Progress…

I started working on something really exciting—the edited copy of The Dead, which is book three of my trilogy. I’m not sure if I’ve explained the writing of my trilogy, but I didn’t write it as three books but as one. I had no idea about word count versus page count in publishing and wasn’t really thinking about the amount I was writing. I just wrote. So, you can imagine my surprise when the publisher emailed me that my manuscript was too long to be one book and that I had actually written a trilogy, which meant we split the first manuscript into three parts.

For each book, I have updated, critiqued, changed, enhanced, and just reworked the content before sending the publisher an updated copy. Book three wasn’t any different. I changed two scenes completely as well as added some additional information to a few others. Now, I’m reading through the publisher’s edited, or clean, copy. Once I finish, I will email it back to my publisher. It’s like Christmas when I get the email with my edited manuscript. That feeling of pride in myself is pretty intoxicating, I admit.

While getting the confirmation that my publisher wanted to publish my books was exhilarating and getting these “clean” copies to look over is incredible, I think I get the most excited by the emails from the graphic artist with my book cover proof. My graphic artist is a fantastic artist who has created two drop dead gorgeous covers for me; and I can’t wait to see what she creates for The Dead. I’m impatiently waiting for that email. I know her work will be spectacular.

You know, there’s a lot to this publishing/writing process I never imagined. Some of it is really fun—like what I’m doing now—while some is truly terrifying. (The interviews and book signings come to mind.) Tedious or uncomfortable would be the social media, but seeing my stories fueled by my imagination in print and in the hands of others like my students and my parents is stupefyingly wondrous. How did I do this? The fact that I am a published author and have a third book coming out this year still mind-blowing to me. Some how I did it and that accomplishment is something no one can ever take away from me. But if I want to get this third book out this fall, I should probably return to the “clean” copy and finish my edit. Back to the world of MithTerra one more time.