First, a friend's amazing news: Keri Arthur's Bound to Shadows has hit #6 on the NYT bestseller list. (Which will be printed next week. The list, not the book. The book is already out.) And check out this huge display of them in my local HEB:




Also note my fellow Mira author Jennifer Armintrout's latest release, at the top of the photo! (The one with the cool neon seahorse.)

As for me, I had an awesome writing day yesterday, for the first time in weeks. Seriously. With the move and the laborious (read: pain in the tail) restructure of the Alpha plot, it's been awhile since I was truly happy with my work. And yesterday was awesome. I put in 3,900 words before dinner, then spent the evening helping #1 get our den organized.

That puts the novel at 95,004 words, and means I'm almost finished. I need about 20,000 more words, and they need to come very, very quickly. Which means I'll be working weekends too.

Today's chapter is a big fight scene. Not THE big fight scene, but the most important fight Faythe's ever had, so far. It's one on one, and she's definitely the underdog. Er... undercat. (Doesn't quite have the same ring, does it?) And the timing is... horrible. She's literally never been in a worse position, politically or emotionally, and there's sooo much going on. And going wrong...

Yesterday's chapter ended with her opponent (let's just say they have a history) throwing the first (surprise) blow, so things are not off to a good start for Faythe. But that's how I like it. I can't wait to write this scene!

In fact, you may not hear from me until it's finished...! ;-)

If you haven't already seen it, Dame Jenna posted about changes in cover art today, including several before-and-after examples. And she's giving away her new release! Click here for details.

I hope everyone had a great Halloween. Mine was miserable, except for the steady stream of children demanding candy. This was the first year we've gotten a single trick-or-treater, and they were awesome! (In Oklahoma, we didn't live in a neighborhood, and we weren't in Louisiana over Halloween--that's right, we were there less than a year.)

Other than that, I was sick--I completely lost my voice for almost three days--and my kitchen faucet sprung a fantastic leak at 8:30 pm on Halloween night. I got soaked before I realized I should turn the water off. ;-)

Number 1 replaced it the next morning (I got to pick out a new one, and it's pretty!) but when he got ready to install it, he discovered that it had come with the wrong built-in sprayer. It didn't fit the rest of the unit. He took it back, only to discover that every single one of them had been packaged the same way! I've never heard of such a factory mess up. So he picked out a very similar faucet and got it installed in short order. And it's pretty too. ;-)

Also this weekend, we ordered new recliners. My old one (my writing chair for the past five years) will go in my new office once the new one arrives. Yes, except for my chair, the office is finished! I can't wait to show pictures. It's a very cat friendly office. I didn't realize I had so many black cats! I also have a model of the car that one of my heroines drives--complete with bullet holes and cracked glass--but it occurs to me now that I don't have any bean sidhes (banshees). Anyone know where you can get a stuffed bean sidhe? Or a bean sidhe doll, or something?

I'm just not sure my office will be complete without one... ;-)

I've had two editing questions recently, but since they basically both asked the same thing, I'm just going to answer this one:

Mandi wrote, hmm i was wondering do you edit as you go when you're writing or wait till you get the copyedits?

Unfortunately (or maybe quite fortunately), the process is nowhere near that simple. It’s not like authors just write a manuscript, turn it in, then wait for copy edits. About half of my work on a novel comes between finishing the rough draft and receiving the copy edits.

After the rough draft, there’s the second draft. Then the third draft. And sometimes a fourth and a fifth draft. All before my editor ever sees the book. And in each of those drafts, I’m revising and editing, based on my CP’s advice and opinions and on my own new perspective, after having read the novel as a whole (as opposed to piecing it together one chapter at a time).

Then I turn the manuscript in and my editor reads it. She sends me a letter (or sometimes just a marked up manuscript) containing her notes about what she liked and what she didn’t like, and why. My particular editor works mostly in the form of questions. Her questions help me see where I wasn’t clear enough on a particular point, or where I’ve left a plot hole, or where there might be a simpler solution to a conflict. But these are not edits. They’re revisions. They involve mostly content: plot, voice, and consistency (of the characters, and within the series).

Armed with my editor’s notes, I make the necessary changes (and there's room for compromise if I disagree on a point or two), then I send the manuscript back. If my editor is satisfied with the manuscript at that time, it is then officially “accepted.” (This is a big deal because many contracts specify that the author gets part of his/her advance payment upon “acceptance” of the manuscript.) If my editor thinks the content still needs work, the manuscript (and another revision letter) comes back to me for another round of revisions.

Once the manuscript is accepted, the actual edits begin. There are three levels of edits: line edits (my editor does these), copy edits (the copy editor does these), and proofreading (a professional proofreader does these).

So I guess the short answer to the question is: no, I don’t wait for the copy edit to do my editing. The copy editor is supposed to catch the things I miss. But I have to do my job first, and since my name is on the book, it is ultimately my responsibility to make sure that everything between the covers reads like I want it to read.

Do mistakes still get through to the finished product? Of course. Way more than I’d like. Just yesterday I caught a typo in Shift that was missed on multiple rounds, by multiple people, including me, my CP, my agent, my editor, and the copy editor. I’d used “roll” when I meant “role.” And even though this is my eighth time to read this particular book, I never caught that before.

What’s really funny is that we’re all professionals. We do this for a living, yet we miss stuff, in part because we have to read the same book over, and over, and over. But readers invariably catch the things we miss. Of course, when one of my Shifters books hits the shelf, it’s read by many, many people (crossing my fingers that I haven’t jinxed myself there), which gives us much greater odds of catching the little mistakes than when there were just five or six of us reading it on a computer screen. And it’s not like every reader catches a typo.

But my point is… Well, actually I have two points.

