Friends, Readers, and Sorcerers All,

Happy New Year! You may have seen this in another email, but thanks to you, WE DID IT! We made our funding goal. Because of some last-minute pre-orders, we held on to third place and won The List contest! This means that SORCERY FOR BEGINNERS will be published later this year with FULL MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION SUPPORT. 

I’m over the moon, you guys. Four years ago, I pitched the concept for this book as a screenplay, but my agent said no one would buy it as a spec. If it was based on a book, he said it would be a slam-dunk sale. So I decided to write my first real novel, and nine drafts and several wrong turns later, here we are. In less than a year, SORCERY FOR BEGINNERS will be on the shelves of bookstores. 

And I owe it all to you. Your tweets, your shares, and most importantly, your pre-orders got us to this place. Thanks to you guys, we donated $560 to breast cancer research, we finished in the top ten of two separate contests, and SORCERY got a real publishing deal. There’s a lot of work still left to do -- I have to address notes from my editor, Juliane has to do the illustrations, plus layout and cover design and marketing one-sheets -- but for now, I simply want to say THANK YOU. Thank you to all who supported this project over last three months, and to everyone who has supported my writing in other ways over the years. I owe you all drinks. I’d also like to send a special shout-out to all the folks in the Inkshares community, especially Adam, who believed in this book. I look forward to working with you all in 2017.

For now, may you enjoy the rest of your holiday. I wish you all the best in 2017, and no matter what else happens, I hope this book will be a little bright spot in your year. It wouldn’t exist without you.

Thanks again. Onward!

mh

Top of the New Year, Space Crew!

This is your Captain speaking, and I have a couple months’ worth of news and updates to share with you, so bear with me. 

What was going on with this book again?
I’ve had some questions regarding the book’s funding status even now, so I want to remind you of some great news: we got the greenlight for publication via Inkshares! We officially reached Quill sometime before the funding period ended, so don’t fret; this book will be coming out and you will have it in your hands (or on your reader). 

I mean, that’s cool, but, like, when?
I want to show you a piece of a timeline today. But the thing is, publishing requires a lot of steps. A lot of back and forth. There’s writing to tie up, editing to impel, beta-reading to endeavour on, and after all of that: getting slotted in the ever-expanding Inkshares printing and release schedule. 

So though this is the question I’ve had the most, I cannot realistically give you an official release date. And rather than risk disappointment now or later, I’m going to focus on what I do know. 

About the manuscript
There’s a huge (huge, HUGE, HUUUUGE!) difference between a draft and a polished, publishable manuscript I’d be willing to share with betas, let alone the world. You’ve gotten some sneak peeks of the writing in my updates, but you may have noticed they’re of variable quality. That some excerpts grip you more than others. But I want to give you a joyride of a book from cover to cover, so that’s just not going to cut it. 

Also, sometime after the first draft was completed, I realized I had to rewrite about 1/3 of it to deliver a way cooler ending. I mean, I guess I could give you the boring version, but it’s significantly less fun, and I’m all about having an evil plan. So please be patient as I rework the story and weed out any inconsistencies. 

Wow, this is taking longer than I thought, Cap
Well, yes. Some of that is writing. And some of that is the fact that this is my first publication, and I had a lot of life things to take care of so that I could put more focus into this. 

I spent a great deal of time last year in promo, and it nearly wiped me out, to be honest. It isn’t my strong suit. I love making these newsletters and sending you silly doodles, but campaigning and begging you all to buy copies was far too salesy for my usual taste. 

As a result of spending so much time on book promo, some other hobbies and professional goals started to suffer. And while in theory "full time writer" sounds great, this is my first publication, so I don’t have that luxury. 

I guess I understand...
Thanks. I’m glad you do. And for your understanding and compassion I will make sure you get a book that is filled with fun, fear, and adventure. 

So what can you tell me about the timeline?
All right. Doodle time. 

Here’s the manuscript alone. I have no reason to believe it won’t be done in February. 

Now, I know you want the big picture. Especially you writer types who are giggling at the idea that a finished manuscript is actually ever finished. I can only approximate here, so the idea is to show you the steps involved and tell you why they’re so important.

The actual writing will be wrapped up soon, but then we have crucial items to address to make sure you’re getting a quality product. 

•  Editing Round 1: This is a full edit. I’m looking at story structure, content, consistencies, spelling, grammar, etc. It usually means I print out the whole thing and go at it with several coloured highlighters. 

• Beta Read: At this point I’ll have convinced myself the book is in as good a state I can procure. I’ll be wrong, and I’ll need the help of others to show me that. I typically use two trusted beta readers to give their honest feedback about the story. They also tend to catch typos I’ve missed. 

• Editing Round 2: I sulk a little before admitting my betas are right, and then hack and slash the manuscript a little more. 

• Rest Period!!! This is a period of intentional slacking. But it’s so much more than that. This is the proverbial "throw it in a drawer" so that I can get enough separation to read it one more time with fresh eyes. I tend to come back able to see issues with tone of voice, flow of story, and more grammatical errors, or at least cringey uses of language.  

• Proofreading: I fix the aforementioned issues discovered in the Rest Period. I go through the whole manuscript, but I’m no longer looking at the story. It’s all about voice, flow, and individual words. I tacked "May" onto this, timeline-wise. I almost said April. It might be April. But I don’t want to just give you the best-case scenario, so let’s assume it’s May. 

