I blinked and it’s Monday again. Wow! So my weekend–Friday Wizard and I went to the movies and saw Mother’s Day. It had a couple funny moments but I’d wait for it on Netflix. Not really a spectacular movie. Then we had an early dinner and I came home to a revision letter from my editor on Savaged Dreams. Okay guys, get ready with your I told you so’s. First, there’s a lot of work to do on the book, that’s a given. The reason I hire Sasha to edit my books is that she’s tough but all her comments and suggestions are truly about developing the story and telling it in the best way possible. So this is an 18 point revision letter, definitely not for the faint of heart But, the best part is right up front in the letter when Sasha says: “First, I have to tell you…I think this has the potential to be the best book(s) we’ve worked on together. You have a really great story here, fascinating characters, dramatic back story for each character that’ll hook readers” I love that so much! Especially since Sasha says exactly what she means. She went on to talk about being excited to read the next two books, confirming my decision to make this a three book series. I struggled so much with that and now feel validated. Sasha is my toughest critic–exactly as she should be.
However, before I tackle that, I’m going to try to get a little more done on this novella. After my Month of Darkness where I just couldn’t write, I’m connecting to these characters and want to get a very, very rough draft done. Then when I go back to revise, I’ll know the heart of the book.
I’m not going to give any release dates yet, all this is taking time, and as usual, I’m giving it my all.
Now I’m going to touch on something else. Many of your might have seen Elizabeth York’s FB posts about a reader who was buying and returning her books to Amazon, then sent Elizabeth a message, essentially demanding free books. This kind of stuff happens. You can see the original post here and then it devolves into something uglier here . I’m sure all of us have crossed paths with people like this (NOT Elizabeth! I don’t even know her, but I hear she’s lovely. I mean the woman demanding free books), and it’s very sad. But what I wanted to say is that most readers are nothing like this, and for that I am profoundly grateful. So thank you guys just for being you! Your support means so much to me, and to every single author I know.
And as a side note, I’m not signing petitions and getting into the battle about returns on Amazon. That is a whole separate issue. It’s my view that returns are a cost of doing business. We need to remember that most readers are not abusing the system. And that a few rotten apples will always abuse the system. That’s the simply reality. I’m not going to push to make things more difficult for the majority of readers who might return a book for a genuine reason. Additionally, Amazon is a business too. The run their business the way they see fit, just as I run mine as I see fit. There are people out there who strongly disagree with my choice to have two of my books available for free (at the time I’m posting this blog and subject to change at any time). But it’s my business, and I can choose my marketing strategies.
And I think that’s enough of my rambling for this Monday! So how was your weekend?