Holy Carp!

Finally, after months of work, the edits are finished.  I'm dead, readers.  But the story that I wanted to tell is done and I can't help being immensely pleased by that.  Wow.  Just this series alone was about 800,000 words (maybe more, I haven't done the math lately) and when I started I had no idea where it would end up.

My writing may never be perfect (is anyone's?) but I'm really satisfied with the way it turned out.  There are stories still untold, but those who matter in this journey had their day.

So now it's off to my proofreader, and I'm hoping to have it back in another month or so.  This book is 180,000 words, so it's going to take a while.  In the mean time, I wanted to share the cover with you.  I love it, because it represents everything this story has come to mean to me, and gives a hint about where it's going.

I hope to have more good news for you soon.  Happy reading!

Writing progress!

Well, it's been long enough, that I wanted to touch base.  I got my feedback for Universis, and I'm currently in the middle of revising and editing it.  I'm about 20% of the way finished, and with a book this big, that translates to about 40,000 words down and about 140,000 to go!  I'm hoping to be done after the new year and able to present it to you.  I assure you, it's my biggest priority right now, but trying to get it right has been a massive undertaking.

I have three book ideas in the works, but I'm only adding a note here or there in my writing notebook, because I really want to devote all my time to finishing this series!

I'll update again when the editing is done and I've sent the whole thing off to my proof reader.  I'll also show off the new cover too, because I don't think I've done that yet and I really love it.

Happy Reading!

-Kate

A Final Wish

 Hello readers,

I am happy to report that The Five Tribes series is finished.  Whoa.  I can't believe I just typed that.  This series has been 12 years in the making, thanks to various life hiccups and my inability to write any novel for this series in under 100k (barring that first one, of course).

This book, Universis, is actually coming in at 175,000 words!  I'd love to say that it will get back down to 150k, but I think what with being more descriptive and clarifying some of the plot, it will probably end up around 170k.  But it is chock full of everything you could want: love, loss, change, explosions, new characters, new worlds, and new legends.  This book is the culmination of everything I've been building since the very beginning of the series and I hope it will have the answers you've been asking yourself about the Five Tribes and its existence.

It's hard to know where to end a series, but I've done the best that I can to honor these characters we've all followed for so long, and to tell their story to all of you.  There is an epilogue and some loose threads, and who knows... there could be some books set in this world in the future.  No promises, but there are several characters who still need stories, to my mind.

For now, my plan is to do one rough pass through, where I make sure all the names are correct and double-check my scrivener file for inconsistencies before I hand this sucker off to the betas.  And while that project is marinating, I'll be starting something completely new.  I'm not going to talk about it now, but there will be a post in the near future about what I'm working on next.

Thanks again, to all of you for your encouragement, your comments, your emails, your reviews and ratings.  I've tried to take in as much feedback as I can and really consider what would make the books even better, but in the end, the story will be what it wants to be.  I'm just grateful that some of you have been along for the ride since the beginning and made my writing the richer for it.

Happy reading!

-Kate

Huzzah!

Friends, Romans, Bookreaders...

I have finished the edits and the book is even now being perused by my faithful (and super picky) proofreader.  Hopefully in about a month I'll get a copiously red-highlighted manuscript back from her telling me I use prepositions far to often and my writing style is all backwards (this is what she always tells me).

This is me, every time.

But VICTORY IS MINE... in the editing department anyway.  Now I'm trying to keep myself from having a panic attack over how I'm going to finish up this series that I've been working on for like... 7 years of my life.  I've written some very interesting and very DIFFICULT plot points for this book, dear readers, and now I've got to find a way to dig myself out of them.  There are certain aspects I can picture very well, and others that have me trembling in fear.  Ah well.  It's not like I'll ever be done with this world.  I have at LEAST four more books I want to write in it, but I promised myself when book 5 of the 5 tribes is done that I will dive into a completely different world and a completely different writing style.  I will PLAY AROUND and be silly and sad and push myself even further than I did with this series. 

I will have a cover to share with you soon, until then,
Happy Reading!

The Good News, But The Bad News

The good news is I have my book back and have gotten my feedback.  The bad news is, thanks to a job I was working on this summer, added to camping with the family, and another family type meet-up, I am just now starting on edits for Ignis.

I know, I know!  I'm disappointed, too!  If I want to be realistic, the book probably won't be done until December.  I want to hope for October, but I think that is a little too optimistic.  The book is currently around 130,000 words, and there is a lot of fat (and probably a couple of chapters, if I'm being honest) that need to be trimmed.

