is not one of my favorite things, but neither is abject terror.

Folks are getting antsy about JJD5. Trust me, it’s coming. I pick at the outline now and then when I need a break from MMwD, and this morning, I actually wrote down the first few paragraphs of a chapter just so they’d quit taking up room in my head.  Goal is still to have this one out and available this year, though not sure just when.  Won’t be a summer release like the others, but I feel like that’s not so important in the big scheme of things.

Nothing else going on but life in general. As it happens to all of us.  (well, most of us, I guess. I don’t discriminate against the undead)

Another Year

If possible, I’m actually getting worse about maintaining this blog.

SO, where am I, and what am I doing?

First off, Snake has done very well since its release. (at least, in my mind) Well enough that I am wholly encouraged about self-publishing more things in the future, not just the JJD books. I fully admit, though, every time I see a sale pop up in my report, I do a little happy dance. That’s never going to get old.

 My intention is to have Muse available in the coming spring (though I’m pondering a title change, I’ll keep you posted). It’s a story I dearly love that I just don’t think is ever going to find a traditional home. I’ll have some fun stuff to go along with it when I get close to releasing it, as it’s one of the few books I have that actually has a soundtrack.

And JJD5 I’m still pondering for fall next year, but considering that I haven’t actually started writing it yet, that’s a moving target. On the upside, I’ve finalized titles for the last two JJD books, so that’s one less thing on my brain. No, I’m not going to tell you yet, because final is only truly final when it’s on the cover.

 “But, what about Ernst?” you cry. “Don’t you love Ernst anymore???” Of course I love Ernst. How can you not love Ernst? But right now, I feel like I need to finish at least ONE series before I worry about the next one. Especially when I still feel like I need to alternate writing for myself (self-published) and writing to try to sell traditionally. On that note, once I get JJD done, and AW (which is only intended to be a trilogy), I’ll be seriously considering self-pubbing my Otherkind series as well. Only have the first book of that done, but there are more in my brain, and since urban fantasy seems to be flagging a little in the traditional market, self-pubbing may be the way to go with that one too.

At the very least, I’m hoping to have those two books out in 2015, then maybe try to get AW2 & JJD6 out in 2016 (gods, it’ll be weird to say goodbye to J & Co.), and then AW3, OK1 in 2017. This is all barring any other book sales I might make between now and then, and since the Lovely Agent is currently shopping something around, it’s entirely possible.

So if I’m not working on JJD5 or AW2 right now, what am I working on? Funny you should ask. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you’ve seen me use the hashtag #MMwD. I don’t have an actual title for this bizarre thing I’m fiddling with, but in my brain, I’m calling it “Mad Max with Dragons”. You could also call it the bastard love child of “Reign of Fire” and “Book of Eli”. In short, I’m not sure what the hell I’m doing, but the words keep coming, so I’m just rolling with it. I’ve honestly lost the ability to even tell if this thing is any good. In fact, I’m about 90% sure it’s not any good. I’m about 40K words into it, which would be half a novel, but I have a feeling that this is going to be longer than my normal 80K goal.

And that’s my life in a (very large, rather disjointed) nutshell.

Feel free to ask any questions, or point and mock, or berate me on my treatment of magical jackalopes.

The Definitive List

All right, now that things have settled a bit, here is the definitive list of places where you can buy A Snake in the Grass.

Print Edition
Amazon
Createspace
Barnes & Noble

E-Book
Kindle
Nook
Kobo
iTunes
Smashwords

So...how's it going?  Not too bad.  I've already sold enough to recover my costs, so at the very least, I can seriously consider self-pubbing the next two in the series and not take a loss at it.  And truthfully, if I made even a $1 profit, I was going to continue on.  I need to finish it, for Jesse.

How can you help?  Buy the book, obviously, and tons of you are already doing that.  Tell your friends if you love the series. See if they might love it too.  And leave reviews at Amazon, at Barnes & Noble.  Even if the book wasn't your cuppa, leave a review and say that.  Reviews help drive a lot of the algorithms that make books pop up in the "Hey, if you liked that, you may like THIS" recommendations, which can get JJD in front of people who may never have heard of it before.  

