Seven months ago, I announced that I had signed a book deal with Ambassador International to publish my debut novel The Withering, an apocalyptic fantasy story geared toward young adults (though I think any adult with a palette for epic adventures will eat it up as well). Well I just hit another major milestone in the long journey toward publication, which I think warrants an update.
After months of pouring through editor's notes and tearing my manuscript apart in an attempt to rebuild it (I have the technology) better, stronger, faster... I am so excited to say that all of that hard work has paid off and I've finally completed the major overhaul of the whole dang story—including a complete re-imagining of one of the story's main characters.
I won't lie, when I first realized the amount of work I was going to have to do to whip this story into shape, I was borderline overwhelmed, but I knew it had to be done, and I knew that i could do it. There were moments when I was burnt out. There were weeks when I could not figure out where to take this character, and how to fit a new character arc into the existing story structure.
Having buckled down and done the hard work, I can tell you without question that it was so worth it. The story I just sent off to my editor (who will undoubtedly be sending me another round of revisions soon—let's hope they are more superficial from here on out!) is a much stronger story, and I am so happy with the way things worked out for the aforementioned character!
While I await the next series of notes from my editor, I will be hard at work on more exciting things like ARTWORK!!! I recently acquired the rights to a piece I am so excited about which is to be the cover of The Withering. I am probably getting too far ahead of myself because it will probably be some time before I can actually share the cover art, but I am just way too excited about it!
There's plenty more to do, but things are shaping up beautifully, so make sure to join my newsletter for more updates as things continue to progress on the journey to publishing The Withering!
Comments