I will keep you updated, of course!  And I should have a cover to show off soon!

Happy Reading!

Hey, Guess What?

If you guessed that I'm done with the rough edits and have passed the roughish draft of Ignis off to my host of beta readers for feedback, YOU'D BE RIGHT!

(This is you)

(At least I hope this is you.)

So yeah, I've given them a end of June deadline for feedback, so by July I will be really trying to finish rough edits by August.  Unfortunately, that means that I won't get the book to my proofreader until at least August.  I would not count on this book till October, everyone.  *fingers crossed*

I will post again when I have the cover to show you. 

I'll keep you posted.

Happy Reading!

Ask The Author: More News

Welp, I got asked after my last post if I was editing yet.

(You didn't miss it, I promise.  I'm still toiling over here.)

I was not.  But the sad noises can end, I'm here to announce that I finished up my short side project, and Ignis is now having the first lashings of a rough edit applied to it.

If you're familiar with my process, that means that when the rough edits are done, I'll be sending it to my beta readers for feedback on the overall story, then I'll get down to the nitty gritty editing.  (most likely 2 rounds of it)  When that's done, it gets sent to my proofreader person and then a couple weeks of formatting/editing and up it will go.  Still hopeful for end of summer (August) release, but I have a busy summer ahead of me, so it could be later.

At least it's done!  Yay to being done!  Also, I will hopeful have a new cover to show off soon!
That's all for now.  This one will be short and sweet. :)

Happy Reading!
-Kate:)

Look What The Cat Dragged In

Well, hello friends!  It's been a while, or so I see from the date of my last post.  I promised myself I wasn't gonna say anything unless I had NEWS and guys, I have news in spades!

First off, I'm in final edits for Terris, (book three) of the Five Tribes books.  It's been a long time, and 145,000 words coming.  Some time has come my way (for now) and I have made good use of it.  I'm hoping, HOPING for late August, but just to be safe, I'm gonna say September.
The book cover is in the hands of my cover artist and should be finished in a little bit.  I'll post it here and on goodreads when it's done.
And as one final gift for those of you who have waited literal years to read the third book and have MY memory, I'm going to include a detailed summary at the beginning so that you don't have to read through everything all over again to get the important info.
In other news, I just finished a standalone book that is pretty much in an opposite vein from anything I've ever done before.  It's the first time in a long time that I have written a story that doesn't have like 4 more books coming after it and let me tell you, it was a refreshing change from having to keep track of a thousand little.  It's not for everyone—it's a Regency/fairytale fusion and it was a lot of fun to write.  Still haven't decided what I'm going to DO with it.  I may actually send this one around and see if it's mainstream enough to traditionally publish.  I'm getting feedback on it right now. :)
That's all from the land of Kate.
Happy Reading!

The BIC (Big Inner Critic)

Lots of writers talk about their inner critic.  For most of us, it's that loud, cranky voice the comes in objecting to every word of the current manuscript we happen to be working on.  In my case, it's the annoying harbinger of doom that comes around whenever I'm editing.  And kicks my butt the entire time.

The good news is, I have completed the first markups of my rough draft for Terris.  The bad news is, I haven't made any changes yet.  Oh Lord.

But since I've put in multiple hours this weekend, I'm now giving myself a mini-break in the form of imparting my editing wisdom to all of you.

1)  If you have a Kindle, USE it. (No, I did not get paid by Amazon for this promotion.  Although, wouldn't that have been nice!) It's often way easier to read these things in book form and get an overall idea of where the plot is going rather than line-by-line in a word processor.
Yes, a lot of authors print out their work on paper and do it that way.  Okay, that's good, but it might cost you a pretty penny if you're an indie author like me and your book is 130,000 words long, like mine is.
2) Why use paper and a red pen when you have Kindle Touch and highlights?  OMG, highlights are the best!!! They're like a red pen, except you can add notes to them.
3) Which brings me to my next point... hey, guys, did you know about Kindle's word completion software for notes?  It's awesome!  Let me explain how it works.
You highlight a passage, and add a note and type in what you want.  But Kindle's word completion software has a memory for your most used words.
So if I type in "rewrite" into kindle and select it when the word comes up, it remembers my choice for next time.  Now all I have to do is type in "r" and rewrite pops up right away.  So it's pretty much perfect for editing, as long as you remember what everything means.
rewrite, repetitive, more, huh, confusing, transition, new (for new line)  I use these words all the time for my editing, and I do it only having to type in one letter before the word pops up. So great.
4) If you're not sure about how the words sound, then you need Free Natural Reader.  As the title suggests, it's free.  What it does is take text and read it out loud to you.  If I'm not sure about a passage or I'm worried that I missed something in a conversation, I put it in natural reader and I can tell where the rough parts are.

