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!
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:
Finish A Shield of Stars Rewrites
Read The Anatomy of Prose: 12 Steps to Sensational Sentences (DONE) and 13 Steps to Evil: How to Craft Superbad Villians by Sacha Black
Film videos for Lauren’s Authortube Channel
Get marketing emails for indie bookstores sent
Clean up edit of A Shield of Stars
Film TikTok content
Read A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J Maas
Read A Vow So Bold & Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer
Read Lore by Alexandra Bracken
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