And in the meantime, I will be trying to work on something else.  ANYthing else.  Ugh.  I have an old project, Muse, that I'm revisiting, with an eye to self-pubbing it too in the future.  My lovely agent has given me a wishlist of things she'd love to see, so I'm trying to bang out new ideas there.  And of course, I have JJD5 looming on the horizon.  It needs an outline at the very least.

My problem with all of these choices is that it's too much. How to I focus on one task when...ooh, shiny!  Hopefully, something will settle with me soon, and then I can get my butt in gear.

The Home Stretch

First of all, I wanted to note that I got a lot of emails from a bunch of you during the time that I was transitioning jobs, and you were all wishing me good luck and other awesome stuff. I wanted to thank you all, even though I didn’t reply to all the emails, ‘cause they really made my day.

And since you were all so interested… Yes, the New Job is going great. I really like it there, and the environment is (so far) so much healthier than where I was before. Now, all work places have their issues, and I’m sure I’ll figure out the ones that pertain to the New Job eventually, but for right now, I’m just basking in the novel idea that I’m not ANGRY all the time. It’s wonderful.

So, that brings me to my Other Job, which is writing.

My status on JJD4 is thus: Right now, I have edited it to the best of my (and my betas’) ability. I have also given myself a crash course in both ebook formatting, and formatting for CreateSpace (Yes, this means that there WILL be a print copy of JJD4 available. More on that in a minute.). The formatting process is not nearly as confusing as I feared, and I’m actually feeling pretty damn proud of myself. I’m trying so hard to make sure that you, the Reader, get a quality product.
So what happens next? Once I get the final formatting done (ie: number of pages set in stone for the print copy), I will be sending this to my cover artist. Then, I’m subject to her schedule. I don’t know what that timeline will look like, but I’m hoping to have things to her by this weekend. (Y’know, barring alien abduction or other natural disasters) She, however, is a really awesome artist, and I will assume much in demand. I gotta wait my turn just like everybody else, but I think it’s going to be worth it.

Once I have the cover art from her, I can start to get things ready for public consumption. The FIRST thing I want to do is order myself a few proof copies of the print version, just to make sure that it’s not horrendous.

What this means for you, if you are a book reviewer: I have decided that I will be using those proof copies as ARCs, for those reviewers who would rather have it in print than ebook. IF this is you, Mr. or Ms. Reviewer, please let me know ahead of time at kari.stewart21@gmail.com so that I can try to make sure I have enough. I may not be able to accommodate all requests, but I’m going to give it a valiant effort. (I also realize that my ARC vs. release date schedule may be too tight for some reviewers to actually read the book/post a review prior to release. This is OKAY! I’m more interested in getting it reviewed at all, than the timing.)

If you are NOT a book reviewer, I will also probably work up some giveaways pre-release date, so do not despair.

And speaking of release dates. I’ve been saying all along “Summer 2014”. Still hoping that’s going to work, don’t see a decent reason why it shouldn’t. Like I said earlier, I’ll know more once I can do my part and get everything to my cover artist that she needs. That said, I will say that I’m going to shoot for an EXTREMELY TENTATIVE (note the use of extreme caps, there) release date of July 8th. This will be subject to change, if required. (and mostly, I picked that date because I already have that week off from the Real Job, and it seemed fortuitous.)

Now, the process of getting books, both print and e-version, out and available for purchase is not an instantaneous “Push the button, Max” kind of process. I will actually probably start navigating that maze a week or two BEFORE my actual release date. This means that on some platforms, you may see the book available earlier, and on some platforms, it may get there later. I can’t control when retailers update their systems. However, we will plan on at least celebrating the release on July 8th, pending necessary adjustments. I’ll keep you all posted.

Wow, this was a lot of info. I think part of the reason I needed to write this post was to just get it all out of my head so I have room for other stuff!

