Chronicles of Ghadid Trilogy, The Impossible Contract (Book 2), The Perfect Assassin (Book 1)

Two out of Three

Between holidays and travel and dayjob and a baby quickly becoming a toddler, I somehow managed to finish the edits on the Impossible Contract aka Book Two. For those keeping score, that means I now have two out of three books done* in this trilogy, and book one isn't set to be out for, oh,… Continue reading Two out of Three

Chronicles of Ghadid Trilogy, The Perfect Assassin (Book 1), Writing

Ending Stats for Book One

Started writing: November 1, 2016 Manuscript sent: June 27, 2017 Total days: 239 I.E.: 7.9 months Percentage of days spent writing: 94% Estimated days spent writing: 224 Average hours/day: 2.4 Average hours of sleep/day: hahahaha Number of drafts: 4 Word count of draft one (aka draft zero): 56,649 Word count of draft two (aka draft… Continue reading Ending Stats for Book One

Chronicles of Ghadid Trilogy, The Perfect Assassin (Book 1), Writing

When is it “finished?”

As of Friday, Book One is done. And yet it's not really "finished," per se. It's sitting quietly on my harddrive, resting and dreaming, before I slog through it for one last read-through, then it'll be off to my editor who may (or may not) tear it apart and declare it an abomination. Either way,… Continue reading When is it “finished?”

Chronicles of Ghadid Trilogy, The Perfect Assassin (Book 1), Work In Progress, Writing

#amediting – Make it Bleed

The best decision I've made so far with this round of edits - aside from, you know, doing them - was to turn on Track Changes. Now whenever I feel like I'm treading water and getting nowhere, all I have to do is flip to "show all markup" and see just how much I've done.… Continue reading #amediting – Make it Bleed

Chronicles of Ghadid Trilogy, The Perfect Assassin (Book 1), The Unconquered City (Book 3), Work In Progress, Writing

Stop! – It’s Beta Time!

Betas, man. What would we do without them? They're magical creatures, willing to take the time out of their days, weeks, (months?), to glance over an unpolished manuscript and not only give feedback, but give supporting details and thoughts and comments and maybe - hopefully - a few ideas on what they think might help.… Continue reading Stop! – It’s Beta Time!

Chronicles of Ghadid Trilogy, The Perfect Assassin (Book 1), Writing

The Final Countdown

I've hit the final stretch which means I just want to be done already. If there were writing goblins, I would leave out whatever fruit or knick-knacks they desired to finish this for me. I can see the end in sight, but I still have to get there. In the meantime, I've reached the previous… Continue reading The Final Countdown

Chronicles of Ghadid Trilogy, The Perfect Assassin (Book 1), Work In Progress, Writing, Writing Tips

Accountability and Stars

The way I've held myself accountable over the years has shifted a bit. In the very beginning, there was NaNoWriMo and its daily word count goals coupled with an awesome little graph that rose slowly, encouragingly, over the course of a month. Outside of November, I tried to replicate that beautiful graph by plunking my… Continue reading Accountability and Stars

Chronicles of Ghadid Trilogy, The Perfect Assassin (Book 1), Writing

The Nitty Gritties

The baby is sleeping better and the days are gradually lengthening. I can see an end in sight. The threads of this story are coming together, tight and snug, while at the same time the notepad I have open on my desktop continues to accumulate little changes - tone shift here, reordering a scene there,… Continue reading The Nitty Gritties

Chronicles of Ghadid Trilogy, The Perfect Assassin (Book 1), Writing

Write when Baby Writes

Another week, another 10,000 words closer to my goal, another seven days closer to my deadline, another notch up on the panic scale. I think we're around abouts purple, going on plaid. Thankfully, I do my best work while panicking. It's also good for the skin! (No, no it's not.) Despite a week of horrendous… Continue reading Write when Baby Writes

Chronicles of Ghadid Trilogy, The Perfect Assassin (Book 1), Writing

Sunny Days Ahead

Ever since that snowfall two weeks ago, Michigan has been all sunshine and flowers. Within the space of a weekend, every tree here has burst forth with leaves or blossoms. Spring is quite literally in the air. And by spring I mean pollen. Here's to you, allergy-sufferers. May your antihistamines not make you drowsy. Instead… Continue reading Sunny Days Ahead