Howdy! And my sincerest best wishes for you and yours through whatever hand this mad time may have dealt you.

Just a quick update. Earlier this week, I received my third editorial letter for Bane of All Things from my awesome editor, Sarah Nivala. Sarah is quite happy with where we are with the current draft and so am I.

Through two rounds of developmental editing that enriched description, provided more context for readers to be better be able to get a handle on the complexity of this story, and to make my characters and their interactions with each other more engaging, BoAT has gotten a little thicker -- from 129,000 words as first submitted to Inkshares, to 158,000.

Formatted as a trade paperback, this equates to about 500 pages. That’s still relatively lean compared to many of the epic fantasy titles out there these days that are bending bookshelves, but Sarah has offered some great ideas on how to tighten up the story. (Hint: Chapter Four may be the new Chapter One).

Over the next month, I will be working on those revisions, and then BoAT will be handed off to Inkshares CEO Adam Gomolin for his thoughts.

At present, we still don’t have a publication date. Due to the impact of pandemic lockdown measures on bookstores and the kind of public gathering launch events that are key to a successful kick-off for a new book, Inkshares is not releasing any new titles until 2021.

As soon as I have insight on when BoAT may finally be in your hands, you will, too.

On the cancer front, I have continued to be in good health since my last update. Today marks five weeks into my one year of gene therapy medication that promises to beat this thing forever. I am glad to say that the side effects of the meds have so far been less severe than I had feared they might be.

Stay tuned, stay safe, and thank you again for your continued faith and patience.

Cheers

Leo

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

Hello everyone!

Firstly, I want to say that I hope all of you are safe and well. This is truly an ever-changing situation in which we live in, and I know all of us are doing our best to navigate the murky waters. The purpose of this message is to update you on my progress with, RESURGENCE.

Before the pandemic, I didn’t have much time to work on my edits. Teaching required my full attention. What I didn’t expect is for the school shut down to do the same. While I may not have been teaching in the classroom, I was constantly grading, answering emails, checking in with students’ wellness, and packing up my classroom in preparation for the big move into our new middle school next year. With that being said, however, I do believe the delay was a gift from God. Here is why.

Our country is broken. No matter which side of the political spectrum you fall, no matter your opinion on how our country’s leaders have handled the pandemic, no matter your take on the riots sweeping the country after the horrific deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others, millions of people are hurting. I have been given the opportunity to take all of this in and use RESURGENCE to bring a sense of unity back to this world and most importantly, inspire youth for generations. The characters in RESURGENCE will bring to life the emotional struggle we are all facing and hopefully inspire people to create an inviting world for all, regardless of who you are or where you come from. 

The beginning of a book is always the toughest to write. Especially when it comes to science fiction. I have to find the perfect balance between prose and world-building, oh, and not to mention, keep the reader in suspense the entire time. I have written the first four chapters of this new draft, and you will find them uploaded to Inkshares. If anyone is willing to read them and provide me with feedback on the STORY (grammar mistakes are a given), I would greatly appreciate it. And if not, well, I look forward to finishing the story this summer. 

Head to Inkshares.com/books/resurgence and click on the "read" tab to begin reading the new draft!

Best wishes,

Alec Michael Dood