Restarting edits and having box set awesome

You ever had that project that gives you fits? Whether it’s a book you’re writing, or something that work that just won’t come together… I’ve had this happen in both my day job graphic design life and more recently, my writing life. I thought I was on the homeward stretch of Murphy, just doing clean up edits… but something kept niggling at the back of my mind, because it was just falling short of where I wanted it to be.

So this weekend, I took a good, hard, long look at this book… and I’m rewriting it again. I don’t think it will be as bad as the first round rewrite was. i think most parts are solid. Mostly, I’m needing to layer in tension and more conflict. These characters are hard, because Murphy is so stoic that having him be emotional is almost out of character for him. And Addision, she’s borderline nuts, and possibly Too Stupid To Live.

This is why it needs to be fixed. These characters could be horrible people if I leave them the way they are now, and they aren’t, not the way that I’ve written them so far. So, the trick will be to continue writing them the way that I’ve written them and not veer off into bad directions.

It’s always the second book in a series that gives me issues. I don’t know why, and I know I’m not the only author this happens to.  It’s frustrating, to be sure, and a little crazy-making for my sanity. Wounded Courage is about trust, about taking the leap to trust that someone you love will be there for you. Maybe I need to trust that it will come together the way it needs to come together. It’s already longer than Killing Honor and I think this new plan will involve it getting longer.

The funny thing is that I’m kinda ahead of my deadlines right now, which is good, so I’m not too terribly worried or freaking out that I won’t get them done in time for the June release. I think I’m on track for that as long as the book’s done in the next few weeks. My only problem is that my output could be much higher, but editing is really hard for me. It requires me to give complete concentration, which is super hard because of my ADD. I have to take constant breaks on a timer so I don’t forget to come back. Getting into a routine has helped a lot, but still, editing is hard.

Your Obligatory Sales Portion of this blog post

Also, I wanted to thank my UK readers because the SEALs of Summer box set is hitting all the charts there. It’s also hitting charts in the US too, but it’s really fun to see it successful outside the US. I’m super happy about how it’s going right now. But… that’s not my reason for bringing it up. I wanted to let you guys know about how to keep up with the box set, since we’ll be loading up the other retailers in the next few days. There’s a few ways we can do that.

You can sign up for the one time notification list so you know it’s out there in the world.
You can sign up for MY mailing list, which includes a monthly newsletter and it will be going out close to release day.
You can LIKE the SEALs of Summer Facebook Page or follow it on Twitter.
You could also just go ahead an pre-order that puppy over at Amazon. Links to other retailers will be forthcoming as soon as we have them available.

I think that’s all I had on that.

It’s going to be a rough week, people.

I’m even dropping side projects to completely concentrate on Wounded Courage, and getting that ready to go. I foresee some sleep being sacrificed, since I work better at night. But you know, I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love it. I hate edits, but I love what it does for my book, what it does for my story. Edits make everything stronger, and so while I hate them like they were the Devil Incarnate, I will do them to make sure my book goes out into the world the best that it can be.