Heather Hayden's Blog, page 15

Ensign’s Log, Entry 32: August Month Map Final Update

Well, the final results are in!

Did I make all of my goals? No. Did I make good progress on them, though? Yes! Will September’s goals be more approachable? Yes!

This is still a learning experience for me, determining what is too much to aim for and what is too little. However, my sister and I recently (read: in the last week) started developing a timeline of deadlines for the next year of writing projects and publications (read: my publications; still sorting out hers though she does have a book in the works!). So I have more concrete goals, and hopefully more doable ones.

Here’s the final month map for August:

And the final rundown for each goal:

Short Story: Revised at least two or three times (I lost count) this month, so this goal was very much completed.

Demon’s Magic: Edited 41/112 pages. Made progress, but will be setting it aside in favor of reworking Demon’s Blade in September. Then I’ll dive back into this book!

Demon’s Soul: Never started. New plan is to polish up Demon’s Blade, then Demon’s Magic, and then rewrite this book entirely, drawing on some things from the original unfinished draft.

Of Beauty Within: Wrote 12,764 words this month. Nowhere near what my goal was, but still decent.

Upgrade: Edited nine out of twenty chapters. Five of those were in one day–I could have definitely finished it before the end of the month…if circumstances hadn’t changed.

What circumstances might that be? Well, I spent the last week or so of August fighting wrist pain, to the point that the last couple days of August I avoided using the computer as much as possible. Today they’re feeling better, so I did some things (a small work-edit job, some critting on Scribophile, and a brief gaming session), but I’m still going to be taking it easy for the next week or two, at least until I no longer have random twinges at times.

This isn’t a chronic thing yet, thankfully, but it does come and go in waves. The summer before last was the worst–I was barely able to pick up my laptop at times. Last summer held a few bad weeks as well. This summer was better. I simply overdid it moving heavy objects one day and that exacerbated the problem.

September’s here, though, and with that comes a fresh start, a new month map, and new resolutions to take care of my wrists, exercise, and most importantly, WRITE.

How did your August goals go? And what are your goals for this September?

Ensign’s Log, Entry 31: New Profile Picture

Early this summer, my sister worked on an art project. I was commandeered as a model, and the resulting painting was so awesome I begged to be allowed to use it as a profile picture.

Because the art project needed to be kept a secret until the start of her school year, I have spent the past few months waiting (im)patiently for the chance to start using the image. This evening I finally got the green light!

I’ve always had trouble finding a decent profile picture for myself. I never look good enough in photographs. Thankfully, I no longer need to worry about it, because I doubt I’ll be changing my profile picture any time soon!

Here’s the beautiful image in all its glory, which has now taken over all of my social media accounts:

Author Interview: Alasdair Shaw

This is the first interview for the Blog World Tour: Science Fiction Edition, previously announced here. Like the Blog World Tour: Fantasy Edition, there’s a prize available for the first commenter to guess my secret posting schedule: a digitally signed ebook copy of Augment or a voucher for a free digitally signed ebook copy of any novel I publish this year or next year. If you think you’ve guessed it, let me know in the comments!

Today’s interviewee is Alasdair Shaw. A fellow science fiction writer, like me he enjoys exploring concepts surrounding artificial intelligence in his stories. I’m delighted to be interviewing him today!

Welcome to my blog, Alasdair. It’s time to begin the interview.

All writers draw inspiration from the worlds around them and inside them, as well as from other writers. It can be conscious or subconscious, but the inspiration is there. Which writers inspire you?

Isaac Asimov, Iain M. Banks, Peter Hamilton, Anne Leckie.

They have all written books that I enjoy. They manage to blend an interesting plot, things to think about, and a good turn of phrase.

They also address similar ideas to those that I cover in my books: artificial intelligence, future space combat, how politics will work once everyone is connected. As Indie is a great reader of books, situations he finds himself in remind him of things he has read. Given the similarities to the experiences of characters such as R. Daneel Olivaw and Justice of Toren, these are referred to in my latest book, Liberty.

When I started the Two Democracies: Revolution series, I imagined it as a society making the first steps towards a civilization akin to the Culture. In that analogy, Indie is the first Mind. Obviously, it is set long after the Culture came into being, and there are significant differences, but it helped me set up Indie’s personality in my head. Thinking about Iain M. Banks’ work also kept me going despite the marmite reaction amongst beta readers to the ship name The Indescribable Joy of Destruction. Whilst some loved it, others complained about the length.

