Week 13 – Edits, Book Covers, and Shifting Priorities


Current projects

Where do I begin? This week was a blur.

I finished the first draft of Queen of Werewolves last week. So, this week was supposed to be dedicated to editing, right? Well, it was and it wasn’t.

Queen of Werewolves – The Lost Princess of Howling Sky Book 3

I started editing, and the start of editing means doing a readthrough of that manuscript I just finished. Writing a first draft takes some time, so all those beginning details easily get fuzzy. It’s also the first time I get to experience the flow of the story in a format that’s a lot closer to a novel than the outline I stab to death before I even start writing.

I did that. And reading through the story made me feel emotional again. That’s a very good sign, I’d say. But, of course, there’s a lot that needs to be fixed too, which led into the rest of the week.

I took all of my notes and concerns, focusing on big-picture stuff and then some of the smaller continuity things about this fantasy world I created, and put them in a list. I go from the biggest issue to the smallest. I like to edit the biggest problems first, because the deeper something goes, the more it changes everything else with this ripple effect. This is also why I don’t bother refining language until the story is tight.

Even with my world bible, I needed to comb through the first two books again and write down more details and flesh out more world so I can use the information when I dive in to make those Queen of Werewolves edits. This took me a surprisingly long time. Maybe. I don’t know. I also got distracted with the mock-up for the book cover–which is pretty fucking awesome. If I do say so myself, and I do.

Alas, I can’t share it yet. But soon.

Anyway, I have a lot of editing ahead. I think it was good to kind of take a little bit of a break with the book cover. It gave my mind a different, not-writing-related task to think about. Hopefully, I’ll be finished with all the big stuff by the end of April.

Once Soulmates – These Immortal Vows Book 3

I got in 894 words for Once Soulmates. I know. Dismal. But there’s a good reason for that. I’ve been giving all of my free time to Once Soulmates (except for when it’s been going to video games lately). I want to write this book, but I have other skills I want to improve as well.

I don’t advise spreading yourself thin, and we do have to pick and choose the things you want to do. We can’t do everything. We won’t live forever. I know that my top priority is writing. I want to make it my lifelong career. I want to continually improve my craft, work on my author platform, the whole deal. It all goes back to writing so I can keep writing. I’ve never loved anything so much.

On the other hand, one must take breaks. Once Soulmates isn’t a break. Art and music are, though. Art is important to my author goals too, since I design my own book covers. But that’s not the point. I don’t have to design my own book covers to reach my author goals.

The point is, I shouldn’t let other things I love just go by the wayside. I have a lot of goals, and I know I can’t be a master of everything, but I like art and music too much to throw them away and never pick them up again. If they help me relax, then they are doing what they need to do.

Balance. It’ll never be perfectly achieved because there’s always going to come a time to reevaluate our lives and goals. That’s okay. I’ll keep working. I hope you’ll keep working too. You’re awesome.

Conclusion

It’s been a long time coming, but Queen of Werewolves is well on its way to seeing the light of day.

What did you do this week?

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