So that's my technique for silencing the Inner Critic through hard work and toil.  Next up comes beta reader feedback and then my next set of edits. (yay!)  Finally looking like this book may get wrapped up.

Happy Reading!

So Excited I've Been Spouting Gibberish All Day!

Well, you might have a guess about why I'm so crazypants excited today, readers.  Terris is finished.  Yes, FINISHED.  Yay for me.  I'm awesome.  Oh yeah.
Liz Lemon says, "High Five for you, Kate!"

Seriously though, I know this has been a long wait for you, so thanks for hanging in there with me.  (And for emailing me several times to ask when the third book will be out.)

But it's not all sunshine and roses, I'm afraid.  Right now the book is in three different files (which I have to admit went way better.  Will definitely be doing that again next time.) so I have to put it all together.  Then I'll be rereading the first two books (which is hardly a trial or anything.  lol).  Then I do a first read through of Terris, and look for any parts that make little to no sense, or don't work for the flow, or contradict stuff that I wrote before.  You know, the parts where I sucked at writing.

After I've gone through to make it at LEAST understandable by humans, I'll be sending it out for some plot feedback from my team of people who enjoy telling me all the ways in which I've failed.  (Alright, they're actually very nice people.)

Then comes yet another plot edit.  This is more of a fine tooth comb sort of thing, but I'll still be looking at plot issues, if anything of note comes up with the betas.

Finally, the MS goes to the proofreader for red pen work, and then it will be formatted and uploaded on various sites.

So, we're honestly still looking at August, if I want to be realistic. Or maybe July, depending on how busy I am this summer.  My kids will be gone at their grandparents' for a week, so hopefully I'll be able to push hard during that time period. :)

But I'm thrilled, beyond thrilled to be done.  I'm excited where this book has gone, and ecstatic to pick it up for the fourth edition.  I'm over halfway done with this series, and I'm both happy and kind of sad.  I've devoted so much time and energy to these characters that I really hate to leave them behind.

For now, however, Nikka, Luka, and Zyander are back and they are happy to hold your attention for a bit.

Happy Reading!

George, Mary Sues, and Epic Fantasy

I think I've mentioned before that series are HARD WORK.  If you didn't read that post, I'm just gonna sum it up for you: whining, bitching, moaning, and a little resolve toward the end.  Or if you like that sort of thing, here's the gif:

The hardest part, though, is keeping track of all that character growth that's supposed to be happening.  As I get to the end of the third book (OMG, did I just say the END?  I did.  Check out that wordcount on the sidebar, readers!), I start to think about what the character is going through.  I have a nice peek at where they've been and where they might be headed in the next couple of books.

But mostly, I wonder to myself: What Would George Do?  That's right, when I think about character work, I always go to the definitive expert (in my humble opinion, of course).  He can take the most sniveling, backstabbing character and turn them into a hero by the 5th book.  So, what would George do?

Wellllll... let's just say he likes to make things difficult for his characters.  So, okay.  Why?  Because that's how we grow as people, right?  We grow and we change and we face hardships that melt us down and purify us and turn us into bright, shiny versions of ourselves (or horrifying nasty versions, too).

Luka is probably the best example of this, but let's look at Nikka, who is kind of the reason for this series.  Nikka is a fun character to write, but let's be honest, she can get a bit Mary Sueish.  I mean, she scores a 27 on The Mary Sue Test.  Which, you know, isn't the highest score she could get (50+), but definitely in the mildly Mary Sue range.

And what's so wrong about being a Mary Sue, you ask?  Besides the fact that she pisses off reviewers everywhere?  Nothing much.  I mean, in reality, people will give you crap about your heroine being a Mary Sue, but if she works in your story, you won't hear me complaining.  

Anyway, the reason I don't want a Mary Sue in my writing is because a lot of times, she can turn out flat, if you're not careful.  I consider it my job, as the writer of this series, to keep her from heading down that road, to make things difficult for her.  

I keep George in mind when I decide what to do with Nikka.  I push her, pull her, make her question herself, her abilities, her relationships, and even her gut.  Because even though she is obscenely powerful and full of sass, she is not infallible.  She sometimes reacts too quickly, or has too much confidence in herself and it turns out that she can't just do anything she wants with the powers she's been given.

So yeah, gonna have to keep that in mind during the editing I'll be doing very very soon.  (Hopefully.)

Happy Reading!