Personally, I love the name! It reminds me a bit of the names you can find on Andromeda (or, for that matter, many different science fiction series, The Chanur Saga being the first to come to mind.) A ship’s name really depends on the culture behind it; some might choose simple single-word names, others might prefer longer ones. *coughs* Right, I should move on to the next question, before I start getting distracted by the analysis of naming conventions. Next question: Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer to just see where an idea takes you?

I have a central plot, and a couple of sub-plots, worked out for a book before I start. In fact, I have a master history worked out from the present day through to hundreds of years after the events of Liberty. This will be covered in several series of books which will make up the Two Democracies canon. Some examples will be Two Democracies: Exodus, Two Democracies: Unification, Two Democracies: Partition, and Two Democracies: Revolution.

However, many of the best things just creep in as I’m writing. I’ve had many wonderful story arcs grow by themselves. I never cease to be amazed when a plot development occurs to me and I find I have already written little spurs that can link into it and embed it within the story.

Sometimes my characters misbehave and do a different thing to what I had intended. I also find that some characters grow from incidental to major. One of the characters we briefly meet in Liberty will be a central one in Equality. Commander Olivia Johnson even reappeared several chapters into Liberty even though I thought I’d killed her off at the end of Independence.

Wow! A master history that long is incredibly impressive. I’ve certainly never approached such a project before, although it’s neat that you have it all planned out. I can understand characters misbehaving, though–mine do that all the time. And often it works out for the better! Even if I do spend the first part of the journey grumbling at said characters… Now, when your characters do misbehave and it feels like all your plans have gone up in smoke, do you have a favorite motivational phrase that keeps you going?

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius

I have that in my head whenever I am going up a particularly steep and long section of mountain path. Once I stop, I find it a lot harder to start again, both physically and mentally. I even avoid sitting down too often when I have breaks for food, as standing up again is tough.

It also applies when I am writing. If I find myself stuck on one piece, instead of staring at the screen I write a different bit. Sometimes I write something completely different, for instance if I am stuck on a science fiction novel I might do a chapter of a physics revision guide. This means I finish the session with a sense of success and the satisfaction of having produced something.

That’s a great motivational phrase! I might borrow for myself as well. I do the same kind of project bouncing–it certainly helps the muse get back into gear (although I bounce between science fiction and fantasy, rather than non-fiction.) You have so many plans for your Two Democracies series–what are your ambitions for your writing career?

Well, the dream would be Hugo award winner and New York Times bestseller. In reality, it would be nice to earn a little extra money to put aside for my children.

I love my main job. I am a physics and computer science teacher, and sharing my passion for those subjects with children is a highly satisfying thing to do on a daily basis. I am also an outdoor activities instructor, specializing in caving, rock climbing, and mountaineering. Writing, whilst a superbly rewarding activity, can never come close to replacing teaching and instructing as a career.

I think many writers share the same dream! It’s wonderful that you enjoy your main job, though. And you’re so lucky your instructing takes you outside! My current job’s all indoors work, not nearly so much fun.

We have time for one more question. Now that we’ve covered your writing ambitions, where do you think publishing will go in the future?

I suspect that a lot of small publishing houses will be squeezed out. The big ones have a lot of power and will always be there to cater for big names and celebrities. Independent publishing is likely to replace the smaller houses.

If nothing else, I hope that vanity publishing dies. A lot of the negative opinions people have about self-published books come from vanity publications, there is certainly an assumption that you are doing it that way because you couldn’t get a traditional house to publish you. Worse still are the companies that prey on would-be authors who don’t know or aren’t confident enough to self-publish. Hopefully, with the rise in positive media coverage of self-pubbing these companies will find it harder and harder to find people to get money out of.

I too have a dislike for vanity publishing and what it entails. Hopefully independent publishers will rise to corner a good portion of the market instead! Between the internet and the ability to try things larger publishing houses might not be willing or able to, indies definitely have a new advantage in the field.

Thank you so much for being here today, Alasdair! I wish you and your stories the best (and will cross my fingers for a Hugo Award in your future.)

Alasdair Shaw grew up in Lancashire, within easy reach of the Yorkshire Dales, Pennines, Lake District and Snowdonia. After stints living in Cambridge, North Wales, and the Cotswolds, he has lived in Somerset since 2002.

