Okay, There Is No Way It’s The End Of September…

First, the requisite part of the monthly recap where I scream into the void for approximately 5.6 minutes about how it is possible that time moves so bloody fast.

All right. Now, onto actual things.

So, not a heck of a lot went on here or on social media during the month of September, due to the fact my whole family came down with some horrific cold/virus that did not want to go away. The boys each missed a week of school (luckily not exactly all the same days), and between taking care of my smol ones and being sick myself, I did hardly any editing on Volume 2, housework, or really anything else. I was extremely not pleased with this situation. Yes, I got some reading done, but mostly because that was all I had the energy for. These circumstances are not recommended.

Anyway, other than that, I did manage to get a few posts out there, and provide you all with at least a bit of information on how the revisions were going once I was finally able to tackle them. So, here is the news on Volume 2…

It’s a very slowgoing process, but I have gone over all of the beta-read feedback, and am revising/editing (meaning, delete a lot of words, enter a bunch more, repeat), chapter by chapter. My plan is still to have the final manuscript ready to go to printing before November 1st. There are a couple of reasons for that. Keep reading after the cat to find out specifically what they are.

One is that I may participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, for those of you who are staring at your screen blankly), which takes place the whole month of November. I won it last year, by the skin of my teeth, but it was worth it, as that document turned into the final draft of Masters and Beginners. And realistically, this year I’ll have more time each day to put into NaNo, meaning I could possibly finish earlier. And I certainly have writing projects I could enter. BUT, in the interest of my head not exploding (it already has about 4 times this calendar year), I may bow out gracefully and happily. We’ll see.

The other major reason I want to have Volume 2 ready to bring joy to readers’ lives no later than the commencement of November is that I am itching to move on to other work. For example, finishing the canon series of The Order of the Twelve Tribes. And there will be a prequel! And a field guide! Anticipate both sometime in 2018!

In the meantime, I’m getting ready to release my short story collection for purchase! Some of you may remember that ages ago (like, last spring, I think?) I posted a few short stories I’d written at random points over the last couple years. It was always my intention to put them all together and compile author’s notes on the influences that shaped them, and now I am so doing! Expect a formal announcement about this new project in the very near future!

So, as I was whinging earlier, not a lot of other stuff got accomplished in September. Including, actually, reading. That’s because, while I was lying around trying to get better, I only finished a few books — and they weren’t even on my TBR. That’s right, my brain was so foggy I didn’t even remember to check my TBR before I went to the library.  It’s why it took me a while to get started on A Clash of Kings, and to recall that Maggie Stiefvater’s new novel is out soon, and new Warriors publications are forthcoming. I am a bit of a mess. Hopefully I’ll be all caught up by the holidays.

I’ve also made some decisions regarding further marketing, based on time and what it will not do for me. I shall not attempt a Wattpad account at the moment. Nor a newsletter (maybe next year?). Nor shall I even select a subscription box (that could be my Christmas present to myself?).

Okay, and in the interest of progressing forward, I am going to focus much more now on promoting Volume 2, and the rest of the series. To all of you who have so far read Volume 1 and loved it and helped me promote, THANK YOU. This literally cannot be said loud enough to show how much I appreciate all your support and help in getting this little passion of mine off the ground.

To celebrate, I am hosting a book club on the blog! We’ll go through each of my publications, starting with Masters and Beginners, and on October 30th all you have to do to join in is read the discussion post I’ll put up that day, and comment your thoughts! Obviously you’ll have to have read the book, but that’s the only requirement.

In other, non-writing-non-reading-related news, both my boys are officially in school. White Fang is in 9th grade — that means high school — and apart from the sickness, doing pretty well so far. Muffin is attending a special needs preschool, where he receives all his physical/speech/occupational therapy, as well as the basics of numbers/shapes/colors/letters and working with others. Yesterday his class went to the swimming pool at one of the local colleges, where the kids were paired up with students in Special Education. Muffin is loving every minute of it, including riding the bus and trying new foods at lunch.

I have survived reconciling the fact that I now have a high-schooler and a pre-schooler, and that I’m not as young as I used to be. Trust me, that was the hardest part.

Otherwise, things are finally reaching something resembling normal after the great illness. So I wouldn’t call it exciting, but also feel we’ve had enough excitement lately.

You’ll all be relieved to hear that Toby made it through this trying time completely unscathed.

Here’s to a healthy and productive fall!