IWSG: September and Fun Times With Authors

This summer was (Is it was already? Where did summer go?) full of various events where I joined other authors to meet readers and sign books. My fall and winter schedule look much the same, so if we haven't connected yet and you're around Michigan, there's still plenty of opportunity.

In between all this being out of my writing cave and talking to real live people, I've been happy sitting in the dark in my comfy chair at all hours (because sleep and I aren't on good terms), wrapping up edits on Chain Of Grey: Book Two of The Narvan. My plan is to have it in your hands before Christmas, but that depends on the publisher's plan, which as you may understand, is out of my hands.

Before we get to this month's Insecure Writer's Support Group question, how about some pics of where I've been recently?

It was the afternoon of day three of the Newaygo Logging Festival and the crowd was beginning to thin.
When Authors are left to amuse themselves... 

Bitsy joined me on day two of the Logging Festival. All the attention wore her out.
She claimed my lap as her bed and my hand as her pillow. 

I shared a tent with author Ingar Rudholm for the weekend.
The local police force unwisely made us junior officers on day one.
Apparently, this did not mean we could arrest people for grammar infractions. Oops.

For two weekends, I shared a tent with author Lon Hieftje.
For once (or twice?), the weather was beautiful.

Fourth of July weekend is annually spent with a wonderful bunch of authors in Muskegon
at the Lakeshore Art Festival. We have two giant tents full of twenty-some authors of many genres.
It was super hot this year, but we stayed hydrated and met lots of new readers. 

If you're ever up in Traverse City, stop by Bookbrokers in the Grand Traverse Mall for a good selection
of books by Michigan Authors. The staff there is awesome too, by the way.

If you're not familiar with 

the Insecure Writers Support 

Group, check it out here 
and find links to all the other 
participating writers.

And now on to this month's question: If you could pick one place in the world to sit and write your next story, where would it be and why?

I'm sure some of you have wonderful faraway places you'd rather be. Inspiring places, full of interesting people and beautiful scenery. Me? My one place is right where I'm sitting at this moment. In the chair that knows just how to ease my back, with the stool that keeps my legs and feet at a comfortable height. In a room filled with things that inspire me. Where electricity and wifi aren't an issue and food and drink are only a flight of stairs away. This is a place where I can go any time of the day or night and not be in anyone's way. Where weather is never an issue and the temperature is always the same.

I'm good right here, thanks, but you go on and write wherever works best for you and your story. I'll be sitting here, talking to people that only exist in my head and on my pages, probably in the dark, with my fuzzy blanket on my lap and likely in my robe. Because this is my favorite place to be.

IWSG: July and a Busy Summer

I hope your summer is going well. It only just arrived in West Michigan. We've had a long dark winter followed by a cold, dark and very wet spring. To see this mystical orb of warmth is a very welcome thing. I'm not even complaining about the heat or humidity...yet.

The garden has been enjoying all the rain, though all the flowers are about two weeks behind thanks to the lack of sun and cool temps.

This year has been very EVENT-full. (and this concludes my puns for the day). Unfortunately, many of them have been outside and as you've gathered by now, the weather hasn't been very cooperative. This weekend is one of my major events, the Lakeshore Art Festival in Muskegon, MI. We'll have twenty Michigan authors in two giant tents. If you're anywhere near the area, stop by and check out over 350 fine art and craft booths along with artisan food, interactive art, and children's activities. July 5 & 6 from 10-6.

If you're wondering where I'll be the rest of the year, check out the long list of locations over there --->

And now onward to this months' Insecure Writer's Support Group question:

If you're not familiar with 

the Insecure Writers Support 

Group, check it out here.

What personal traits have you written into your character(s)?

Focusing on The Narvan, as those characters have been with my the longest, meaning we've rubbed off on one another quite a lot...

