Sounds of Guns & Smoke

One thing that absolutely helps me get into the right writing mode is music. There are very few things in the world that can help inspire or set the mood better than music. That being said, I wanted to share my Spotify playlist with you all. This playlist includes a variety of music, from Taylor Swift to The Civil Wars to Billie Eilish to Hozier!

Sometimes, I get stuck on a single song and listen to it over and over and over again while I’m writing a specific scene. Once Guns & Smoke is published, I may come back and update this post with the songs and what scenes they go with.

My favorite one on the entire list is probably I Know Places by Taylor Swift. The vibe of that entire song really highlights one of my favorite scenes of Guns & Smoke and I’m dying to share that with everyone!

Are there any songs on this playlist that you haven’t heard before? Overall, there is a clear country theme, because the setting is very similar to the Old West! Let me know your favorite song on the list and I just might give you a teaser of the scene it inspired!

Thanks, Abbie

Guns & Smoke: COVER REVEAL + PRE-ORDER!

I’ve been writing for nearly as long as I can remember. While the goal has always been to be a published author, what’s more important to me is writing worthwhile stories.

That being said, having your name on a book is FREAKING COOL. Without further ado, I present, the cover for my upcoming co-authored novel: Guns & Smoke!

ISN’T IT GORGEOUS?! One of the cool things about self publishing is that you get more say over your book cover than you would as a traditionally published author. In traditional publishing, your publisher owns the book and has final say. When Lauren and I first drafted this story (back when it was called A Fool’s Adventure), we imagined having a cover with one of the characters on the front, and while it would have been really cool, I have to say that I ADORE this cover! Our cover artist, the lovely Stefanie Saw of SeventhStar art, took our concept ideas and made it into something we are so proud of!

One of the things that I really love is that we can carry this theme forward into the rest of the books in the series! Guns & Smoke is a labor of love that has been many years in the making for Lauren and I, and we are so excited to be able to share this with you all!

Guns & Smoke releases platform wide on July 10, 2021! You can pre-order the e-book NOW by following the links below!

Universal Book Link

Kindle EBOOK

Barnes and Noble NOOK

Goodreads

Thanks for reading, Abbie

Rewrites and Edits and Books, Oh My!

It’s that time again: another writing update!

Last month, I wrote all about the current status of my projects, that I had lots of stuff in the works. So what’s been up?

Well, in January, the biggest item on my to-do list was to complete developmental edits for Guns & Smoke. Because we are publishing this summer, we are on a strict schedule. We acquired our copyedit/line editor in mid-January, which gave us a hard deadline of completing the developmental edits of January 31st. We had to send the draft to our editor and beta readers on February 1st. I finished the majority of my edits by the last week of January. While Lauren was completing her edits, I had do a read through and look at ways we could cut the word count down. When I finally got to this stage, I realized that it was going to take a lot more time than I initially anticipated.

So, on a Friday night, once Lauren put her little one to bed, we brewed a pot of coffee and got to work. I marathon-edited until about 3 AM the next morning. Slept a couple of hours, and then got back to it. We worked almost all the way through until 1 AM on Sunday with only like a two hour break for a shower (because…we did not smell the best lol). While it was time consuming and stressful, it was also some of the most fun I’ve ever had when it comes to writing/working on my craft. The exhaustion the next day was totally worth it. And while the version that went to betas and the editor wasn’t a finished work, I had such a great time getting through it!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Abbie Lynn Smith (@abbiewritesx)

For February, we are working mostly on marketing and pre-work for the sequel book. We are also revealing the cover for Guns & Smoke soon, so be on the lookout for that on February 20th!

Originally, I planned on trying to have my developmental/rewrites done on A Shield of Stars by February, but it didn’t work out that way. I did a chapter by chapter outline for all of the rewrites in early January. My overall plan is to have the manuscript ready to send to agents by August at the latest. I did acquire an editor to help me with my Query Development package and the first twenty pages of my manuscript in late June. So I have until then to get the project query ready. I am really excited, but also slightly intimidated. I’ve also begun researching agents and compiling a spreadsheet of those I think will make a good fit for the work.

All of that being said, here are my goals for the rest of February:

1. Finish A Shield of Stars Rewrites

2. Read The Anatomy of Prose: 12 Steps to Sensational Sentences (DONE) and 13 Steps to Evil: How to Craft Superbad Villians by Sacha Black

3. Film videos for Lauren’s Authortube Channel

4. Get marketing emails for indie bookstores sent

5. Clean up edit of A Shield of Stars

6. Film TikTok content

7. Read A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J Maas

8. Read A Vow So Bold & Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer

9. Read Lore by Alexandra Bracken

10. Social Media/Blog Prep for Guns & Smoke marketing

So, as you can see, a busy rest of the month! Next month, we’ll be working through copy/line edits of Guns & Smoke at the same time that we review feedback from the beta readers. I really can’t wait until you all get to read this book. It’s slightly more mature than I thought I’d be writing, but…whatever. I enjoy romance, and I think the world and story surrounding that romance is so rich and perfect and amazing.

Thanks, Abbie