This weekend we have made a little but significant bit of progress on Wolf series book 1. See?


Okay, so it’s one step at a time and there’s a long way to go, but this is always a nice moment in the process of any new book; the bit where I print and bind it for the first time.

This means I’ve finished the initial draft, done a couple of passes for typos and obvious mistakes. I’ve probably left in a couple of notes to self (not usually as bad as the one in Song of the Ice Lord which just said “insert battle here”!!) but usually plot stuff which s more easily checked when you can leaf between page 3 and the end of the book and  just check what you have matches up. Also, notes that suggest I check bits that might need rewriting or expanding on.

But basically, once I print it, the main shape is likely there, and the rest is just sculpting and polishing; usually two print passes and it’s time to start sending it to the editors (dun dun DUUUUUUNNNNNN!).

In this case, because it is part of Operation Write The Whole Series First, I plan to indulge in one pass through this, and then go onto the soft-copy edits and corrections for Book 2. Then more new writing when I get back onto Book 3, hurrah! I am starting to think that this may well be a fresh kind of madness but if nothing else, it will be an interesting exercise… Now taking bets as to what the readers think (which is, after all, the acid test).

And when I burn out a bit on this series, there’s always the last few edits on The Holly & The Ivy, which was slightly impeded by my cover artist’s computer dying horribly. It lost the Christmas slot so I’ve told him as and when – Christmas will be right along again next year and if other authors have definite release dates to hit, he’d be better off sorting them out first, and coming back to it when he’s not under such time pressure.

I haven’t stopped work on the On Dark Shores series, but Flight has come back from the editor with a list of research that needs doing, so short-term it makes more sense to sort out the stuff I can do. Let’s face it, Flight has been suitably delayed that another couple of months is not going to make any difference at all!

Anyhow, just wanted to share the small pleasingness of seeing Wolf in the Shadows in physical form for the first time…

Take care, and have a great week!

JAC