And… it’s still winter,
As the last few days count down in April, the high country is still buried in snow. The good news is that I’ve been able to dig enough of the fence out to (somewhat) confine the puppy. The little black dog might as well have been named “Writer’s Block” for the impact she’s had on my productivity… but she’s a good writing buddy regardless.
So, what’s happening in the world of books? First of course is that I’m continuing to get the word out on “Lockspell”, which released at the end of January, and all the fun marketing and promotion that goes with it. Most of my time has been spent in finalizing the draft of my middle-grade prequel to “The Quickborn Odyssey”, which is currently having an identity crisis when I realized that my previous working title had been taken. The book is out with my editor now, and I’ll make that final call once returned and I do the last polish. Target release date is likely in August or September depending on design availability for the cover work. Overall, this has been an extremely fun book to work on. It is the story of a girl and her brother who travel to Antarctica and inadvertently open a sealed magic chamber that transforms the land, the people, the penguins, and absolutely everything. It’s a whimsical adventure that asks the question of whether it’s a good idea for people to get exactly what they ask for.
With the MG book out for edits, I have moved on to heavy outlining and world building of my next major project. This will also be late middle-grade moving to young adult. I am scheduled to begin a writing sprint on May 1st. The goal is to go start to finish on the first draft without stopping. I’m interested to see how things move with this piece being much more heavily plotted out than I have typically done in the past. I’ll be happy to share the results. I almost pity my protagonist for all the “character building” about to come her way.
One last update is that I’ve been asked to speak at the Crested Butte Center for the Arts “Mountain Words” festival. I’ll be sitting on a panel with the Indie Author perspective on publishing. I look forward to a few days of talking books and writing.
That’s all for now, everyone. Happy reading and happy writing.