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It’s a Major Award!

I unlocked an achievement in Grammarly today.

Two-hundred and eighty straight weeks of writing. Well, using Grammarly—which I use all the time. I’ve been waiting on this one for a while, I even made sure to write when I was in Scotland last year to make sure I kept the streak alive, and I’m honestly pretty proud to have hit this mark. It’s a neato milestone sort of thing.

For those wondering, I actually really like Grammarly’s service, and I’d recommend it wholeheartedly. It’s improved a lot over the years, and while it won’t replace an editor anytime soon, it’s good for blogging and first drafts and finds many of my stupid sloppy mistakes. They didn’t pay me to talk about this. Just doing it because I appreciate their product.

Okay, back to writing.

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Old Broken Road

Old Broken Road
I have mentioned “Old Broken Road” before. Recently I have received emails from a few folks who have noticed the counter appearing on the right side of the blog claiming it is done. With “The Stars Were Right” out the door (and reviewing really well) it’s time to spend a bit more time talking about my next title: “Old Broken Road.”

“Old Broken Road” is the sequel to “The Stars Were Right.” Set a year after the events in Stars, OBR follows a few characters from the previous book as they set off on another adventure. This time we move outside of the megalopolis of Lovat and into the harsh lands of the Territories. Like the book before it, there will be strange new places to visit, new races to discover, and a new evil lurking. I’m excited for you to read it.

As of May the manuscript was finished. I have gotten feedback from my beta-readers and I am elbows deep in the editing process. Should my stars be right I’m hoping for an early 2014 release. So stay tuned! Expect a cover reveal coming soon, a new site, and like “The Stars Were Right” I plan on releasing an excerpt. Those folks subscribed to my monthly newsletter will get the info first, so make sure you subscribe!

Old Broken Road – Coming in 2014
Some roads should stay less traveled.

I suppose this means I need to come up with a series title.

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The things that are happening

Things Are Happening

So it’s been an interesting few weeks, not enough changes in data to do a “Running the Numbers” post but I have little bits of news and wanted to share.

First, I had not one but two full manuscript requests for The Stars Were Right and not from agents but directly from publishers! As I have been implying for a few posts, I am considering self-publishing Stars, but it didn’t stop me from listing it and Coal Belly on Publishers Marketplace. While not a definite acquisition it’s still a good feeling to know publishers are actually interested in my books even if agents don’t seem to be.

Second, I hired an editor! I’m approaching the publishing of Stars from two angles: I’ll try to sell it the traditional path, but while I do that there is nothing to stop me from self publishing; of the 300 or so six figure deals reported to Publishers Marketplace in 2012, 20% were from books that started out self-published. If I am going to self-publish I have to get my manuscript up to a high level of polish so I can deliver my final product. To do that I need an editor. So, I am happy to say I will be working with Victoria Shockley on prepping The Stars Were Right for self-publishing. I’ve loved what she’s done so far and look forward to seeing what she’s able to do with my muck of a manuscript. If you’re looking for an editor, reach out to her. She’s great.

Third, I broke 25k words on Old Broken Road. That puts me about 25% in and it’s starting to pick up it’s pace in both my own writing and it’s plot.

Finally, I am getting really close to finishing the cover for The Stars Were Right to which I thank my friends in mischief over at at Butt3rscotch for the feedback, advice, and input. I love those lords and ladies, they’re a solid group. I’ll be sure to post about it on here when it’s finished.

Things are happening!

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Common Errors of Indie Authors

Train wreck at Montparnasse 1895

In my recent hunt for a copy editor I came across Lisa Kelly-Wilson’s website. Lisa worked as an editor for indie authors like: Hugh Howey, Robert Brumm, and David Simpson. Her site is a collection of tips and tricks for dealing with everything from editors, publishers, even covering cover design. I could see it becomes a  solid resource for every new author out there.

She created a pretty handy guide I wanted to share: Lisa Kelly-Wilson’s Common Errors of Indie Authors (70kb PDF). Download it, and do your best to follow it. Your readers and editor will thank you.

(The image above has nothing to do with anything other than the word “error.” While looking for an image for this article I hit this wikipedia article and the image associated made me laugh. Talk about an error.)