February Roundup

 

Keeping track has been fun this month. Not. 

It's hard to pay attention to what feel like trivial things when the world has basically set itself on fire.

But work matters. Words matter. And stories can take us away from the flaming dumpster that is life, at least for a little while.

Lady, in Waiting

This got released on February 14, and the evening before, I survived a live reading on Facebook. It wasn't that bad - at least, I think it wasn't, I'm not watching it - and it always surprises me after the fact that I get so worked up over doing them.

I also was interviewed on the Joined Up Writing podcast about the new release, and my transition from small press published to being an indie author. Check it out here if you're interested.

My Sister's Child

Completely finished going over this draft, tweaked it a bit, and sent advance copies to several people who have offered to give me quotes for the cover. This is the nerve-wracking part, folks, letting real writers read my unpublished stuff.

Since I had to turn Sisters into a Kindle-ready book to send to them, I also loaded it onto my own Kindle for another read, because your eyes catch different things in different formats. In ebook, I notice repetitive words and excess words far more than I do on the screen of my computer. So it's undergoing another round of tidying.

The sequel is almost completely planned (as much as I plan). I've done most of the research for national and local events which will affect my characters, and I've got the high and low points of the story marked down. They will connect themselves as I write. I'm not sure how I know this - it's part of the magic.

Songbird and A Wider World

Nothing new to report. Still marketing both, and Songbird did have an unexpected number of sales in February, which is good because even though the books can be read as standalones, it is the entry point to the series for those who read in order. Hopefully, these new readers will keep going.

Once these final edits of Sisters are dealt with, I'll start working on the audiobook for A Wider World. I have the files; I just need to learn how to make them sound as good as they can.