1. No, I don’t just wait for my copy editor to catch all my mistakes. That would be lazy and irresponsible of me.

2. Mistakes happen, even to the best authors and editors. I can’t remember ever reading a new release that had no mistakes. Ever. This is not to say that typo-riddled novels are not a problem. They are—there’s a difference between one or two mistakes slipping through and an entire book being sloppily written and edited. But a couple of typos do not ruin an otherwise good novel.

Oh, and one more small point. I don’t mind when people email to tell me they’ve found a typo in my book. I really don't. I hate mistakes just as much as the next author, and most of the time when that happens, the reader means well. He or she is assuming I can have the typo fixed before the next printing. But in my particular situation (and it’s the same for many other authors I know), that doesn’t work. I don’t usually hear about reprints until the book has already gone back to press, which means I have no opportunity to fix typos. So (and this hasn’t actually happened yet) hearing about the same typo from fifty different readers could get frustrating, I’d imagine.

Now, if you find a typo in my website, please let me know. That I can fix myself.

Just as soon as the movers arrive with the rest of my office… ;-)

Okay, I've gotten behind on everything because of the move, and a tweet from the HQTeen senior editor this morning reminded me that I forgot to post the redesigned cover for My Soul to Save. Or to mention that it had been redesigned.

Sorry! It's been nuts. (And I'm still way behind on email and other messages.)

But here's the old cover (full body shot, which went out on the ARCs) beside the new one. What do you think?

 

HQTeen is also eager for opinions, so they've posted a poll here, and I'm putting one in my sideboard of my blogger blog. I'd really love to know what you think, and its anonymous, so please chime in if you read YA.

And feel free to leave a comment here too, telling me what you think about the two versions of the cover and why. And I'd love to know your age range (13-18, 19-25, 25+) if you're willing to share. But please don't leave last names if you're under 18 yrs. old, or I will edit your comment to remove your name. (Just humor me, please.)

Last week I accepted an offer from my publisher for four new books—the fourth and fifth Soul Screamers novels to HQTeen and two more adult novels for MIRA books. I can’t discuss the adult books yet except to say that they will not be Shifters novels. However, I can say that the fourth Soul Screamers book is fully outlined, and I expect to have it written in short order—as soon as I turn in the ALPHA manuscript and edits for My Soul To Keep, which I expect any day.

So… hooray for new books! I think my biggest problem at the moment is the fact that I can’t stop time and write them all now, while everyone else is frozen, so I don’t miss out on any valuable parts of real life. ;-)

Up for today: a new closing paragraph (or so) for Shift. Then I email it to my editor and it’s done, except for one last round of proofs. You can expect to see it in your local bookstore on or around March 1, 2010.

Then I’ll be reading straight through what I have so far of ALPHA. And while it can be painful for me to read through a rough draft (the words, they aren’t so pretty yet), this is really a luxury. It allows me to see the new book with the previous one still fresh on my mind, and offers a unique perspective for consistency. Which is extra important on this, the last, climactic book in the series. So… yea again!

And last of all… I feel like answering questions! If you have some, leave me a comment. So long as the questions don’t concern my private/family life, I’ll try to answer them. Books, critiquing, the writing/editing process, the publishing industry, my stupid little personal quirks… All fair game. ;-)

Although before you start typing, you may want to click on the Q&A category (on the blogger blog) to see what I've already answered. ;-)

I'm truly thrilled with the results (so far) of the Immortal giveaway--and it's not over yet, so you can still enter!--but based on some of the comments/entries, I feel compelled to make something a little clearer: the "non-traditional" vampires in "Binge" my Immortal story are not vampires at all. They're not dead, they don't drink blood, and they don't have fangs. Nor do they have sunlight, garlic, or religious aversions. Beyond that, they were never truly human. My story is about a pair of teenage girls--best friends--one of whom is a siren. The other is leanan sidhe (a vampiric muse), my version of the faerie lover archetype.

These characters are only vampiric in the symbolic sense. As in, they live off the energy or lifeforce of others, but not in a blood-sucking way.

But never fear--if blood-sucking vampires are your thing, there are plenty of those in Immortal too. I just decided to go another direction.

I kind of have this obsession with marching to my own beat. And frankly, I like my beat. ;-)

In other news, I made an announcement in my discussion group today, so if you're a member, you can get the scoop a day earlier than everyone else. But please don't post my news online before I do. ;-)

I’m sorry for the long absence. As most of you know, last week I moved from Shreveport to San Antonio, and… well… work stops for no move. It’s been a truly crazy couple of weeks.

Now for the fun part: While I was in between houses and largely without internet access, Immortal (the re-release) hit the shelves! That’s right! You should be able to walk into any major bookstore in the US now and pick up a copy for yourself. Or, you could win one here. How can you do that? Read on…
 

Revisions for SHIFT came in yesterday, and five chapters in, I'm having a blast with them. It's always nice (and a huge relief) to read through a book you haven't even looked at in months and realize that you love it!

SHIFT is very fast paced and full of action of a sort we haven't really seen before. Faythe and crew are facing something they don't know how to fight, but they can't back down from, and watching them struggle and learn is... well, it's fun. ;-)

And, if you read Prey, you know that Faythe's personal life is in a bit of turmoil right now and working through that has been... Well, maybe not fun, exactly. At least, not for those actually involved. But I'm enjoying it.

In other news, I've been nominated for the massive "Favorite Paranormal Author" poll at Bitten By Books, and I keep forgetting to announce it here. This is round one of four rounds, and the preliminary winners will be up in the final round later this month. If you want to vote (even if not for me), click here and scroll down. The poll is on the left. You can vote for two authors.

And that's all I have for today, other than these two LOLwerecats posted by one of the members of my discussion group. Enjoy!