Anastassia shares my love of red wine
Vayen vents with F-bombs
Both of them drink (though more heavily than I do these days)
Anastassia tends to take over everything she touches
Vayen is always looking for ways to improve productivity
Vayen hates club music
Fa'yet likes to work alone
All of them prefer to avoid the spotlight
My wardrobe and Anastassia's are both heavy on the grey and black
Like both Anastassia and Vayen, I prefer to be in charge

and the list could go on, but you have other blogs to get to today so we'll end here. Thanks for stopping by!

Where do ideas come from

Today I'm visiting Diane Burton's blog to celebrate the release of Trust. Diane is my buddy at many local book events in West Michigan and beyond. She also has a new release this month and will be around soon to share that with you.

One of the questions I often get when talking to readers is: "Where to you get ideas for your books?"

Most of my ideas are just random thoughts that fester or moments of inspiration from the news or something that pops up in any given day. But in the case of Trust, the idea came from a short story I wrote in the early 80's. It was a short six page story about two teenagers in space. This was before the internet. Before home computers. Before I could reliably spell 'remember'. Rember. Though the whole freaking story. OMG, the spelling.

But the idea hung with me for years and I played with it, changing it here and there, sometimes drastically. Eventually I changed the point of view character from Anastassia to Vayen. Let me tell you, from one writer to another, get that figured out before you write the novel because it was a hellish rewrite full of headaches. However, I'm really glad I did it because it solved a lot of the issues I was having and I had a great time getting into Vayen's head.

The story that is published now, in no way resembles that short story or most of the earlier versions for that matter, but it was still the seed that launched the adventure in my mind. And no other novel I've written has given me that much grief or been with me this long.

The moral of the story is: don't throw stuff away and don't give up on an idea. You never know when it that little seed might trigger something else. It might not be the right time for it right now, but at some point, it may unfurl into something bigger that you really enjoy.

Get your copy here:

Amazon  /  Amazon UK   /  Barnes & Noble  /  Kobo  / Direct from the publisher

Add it on Goodreads  

Release Day for Trust: Book One of the Narvan and IWSG

Oh happiest of days! The much long awaited (for me, anyway) release of Trust is today! The earliest seed of this book came from a short story I wrote in the early eighties. Yes, you read that right. Roughly thirty-six years and countless entirely different versions of the story later, I can finally hold this book in my hands and share it with all of you. 

Trust is a space opera, and the first book of a series. Four books are currently written, the first three are under contract. What am I working on now? Putting the finishing touches on book two: Chains of Grey which is slated to be out before the end of the year.

War has torn Vayen Ta'set's homeworld apart. It took away his parents and then his brother, leaving him alone. He's spent his life training to join the fight, to do his part, to bring peace to Artor. But the war ends before he's able to join in, quietly brought about by a human, Anastassia Kazan. When she offers him a job as her bodyguard, he's sure he's finally found his place.

He's wrong. She's not who he thought she was. The peace she brought to Artor, to his entire star system, comes with a cost. One he's now helping her pay. There are bigger enemies out in the known universe than he ever imagined. Without Kazan, deals and truces will crumble. War is just a death away.

Neck deep in Kazan’s world of bribes, blackmail, and assassins, Vayen must eliminate the threats to his boss and his homeworld without becoming a target himself. It’s hard to make your mark on the universe if you’re dead.

Currently, the print copy is available through the publisher, Caffeinated Press. As is the e-book. Did you know that buying direct through the publisher or the author puts the most pay back in the author's hand? Don't want to pay shipping? I'll be all over Michigan this year with all of my books. Trust is available in all the usual places:
Amazon / and the rest that I'll put here when I have the links from the publisher.


Hey, look! It's the first Wednesday of the month and I'm remembering to post this time. I'll just be over here, patting myself on the head. Carry on.

If you're not familiar with 

the Insecure Writers Support 

Group, check it out here. 

This month's questions is: If you could use a wish to help you write just one scene/chapter of your book, which one would it be?