He has been rock climbing, mountaineering, caving, kayaking and skiing as long as he can remember. Growing up he spent most of his spare time in the hills. Recently he has been doing more sea kayaking and swimming.

Alasdair studied at the University of Cambridge, leaving in 2000 with an MA in Natural Sciences and an MSci in Experimental and Theoretical Physics. He went on to earn a PGCE, specializing in Science and Physics, from the University of Bangor. A secondary teacher for over fifteen years, he has plenty of experience communicating scientific ideas.

He started his writing career with Walking Through the Past , a series of walking guides to archaeological sites in Britain’s uplands published by Archaeoroutes. He then got into writing physics textbooks, revision guides, and practice exam papers for ZigZag Education and BBOP: School Physics Resources.

The Two Democracies: Revolution science fiction series starts with Independence, and continues with Liberty. The third story, Equality, will hopefully be released in summer 2017, followed by Fraternity the year after.

You can sign up for Alasdair Shaw’s mailing list and see what else he gets up to on his website.

The Two Democracies universe intersects with our own on Twitter and Facebook.

Ensign’s Log, Entry 30: August Month Map–Week 3

There’s a little more color on the map now! And I definitely think that I’m going to be making the dashes much smaller next month. I want to feel like I’m making progress when I am!

So what did I do this past week?

Demon’s Magic: Edited 41/112 pages. Not halfway there yet, but making progress.

Demon’s Soul: Need to finish Demon’s Magic first. I think this project will probably be pushed off until next month, because although I could probably finish editing Demon’s Magic in nine days, there’s no way I could also finish this book.

Of Beauty Within: Wrote 5,921 words. Not quite the full 7k I would have liked, but I was working on Saturday and my family came home Sunday so I was busy. I’m also at 29k total now, and I’m hoping to wrap the story up around 50k. Will it be done this month? Maybe not–but it’ll be much closer to the end!

Upgrade: Edited Chapter One this week. Nineteen chapters to go, provided feedback continues rolling in at a good pace. Going to keep editing as I can.

I also revised the short story for the secret project again, and I think it’s very close to the final draft now.

Also nearing the final draft is Upgrade‘s logline and blurb. When the blurb’s fully polished and ready to present, I’ll be posting about it! Very excited to be getting near the end of this story’s journey. It’s taken longer than expected, but been a lot of fun.

The final update for August will encompass the last nine days of the month, and will probably go live either late on the 31st or on the 1st of September, depending on how worn out I am at that point.

Ensign’s Log, Entry 29: August Month Map–Week 2

This update is again a little late. I almost didn’t post, because as you’ll see in a moment, it looks like I’ve done pretty much nothing this past week.

Yep, no movement in the lines. I should have made the dashes smaller–I’ll keep that in mind for next month’s map!

At any rate, despite the apparent lack of progress, I really have made steps toward my goals for the month. Here’s a rundown:

Demon’s Magic: Didn’t make any progress this week. Shameful, I know.

Demon’s Soul: Need to finish Demon’s Magic first.

Of Beauty Within: Wrote 3,481 words. Yes, that’s less than half of what I should have written, and I’m still behind from my slow start this month, but it’s progress. Just not enough progress to warrant coloring in that second dash.

Upgrade: Still waiting for critiques.

So, why was this week so slow? Well, first of all, I’m trying to catch up on Scribophile critiques right now because I fell a bit behind on some crit trades. There are other critting-related things happening as well.

I only had work-editing one day (my part-time job is online, but a job-by-job thing and often work comes in spurts), but that was Saturday and I was burned out from that on Sunday so those two days–almost a third of my week–were a wash.

On a more exciting note, a few days ago my muse decided to present me with a new, shiny plot bunny. I’ve already written 2,011 words in it (part of that being a brief blurb-y thing that described the idea before it hopped away) and am excited about it–but I’m not going to neglect my current WIPs in favor of this one. Well, not any more than I already have.

In conclusion, I did make progress, and I’m pleased with that. I hope to see better progress during Week 3. Expect another update sometime after the 21st (hopefully not as late as the last two have been.)

Ensign’s Log, Entry 29: August Month Map-Week 2

This update is again a little late. I almost didn’t post, because as you’ll see in a moment, it looks like I’ve done pretty much nothing this past week.

Yep, no movement in the lines. I should have made the dashes smaller–I’ll keep that in mind for next month’s map!

At any rate, despite the apparent lack of progress, I really have made steps toward my goals for the month. Here’s a rundown:

Demon’s Magic: Didn’t make any progress this week. Shameful, I know.

