First Edit is DONE!

Hey folks, I’ll try to walk the line between too many updates and never hearing about the progress of Pilot X, but I think this is a good milestone.

The Developmental Edit is done!

What the heck is a developmental edit some of you ask? Now some of you are sneering because you know what it is. Stop that. Not everybody is as smart as you.

Basically this is the edit where Clete finds the things that I abd my beta readers didn’t realize were confusing or contradictory. I slap my head and go WOW how did I miss that? I take his suggestions add a twist of my own and YOU end up with a better story.

Among the highlights

- The people of the Fringe Cascade have much more readbale names but their horrible spellings have been preserved as a hilarious joke. At least Clete and I think it’s hilarious

- The Encyclopedia chapter is now at the end of the book as an appendix so you all don’t throw the book out the window thinking the whole thing is a dry recitation of facts

- A really confusing bit where Pilot X travels back int time to the same point three times is now understandable.

There’s more but it would be spoilery.

So there you go. Developmental Edit MANAGED.

Now it’s off to the copy editor where they will wail and gnash teeth at all my typos and utter lack of comprehension of the proper use of a comma. Clete tried to catch most of those things but he is only human and I am really awful at commas.

MARKETING PLAN! There’s a marketing plan. Spoiler: THIS IS PART OF IT RIGHT HERE!!! But also exciting things like newspapers and blogs and radio and podcasts. Heh. Podcasts.

Also a side note. Amazon decided the book comes out in February which it doesn’t. The expected release date is still March 14. Amazon just makes up stuff sometimes apparently.

And that’s it!  By all means please let me know if you have any more questions and I’ll keep you up to date as we pass more milestones.

As always THANK YOU for your belief in this book and making the publishing possible. You are the best.

Tom

Are you there Inkshares? It’s me, Tony.

First Draft is Complete!

Thursday night at about 10:30 I wrote the final words of the Deus Hex Machina first draft. I had been pressing to get it done by the end of June, and through some help from motivational guru and all around fabulous person Elayna May Darcy (seriously go order  They Are the Last, it’s funding now and it’s awesome), I was able to get all twelve chapters finished on time.

So what happens now? Well, first off I’m going to celebrate with some gaming. Then probably Tuesday I will start working on my short story for Too Many Controllers. After that is complete it’s time to start planning for the Shadow of the Owl sequel, Shadow of the Panther. I know many of your have been waiting to find out what happens to Mylena in [spoilers], and I promise you I haven’t forgotten her.

That’s not to say things aren’t progressing on DHM. My cover designer is already working on comps and I have a developmental editor lined up and waiting. But first, I want to get the first draft in its raw, unfiltered state into the hands of a few select readers to get initial impressions. If you are someone who likes to help make a good book better, I am trying to build a beta reader group. Please email me amanda [at] goldleafbooks [dot] com and let me know that you’re interested. Warning: must love cyberpunk and have an eye for spotting egregious errors in the plot.

Once I have the round done, I’ll head into the second draft and fix anything that stood out to me and my readers (I have a mental list of weak areas I want to shore up). After the second draft is complete it will be off to dev edit land, and hopefully, plot perfection. 

Thanks for following along on this journey. The book is done! Let’s celebrate!  

As you see, I need your help. I’m told when you hit 100 reviews on Amazon, your life changes drastically. I’m assuming ending world hunger will be involved...but what do I know?

I need your help getting to the pot of gold at the end of this rainbow. We are already more than a quarter of the way there. So, if you haven’t reviewed let me help: 

1. CLICK HERE for Ageless on Amazon. 
   
2. Choose a number of stars from 1-5 (... ... let’s shoot for closer to 5 than 1)
3. Copy and paste either "I loved it!" or "I didn’t love it. Here’s why____________" 
4. Click submit and rejoice in knowing you changed my life for FREE! 
5. If you’d like, do it all again on GOODREADS.

Here are a few great new reviews to read to help you if you get stuck. FYI - They contain SPOILERS. Click at your own risk! 

Ageless reviews from TheWarblerBooks.com and CulturedVultures.com