I'd use that wish to write a stellar first chapter that was both engaging and at the right darn place to start the story the first time around. If you've never written a story, you have no idea how hard that is and how much time, grief and grey hair that would save.

So where can I sign up for this wish? We won't dwell on how many beginnings Trust has had. I've lost count. At one point the working title of book was The Beginning. Which was horrible, but accurate for as many time as I rewrote the entire thing and started it in all different places until the story finally clicked into place. Wait. Does this mean I used my wish without knowing about it, all those years ago?

Opening chapters are hard. It seems to be a common thing we all complain about it. Finding the right scene, the right level of tension, of world building, the correct character to tell the story at that moment, all of that has to fall into place. I don't usually figure out where that is on the first draft. Or even on the second, on occasion. Sometimes it takes a critique partner to help pin down the right scene or even chapter to become the opening, someone not quite so close to all the precious words.

Which scene or chapter would you use your wish on?

The Narvan, A Smidge of Optimism, and Aquaman

It's January. A new year. I make no promises to blog more often or more regularly, but I may be inclined to make an effort to try. Low expectations mean I can't let myself down, right?

I saw Aquaman today. It was awkward. I wanted to like it. It was pretty to watch, both the actors and visual effects. But the dialogue...oh man. The corn and cheese factor was pretty damn high. So many jokes fell flat. The plot was so predictable. I wasn't expecting to be wowed by a deep plot or emotionally invested in the characters - and that was a good call. Did I mention that underwater scenes were stunning? The acting itself was good, there was also plenty of shirtless eye-candy and it did have a few humorous lines of dialogue. Look at me finding nice things to say.

Beyond thinking about seeing Aquaman, the first two weeks of the year have been spent polishing two short stories for submissions and working on book 5 of The Narvan: The Minor Years.

Book 5? What the hell! Book 1 isn't even out yet! I know. I know. It will be shortly - I'm assured by the publisher. I like to plan ahead...sort of. Having finished what I wanted to do with books 1-4 to tell the story I'd set out to do, I realized there was more, but couldn't put my finger on how to go about it because the MC's arc was complete. I tried three different starts since finishing book 3, because this has been on my mind for a while, but none of them took off. Then, I'm working on an entirely different book, and breaking for a short story with a timeline submission window, and bam, book 5 hits me! Creativity is like that sometimes.

To make things confusing, because I'm like that, book 5 actually takes place between books 1 and 2 but doesn't impact the main story arc and is told through different POV characters. I'd say it's aimed at readers who want more once the main story is complete, or maybe it's just a self-indulgent project that only I will enjoy. But I'm writing it either way because I need to get busy with the final edits on Book 2: Chain of Grey. The Minor Years happens between books 1 and 2, I want to flesh out a few things in TMY and be able to use them in the opening of COG. The current opening of COG would benefit from a few more concrete details of what has transpired after the end of book 1 to where we pick up in book 2. Because these books to actually end. I'm not a fan of major cliffhangers in a series.

Writing book 5 has also given me the opportunity to get back into Anastassia's head. The first four books are all in Vayen's POV. In the earliest versions of Book 1, Anastassia was the POV character, but I was having a hard time getting past all her attitude and quite frankly, she was being a bitch, even to me. Since she was a little (lot) to high on herself, I put her on the sidelines and got into Vayen's head instead. The story took off and that was that. It was a massively painful rewrite to change over that first book, but I can't imagine it any other way now. She's mellowed now. We've come to an understanding, her and I, made our peace after the major shift in storytelling. All in all, I'm happy with it so far.

Now, I'm off to work on The Minor Years. More on Trust in my next post, which hopefully be sooner than later. Woo, optimism.

Cover Reveal: Trust

Look at me making two blog posts in a month! Maybe this will be the start of a slightly more ambitious blogging schedule. Tune in to find out.

I'm happy to share the long awaited cover for my newest (and oldest) book, Trust.

Yes, the first book of my space opera series is finally making its way into your hands! I don't have a release date from the publisher yet, but I'm told it will be before the end of the year, so look for that announcement very soon.

