Well, if you’re willing to exclude quantitive measurements of progress, I can honestly say that I am making “progress” with Crown, 2nd Edition. It’s a messy business, really. I switch between the last electronic version, the paper copy I’ve marked up, and the new document I’ve started as part of my editing process. Where does that leave me? Somewhere around Chapter 5. Trust me, it’s at least as frustrating to me as it is to many of you. I know everyone is eager to read The Dagger Rose, and probably more eager to read Crown’s sequel, The Pride of Lions. I can assure you, your patience shall be rewarded, as I hope mine will eventually be.
It’s slow-going, and it definitely qualifies as “grunt work.” What’s more, I continue to find more errors that eluded the original editor, and while I won’t point fingers, I will say that I am less than satisfied with the work I paid for in good faith. Nevertheless, I grind on, all the while regretting not doing what I should’ve done from the outside—read it aloud.
For any burgeoning authors out there, I highly recommend this. Get a printed version of your book, especially a “proof-like” one that looks and feels like a real book, then read every single word out loud. I cannot begin to fathom the number of times I read Crown before it went “to press,” and yet I have uncovered an alarming number of typos, mis-edits, and just down-right wrong references or grammar. Reading your work out loud, especially to someone, will show you more than any paid editor — trust me.
“So where do we stand?” Well, kind of all over the place, if I’m to be honest. Periodic edits to Crown have been slow and laborious. And, to be fair, I’ve not given it as much of my creative time as I probably should have. Instead, I’ve been led on a variety of literary boondoggles, resulting in a number of short stories and test chapters for the remainder of the Unwilling Kings series. Unfortunately, for me at least, I don’t have a lot of control over these things. I tend to move as bidden by my muse, and that seldom means in a straight line.
For now, I will continue down that path, but I am considering taking on the NaNoWriMo challenge this year for Pride, if for no other reason than to force myself to focus. On the upside, I continue to accumulate material for what will one day be Tales of Eorlönd, which I hope will be at least half as enjoyable to read as it will have been to write.
With that, I shall move on to my next creative spurt and, once again, thank you for reading and being so supportive. The Iron Crown is still 4.9 of 5 stars on Amazon, and I am truly pleased that it has been so well received. I know that not all authors necessarily agree with me, but I firmly believe that stories are meant to entertain the reader, and I am happy that I have had the privilege of entertaining so many of you.
