Thoughts. And pretties.

On Wednesday afternoon, I finally let go of the Before I Wake manuscript. Which means I turned it in to my editor. Well, I turned it in to two editors, actually. My editor has already finished it. She says she's still processing the ending. I think I may have scared her. Or scarred her. This is the fourteenth novel we've worked together on since 2006, when she began editing my first novel, Stray, which came out in 2007. You'd think I'd know exactly what she's going to think about every element of everything I write by now, right?

Yeah. Not so much. I have no idea if she'll actually like the ending or not, once she's done processing. Honestly, I have no idea whether or not I'll like the ending, after she's done processing. I fiddled with it over and over, delaying turning the book in because I was scared. Yes, fourteen novels in, I was scared. You see...If I Die was a game-changer in the Soul Screamers series, in several different ways. It's also gotten the best critical response (at least from readers and blog reviewers) of anything I've ever written. (Which probably means it'll be a commercial failure. I'm pretty sure commercial and critical success are mutually exclusive.) What that means is that If I Die was INCREDIBLY hard to follow.

Why? Because each book in a series needs to be better than the previous book and the plot must flow naturally from the conclusion of the previous story. But everything has to be taken up a level. Everything. Bad guys. Drama. Plot. Emotion. Angst. And the characters have to develop or evolve. For the main character (at least), that evolution must be in the form of maturity.

BUT... (You knew there was a but, right?) But, the next-levelness of the whole thing canNOT be over-the-top. It must all be believable and feel natural. Let me just say, that's HARD. And I have no idea whether or not I succeeded.

Okay, enough about my insecurities. Now for some pretties...

Remember the other day, when I said I didn't have copies of the Soul Screamers omnibus yet? They came in last night, while I was doing a live chat. And they are gorgeous!!!



Also, they're kind of huge. And here's why:



The omnibus comes out a month from tomorrow, and I could not be more excited.

Oh, also, I forgot to eliminate a narrator from the list of possibilities for the new Soul Screamers novella. So here goes:

The list, in random order:TodSabineNashAlecSophieEmmaAvariAddisonScottLydiaLevi
A reminder: Notice that Kaylee isn’t on the list. Consider that your freebie. Kaylee is not the narrator.

Come back Monday, and I'll give away an omnibus!