That also means I'm quickly throwing together a blog tour. If you'd like to be part of it (sometime in January), please shoot me an email at jeandavis71@gmail.com or leave a comment here.


At long last, the war that has torn the worlds of the Narvan apart, is over. Anastassia Kazan has brought about the end  to the fighting between Vayen Ta’set’s homeworld of Artor and their rival, Jal. When she offers  Vayen a job on her team of bodyguards, he leaps at the opportunity. He’ll do anything to keep Artor on the path to recovery.

Protecting the paranoid and mercurial woman who’s deals and threats are keeping everyone in line is a tough and thankless task. One drunken night  with Anastassia makes Vayen seriously doubt why he got the job and if he should keep it. But no one else on the team is willing to earn Anastassia’s disfavor by calling her out on her reckless choices. Reckless will get her killed and send the Narvan back into chaos.

Not everyone is happy with Anastassia’s changes on his homeworld and beyond . She’s also on less than friendly terms with her deadly ex-partner. Then Vayen discovers that Anastassia is only middle management. The Council she works for has ambitious plans for the Narvan’s military forces.

How much is Vayen willing to sacrifice to keep the Narvan at peace?

January updates on the resolutions and writing

January has been a flurry of activity toward my one word goal for the year: Speak. First up, a fun interview at The Contents Page where I discuss noisy chickens, my writing process, and Sahmara.

With book 4 of The Narvan wrapped up and in incubation, I'm preparing (by which I mean procrastinating until the last minute) to dive into a rewrite of Not Another Bards Tale this February. I've joined a 30,000 words in 30 days writing challenge. You might be saying, "but wait, February isn't the month for that, being only 28 days and all." True enough, but what's another 100 words a day? Stay tuned for updates on the 30in30 challenge.

My 2018 author event calendar is filling and plans are fleshing out for the two events I'm organizing this summer.
March 10 - Herrick Library MiFi Writers - Holland, MI
May 4-6 - Penguicon - Detroit, MI
June 9 - Fandom Fest - Benton Harbor, MI
July 6&7 - Michigan Authors at the Lakeshore - Muskegon, MI - Tentative
July 15 - Detroit BookFest - Tentative
August 4 - Michigan Authors at the Lakeshore - Holland, MI
September 9 - Kerrytown Bookfest - Tentative

After a meeting with the publisher of A Broken Race, I'm regaining the rights to that book and will be publishing a second edition with additional content in the coming months. The Narvan contract is still up in the air as of this moment as they are restructuring/refocusing and have offered options. Updates to follow.

That meeting also spawned the idea to gather all my previously published short stories into an anthology. The print rights on all of those have returned to me so now its just a matter of sitting down and making that happen...in my free time.

How are you doing with your resolutions?

IWSG: January and 2018 Goals

 It's a new year, and it's time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post! 

This month's question is: What steps have you taken to put a schedule in place for your writing and publishing?

My publishing schedule has been rather up in the air all last year and I don't foresee this year being much different as a good deal of it depends on my publisher. There have been editors coming and going, restructuring, a new backend interface, a move, and  other delays for various reasons. Ah, the joys of working with a small press. If I had to sum up last year in one word, I'd go with frustrated.

As to writing related things under my control, I do have a schedule. I write every morning Monday - Friday and quite often on the weekends too. I try to touch my WIP at lunch and again after work. My goal is 1000 words a day. Coming out of NaNo, where I managed roughly 2K a day for the month, half of that feels quite doable. December saw goals met and we're onward into January. How that will play out once I get this current rough draft completed, time will tell. 

February is slated to be a 30 in 30 month (or 30K in 28 days in this case... or 28 in 28, but it doesn't quite have the same ring to it.). I hope to be working on rewriting Not Another Bard's Tale, a silly fantasy story. The problem is I went all experimental with it originally, and while it's a fun character piece, there's no cohesiveness. It needs a much stronger plot to pull it together.

