 Shadow King, coming fall 2014 from Cogwheel Press | So, it's countdown to publication! The manuscript is with the editor, and now I wait semi-patiently for her to finish her work. Later, while I pore over the comments, tweak and retouch, cut, paste, and polish, the art director will start laying out the electronic galleys. Then it's time for the full cover spread, and finally - the second installment in the Ambrosines' family saga will meet the world. I've been down this road before, and this time the path isn't as thrilling and bewildering as it was the first time. While it's never boring, it is starting to feel familiar. Like maybe I actually know what I'm doing. Like maybe I'm an author with two novels and several short stories in print. Yowza. |
I'm pretty confident at this point: my writing doesn't suck. I have five-star reviews from total strangers. I have people who have come to care about my characters as much as I do. I've created a world in my own head, put it into words, and invited people I don't know to live in it for the space of 120,000+ words or so. They've surrendered hours or days of their lives to my fictional world. That's pretty amazing when you think about it.
Still, the path to publication is not without its trepidation. Okay, maybe Stephen King doesn't even break a sweat anymore, but for the rest of us, it's still a time of uncertainty, of pre-birth, of anticipation, of waiting and dreaming.
When I'm on my game, I can tell you that Shadow King is an even better book than Discovering Ren. It's tighter, bolder, simultaneously more ambitious and more focused. It's also a radical departure from its predecessor: darker, more dangerous, with a very different protagonist and villain. Where I get nervous is when I think, will those of you who liked DR like SK?
But I've decided I'm not going to worry. I love this book. I'm proud of it. I've matured as a writer, and I think it shows. The proof's in the pudding, of course, but here's hoping you surrender as willingly to this one as the last. Peace!
Still, the path to publication is not without its trepidation. Okay, maybe Stephen King doesn't even break a sweat anymore, but for the rest of us, it's still a time of uncertainty, of pre-birth, of anticipation, of waiting and dreaming.
When I'm on my game, I can tell you that Shadow King is an even better book than Discovering Ren. It's tighter, bolder, simultaneously more ambitious and more focused. It's also a radical departure from its predecessor: darker, more dangerous, with a very different protagonist and villain. Where I get nervous is when I think, will those of you who liked DR like SK?
But I've decided I'm not going to worry. I love this book. I'm proud of it. I've matured as a writer, and I think it shows. The proof's in the pudding, of course, but here's hoping you surrender as willingly to this one as the last. Peace!
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