Which brings us to the last and final tidbit of info, a reward for all of you who actually read this entire post and didn’t do a TL;DR. (Yes, I totally just pulled a Marvel and put the good stuff after the credits)

The title of Jesse James Dawson #4 is going to be A SNAKE IN THE GRASS.

Tell all your friends.

As The Year Turns

And what a year it's been.

I'm looking back on all my grand plans, trying to figure out if I should be disappointed in myself for not meeting all my goals, or satisfied with what I DID get done.

Suffice to say, I wanted to be done with Jesse #4 by now.  I'm not.  The last two months has been a total wash, though I will say that I think I've made a brainstorming breakthrough and I'll be starting back up with the writing again probably as soon as I finish this post.  I'm so very close, if I can just get over this little bump.  I know how it ends, I just have to get there.

I fully admit, my writing was a victim of stress in other areas of my life.  I know that I've mentioned my Real Job(tm) before.  Well, for the last....oh, probably two years, if I'm being honest...I've not been happy with the Real Job(tm).  In fact, I've been scrambling to get clear of there.  Sadly, I'm not in a position where writing full time is feasible, financially, so getting clear of one job requires a new job.  And in the industry where I work, that's easier said than done right now.

However, over the last three months, I managed to apply/interview/finally get hired at a new place!  I'm simultaneously thrilled and terrified.  I mean, I worked at my old job for eight and a half years.  It's been a while since I had to get all dressed up and go make new friends.  But it'll be fine.  It has to be.  At the very least, it can't be any worse.

So, last day at the Old Job was yesterday, and my first day at the New Job is Monday.

New Job schedule is slightly different (Old Job started at 7 a.m., New Job starts at 8:30 a.m.), but I think I'm going to parlay that into some early morning writing time.  I recall that when I was working on The Musicbox Girl, my Saturday mornings were very productive.  No one in the house is up, it's quiet, I'm not exhausted...  It sounds worth a try.

Also, I find it very poetic that the winter days were getting darker right up until I quit the Old Job, and now when I start the New Job, the days will be getting lighter.  Happy Solstice, everyone!

So.  Goals for the new year:

January - Finish JJD#4, get it out to betas.  I'm about 30K words from the end of a first draft.  Once the holidays are past, I'm going to buckle down and knock this thing out.

January 21st - Peacemaker release.  Advance reviews are trickling in so far, and people seem to like it!  This makes me happy.  It's a fun little story, not intended to change the world, and I hope people enjoy it.  I should probably come up with some promotion events centered around that, but honestly I'm a bit tapped out of ideas given the absence of actual physical copies.  So if anyone has a thing they want me to do, let me know!

February/March - I will be revising The Musicbox Girl per my Lovely Agent's advice.  Kinda looking forward to getting my hands back into this story.  I will also be hopefully assembling beta reader notes on JJD#4 and once MBG is done, go through the Jesse book again.

April - Find an editor & cover artist for JJD#4.  My actual release date for that book will depend on deadlines for these two things.  Starting to look like a summer release for the book, which is apt, since the first three always came out in summer.

Rest of the Year - I want to start outlining/drafting Arcane West #2 (a sequel to Peacemaker).  I also want to start working on a new project that has been driving me nuts called Valkyrie, Inc.  It'll be a little different than some of my other stuff, but it feels like it's going to be fun and I'm excited about it.

Hoping that I can get MBG into a shape where Lovely Agent will want to start subbing it.  She also has Muse to read, and I'm hoping to find out if she wants to try subbing that too, or if I'll be trying to self-pub that one.  Also hoping to make a decision on whether or not to self-pub Night of Fire and Ash, but if I did that, I'd officially have three series going at once, and that way lies madness.  So that one's going to take a bit of thinking.

And of course, once JJD#4 is done, I need to move on to #5.  There will be six Jesse books in the end, and I'm very devoted to finishing the series.  It's just something I need to do at this point.


As we've seen, my best laid plans often go awry, but I like having a starting point from which to veer off dramatically.

Happy Winter-Holiday-Event-of-Your-Choice, and may the New Year be fabulous for us all!

It's all about the tease...