Demon’s Soul: Need to finish Demon’s Magic first.

Of Beauty Within: Wrote 3,481 words. Yes, that’s less than half of what I should have written, and I’m still behind from my slow start this month, but it’s progress. Just not enough progress to warrant coloring in that second dash.

Upgrade: Still waiting for critiques.

So, why was this week so slow? Well, first of all, I’m trying to catch up on Scribophile critiques right now because I fell a bit behind on some crit trades. There are other critting-related things happening as well.

I only had work-editing one day (my part-time job is online, but a job-by-job thing and often work comes in spurts), but that was Saturday and I was burned out from that on Sunday so those two days–almost a third of my week–were a wash.

On a more exciting note, a few days ago my muse decided to present me with a new, shiny plot bunny. I’ve already written 2,011 words in it (part of that being a brief blurb-y thing that described the idea before it hopped away) and am excited about it–but I’m not going to neglect my current WIPs in favor of this one. Well, not any more than I already have.

In conclusion, I did make progress, and I’m pleased with that. I hope to see better progress during Week 3. Expect another update sometime after the 21st (hopefully not as late as the last two have been.)

Magic Monday: Castle Waiting by Linda Medley

This month’s fantasy book review is a little late. Time has a habit of slipping by… But enough of that. Time to focus on the main event, that is to say, the book review!

Image courtesy of Goodreads

Today’s novel is a graphic novel, Castle Waiting, written and illustrated by the talented Linda Medley.

I came across Castle Waiting years ago, when it first appeared in my library. A few pages in, I knew I’d found my new favorite fairy tale story. My sister and I agree it’s one of the best fairy tale stories we’ve ever read, not to mention one of the most amazing graphic novels in terms of illustrations. I cannot express how much I love this book.

The blurb: Castle Waiting tells the story of an isolated, abandoned castle, and the eccentric inhabitants who bring it back to life. A fable for modern times, Castle Waiting is a fairy tale that’s not about rescuing the princess, saving the kingdom, or fighting the ultimate war between Good and Evil―but about being a hero in your own home. The opening story, “The Brambly Hedge,” tells the origin of the castle itself, which is abandoned by its princess in a comic twist on “Sleeping Beauty” when she rides off into the sunset with her Prince Charming. The castle becomes a refuge for misfits, outcasts, and others seeking sanctuary, playing host to a lively and colorful cast of characters that inhabits the subsequent stories, including a talking anthropomorphic horse, a mysteriously pregnant Lady on the run, and a bearded nun.

As a life-long lover of fairy tales, that blurb alone would have me picking up the book. The story itself, however? The first time I read it, I devoured it in one sitting. And every time after that, same problem. Earlier this week, when I read it again for nostalgia’s sake, I was up until 2am finishing the book because I couldn’t put it down.

The book itself is made up of a series of interconnected stories. As the blurb explains, you first learn how the castle came to be abandoned (well, mostly), and slowly some of the stories of the current residents are unfolded in subsequent tales. There are allusions to famous fairy tales and others that are more obscure, but the stories themselves are fresh and engaging, from Jain’s adventures that lead her to the castle, to Chess and Rackham’s not-so-boring trip for supplies, to the story of how a bearded nun came to be at the castle.

The characters are vivid, some mostly good, some mostly bad, and some in-between. They leap off the pages as the stories unfold. There are heart-warming moments, tearful moments, and moments where you hold your breath and flip the page to find out what happens.

In other words? I can’t think of any downsides to this book, other than the fact it doesn’t go on for another 500 pages–thankfully there’s a volume II! If you love graphic novels and fairy tales, definitely check your local library for a copy. Or your local bookstore. Or order it online–I’m currently waiting for volume II to arrive, since I just found out that it was republished with more chapters!

Linda Medley, the author, is currently working on volume III, and has a Patreon page as well as GoFundMe page right now for funding the project. (Please note that I have no affiliation with Linda, I’m simply a huge fan of hers.)

Have you read Castle Waiting? Or do you know of other graphic novel series similar to it? Let me know–I’m always ready to read another great fairy tale!

Ensign’s Log, Entry 28: August Month Map–Week 1

Yes this is a little later than I meant it to be. However, its colorfulness will hopefully make up for that!

The results from Week 1 of August:

Demon’s Magic: Still revising.

