Tag: dtf progress

The Bad News

I’ve been trying to find the gentlest way to address this, and–well–there isn’t one, so here’s the thing:

My third book, and the second in the Blood of Ages series, “Divided They Fall”, isn’t going to be ready for the beta draft on the date I originally planned, at the end of September.

Please don’t cry.

I won’t bore you with background as to why this book won’t be ready for deadline. Let’s just say that the story was going in the wrong direction, and fortunately, I picked it up before it reached a stage where I couldn’t fix it. Unfortunately, these wrong directions are not an easy fix. They’re an entire re-write fix…like, all the scenes, everything I’ve been working on for the last twelve months, my precious baby…it’s all got to go.

An accurate representation of me disregarding my ideas.
An accurate representation of me disregarding my ideas.

I know that there are (a handful of) people out there in the world who are waiting for this next book. I know there’s not many of you, but I know you exist, and I appreciate you all hanging around in the first place. I’m asking now that you bear with me.

I can’t give you a date right now, because I’m back in the planning stages of this book. Once I have a solid plan–like, a 100% solid plan this time around–then I’ll have a better idea when you can see this thing.

It’s still coming. I’m still working on it.

Questions and comments (angry or otherwise) can always be directed to my twitter.

I love you all, like very distant cousins.

Kat

Extending Deadlines

Alright, nobody freak out, but I’m pushing back the self-imposed deadline of the first draft of Divided They Fall to mid March.

I have been working on this book more-or-less non-stop since November 2013.

I need a break.

I know people are waiting for this book (which is something that freaks me the fuck out. I mean, I have my usual 3 friends (Muse, Richy, Dee–see there’s actually 3) who ask me when the next one is coming, but now I have Internet friends and relative strangers asking about the next instalment. That kind of thing is just…my mind, it’s boggling at the very idea. The Internet, man. It’s a powerful beast.).

And I am working on it, but the going is slow and painful. And at the rate I’m going, I just can’t see a finished, workable first draft being ready by the end of January.

So to save myself the stress, and to save the alpha readers’ future disappointment, I’ll just come out and say it now: you’re not having a book at the end of the month.

Were I in a traditional publishing environment, I’d have already spent my advance and be crying into dust as my publisher and agent both abandon me by the wayside to be eaten by wolves or whatever.

But I’m not. I’m independently published. I’m my publisher. I’m my agent. I’m my publicist, and my media guru and marketing manager and finance department and customer services representative, and that creepy lady that hangs around the copier making awkward and uncomfortable conversation. And I’ve made a management decision to extend the deadline.

So I’m going to set a new estimated date for the alpha draft (not the beta draft, that will be 6-8 weeks later) by 15th March 2014.

I will be taking a short break from writing in the meantime.

Nothing major. Just a week or two.

I might work on something else (*cough*DARKWING*cough*), or I might just not do anything. I don’t know yet.

Only a week or two.

Then it will be back to the grindstone, shoulder to the wheel, and all the other well-known work phrases I can’t think of right now.

It’s coming.

Patience, my friends. It pays off in the end.

The Magic Spreadsheet, Competitive Word Counts, and Writing Consistency

So I joined The Magic Spreadsheet, which is a community of writers all in agreement to produce a minimum word count every day.

The purpose of the community is to promote consistency and routine, to get (and keep) its writers in the habit of…well, writing.

Also, it provides a little competition–and that can only ever be a good thing, right?

I won’t be posting daily word counts here. Follow the third book’s journey to completion on Tumblr.

The Magic SpreadsheetFirstly, Don’t worry, I know progress tables aren’t that interesting to those not directly involved with them. I won’t post these often, if ever again.

Secondly, The ISBW in brackets by my name is an indicator of how I came across this resource. ISBW stands for the “I Should Be Writing” podcast by Mur Lafferty, which is great for all authors, both published and aspiring.

In other news, I got “From The Ashes” back from the editor the other day with the line edits and a critique.

Good news, there wasn’t too much in dire need of revision.

Bad news, I don’t have much time to make the suggested changes, as I’ll have to order the paperback versions of the Advanced Reading Copies for the Goodreads giveaway before the end of the month.

Eep!