I'm gonna quit apologizing for not updating the blog.  Most of you are stalking me on Twitter & Facebook anyway, right?  (And if not, why not?)

So, what's going on with me?

Well, I'm working feverishly on JJD4, and I'm pretty sure I actually have a title now!  I know, I know, I've said that before, but I've actually started using this one around the house, and I still don't hate it, so I think it's going to stick.  I'll announce it soon, hopefully in conjunction with finishing the first draft of the book.  Don't think I'm gonna make my November 1 deadline, but that's mostly because I should have copy edits coming in on Peacemaker sometime next week, and then I've only got two weeks to turn those around.

(Copy edits are not as fearsome as they sound.  I actually rather enjoy it, and I hope to have them turned around over a single weekend)

Unfortunately, that particular weekend also coincides with some major system upgrades at the Real Job, so it's entirely possible that I may be trapped doing stuff for them too.  Bleh.

Once I get JJD4 done, and Peacemaker copy edits turned in, I'll be returning to The Musicbox Girl to see if I can revise it per my lovely agent's input.  At the same time, I'll be starting the process of getting cover art commissioned for JJD4, and lining up some editing and such so that I don't totally embarrass myself.

Hm...let's see, I feel like I was supposed to do something else...

Oh wait, that's it!

Speaking of cover art...  Here's Peacemaker!

(Yes, I totally made you read all the way through my blog post to get to see the cover.  I am bad, and I should feel bad.)

Peacemaker will be out January 21, 2014, and is available for preorder now.  Remember that it's going to be an ebook-only thing first, and then if I have enough sales, they'll think about doing it in print.

It always feels more real once there's a cover...

The Latest and Greatest

Once again, my lack of posting astounds even me.  In my defense, though, I've been working.  Like, actual writing working, not Real Job working (though I've been doing that too)

So, what's been going on?

Well, I took the entire month of June to do edits on Peacemaker, and turned those in two whole days early.  Go me!  And just this week, I got an email back from my wonderful editor saying that those revisions have been accepted, so Peacemaker's almost a finished product, and that's a bit of stress off my mind.  Granted, I've never had revisions NOT accepted, but a little part of me is always fearful that she's going to come back and say "this is the suckiest thing in the history of sucky things that suck, do it over".

Right now, I'm working on JJD4.  I'm about 11K words into it, which doesn't seem like very much, 'cause it isn't.  But I've been writing almost every day, even if it's just a little bit, and I'm really starting to sink back into the world again.  It's kinda comfy there, like a big pillow.  A big, fluffy, demon-infested pillow.

I'm still struggling with a title for it.  I thought I had one, months ago, but the more I think about it, the less I like it, so it's back to the drawing board.  Figure, if I'm self-publishing it, I can come up with a title whenever I feel like it, right?

Been learning a lot about self-publishing over these past few months, too.  It's starting to not feel as daunting as it once did.  Ideally, if I can stick to my own self-imposed timeline, I hope to have JJD4 up and functional by March.  All of this contingent on me actually finishing it, of course, and cover art & editing schedules.  My intention is to do ebook on pretty much all platforms, and maybe do a print edition through Amazon's Createspace.  It won't be the same size as the first three books, because they don't offer a mass-market paperback size, and I fully admit that this makes me a little crazy.  They're supposed to match, dammit! Ah well, we take what we can get.

My lovely agent has read The Musicbox Girl, and given me some really great revision notes on it.  She's completely right in everything she said, I just have to wrap my brain around how to fix it.  Right now, that's not going to happen, because I'm trying to work on JJD4, and quite frankly, the writing is different enough that trying to do both at once might scramble my last two brain cells.

I've also sent Muse to the lovely agent, mostly to see if it's something she'd be interested in trying to sell, or if I should just start pondering self-publishing that too.  Honestly, I read through parts of it again, and the whole thing still gives me chills.  It's still one of the best things I've ever written (in my admittedly warped mind) and I'd like to see it available someday.

And, in case you missed it, Peacemaker is up for pre-order on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  It's also up on Goodreads, if anyone wants to add it to their to-read list. No cover art yet, of course, but I'm hoping soon.  Do you realize that we're actually less than 6 months away from release on that one already??  Time flies when you're having fun.