At some point, likely the point with the worst timing, I'll be getting edits back on the first book of The Narvan. 

I'd like to get NABT and at least book one of The Narvan out into the big world in 2018.

As to other goals, that brings me to my One Word for the new year.

Speak. Mostly speaking up when I've had enough. I started in on this already at the end of November, by asking for help for next year, outsourcing, delegating. I'm also hoping to organize an author event in my town with my local writing group, and perhaps assist with another nearby. In May, I'm going to Penguicon and sitting in on some writing panels. On a smaller scale, I'd like to get back into my weekly blogging schedule. 

Past One Words have been:

2012 was the year of Less. This helped me overcome my habit of over obligation.

2013 was the year of Me. In which I focused a little more on myself instead of doing everything for everyone else.

2014 was the year when I said I would Write. Shit happened. Goal denied.

2015 was sort of a do over year. I tried to work toward solving my problem from the year before by choosing Time. Making time to do the thing I wanted to do: write. Because, well hell, no one else tells you to sit down, stop doing all the things, and write. You have to do that yourself.

2016 was the year of Relax.  That went pretty well and started my morning routine of time in my comfy chair.

I tried to Enjoy 2017. I'd give it a solid meh. I made an effort, but life, work, and finances often got in the way.

What's your one word for 2018?

All About NaNoWriMo

I'm at about neck deep into NaNoWriMo already and November hasn't even started. I'm anticipating spending my November at about 6 inches under my obligation load so figure on a total breakdown where I vanish for a few days somewhere in December.

This week's adventures in NaNoWriMo included a trip to Grand Rapids where my Co-ML and I went on the WGVU Morning Show to talk about...you guessed it, NaNoWrimo! I'd never been on the radio before so that was an interesting experience. I was on enough allergy meds that I was just awake enough to be coherent but not alert enough to be nervous. I guess there is a plus to allergies after all.

Today I officially secured my Day Of Knockout Noveling location, which is a theater, which is pretty damn cool, if I do say so myself. I'm still a bit bummed about not using the gallery space we've used for the past couple years, but I don't have to haul hardly anything to the new venue. My back, shoulder, and neck are extremely pleased with this news. The manager is super easy to work with and I'm excited to have the whole theater filled with the clickity-clacking of fifty-some keyboards while we novel away for a day.

I also made all the activities, stickers and progress chart for the 50 goody bags we'll be handing out at our Kick Off Party on the 29th and got those all assembled into neat little bags this week as well.

In preparation for a month of writing, I wrapped up my personal Netflix binge-watching yesterday. I've been on a historical fiction stint with Medici: Masters of Florence, which was very good. Can't wait for the next season! And the three seasons of The Borgias , which was a fun example of a whole show of antagonists and getting people to empathize with them...and yet still know they are not good people. I'm still working my way through the last season of Dark Matter and the current seasons of Mr. Robot and Outlander, but those are on husband/wife time so I can still work those in during November here and there.

Next on the list: Re-reading Book 3 of the Narvan so I can dive into Book 4 for NaNo.

And while I have you here and we're talking about NaNoWriMo, both Sahmara and The Last God (which were both NaNo Novels) are currently on sale for .99. Links are over there on the left. <------ p="">

It's NaNo Prep Time

Sorry for the blog silence over the past month. Life has been insanely busy and allergy season is upon
me, meaning my morning writing/blogging/marketing/all things bookish time has been minimal to none.

Not that I've had to let everything go, but I've had to prioritize what I can do in the time I have. Most of that time has been devoted to participating in and mentoring the Coursea NaNo Prep courses. If you participate in NaNoWriMo, you will have received the email about these courses a while ago. They are ongoing and run through February. There's still time to join any of the five courses. Auditing (watching the lectures) is free. Participating in the assignments (both submitting and critiquing) does require a fee. Both options are helpful.

