Adventures in Publishing, vol. 5

A short one this week, and mainly to say that I'm not going to be able to post much in the way of blog content over the next couple of months. This is partly because it's now less than three months until Darkhaven's release (!) and so I'm busy with editing, writing guest posts, answering interview questions, etcetera. And also partly because if I have any wonderful ideas for new blog posts, I'm going to have to keep them for the blog tour or I'll run out of stuff to talk about. However, the upcoming weeks are full of people clamouring to be exiled to the Barren Islands – sometimes two a week – so it's not as if I'm turning the lights out or anything.

Anyway. As I said, I'm currently working on structural edits for Darkhaven. (In case any of you with previous publishing experience are wondering, yes, this is a short timescale. That's how we roll in the digital-first world.) Before I got my editor's letter, I imagined having to remove entire characters or completely change plotlines. So I was relieved to find that (a) it's really more a matter of enhancing rather than altering and (b) there was loads of complimentary stuff in there as well as suggestions for improvement. Because, you know, quite aside from the fact that I loooove being told how awesome I am, it's important to know what works as well as what doesn't.

It's been interesting to revisit this book after working intensively on the sequel. To be honest, I'd been getting cold feet about it after lining up some actual real-life reviews – what if it's really terrible and I just don't know it? – but reading it again with my editor's feedback to hand … well, it ain't half bad. Some bits are sort of brilliant. And I'm very much enjoying the process of reminding myself why I love these characters and want the best for them. (Or, in some cases, the worst. Because I'm cruel like that.)

Anyway, the edits are due back mid-April and then it will be copyediting and then, well, release day. After which, it will just remain to see whether anyone else likes my story too. *FEAR AND TREMBLING*

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