I’m back, my friends, and with less … force than my last post. As the title suggests, it hasn’t just been raining, it has been pouring. Both literally and figuratively. Literally because yesterday we went from weather so dry my yard is crunchy to a true all-day rainy day. While we definitely needed it, that means Florida has crested the dry spring season and now it’s a downhill stormy race toward hurricane season. Wee! Also a switch in mentality from school days to summer break. That’s just around the corner.
My figurative pouring? Well, I have mentioned a few times that I’m apprenticing with my editor for future path in editing and I have my second job. I’ve been diligently working through the initial read-through (the manuscript is a beast), and I am now ready to start actual edits. That means I have been doing my best to keep my focus there and not actively work on any of my own projects. What does that mean for my characters? Hoo, queue ALL of them ALL at once.
Did I expect them to sit idly by as they had been when I was trying to write? Yes. Did they do that? Absolutely not. In the past month and a half or so that I’ve been working on my read-through around an actual job, promotion, and regular ol’ life stuff, I have failed to swat away several persistent and noisy characters. I have written the beginning of Order of Crows book 4 (5 chapters), started a whole side story for a side character within the Crows universe (1.5 chapters), the Sevina Gate 8th novella (5 chapters), and even the first chapter of Fae-Cursed book 3.
Keep in mind that I have been thinking that there’s no need to push any of those stories at the time being. Crows book 3 hasn’t even seen an editor yet. Fae-Cursed book 2 is with the editor now. We are still working on the art treatment for Sevina Gate novella 1. This is the first time I have two books on deck at the same time for publication that aren’t second editions. I’m good, right? Apparently not.
My characters, like children, simply couldn’t stand being ignored. Of course, I caved. Now I’m sitting next to a stack of notebooks and they’re all staring at me as I refocus on editing. I can give one solid piece of writing advice, if you’re having writer’s block or your characters are being difficult, ignore the hell out of them. Seriously.
In other news, I did receive an estimation from my awesome editor that The Nameless sequel should be ready to send back to me somewhere around the end of the month. That’s exciting for me. I’m still on schedule to release in … wow, not that many months from now. I’m still looking toward August but I haven’t picked an official date. Once we get closer to that date, check back here for some excerpts and features and all the fun stuff that goes into release.
That’s all for now, my friends. I’m still working on figuring out a next in-person event, as well, but for now, I’ll be here with updates and, as always, all my books are available on Amazon for paperback and Kindle. Cheers!
Aj Elmore, Author 