Sandi Layne's Blog, page 30

Release Date!

Hello!

Éire's Captive Moon has an official release date of January 10, 2013!



More information on my Facebook page, so click on over and check it out.

Thank you!

~Sandi

Apologies!

I, erm, forget sometimes this is here and I do apologize profusely.

Here is what is going on in the Life o'Layne on the writing/publishing fronts!

* My novel Captive Irish Moon has been retired from printing via CreateSpace because it's been picked up by THE WRITER'S COFFEE SHOP Publishing House! It will be re-released early in 2013 with a new prologue and having gone through a thorough editing process. It is now titled Éire's Captive Moon and will be book one of the Éire's Viking trilogy. If you read the original, you'll appreciate the small tweaks and, I hope, will enjoy this updated version of Charis's story.

* I am currently writing book two of that trilogy, titled Éire's Viking.

* My novel An Unexpected Woman has also been picked up by TWCS and we're looking for a 2013 release there, too! I'm so excited!!

Right now, I'm writing Éire's Viking and plotting the third book in that trilogy (Currently tentatively titled Éire's Viking King) while prepping AUW for the editing rounds.

In other news...

My elder son started college and is studying graphic design. My younger son is in fifth grade and finishing up elementary school as we prep for middle school. The temperatures are finally cooling here in Maryland and I'm looking forward to a delicious Autumn.

More strange information can often be found on my Facebook page (including the new cover for Éire's Captive Moon) or my website.

Yes, I'm still writing!

It has been a busy year since my last post, and I apologize for not updating here.

We've moved to Maryland, my elder son graduated from high school, and I've had titles picked up by The Writer's Coffee Shop Publishing House.

This last has dramatically re-arranged my current writing schedule! :)

My title Captive Irish Moon is now under contract and will be published as Éire's Captive Moon, first in my Éire's Viking trilogy. The story is the same, with the addition of a new prologue (adapted from my award-winning short story, "Turn of the Wheel"), an expanded glossary, and improved by the work of some wonderful editors. I anticipate a release for this title early in 2013.

Another title, An Unexpected Woman, an inspirational romance, has also been picked up by TWCS and is now under contract so it has been retired from my self-publication titles. This title, too, should be released in 2013.

Any further information on this and, well, anything else going on in my world can be found at my website.

Thank you so much for reading!
~Sandi

Delay of Game

Being a writer means taking an honest look at yourself, your words, and the way you communicate in all aspects of your craft. It can be cool, but also a bit humbling. Okay, quite humbling.

I am editing the first third of In the Name of Duty over the next week or so. Now, I began this story years ago but set it on hiatus as other aspects of my life took over the "writing" part of my brain. (I don't get it either, entirely, but I can't argue with my cortex. Okay, I can, but I don't.) I was really pleased with how the dialogue ran and so on, and felt it would just be a matter of refreshing my memory on the times and seasons involved in the novel to pick it up and continue typing.

I was in error.

It's not that I wasn't a good writer before – I believe I was. It's just that my sense of structure has (I hope) improved and matured over the time this story has been waiting for me. I find myself editing instead of just reading. I printed out the entire first third of this novel, hole-punched it and tucked it into a brand-new binder complete with a "cover" to keep me focused. Once I am finished inking up this draft, I plan on continuing this. I believe it will be novel number twenty-five. I think.

All of which is to say that I am really relieved that this story will be getting the SandiLayne 4.2 upgrade. It will be a better story because of the delay I had between beginning and ending. If you are feeling discouraged by a delay of game in your writing (or other artistic endeavor) try to shake it off. The delay could be the best thing to have happened.

Second Edition

So. I have decided to do it.

I am going to be reissuing my novel, Captive Irish Moon,. I have reformatted it to have a larger font and to address a formatting issue (chapter five, anyone?) that needed fixing.

I found that, by increasing the font size (and thus the readability I hope) the formatting issue disappears. Imagine that. ;-)

Megan Dooley, the awesome artist who did the cover for Making a Diamond, will be doing the minor bit of adjustment to get the cover to fit the larger book.

One cool thing is that with a larger font (not huge, but bigger than it was) my father will be able to read it. :)

Making of... Making a Diamond

Greetings!

I have a new novel coming out this spring, all things being equal and the world continuing to rotate on its present course.

It's titled MAKING A DIAMOND and is a contemporary inspirational romance. I paged it out to 232 pages, with the cover art being done by Californian graphic artist, Megan Dooley.

This story was originally written many years ago, completed and critiqued all the way to the final page of the epilogue, but it was not making me happy. I was left terribly unsatisfied with it. I put it aside and worked on other projects, moved, etc. When I was ready again, last year, I unearthed it and read it over.

Basically, the story was good but my heroine needed a kick in the pants, so that is what I gave her. I hope you will think I did a good job. :)

Once I straightened her out, I reworked some things in the manuscript, sent it out to two beta-readers and they were kind enough to mark up MaD beautifully, with many wonderful corrections and remarks.

Now that it has been rewritten and finalized, I will be self-publishing once again through CreateSpace. This book is a little longer than most of my other romances, but I hope you will enjoy it. :)

Thanks for reading! More updates on this and other projects as I have them!

~Sandi