Big accomplishment last week! I finished “Music in the Night” and shipped it off to Dragonblade for inclusion in Dukes All Night Long. Now, by “finished,” I mean that I merged comments from four beta readers and did a light edit, considered a major insight from one of them, deleted half of the first chapter, added a scene from the heroines POV in its place, surgically added bits from the deleted material into chapter two while removing other bits, put it on voice over and proof read word by word, and added a dedication to all of you who’ve stuck by me through my own dark times. Whew!
Word came from Dragonblade that we have a cover and release date for Dukes All Night Long. It will be out August 17, and you can pre-order now. Check out that cover on the left!
Also last week word came that Snowed by the Wallflower will be tucked into a collection of winter wallflower stories. More on that next week.
Now all this went on during an unusually frantic week in Real Life. It included multiple, but routine, medical appointments, bonding with church friends over a rummage sale, two evening meetings and a full day of volunteer work. I may be leaning into strong winds, but, by goodness, I’m pressing forward.
This week? We have a terrific guest tomorrow for Facts Behind the Fiction, Jude Knight. I hope to make big progress with my still unnamed valentine story. Look for a WIP Wednesday excerpt. And Oh, by the way, I’m working the polls for our primary election tomorrow. Somebody has to. But first, coffee.
Photo credit: Kati Nescher in photo by Giampaolo Sgura for Vogue Germany’s December 2014 issue.