Raise the Wordcount!

It’s time! I have reached that point in the manuscript where the numbers don’t add up! It’s past the midpoint in the projected wordcount, but I haven’t yet hit the hinge — the midpoint in the book where we start moving toward resolution and the end. What does that mean? It’s time to raise the wordcount!

It’s not the first time I’ve done this — in truth, I think I do it at least once in every manuscript. I start out with a target of 90,000 words. That’s, on average, a good goal for fantasy romance, and makes for a decent sized novel. As I write, I reevaluate that goal. Is this book coming in short? How short? Is it a novella and not a novel? Or am I running long, and need to bump my numbers up? For me, this is more likely. I tend to be wordy in the first draft, but the story get refined and pared down in edits. And sometimes, the wordcount gets even higher in edits, because I missed things! (I think it was Haven’s Fall that had six entire chapters added in edits. That’s about 18,000 more words.)

Right now, I’m working on the edits for The Sea Prince, and I don’t think the wordcount will change too drastically, but I do have to rewrite one particular part that might have been less objectionable when I started this book, but these days? A 34 year old man marrying a girl he thinks is a few weeks short of 18 is… hinky, even if it is a marriage for alliance and to stop a war. (She is older. I need to move that confession earlier in the book, and still make it make sense.)

Once the edits are complete, I need to find a sensitivity editor who can check me on disability representation — The Sea Prince features a character who is a double amputee, and I need to be certain I’m writing him properly. (If anyone has a recommendation on a sensitivity reader, hit me up!)

I need to get these edits done as soon as I can, and get them off to a sensitivity reader before the end of September. Starting the last week of September, I’m going into six weeks of non-stop conventions/shows. Necronomicon is the last week of September, followed the next week by the Not So Spooky Hallowfest. Then I have a couple of week to restock and recover before Wizards, Witches and the Weird in Daytona Beach. My year wraps up with Maker Faire in Orlando, and I can take a deep breath before Thanksgiving and Cookiepocalypse 2024.

Just a few irons in the fire, no?

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 3)

Promotions

The Narratess Indie Book Sale is winding down, but you can still grab a copy of The Chronicles of John Zebedee for $1.99 (down from $8.99) There are over 300 books in this sale, so make sure you check them out!

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Counsel of the Wicked is still a contender for SPFBOX, which means that it is still on sale wherever ebooks are sold.

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You still have a few days left to get Written in Water on sale via Kobo! For all of August, start the series for only $1.99. (And because I’m fond of you guys, the sale will be wherever ebooks are sold, not just Kobo.)

Appearances

Necronomicon
September 27-29th, 2024
Tampa, Florida

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Not So Spooky Hallowfest
October 6th, 2024
Deltona, Florida

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Wizards, Witches and the Weird
October 27th, 2024
Daytona Beach, Florida

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Maker Faire Orlando
November 9-10th
Orlando, Florida