Remember, Peacemaker will be ebook only at first.  If sales are good enough, they may release it in print later.  I've had several people lament that they don't have a Kindle or a Nook or whatever, but remember if you have a smart phone or a computer, the Kindle app is a free download, and you can read my book right on your phone!

So, current timelines are looking like this:
Autumn 2013 - copy edits on Peacemaker (actual deadline unknown)
November 1 - finish JJD4
Nov/Dec - editing & cover art for JJD4, and revising MBG
January 21, 2014 - Peacemaker release!
Jan/Feb/Mar 2014 - drafting Arcane West #2?
March-ish 2014 - JJD4 release!
Summer 2014 - drafting JJD5?

After that, everything's a moving target.  Heck, half the stuff ON the list is still a moving target.  Ah well.  This is the good life, right?

Goals Revisited

I got to looking at my goals post from way back when, and y'know, I'm really not so horribly off track.

Goal 1 - Finishing Night of Fire and Ash. Check.

Goal 2 - Write JJD4 - temporarily on hold

Goal 3 - Speak at RT.  Done!  Love love loved it.

Goal 4 - Choose/write a new project - well, I kinda DID that already, with The Musicbox Girl, so that one's done, just out of order.

Goal 5 - Publish JJD4 - Still a goal, just pushed back a bit further than originally thought.

So really, what does the rest of my 2013 look like?

Peacemaker - My edits on Peacemaker are due July 1st, assuming of course that I get my edit letter in good time. (I feel pretty safe making that assumption)

JJD4 -  Come July 1, provided that Peacemaker is turned in on time, JJD4 becomes my priority.  Planning on having it done by November 1.  Four months should be sufficient enough time.  After that, I want to spend November/December getting it edited and the cover design and formatting done in preparation for hitting the button to make it live.

And holy cow,that brings me into 2014 already.

At some point in January (don't know the precise date yet), Peacemaker will hit.  Kinda want to spend the month of January dealing with that, but I also want to spend it plotting out the second Arcane West novel.  My current plan with that series is a trilogy, but who knows?  Never say never or something.

Spring of 2014 could conceivably be spent writing AW2, and pimping JJD4 with a spring release.  Then, JJD5 will need to start being a thing, and... I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

And just like this year, my best laid plans could come to a screeching halt due to unexpected (but hopefully still good) events.

It feels good, though, to have a plan.  It may not even be a great plan, but at least it's a plan.

Naughty Secrets!

I find it hard to put posts up here when I don't have news, and I find it even harder to put posts up here when I have news but I'm not allowed to TELL anyone yet!!!  Argh!!!

Suffice to say, I have news, but I can't tell you.  Neener.  Hopefully, in the next few weeks, I'll get the okay to explain.  Most likely mid-to-late April.

In the meantime, I keep chipping away at The Musicbox Girl.  It's actually going really well!  This week alone, I've written almost 5,000 words, and that's just on my one-hour lunch breaks at the Real Job(tm).   Part of that comes from having a really solid outline.  I got lucky with this one.  (Now I just have to hope that it's actually as awesome on paper as I'm thinking it is.)  I'm almost to the halfway point, both storywise and word-count-wise.  It's always so nice when those two things match up.  Nothing worse than getting to your halfway point in the story, and realizing that you're only like 10K words into the book.  Oops. 

My goal is still to have this done before the RT Convention at the beginning of May.  I wanna go into the con with nothing to do for a few days but hang out with some other writer friends that I've never actually met in real life, and just be writerly and social. 

After RT, my plan, once again, is to go back to JJD4, though I know of a few things that are going to delay me, probably through the last part of June. (further explanation forthcoming once I get permission.  See above.)  I know now that I can't get JJD4 published this year, not if I want it to be the best that it can be, but I am hoping early in 2014. 

It's driving me nuts that I'm going to go all of 2013 without having a book out.  I feel like I'm going to turn invisible and just fade away from people's memories, and then no one will care what book I have out next, or IF there's a book out next.  I know it's not entirely true, but it's making me antsy.

