Getting There, One Step at a Time

It’s been a busy and eventful two weeks on the writing front. About three weeks ago, a colleague recommended a writing competition called Ink and Insights and after checking it out, I decided to enter.

The contest asks for up to 10,000 words, which for me is the first seven chapters of my urban fantasy. This also meant editing those words again and fine tuning every sentence until I was satisfied.

Happily, manuscripts don’t have to be finished for this contest. All entries will receive feedback from judges who are interested in my genre (the organizers match you up with judges, based on genre). The top three placements will earn a trip to the agents round but that won’t be decided for some time. Yes, there’s prize money, but what excites me is that I’ll receive detailed feedback about my plot, setting, characters, and so forth from four knowledge people, for a reasonable fee of $40. This is the early-bird fee for entries submitted by March 31^st. My critique group’s been extremely helpful, but they are not fantasy writers, so it’ll be interesting to see what type of feedback I’ll receive. The contest is open until the end of May, and the fee is only another $5, I think, so if you’re interested in submitting your work, check out the link HERE.

The other exciting thing is that I’ve completed the suggested changes by beta readers and my editor for my Casey Holland mystery novella, so I’ve now hired a jacket designer who’s already sent me seven designs to choose from. I worked with this fellow a few years ago and liked his work. Although I also liked my previous designer, they’ve increased their prices and their timeline is usually about six months. So, things are moving ahead. I’ll keep you posted!

Meanwhile, Happy Easter, or Ramadan, or Passover, however you celebrate. Or just enjoy the long weekend 😊

Production of The Blade Man in Full Swing

Just over a month ago, I blogged about getting the changes back from my editor for my sixth Casey Holland mystery, The Blade Man. I’ve been working on the book every day and the edits are now finished, although I’m still revising the all-important back cover blurb. With my editor’s help, I’ve just about finalized it, and am putting the blurb away for a few days before taking another look.

Happily, there were no substantive changes to the manuscript, which is why the process went so quickly, but I did write several drafts to create a plot that won’t have logic or continuity issues. Most of the edits involved changing the occasional sentence around, choosing a different word, and catching typos. She’s also pointed out favorite words that I use repeatedly (Find and Replace are my favorite editing tools in Word). I’m also enduring a lifelong battles with commas.

I’ve been working on answering that 5-page questionnaire the jacket designer, Deranged Doctor Design, sent me. This week’s task was to look at other mystery novel covers to see what types of covers I’m drawn to. A search on Amazon provide to be an interesting exercise. It clarified for me things that I really like about covers and things I don’t.

I was also asked to visit DDD’s website to identify some of my favorite covers, which I did. By the way, if you’re curious, visit derangeddoctordesign. They produce a wide variety of covers in different genres. They always respond to my emails promptly and are courteous, patient people.

The cover reveal likely won’t be happen until the latter half of December or possibly January, which is fine, given that there are plenty of other production tasks ahead, not to mention some personal events that include my daughter’s wedding in three weeks and their move into a new house.

Soon, I’ll start formatting the book, which won’t be as daunting as it was with Knock Knock, since I already have the template set up. It’s an exciting, productive time, and at some point I’ll nail down a cover reveal date and a launch date. Stay tuned!