Done!

Yes, The Gathering of the Lost copyedit is actually done and completed, with all 3 stages of the marked up manuscript now on their way back to New York—and everything going well should be on my editor's desk by Friday 12, US time.

So you may recall that on August 20—when I had just rustled up  a hardcopy ms to work off, despite that week's big snow, which meant that the courier packet from NY didn't actually arrive until Monday 22, a week after it was sent—I said that the publisher had indicated that Gathering should be back by 31 August (ie back in the production department in New York, not just off my desk here in NZ.)  And I had said that I thought 12 September was a more realistic date—and so it has proven to be (or will be, assuming the courier makes it to NY within their promised delivery timeframe!)

3-4 weeks of very hard, attention-to-detail work—but worth it both to get the book as right as I can make it. And to have the opportunity to read the story through again and think: yes, that's definitely a book!

The next and final stage for me, prior to actual publication, is the "first pass proof", which will be that last going over to make sure that everything from the copyedit is A-OK. And although there's still six months to go until then, I hope to have a "cover reveal" sometime before then. A little bit of fun stuff to leaven out the hard work!

But for now … Well, to be honest, a fair bit of catch-up around house and garden as well as doing earthquake related stuff, which is just an ongoing these days. But also, onward to Daughter of Blood, The Wall of Night Book Three!

Book Three, though-–how cool is that?!