I kinda feel like the end of the Breakfast Club, "Don't you forget about me...!"

Yeah, I'm that old.

((The title is totally a WoW reference, btw, and nothing to do with anything actually naughty.  Though, I'm interested to see what kind of spambots hit me up for this one))

Do you hear the sound of screeching brakes?

Just when I think I know what the heck I'm doing, it all goes wonky on me.

Here I was, just working on JJD4, minding my own business... Got some words in, got a great idea for a new first chapter...  Starting to really get back into the swing of Jesse's brain again.

And then I get the little "bing!" on my phone that says I have email.

Well who could that be, says I?

It's my lovely agent!  She's lovely!  This is why I call her my lovely agent!

The email was in regards to The Musicbox Girl.  ((Previously, on "This is my life", I sent the first three chapters of The Musicbox Girl to my lovely agent who is lovely, because she liked the idea so much.  /end flashback))  Judging by the amount of all capital letters and imperative commands to finish this right now!, I think she likes it.

So once again, JJD4 is on hold.

While I am thrilled that my lovely agent who is lovely is so excited about my new project, I also feel a bit guilty for continually pushing Jesse to the wayside.  Poor guy.  He's gonna develop a complex.

Needless to say, this is going to toss any semblance of personal deadlines I had RIGHT out the window.

Ah well.  We improvise.

Because I like to tease you...

Several things going on right now.

First off, I got the chapters of The Musicbox Girl delivered to my amazing agent last week.  She hasn't had time to read them over yet, but I hope when she does that they're all she imagined them to be. (Prior to this, she'd only seen my notes on the idea, which are admittedly rambling and disjointed.  Seriously, someday, I'll post some of my notes files on novels for you guys to see, and you will marvel at how I ever managed to make it into something coherent.)

Second off, I was supposed to switch to working on JJD4 this week, but so far I've only managed to finalize what I think the title is going to be.  Letting it percolate in my brain a bit, and when I'm sure, I may go ahead and commission the cover art, so that I could debut that at the RT Convention in May.  Thinking, maybe having some bookmarks or something to give away with the new cover on it.  (would probably do some kind of giveaway here too, for those of you who can't come to RT obviously)  If any of y'all have any ideas in that area about swag you'd like to have, let me know!  I'm new to this end of the authoring.

Third off, there's been some other movement on other things this past week.  Can't tell you anything, because officially, nothing has happened yet.  But I've made some crucial decisions, and I'm really feeling pretty good about them.  Can't wait until I can fill you all in on the details.

Back to JJD4:  I had said previously that I had about 7K words done on it, but as I started reading back through things, I realized that what I have as the current chapter 1 just isn't going to work.  My first chapters are always flashbacks of some kind, and while the one I was writing is good, and pertinent, it's just not going to work out.  I think I'll finish it anyway, and probably post it as a freebie closer to time to release JJD4.  Just something to whet the appetite.

So, that knocks me back down to about 5K words.  Not a big blow, but less than I'd had.  Real life keeps interfering with my writing time, so this week has largely been a bust.  I'll have to make it up as I go.  Still want this done by May 1 (new revised deadline), before RT.  That's the point where I'll have to start figuring out paying for editing, etc.

I will say, the self-publishing concept still really intimidates me, but I think it's going to be like so many other things in life.  Once I get through it, it's going to be way better than I'd feared, and I'll never understand why I was so anxious about it in the first place.

To-Do List

To-Do List

I haven’t written anything substantial in…oh…probably a year.  Probably since I turned Wolf in way back in August of ’11.  I’ve done revisions, I’ve done edits, I’ve dribbled and drabbled here and there, but I haven’t sat down to actually write anything new.  Mostly because I have been so torn up over whether the series would be continued, and then knowing that it wouldn’t, and… Bleh.  Mental anguish takes a toll on the creative process.

However.  It is now time for me to get off my ass.  So, with that as my goal, here is the list of things I would like to accomplish, in no particular order or priority.