Demon’s Soul: Need to finish Demon’s Magic first.

Of Beauty Within: Slow but steady progress–probably about a third done.

Short Story: Finished revising! Yay!

Upgrade: Waiting for critiques before revision.

Goals for Week 2: Finish revising Demon’s Magic. Continue to make progress on Of Beauty Within. Revise two chapters of Upgrade based on crits.

Author Interview: A.J. Flowers

This is the second interview for the Blog World Tour–Fantasy Edition, and no commenter has claimed the reward* yet! If you think you’ve figured out the posting method, let me know in the comments below.

*a digitally signed ebook copy of Augment or a voucher for a free digitally signed ebook copy of any novel I publish this year or next year

Today I’ll be interviewing A.J. Flowers! A fellow fantasy writer, she wrote her first trilogy, a fantasy angel series, during college while studying to become an engineer. She now juggles both work and writing as a double career–a daunting but admirable task! She’s written 5 books, hundreds of flash and short stories, and is just now about to blossom in her career. Thank you for being here today, A.J., I’m excited to interview you!

My first question is: Did you come across any specific challenges in writing Fallen to Grace? What would you do differently the next time?

Fallen to Grace is the debut novel in the Celestial Downfall series. It started out as a completely “pantsed” novel when I first decided I wanted to write a book during college. By the time I felt I reached a satisfying ending, I realized I wrote a trilogy. It took a lot of work to split the story into thirds and revise/rewrite the first book to be something suitable for publishing. This was my learning experience, and I learned writing a book without a plan is going to leave me with a giant mess. I think the main thing I will be able to do differently is approach new novels with my gained experiences. Understanding key elements such as prose, dynamic flow, plot and character arcs, scene structures, and narrative thrust all will help me to write a successful story in less time. I think each new novel will bring its own challenges and experiences, and I’m ready for them!

That’s awesome! As a fellow pantser, I’m glad you discovered your writing through that method, even if you plan to write in a different manner in the future. I know you wrote a book on it, but do you have some brief advice for beginning writers?

Be consistent and ask yourself if you’re ready for the long haul. Writing may use creative juices, but it’s an acquired skill just as much as playing an instrument or becoming a painter. You become good at something by doing, and this means writing takes a lot of doing to become good. The generally accepted timeframe to become an expert in a field is 10,000 hours, described by Malcolm Gladwell in his New York Times Bestseller Outliers, and when it comes to writing, that doesn’t necessarily mean you just write whatever pops into your head for 10,000 hours and then you’re an expert. Writing consists of understanding the elements of prose, literary rhythm, plot structure, genre expectations, target audience, and so much more. Writers have to cover more ground than other creative fields to become good at what they do, and I feel like much of the population doesn’t understand that. If you put in the time and effort, truly delve deep into the craft, you will be successful in the end. Just be prepared for the marathon, not a sprint.

That’s great advice. Thank you for sharing it. Now it’s time to delve into the past… Do you remember the first story you ever read? What sort of an impact did it have on you?

Yes, the first story I ever read was a kid’s picture book series based on young angels who got into all kinds of mischief and had to be good, because, they’re supposed to be angels! The pages were full of glitter and adorable images, and the stories themselves were fun to read. This was probably something I read around kindergarten, and given that I am in my late twenties and just finished writing a young adult angelic fantasy series, I would agree that my first exposure to fantasy literature had a pretty big impact on me!

Sounds like it had quite the impact on you, indeed. That’s neat! I love seeing how people are influenced by what they read. Speaking of which, when reading, do you prefer e-books or traditional paperbacks/hardcovers?

I feel there’s a format for every situation. I don’t yet own an e-reader, but if I did I would reserve that for daytime reading. (Lunch breaks, evenings, weekends.) I also enjoy paperback, especially at night. But I also love audiobooks. They’re great for when I’m commuting, exercising, or even falling asleep. It’s the only instance where having someone read you a bedtime story is socially acceptable!

I’ve never been a huge fan of audiobooks myself, although I do love the full-cast version of Redwall! They definitely make a lot of sense for times when carrying/looking at a book isn’t really possible, though. *glances at clock* We have time for one more question… This one’s a bit more technical. When you publish a book, do you do a press release, a Goodreads book launch, or anything else to promote it? What sort of success have you had in the past?

