If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ve probably noticed that I am not always working on the first draft of a new book. Generally, I spend a few weeks writing a new book and then take a few weeks off before writing the next one. What happens after the first draft? What am I doing in the intervening weeks when it looks like there is no activity?
Here is a peek behind the scenes at what I have been working on since finishing the first draft of Making her Mark at the end of April.
Making her Mark is ‘seasoning’. After writing a new book, it goes on the shelf for a month so that I can look at it with fresh eyes to spot any plot holes, continuity issues, missing descriptions, etc. I forget enough about what I wrote in the high-speed first draft to be pleasantly surprised when I read it a month later.
Gem Himself Alone is a title you haven’t seen here yet. This is a book that I wrote some time ago that needed some work. In March, I wrote a fresh ending to it, worked on the title and cover design, and polished it up. Now I am doing a careful proof and will look at my production schedule to choose the best time to publish it.
In the Tick of Time is my next book to be published. It has been through beta reading and is now out with my editor for final proofing. I need to finish setting it up on the various platforms and doing final formatting when I get it back. It will be out in a couple of weeks.
Like Gem, Running Out is another older book that I have been whipping into shape. It still needs some work on story arc, what to leave in and what to take out, and whether it will be one book or two. But it’s getting there!
In March, I released a collection of stand-alone novels with girls as the protagonists bundled together in one ebook called Dark is Deepest. I have now released a collection of stand-alone novels with boys as the protagonists bundled together in one ebook called A Single Soul. These are great products for promos and people who want to save money by buying in bulk!
My Medical Kidnap series is going to be released later this year, and I have just gone through editing the three initial books and reading for continuity throughout the series. They will soon be going out to beta readers.
I like to help out other authors. Here are a couple of covers that I designed for a friend who is printing two books that her English class wrote. I am also helping another right now with managing and formatting his first book for publication.
I have a couple of classics that I am working on getting ready for publication, one this month and one in July.
I have also been working on:
- Promotions – all of my translations are going on sale later this month. I am setting up a new promotion for Questing for a Dream. It may be time to try some Facebook ads again.
- Redesigning my web pages to make it easier to see (and load) all of my works
- Formatting and uploading various works with new aggregators and distributors for wider coverage. This means reformatting various covers and interiors and is tedious work.
- Working on another older, unfinished book that, like Gem, needs a proper ending, title, and cover
- I pulled out an old short story the other day and realized it is close to publishable quality. Maybe it’s time to start publishing some of my shorter works as well! I spent a couple of days editing it, but it needs a title and an ebook cover now.
What is coming in the second half of the year?
- As well as In the Tick of Time the Medical Kidnap series, I have one other book to get published this year. Chloe, the fourth installment of the Between the Cracks series, which is slated to be published in January, will also need to go out to beta readers soon
- I have a couple of ideas for non-fiction books that I am thinking about
- I still have at least two more novels to write this year, perhaps three… or so…
So if I tell you I’m not writing anything new this month, that doesn’t mean I’m not busy!
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