Finish A Night of Fire and Ash:  This book is actually about 3 chapters from being complete.  It was actually my Nano project clear back in ’09 (dear gods, really that far back?) and if The Editor is considering publishing it, she’s gonna want an ending.  They like endings.  But even if I just take what I have now and tack the last three chapters on the end, it’s going to end up way shorter on word count than I’m happy with.  So in addition to finishing it, it needs a complete revision.  Recently, I did a revision on the first three chapters, and I’m really happy with that.  I just need to continue from that point, and then jump into the last three chapters when I get there.  Estimated completion date:  Ideally, I’d like this done by the end of the year, so that I can jump into Book 4 of JJD at that point.

Write Book 4 of JJD:  I currently have about 7K words written on this.  If I start my concerted efforts on January 1, I would need to write approximately 24K words a month to finish it by my self-assigned deadline of April 1^st and a word count of 80K.  That’s 6K words a week, or 857 words a day on a 7-day writing week.  (for a 5-day writing week, ‘cause I like weekends just like anybody, it works out to 1,200 words a day)  Barring any unexpected divergences (ie: stopping to do revisions on a sold book), this should be an easily accomplished task.  Estimated completion date:  April 1^st.

Speak at the RT Convention:  Toward the beginning of May, the RT convention will be here in KC, and I’m slotted to speak on a panel.  I will also be signing books at the huge book signing thingy that they do, and I’m really, really looking forward to it.  It’ll be my first con!  Feel free to locate me and ask my opinion on local barbecue.  Since I imagine that JJD 4 will still be with beta readers at this point, it’ll be a good chance for me to stop, catch my breath, and make more concrete plans for the rest of the year.

Choose a brand new project:  Like I said, I haven’t written anything in over a year.  Nothing I would consider “new”.  So one thing I’d like to do this coming year is to get started on creating something new.  My main potentials are probably a sequel to NoFA, or a sequel to Peacemaker, or maybe, just MAYBE, I might actually go back to The Pugilist and the Alchemist.  A good friend has been helping me hash out the details of that one over the last year, and I finally feel like I’m in a place where I could actually write it.  Estimated completion date:  No idea.  Mostly, I want to do this to at least get me started on creating again.  Whether I complete it this year is up for grabs, especially since at some point, JJD 5 will have to become a priority (and taking into consideration that I may have other books under contract by then)

Get JJD 4 published:   Still not sure what I’m going to do here, precisely.  The way things are going, I’m leaning more toward putting an ebook out first, and then trying to get a paperback in the works a little later.  A lot of it’s going to depend on money, and whether or not I’m brave enough to try the whole Kickstarter thing.  Estimated completion date:  Um…not sure.  But, theoretically, if I can get the type of editing I want on it, and get a good cover created, let’s shoot for the end of 2013.  Don’t hold me to that, folks, I’m just kinda throwing out wishes here.

When you look at it all laid out like that, 2013 looks like a pretty damn busy year.  You have to keep in mind that I’ll be doing all this at the same time that I work a 40-hour week, with an hour of commute time, and then cook/clean/do all the things required to raise a pre-teen daughter.  Oh, and I gotta fit sleep in somewhere.

I can do it.  I’ve done it before.  I just gotta get off my ass.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

So.

Been needing to write up this blog post for some time, and kept putting it off.  Partly because I didn’t want it to overshadow Wolf’s release, and mostly because… Well, once you write it, it’s true.  I think Doctor Who said something like that.  Reading it makes it a fixed point in time.

A lot of you have been asking about the future of the JJD series (mostly involving statements like “You can’t leave him like that!!!”)  Even my own grandmother called me up the other night to tell me that exact thing.  Some of you, I’ve even lied to your face when you asked, because it wasn’t a discussion I was able to have at that moment.  (I’m truly sorry about that)  I’ve known about this for several months, you see.

Well, the sad news is, Roc has decided that my sales aren’t good enough to continue publishing the series.  They’re not even good enough to consider a digital-only option.  So, the JJD series with Roc is ended.

