I am finally done with the draft on “Toxic Ash.” Now it’s time for – everything else. Right now it feels like writing the thing was the easy part and that was damned hard. I haven’t sent out an email blast yet, since the publication date isn’t settled – lots of edits need to happen first and I can’t rush a single one of them.

Normally I’d be taking a break of one or two months, I’d do NaNoWriMo to get a jump on the next novel while letting this one mellow in a drawer and then I’d publish the book on my birthday. This year however I’m trying to take fewer ‘breaks’ because they’re a definite hindrance to my process. Every day I take off willingly ends up costing me 5-10 days of ‘block’ later. The downtime is just not worth it.

I’m flat on my back in bed right now, sick from over doing it and I’m still pissed about taking time off. Which is why I’m updating the often un-updated blog.

There’s a lot to do. Seriously a ton of stuff needs done. I made a list. A rough sketch of all the things that need to happen between now and release and it’s huge! Don’t believe me, take a look for yourselves:

New Book covers for “Ash of Ambitions”

•   Find perfect “Ash“
• Calculate paperback cover dimentions
• Photomanipulations

Create New Logo for Four Horseman Series

• Find materials
•  Finalize design
• Photomanipulation

Edit “Toxic Ash”

• Reread “Ash of Ambitions”
• Read “Toxic Ash” from front to back
• — Apply shallow edits and make notes for bigger changes
• — Develope unique chapter headers and fonts for Eldritch Elysium series
• Set release date

Outline Book 3

That’s an edited list – there’s a couple of additional bits to my process I don’t want my readers to know about (let’s just say how it all comes together is magic and leave it at that) and there’s additional surprises I’m working on. I’ll be working on every aspect of this list at the same time which, please believe me when I say this, is a whole hell of a lot to juggle at once and none of it is actually writing. Writing is the part I’m most worried about slacking off on, which is why I’m trying to do everything else at once so I can get back to it a lot sooner. Maybe I’ll squeeze in some short stories while I’m at it but I can’t make any promises…

If you just want me to let you know when the next book is out, please sign up for the email alert. I’m not at all sure how often I’ll be updating the blog as I go along but you can probably find me goofing off on Facebook too.