I did the assignments in the first course and came out with what I'm hoping is a sellable short general fiction story. Now I just need to find time to hunt down a couple markets and submit it. I also wrote a few pieces that I can work into my upcoming NaNo novel. So there has been productivity, just not as much as I would like. I've also critiqued a lot of assignments and answered lots of questions. Mostly the same questions by different people, which is a bit wearing on my patience level.

If you're wondering what all this talk of NaNoWriMo is about, do take a moment to check it out. This will be my 12th year participating. Amazing to think I've been doing this for that long. Twelve years of writing 50,000 words in a 30 days. Just one month out of the year. Thankfully. I couldn't keep up that frantic pace year round, not with everything else I do. But for one month, I allow myself to let other things go. For one month my existence is distilled to eat, sleep, write, work and the activities involved with NaNo writing, such as moderating my regional forum, hosting weekly write-ins, and three large events. I'm taking November off from author events, though there are a few I wish I could get to, but there just isn't enough of me to go around. Blogging will likely be fairly quiet too.

What will I be writing this year? Book 4 of The Narvan. The first three books are under contract. This one is begging to be written. It's a good thing I'm busy, because the writing urge is getting downright demanding and that will only get worse throughout October as I continue to ponder scenes and plot so my fingers can get down to business on November 1.

So that's where I'm at. Not abducted by aliens, but considering what to write about them. Along with gearing up for three author events in the next couple weeks, wrapping up taking the NaNo prep courses, playing mom taxi to two busy high school girls, and generally doing the business owner and family thing. Not busy at all. Ha!

So Many Projects

With the frenzy of April behind me, I've had time to get all three novel drafts for the The Narvan sent off to my publisher and do a fairly major overhaul of Sipper, a long sci-fi short story. Today's plan is to get that off into submissions. But then that leaves at a crossroads of far too many choices.

Sahmara, a fantasy novel, is on the radar for self publishing - which means I'll need to devote time to editing and formatting and cover art. It's had time to rest after a heavy round of critiques and edits so my eyes will be fresh again, however...

Interface has been haunting me through my daughter's disapproving looks every time I mention that I'm working on something other than the YA sci-fi that I dove into last November and then set aside on in favor of writing Bound in Blue (The Narvan: Book 3). Oops. Sorry.

I'd love to get back to Not Another Bard's Tale, which I left hanging without a middle in 2009. Working on a silly fantasy novel would be a good pick me up for this very random spring we're having. It's the middle of may and it's currently in the low 40s. It actually snowed nearby last night. In May. The weekend before it was nicely in the 70s. Michigan weather is known for being random, but this is a little too over the top.

And then there are a host of short stories that need work. My submission pile is dry and needs refilling.

So many projects... Which to work on while I await the first round of edits on Trust?

A to Z Reflections 2016

Another April A to Z has come to a close. (Thank goodness)

I picked the least graphic photo.

You're welcome. And yes,

it really did hurt like hell,

but I turn into a comedian

when bad things happen. Don't

sit next to me at funerals.

April brought all sorts of interruptions to my intended writing productiveness. The first of which, on the eve of A to Z, was accidentally slicing off the tip of my index finger while making dinner. Not the best thing to do with a month of off the cuff blogging ahead of me. Mashing the keys with my giant gauze-wrapped finger didn't go so well and, for the first week or so, put be behind as far as visiting other blogs because it was just frustrating and painful to type.

While that was healing, the machine that is one of my primary income sources for my business decided to act up and behave like a two year old being force-fed an all vegetable dinner. For three long days I was covered in blue ink - no, seriously, my hands and arms looked like I'd violently murdered every single smurf that may have ever existed - while I played equipment tech and finally tracked down the faulty part and replaced it.

Which put me three full days behind on production, meaning I was working a lot of overtime trying to catch back up during one of our busiest months. One the whole, the work aspect of April was incredibly stressful and didn't allow me the time and energy I'd hoped for as far as spending time writing story starts. I still managed to do them all, just not as in depth or on time as I had wanted to.