I’m disappointed, naturally, but I also feel like I’ve let a lot of people down.  There are a ton of fans who have become so invested in Jesse and Axel and the rest of the weirdos that I love so much.  Part of me knows that sales are what sales are, and there’s a limited amount I can do about it.  The other part keeps wondering what I could have done better, sooner, to get the word out, to get more people to buy.

Every day, it seems, I hear from someone who had never heard of Jesse before, and I keep thinking, dang, if you’d have heard of it two years ago when the first one came out, maybe I wouldn’t be in this position.  Maybe…what if… mighta could.  Y’know how it is.

But.

Two other pieces of news for you on the subject. 

First, I have NO intention of leaving Jesse in this state.  I need three more books to finish up the series the way I want to.  I’ve already started writing book 4.  My intention is to look into self-publishing the last three, possibly funded with a Kickstarter project early next year.  I’m still researching all the details and such.  There would be quite a bit involved with publishing this book the way I want to see it published, and the way I think you all deserve to see it published.

So, since I have no official deadline, and no one to answer to, you guys are now my conscience.  My goal is to have Book 4 written (and titled) by April 1st (barring any unforeseen circumstances which I shall discuss below).  After that, I’ll need to really start putting things in motion regarding a Kickstarter project, rewards for contributors, that sort of thing.  (cover design, editing, ISBN numbers, the list goes on and on.) I’ve learned a lot in the last few months regarding all that goes into self-publishing things the right way, and it’s way harder than I ever realized.  Makes me appreciate all that my actual publisher does even more.

And speaking of, the next bit of news:

My editor at Roc still wants to work with me (and I still want to work with her, ‘cause she’s awesome and I love her).  So at the moment, she has both Peacemaker and a few chapters of A Night of Fire and Ash sitting on her desk.  We’re still in the discussion stage, not in the “official offer” stage, but I’m 90% sure you’ll be seeing a new series from me in the future.  Most likely, expect to see an ebook first, then if sales warrant, a print book later on.  The more I talk to other authors in my genre, the more this seems to be the norm.

(And frankly, seeing how my ebook sales have gone since the release of Wolf, I’m starting to understand why.  Ebooks are really becoming a thing!)  ((Yes, I know this makes me sound old.  Get off my lawn.))

Right now, I’m back at the “hurry up and wait” phase of the publishing game.  Authors spend way more time here than you folk know, even after they have an agent, and a contract under their belt.

Signing Announcements!

As I've been teasing on various social media outlets, I have a few signings set up for this fall and the release of A WOLF AT THE DOOR. Well, ok, I have two set up (so far). But it's more than one, so we'll call it a few.

The two signings are local (to me) but I'm still exploring the idea of...well...exploring. Sadly, the whole mom-&-real-job schtick doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room, but I'm checking into a few things.

So here we are! (And yes, I know this is WAY advance notice, and yes, I will be reminding everyone as the time draws near. Probably to an annoying degree)

August 11th, 2012
Saturday, 12 noon - 3 p.m.
Books-a-Million
The Legends at Village West
1843 Village West Parkway
Kansas City, KS 66111

This one will be doubling as my release party, so once the signing is done, we're probably going to migrate to the Dave & Buster's across the courtyard to have some drinks and munch on stuff, and play video games like kids. No, I'm not buying for everyone, but I would never object to folks hanging out and stuff.

September 8th, 2012
Saturday, 12 noon - ??
Hastings Books
605 N. Belt Highway
St. Joseph, MO 64506

Yes folks, I'm coming home! St. Joseph is my hometown, and I'm hoping to see a lot of folks here who won't make the hour drive down to KC.

I still have to check with both venues on their policy about bringing in books you didn't purchase there, and once I know, I'll update things for y'all. I've been to a few signings (not mine) where it became an issue, and I don't want anyone blindsided.

And that's my big news for the week. I also got page proofs done on Wolf, and turned in, so that pretty baby is officially out of my hands. I'm hoping to see some ARCs in my mail soon, and provided that I have enough, I'll be trying to do a giveaway like I have in the past.

I'll keep you posted!