Jun 11, 2020

Hey everyone,

It’s been a minute since my last update so I hope you all are well and getting in some good reading time as we head into summer. I’m finishing up Suzanne Collins’s The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (a Hunger Games prequel that is way better and more engrossing than I was expecting) before moving on to John Grisham’s Camino Winds. With everything closed, what else can you do but read (and eat)? But there are worse things to spend time on, right?

I wanted to drop in and say that I had a great phone conversation with Adam (Inkshares CEO) this week. Despite the brutal beating that COVID is putting on indie authors, bookstores, and the publishing industry in general, Inkshares remains in good shape, which means that Showtime will continue to remain in development until its eventual publication.

“But when?” you’re no doubt saying, crossing your arms as you furrow your brow and twist your lips into a pout. “I ordered that book months ago!”

Okay, okay. Cool it, Patrice. You know your blood pressure gets high when you get excited. Let’s chat.

Up until now I’ve worked with Sarah on the developmental edits stage. Now, after two rounds of feedback and drafts, Showtime will be turned over to Adam to read the most recent draft. (For all you kids keeping count at home, this is the 3rd.) He’s got a couple manuscripts in the queue ahead of mine, but his goal is to get back to me with notes and feedback in 4-6 weeks. You can wait that long until another update, right? By then you’ll have prepared for the beginning of summer, eaten your Fourth of July hotdogs, and wished me a Happy Birthday (June 17th *cough, cough*).

A big source of my concern has been Showtime’s word count. Since Inkshares greenlit Showtime for publication, it ballooned from 109,000 to 127,000 before settling down to a more reasonable 118,000. It’s not a ridiculously high number for a suspense/thriller, but the general publishing world guideline is around 100-110k. The cause of the growing word count came from deepening the layers of my characters, so you can imagine my relief when Adam assuaged my concern by saying that he’s not worried about word count if the character work necessitates it. After all, if you care about a character and become invested in their story, you’re going to want to spend as much time with them as possible. Adam seemed to share my belief that characters dictate the word count, not the other way around.

So that’s where we stand with Showtime for now.

In related writing news (when do I have any other kind?), I recently finished the second draft of my third book, Monsters, which is currently in the hands of nine of the best beta readers in town. It’s lean, mean, and hopefully will scar a few people for life. With any luck, you’ll be seeing it in the future as well.

Thanks again for your continued support. I’ll be back with a new update when I have more news to share.

Ricky