At least for now, I am done with KERI. I mean THE WYVERN KING. Or whatever its title turns out to be.
Sent it to my editor this morning. One week before the deadline! Not bad, all things considered.
Whoosh, gone, out of my hands. I always feel like I should have done a bit more, fiddled around, tweaked here and there. But at some point you just have to call it done and send it off.
Anyway, though I am fairly sure she will like it — she approved the first six chapters, after all — I imagine that I will be doing some fiddling and tweaking later after she has a chance to look it over. She is a perfectionist. Which I like in an editor, btw.
So I’m taking a couple days to finish Lindsay Buroker’s EMPEROR’S EDGE series. About which, let me say:
The Emperor’s Edge — self contained
Dark Currents — self contained
Deadly Games — self contained
Conspiracy — WHOA MAJOR CLIFFHANGER HERE
Blood and Betrayal — finishes the Conspiracy arc, so these two books together are self contained
Forged in Blood I — MAJOR CLIFFHANGER, obviously, because otherwise why would it have a (I) after the title?
Forged in Blood II — last book.
I’m just starting Forged in Blood II and I must say, I have really enjoyed this series! Yes, Sespian (the Emperor) does become a more interesting character. Yes, we do have another good female character join the gang. In some ways I think Buroker really hits her stride in Conspiracy. These are all fast-paced adventure stories; they work well at the duology length that we see in #4/#5 and #6/#7.
Every book utilizes one secondary pov in addition to Amaranthe’s; the Forged in Blood actually gives us Sicarius’ point of view for the first time. I think this works really well, and in fact much better here at the end than it would have earlier in the series. I particularly love Sicarius’ interaction with Sespian. He has such trouble with normal human interaction!
Okay, next for me: after finishing the Emperor’s Edge series, naturally I have my other revision project waiting: KEHERA. I will need to write a couple short scenes at the end and make sure the plot flows through that section and revise the last chapter AND THEN go back to the beginning and run through the whole thing one more time. Then it will go back to Caitlin, who wants to see it again before she sends it to a particular editor she has in mind for it. Always exciting when your agent has a Plan for a new manuscript. Anyway, that’s why I am kind of in a rush to get this finished. I think I can get this done before the end of the month. After which, regardless of any other pressing jobs waiting for me, I am taking October OFF. I have been working pretty much nonstop since the beginning of June, so, yeah, I’m due for a break in here somewhere.
Although someday I must finish up those Black Dog short stories and get ’em formatted for self-publishing …
Update: Also, Caitlin reminds me that I meant to try to finish revising a partial for the OTHER manuscript I owe Random House, before the end of the month. I have it! 100 pages of a different story! But I should do a little revision before sending it to Michelle. So, okay, a) revise KEHERA (biggish job); b) revise THE WHITE ROAD OF THE MOON partial (smallish job, as I recall). Before October.
Seriously, I am going to NEED a break.
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Applause ! New Neumeier book closer!
I’ve downloaded the first Buroker, but haven’t started it yet. Sounds interesting though.
Thanks, Elaine! I hope you like The Emperor’s Edge. I’ve enjoyed the whole series.
Wow, you have lots of projects on the go! I’m excited!
I have The Emperor’s Edge on my iPod, but I only made it to Chapter 4. It seemed really clunky to me. Lots of people have raved about the series, though, so maybe I need to give it another chance. Sometimes books take a while to hit their stride (not sure I’m willing to read four books before they start getting really good, though).
Hi, Kim — I don’t know; I’m not sure I want to suggest leaping forward to Book 4, because that’s pretty extreme. Maybe the writing just isn’t going to work for you. There’re definitely books where everyone I know loves them and I’m just left cold by the actual writing style. Always disappointing, especially when you have high hopes to start with.
And yes, at this point, I swear I need a checklist to keep track of what I’m working on and for whom. I can totally see myself sending a manuscript to the wrong editor next year. I came startlingly close to doing that already this year. But yes again, it is exciting!