• Processing and Printing: This I can’t yet give any info on. I haven’t done it before, and while I’ve heard from others about their experiences, I know that each author will have their own publishing experience. I am publishing under Quill, so I won’t have as much back and forth as the fully-funded folks, who get most of their editing and pre-printing work done in house. But it is up to them to tell me my story is good enough and to schedule its release. Also I will have other tasks that go along with that, like a final cover design, blurbs, and eventually signing many of your copies. 

So, Space Crew, this is what it’s looking like. I hope it isn’t disappointing for you. As it turns out, writers are people, and writing professionally is about a lot more than writing. I also hope you still believe in this book. Let’s make 2017 a spacetastic year. 

Your Sprightly and Srs Space Captain,

-AC

Hey, all. Happy New Year.

I hope that, despite the glut of bad news with which we were bombarded -- and the losses of more iconic people in one stretch than I can previously recall -- your 2016 was full of good news for you.

On the second to last day of 2016, I decided to draw again for the first time in about 14 years, barring those few things I’ve sketched out over that long stretch of time. It’s a work in progress, but I’m pleased with the result. To draw the four sisters from Disintegration, I derived inspiration from that famous, yearly series of photographs of four sisters that’s been floating around the Internet.

From left to right: Manon, Michele, Agnès, and Karin (Carina). If you click the image, you can see a less red version of it on my Instagram (please follow and like, and all that good social media whoring ;P ).

While I work on the cover for the book and incorporate the edits I’m receiving, I’ll be working, too, on visually realizing the characters through drawings. I’ve always thought Carina’s backstory would make a compelling graphic novel. That’s a back-burner project I’d love to someday bring to life.

The bulk of my time has been devoted to writing Integration and it’s surprising me how different a novel it is, and will be, from Disintegration. It’s so much more subtly science fiction. Not quite blink and you’ll miss it, but it’s much more rooted in (a close extrapolation of) contemporary life without the high-stakes drama of dystopic world war. It’s actually really nice to be able to describe the blue skies overhead. :D

I hope you enjoy this glimpse of the lovely ladies of the Derouard / Duvais family. If you would like to join those who are currently reading the book (and, I’m happy to report, really liking it), let me know and I’ll send you the epub of the manuscript that John Robin was kind enough to make for me.

To close, allow me to crib from one person that, thankfully, stuck with us through 2016:

Excelsior!

P.S. - Speaking of social media whoring, the facebook page for Disintegration has 69 likes. In the stilted English of my Russian cyborg Rozhenko: "Please to be the 70th" ... and beyond!

Happy 2017 to all of my supportive followers out there!

I have a few exciting developments regarding The Walls are Closing In.

News headlines in recent weeks have provided no shortage of headaches, but also no shortage of ideas, and several new scenes have been added to a manuscript that I had originally thought was, for the most part, complete. 

My husband, Artist Bart Castle, has worked up the national emblem that will be ever so prominent throughout the story. A new version of the map has also been uploaded to the book’s page.

The official pre-order campaign will begin next Friday, the 13th, and will run for three months. I am going to throw myself into this campaign completely, and am aiming for the gold, 750 pre-orders and a full publishing contract, which will place The Walls are Closing In on bookstore shelves across the country. Ideas from my fellow authors, friends, family, and followers are more than welcome!

Conversations are in the works regarding blog interviews and You-Tube channel features. Stay tuned.

The book has received several new reviews and recommendations, and for that I am incredibly grateful. I will share a selection of them here in closing.

Happy 2017 Followers of the Space Sloth!

Thank you again for supporting this draft as it moves along. To show my appreciation I’m providing a link to a new short(ish) story set in the Fortunes of the Space Sloth world. It’s called "Collateral Hazards". This story takes place before the draft book’s events. It provides a little more world building and if you pay attention you might see some clues to explain why things work the way they do on the Space Sloth.

Collateral Hazards, by P.A. Tebbe

I hope you enjoy it. Happy New Year.

PT

Dear friends and followers,

Happy new year! By now, you should all have gotten the news that we’ve made our goal, a month early. Or, more precisely, that we’ve made the top three on The List, which means the same result without having to actually hit the full 750 orders. This is pretty awesome, and it’s all thanks to you. Every one of you who pre-ordered, who spread the word, who got your friends to pre-order or even just to look at the book: thank you. Thank you so much.

So, now that we’re "in production", what does that mean? When will you get your books?

I know I’ve been saying that books will probably be out around November 2017, and that was a conservative estimate back in March when I started. But the volume of books going through Inkshares of late means that the production process is longer now than it used to be. Here is what Inkshares has to say about the production process. According to this, it could be twelve to eighteen months from the moment I submit my manuscript before the book comes out. In short: between January and June 2018.

I know. I’m a little dismayed too. But it’s still miles better than not getting it out at all, so it’s still a cause for celebration.

Again, thank you for everything. Let’s party like it’s 1925!

Happy New Year, Knightmares!

I wanted to send out a quick message before the New Year to update you on what’s going on. So here’s the update: Inkshares has quite a bit of backlog going on right now with books waiting to be published. This log-jam, I am hoping, will get some clarity sometime within the first few weeks of the year. 

That’s really the entirety of it. I am waiting my turn while I work on other projects, both artistic and written.  If you have a chance, check out Vexed or Masked, both new projects listed here on Inkshares.

In the meantime, I wanted to wish all of you a very happy close to 2016, and a very prosperous and exciting 2017! 

Thanks again for all your support! And remember, the book is still on sale, so if you haven’t yet, grab a copy!