A Half-A$$ed Update

I almost wrote lame. But a friend of mine recently posted on Facebook reminding me what lame literally means, so I'm trying to strike the ablist word from my vocabulary except where I mean it literally.



If you want deep thought from me today, that was it.



I do have a couple updates and a couple excuses, though, so there's that.







Borrowed, obviously: tagxedo.com

Editing Update



I am about a third of the way through the HARD PASS, which is the middle pass, but the one where I have to make big decisions, rewrite scenes and kill my darlings, for MEDIUM WRONG. It's going pretty well, I think. I am happy. Hopefully I will finish the hard pass before... NaNoWriMo. And then in November I can do my polish on my commute—inputting polishy stuff isn't too hard, so by December, I will be ready to share it.







NaNoWriMo



Ideas keep churning and I think I am going to work with a more thorough planning system than I have for a long time. Still not quite an outline, but I am starting a seven-book series, and I feel like I really want to plan my characters meaningfully. Each book will mostly stand alone, but there is also an underlying mystery that goes across ALL the books, so the pieces important to THAT have to be RIGHT.







The Big EXCITING News



Tomorrow, four and a half months after its release, The Azalea Assault gets its first REPRINT!!! I blogged a little about sales volume a little bit ago with my royalty statement, but what Michelle, my editor, said, when she shared this news was this:



There were 20,500 printed originally.

More than 19,000 have shipped and they have confirmed more than 16,000 SALES.

So this is sure enough, and the reserves low enough, that they are printing 2500 more.



She also sent me the art for The BEGONIA BRIBE cover, but it isn't finalized, so I'm not allowed to post it online yet. I was really pleased, though—it's very pretty. Feels a lot like The AZALEA ASSAULT, but the location is different (Elmwood Park—a real place, but pumped up on FLORAL, which is the primary setting for the story)





And now for my excuses for why this blog isn't better:



Our tub was clogged, so there was bickering, plunging and a visit from Roto Rooter.

My daughter was recovering from food poisoning, so needed chicken noodle soup.

My son needed a water bottle for Ultimate Frisbee.

I was elected to go buy these things, plus cigarettes for my husband which resulted in more bickering (I am always mortified to buy them. I feel like people think I smoke, which I never have.

Neighbors stopped by.

My daughter has pants that need a seam repaired.

I didn't have any good ideas.



*cough*



So there you have it...



Anything exciting going on in your world?