Merry Christmas! Though this season hasn’t been very “merry” at all so far. Must be something about all the wars, and the rumors of more yet to come…
Since the last update and my speaking engagement in Perry, I’ve been steadily pecking along, slogging through a pesky edit. Here’s where we are (including the new details revealed back in September at the library):
Project #3, a historical novel set in Jefferson County, FL in the 19th Century, featuring a ten-year-old protagonist named “Eunice”* is well under way. The first draft was completed some time ago, and first author edits are over half way done. The wife is pokin’ behind a bit at around chapter six, but there are only fourteen (including the epilogue) in the whole thing. Once I get done, I will need to do quick passes to tune voices and the history, but I can’t see that lasting beyond the end of winter at the latest.
It’s not a very big book, more a novella; weighing in fewer than 50K words, it’s still pretty substantial for its audience. Originally conceived as a middle-grade work, it might skew a tad over that.
*The title was picked at the outset, which is why I’m cagey about her name. Her nickname is what will be on the cover—definitely not Eunice. Speaking of the cover, for art, I currently have no idea. I’m hoping something will come to me in the next few months. I can’t say much more now than that the theme is upbeat; you’ll know it, instantly, the moment you hear the full title.
In other news, physical copies of A Southern Fried Fantasy Adventure Story are now in two more libraries (technically, one here recently, since it’s been in the other for a while (I missed it)).
Library patrons here in Florida, in Sarasota and Jefferson Counties, can check me out from these two fine institutions:
TheJefferson County R.J. Bailar Public Library in Monticello, and the Shannon Staub Library in North Port, on Career Lane there by the interstate. Thank you, librarians, for your enduring support of this independent author! I will continue to work very hard to put out a high quality product.
Lastly, I’ll mention, mainly for my own benefit (since this blog helps me accurately mark certain times), that a central plot has coalesced on what will be my fourth project, when this current one is finished. Unless, amid the next year when I hope to release my third book, I come up with something else, I’ll be returning to my adventurers. I even have a title: “The XXXXXX XXXX: Another Southern Fried Fantasy Adventure” (redacted to prevent astute readers from prematurely guessing).
This next book will have more everything, including more lore and character backstories. I’m one of those authors who thinks readers should first come to care, before they’re hit with a life story.
Anyway, that’s all for now. Again, have a Merry Christmas!
Pray for peace or, even as I, the failure of warmongers.