When I decided to publish a writing resource guide, it was based on the positive feedback from my blog. It was definitely a hard book to market, given that my credentials are roughly zip, but in the end it shouldn’t matter. This is a compilation of everything I’ve learned from the ground up, and is based on what I learned from others, not necessarily what I have to say myself.

In order to market this book, I used my e-mail subscription list as the main jump-off point. I currently have over 500 subscribers. I released the book as free for a week to get the ball rolling, and I was shocked when I moved 1,000 units. Since the release, I’ve continued to have solid sales in both e-books and paperback, as well as consistent pages-read from people who have the Kindle Unlimited subscription. Aside from a few days of Facebook advertising, which got me only enough sales to pay for the advertisement, my email subscription fan-base was really where I had success in marketing. These are people who already like what I have to say based on my blog, and will encourage their friends to read my work as well. I can’t reinforce enough how important it is to have a platform with dedicated readers. Those are the people who will make or break you when you’re first starting out.

When I have more books released, especially my fantasy novels, I plan on using the funds raised by my writing guide to finance Goodreads and Amazon giveaways. Unfortunately, I have to purchase my own books to give them away, and after fees and shipping, royalties only give back a small percentage. I know the key to success is word of mouth. The more people who have your book on their “to-read” list means more exposure, and the likelihood that their Goodreads friends will see your book through their friends and be encouraged to try it out as well.

It sounds like you have a solid plan for marketing! That’s awesome, and something everything author who publishes needs. Thank you again for being here today, A.J.! I wish you and your novels the best.

Originally from an island a mile and a half wide named Sugarloaf Key, A.J. discovered new lands and cultures through books. Life has drastically changed since her childhood, and she currently resides in Detroit as an automotive designer, which has given her the opportunity to travel the world and experience regions and cultures she can incorporate into her work. During her free time, she saves the world from annihilation on her favorite video games side-by-side with her Dutch husband and princess Blue Russian Kitty named Mina. You can follow her writing advice, published work, and fun personal stories on her blog.

 

You can connect with her via:

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Ensign’s Log, Entry 27: August Month Map

It’s been a few months since my last month map, for a variety of reasons. However, this month I’m bringing it back, with a new and shiny month map!

It doesn’t look very colorful yet, but future updates will show my progress on a weekly basis. Tomorrow I’ll post an updated version with my progress for this past week. My hope is to reach the end of the month with a rainbow of colors!

For those of you intrigued, here are a few more details for each of my five goals:

Demon’s Magic: The second in a trilogy I’m currently revising. It’s complete, but needs work before I post it on Scribophile (my dearly beloved writing community) for critique.

Demon’s Soul: The third in a trilogy I’m currently revising, and the sequel (unsurprisingly) to Demon’s Magic. Its current draft is incomplete, but I’m hoping to finish it by the end of the month.

Of Beauty Within: Some of you may remember this briefly mentioned in previous posts. It’s a project I began in April, intending to complete it for Camp NaNo that month, but didn’t make much progress on at the time. During Camp NaNo in July, last month, I dusted it off and started working on it again. I’d like to finish the first draft of this story as well, and am enjoying the process–new characters keep popping up, and unexpected things keep happening. I love writing first drafts because I never know what to expect!

Short Story: This is related to the secret project that I mentioned and have not yet explained further. I can say that I have finished the first draft, and am currently waiting on critiques before I revise it. However, the feedback so far has been mostly positive, though, of course the draft is still rough and needs some polishing.

Upgrade: Ah, yes, and at last we come to this little thorn in my side–er, I mean, the wonderful sequel to Augment. After some serious rewriting, I think the current draft (#6) is looking a lot better than the original. It does need further revision, now that the rehaul is done, but I’m still waiting on critiques before I can revise–though I have several novel trades in progress. It’s slow-going, but once I have those critiques I’ll be pushing through another revision. Hoping that draft #8 or #9 will be the final one, once I’ve cleaned up the rough patches and caught all of the little errors that like to sneak in.

I’ve also contacted my cover artist, the wonderful Louis Rakovich of Indigo Forest Designs, because it’s time to start thinking about a cover for Upgrade! Why is that? Well, if all goes well and I get through several revisions in the next couple of months, Upgrade might be hitting the virtual shelves in late October!* (*Please note that this isn’t a confirmation of a release date yet; many factors are still in play and I only control a few of them.)

Is this a lot to take on in one month? Yes. Will I make all my goals? I don’t know. Will I try my hardest to do so? YES.

And on that enthusiastic note, I’m heading off to write some more.