Yesterday I got the clearance from editing master extraordinaire Matt Harry to start writing my final draft of Deus Hex Machina. Today I built my new editing scene list to help as a roadmap for what I’ll be doing for the next month. As you can see, most of the book is changing in some way, although a lot of the changes are going to be minor.  I love this part of the process: Getting to dive into the book, polish up the rough edges and round out the wonky corners. It’s like falling in love with the story in a completely new way.

I’m unsure what happens once I’m done with this draft, so for the moment I’m going to assume that I go into an edit phase like the rest of my cohort. My guess is that such an edit will be very brief because we spent so much time upfront preparing for the 4th draft writing phase. 

I can’t help but smile to think how far Isidore RAM has come. I am so proud of this little book, I can’t wait for you to get a chance to read it.

Cheers,

Amanda

Greetings Followers of the Space Sloth, 

*drum roll please* 

Fortunes of the Space Sloth is in the Top 50 of the Launch Pad Manuscript Contest! I’m very happy with its performance and the apparent interest in the story. 

The story was originally finished as part of the Nerdist Space Opera competition nearly 18 months ago. In the time since then I’ve added a couple short stories to the universe. Now that it’s in the Launch Pad competition I’ve been spending more time work on the draft and doing some mental world building. I have to admit I’ve missed the story and characters. It’s fun getting back into it. 

As part of Inkshares’ partnership with Launch Pad the story is now back in funding mode. However, the timing isn’t great. I’m in the process of trying to wrap up the Quill goal on a separate story. So this will be a completely stress free have fun with the story campaign. Post a review or ask a question about the story. Is there something about the Space Sloth world you’re wondering about? Maybe I’ll post a short story on that topic… 

PT 

If you followed along last year with my updates on the publication of These Are My Friends on Politics, you’ll recall that the real stars of those updates were the pictures of my 16-year-old dog Nina.

Last month, she passed away. I haven’t brought it up much because (a) I didn’t feel like it and (b) I didn’t have anything valuable to say about losing a beloved pet beyond the fact that I do not recommend the experience. For those who didn’t know Nina firsthand, I’d rather leave you with something uplifting that characterized her life than simply share some sad news amid the endless bad news that keeps hitting us these days. 

 So I did the reasonable thing and wrote and illustrated and published a book about her instead. It’s nothing extraordinary — look, *you* try making a book in a month in your spare time during one of your busiest work periods of the year — but it conveys much of what made Nina such a big deal in this little corner of the world. And it has some pretty pictures in it. And it’s more funny than sad. And perhaps it’s a nice distraction and reminder that the world isn’t all bad even if we’re threatening to end it with simultaneous nuclear and civil wars. 

 Anyway, it’s available now if you’re interested in taking a look. Thanks for reading, and enjoy. If you have any dog-loving friends whom you think would enjoy this, please pass it on. 

Amazon (paperback and Kindle): dog.billyok.com/amazon 

iBooks: dog.billyok.com/ibooks

Kobo: dog.billyok.com/kobo

Barnes & Noble: dog.billyok.com/bn

Indiebound: dog.billyok.com/indiebound

Dear Sweethearts,

I hope that you are doing well and that you’re having a wonderful Tuesday, and that your summer has been nothing short of glorious! I wanted to write you a quick note to tell you a few really exciting things about How to Get Run Over by a Truck! (I know, it’s the little book that just.wont.quit.)

Last week the team at Audible reached out to me to let me know that my the audiobook of How to Get Run Over by a Truck is going to go on sale today for the gloriously low price of $2.95! So, if you have ever wanted to hear what my sweet, sweet voice sounds like - this is your chance! This is a great gift to get for someone who is about to go on a long road trip, or someone who is ill and reading isn’t a tangible possibility because the pain from their illness is too distracting (I was in that camp, and I know I would have loved an audiobook!) or for the older people in your life (who don’t mind a couple of well placed curse words…) If you do get one, please let me know! I would LOVE to hear what you thought about it!

In some other amazing news, How to Get Run Over by a Truck was featured in 3 different news magazines this past week!  Including, Shape Magazine, Reader’s Digest, and (most surprisingly!!) The Daily Mail in the UK! To see that almost a year after the book was published that there is still a such a huge interest in the story is SO incredibly moving!  

I hope that when you see these articles you are reminded of what a huge gift that you gave to me and to these reader by being an early supporter of this work! The messages from perfect strangers about how much they needed this story of hope, amazingly, continue to roll in, and they have you to thank for that!

I am so grateful to you for believing in this story, for believing in me and for your support in bringing this story to thousands of people around the world!! You are amazing 

Heart,

Katie

The first transport is away...

As promised, the manuscript is in. I still have to finish polishing up the summary that’s required for the editors, but everything that’s actually going to be content in the book has been handed over.

I think I might go watch that Game of Thrones finale again now...