When I started this blog, I swore to myself that I wouldn’t be one of those people that starts a blog, goes strong for a few months then just stops updating. Well, I, like everyone else out there, have done just that. BUT, I feel like I’ve got a good excuse!

As mentioned previously, I transitioned from a job where I worked nights to a day job, which cut into my writing time considerably, not only due to lack of time, but because of lack of brain power due to the requirements of learning a whole new position. The time I could dedicate to writing suffered considerably for the first few months of that, but I’m proud to say I’m back on the right track!

Part of that is taking on a second job (working nights at a hotel :D) part of that is just knuckling down and getting the work done.

As a result I’m pleased to announce that I am on the read aloud revision of my manuscripit. Which is HUGE. To me, this is the big one. It’s the revision that essentially comes last. Once this is complete, I’ll be adding the final polish/changes that come as a result of the read aloud and then the manuscript will be finished for all intents and purposes.

I’m excited about that, but also terrified. Finishing will mean moving on to the next project, whether it be Penumbra book 2, or something else, and knowing how long this first book took the very thought of spending several years from the beginning is intimidating to say the least.

There are some plus sides though. First, I’m certain my next book will take a fraction of the time to write. There’s so much you learn about yourself as a writer by simply writing and completing a manuscript. Knowing my process better is going to cut the writing time of the next book down to hopefully less than a year (at least for most of it). The other bonus, is that if I do go with Penumbra book 2, I’ve got a good portion of it already written–a little less than half in fact. Most of it is stuff I pulled from book 1 when I realized it was entirely too long, but there’s a good chunk of stuff I’d written when I had time during one of my revisions of book 1. Reading it over, I’m SUPER excited to revisit it, some of it was way better than I remembered it being so the future is bright!

Once this is done, I’ll be sending the manuscript out to agents and a couple of friends in the industry and we’ll see how it goes from there 😀