On the more exciting side of things that distracted me from A to Z this year, was emailing back and forth to discuss a deal with my publisher that resulted in a three book contract for my space opera series, The Narvan.

But I made it through and wrote 26 short story starts, one of which became a full story. I visited blogs, made blog friends, and had a lot of laughs while reading some hilarious posts in a month that I really needed some stress relief.

What would I do differently next year? Write half the posts in advance. Having done posts both ways, each for two years, I'm ready to go with a combination and give myself a little slack. I'd love to continue with the short stories based on words visitors provide, but I'd also probably do some posts on random things to break them up, maybe every other day.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to stop by, some of you each and every day, and for all the words you so generously offered to inspire me. I hope you'll continue to hang around.

May IWSG and a Happy Annoucement

Is it really the first Wednesday of the month again? Where did April go? Oh yes, it was a blur of A to Z blogging.

Which would typically bring me to A Story a Day in May, my annual attempt to refill my short story file with rough drafts. However, after a month of exchanging emails with my publisher, the contract I'd been waiting for finally arrived in my inbox. What contract you might ask?

I'm happy to announce that the first three books in my space opera series, The Narvan, will be published with Caffeinated Press.

I don't have a publishing schedule yet, but I will share that information when it becomes available. First up will be Trust, which has had a very long journey. I'm excited to finally share this story with a wider audience than my critique group.

So what happened to my short story effort? Well, I'm busy learning Markdown, which is what my publisher is now using for edits. What better way to learn it than my doing a quick revision of the drafts of the second and third books? The formatting is pretty straightforward and things are plugging right along. Which means I should soon be back to revising Sipper - which is a short story, albeit a long short story, for an end of the month anthology submission deadline. Once that's out of the way, I'm hoping to get back into the spirit of things and either churn out some new drafts or revisit some of the many drafts I have in my folder from the past two years that I still haven't gotten to.

While I revise and celebrate, I invite you to stop back on the 6th for an interview with author
Susan Royal about her newest book.

March IWSG

I'm feeling a little more on top of my posting this month. Slightly more, anyway. As of Tuesday morning had no idea what I was going to post about because writing life is pretty good right now. I've been barreling forward on Bound in Blue: Book 3 of The Narvan at around 1K a day. I like the direction its going and the words are flowing freely.

I have a couple of upcoming author events to attend, where I can promote A Broken Race. Interviews have been kept up on, except for reviewing my answers to Ms. Marketing's questions from our last meeting. Yeah,  I've got to get on that.

But now, Tuesday evening, I've just received the initial editing overview notes from a prospective publisher of Trust: Book 1 of The Narvan. I'm holding off on any big announcements on that front until I digest these and decide if I want to proceed with a contract should all parties agree to move forward.

I've played the get the contract before the initial notes game before and it wasn't pretty. Lifopoly anyone? I much prefer this order of events.

These notes, I think I can work with for the most part. But as I sit here, having read them over four times, I'm seriously pondering how on earth I'm going to conquer the issue of too many subplots to do them all justice. Yes, there are a lot. I know that. It's a complex story. All of them are necessary to pull the story together at the conclusion and provide the framework for the rest of the series.

The immediate solution that comes to mind would be to divide the first book in two thereby making the plot in each less complex and more leisurely to digest. I do have a rather breakneck pace set because that's the speed at which I like to read.

With the requested addition of areas needing more description and room to follow the suggestion of expounding on the existing subplots, reaching two novels worth of word count isn't an utterly stressful prospect. However, that would create the situation for a cliffhanger ending, because we'd essentially be leaving off in the middle. There is a scene that would lend itself to this purpose, but I hate detest very strongly dislike cliffhanger endings. I prefer each book to have a satisfying conclusion.

What are your feelings on cliffhangers? Does it drive you to buy the next book or annoy you to the point where you'd never buy anything by that author again?

Please check out posts by other ISWG participants here.