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bone walker

Bone Walker

Bone Walker status update!

As I’ve just posted off to my Kickstarter backers, and as I’ve been happily reporting to the social networks through the course of the day, I just finished off the last chapter in Bone Walker that’s from Kendis’ point of view!

This means that now I swing back around to fill in the bits from other characters’ points of view, stuff that will convey to the reader things that Kendis never sees. Step 1 in this is sticking in a new Chapter 15, primarily from Christopher’s point of view but which will probably also feature some Jude. I’m expecting an earlier chapter is going to be from the point of view of Jake.

And the real fun is going to be figuring out where all to put in bits from Elessir’s POV, because oh my yes, he’s going to get some camera time too.

I’ve done the multiple POVs thing before; I did it in the still as of yet unedited Queen of Souls, and all you fine folks are going to be seeing it when Valor of the Healer comes out in April as well. But this is the first time I’ll be doing it in the Warder universe, and I’m really hoping it’ll work okay with this story flow!

Soon, hopefully in the first half of January, my Kickstarter backers are going to get first crack at seeing whether it does. And anybody else who’s willing to beta read for me is going to get a shot too. So if you’re interested in a beta read shot at this book and getting your name into the Acknowledgements in the back, talk to me!

Looking forward to finishing this thing up finally and sharing it with you all! 😀

December 27, 2012 by
Bone Walker, Valor of the Healer

Long overdue update

Most of you who follow me on the various social networks, or who read the posts I make via my personal blog annathepiper.org (whether there or on LJ/Dreamwidth), know this already–but for those of you who don’t, a couple of weeks ago I was briefly, violently ill. I had to spend four days in the hospital, but happily, the problem was relatively easy to deal with. And I’m feeling a lot better now! This did mean though that I was thrown for a pretty massive loop for a couple of weeks, while I dealt with recovering.

The good news though (well, aside from yay! I’m feeling better!) is that Valor of the Healer is officially DONE and has been handed off to my editor. Now comes the waiting for exciting things like cover art! And final blurb copy! And learning about how Carina’s ARC process works!

In related news, I’ve also finally officially signed the Carina contract. You guys, I’m a contracted Carina Press author. I feel all grown up. *happysniff*

Meanwhile! Now that Valor is done, this frees up my brain for returning to Bone Walker. The goal is to try to finish this puppy up by the end of November. I think I have two chapters left, at which point I’ll be putting out a brief call for beta readers before the book is handed off to JoSelle Vanderhooft for formal editing. Those of you who backed my Kickstarter have gotten a longer, more detailed update about this!

Groundwork continues to be laid as well for getting the Bone Walker soundtrack ready. My belovedest Dara, rock star that she is, has thrown together a bunch of practice tracks of the various tunes we’re interested in for the instrumental sets, so that we can start learning how to play them the way she’s envisioning they should sound. It’s going to be exciting, and I’ve got a LOT of tunes I’m going to have to learn how to play really fast. This is what happens when an author is also a musician, you guys!

And, artist Kiri Moth (may her PhotoShop always swiftly load! May her pencils be ever sharp!) has sent me an initial sketch for the soundtrack’s cover art! Check it out!

Bouzouki Cat Says TWANG

Bouzouki Cat Says TWANG

So, lots of stuff still going on, and I’m hoping to finish the year strong–and with another finished book to show for it. Hopefully I won’t be flung any more health surprises. Wish me luck, folks!

November 15, 2012 by
Bone Walker

SURRENDER THE MANUSCRIPT!

In honor of my first official Actual Writer’s Deadline, I’m cheerfully swiping that battle cry from userinfomizkit and userinforachelcaine, muaha!

Time to get down to Serious Business, people. I have to hand over Bone Walker to JoSelle on April 15th. Which means I have to write like a Crazy Writing Thing until then, because I’m still only about 32K in on this book. It is therefore now Crunch Mode time on the novel.

Which means also that I’m backing off hard on social networks until further notice. This means keeping tabs on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, LJ Friends list posts, or Dreamwidth reading list posts is just going to have to wait. If you need to get in touch with me, DM me on the network of your choice, or else just email me directly, since I will be monitoring my email.

But until you hear from me otherwise, people, I’m going to chugging through the rest of Bone Walker, as well as continuing to work with userinfosolarbird and artist Kiri in preparing Faerie Blood for printing, and in doing the last steps to submit the Kickstarter for review. I will continue to post updates as they happen, though, so watch this space for further details.

And oh yes, I did just drop 635 words on Chapter 11 of Bone Walker tonight. I mention this not because of that number, but because of what happened in the words in question: i.e., I just hit Kendis’ first occurrence of telling Christopher she loves him. I was not expecting it at this point in the story, but it felt appropriate, so there ya go!

More bulletins as events warrant!

March 22, 2012 by
Bone Walker

Status update re: plans for Bone Walker, and also, questions!

Wanted to do another post to let you guys know what I’m up to in regards to getting Faerie Blood repubbed, and getting Bone Walker finished up and ready to go out in its wake.

First and foremost–still trying to find out whether the cover artist I’m looking at can do a commission for me for art for Faerie Blood and Bone Walker both. In the event that that doesn’t work out, though, does anyone out there have recommendations for artists you like that might suit? I would prefer people who do drawn or painted art vs. photo manipulation, but I’m willing to consider people with decent photo manipulation skills as well.

Link me up with your recs, people! Bonus points if the people in question have previous experience doing cover art and a prior history of commissions.

Secondly–I’m still planning the Kickstarter idea but I am also strongly considering BookBaby. BookBaby is a sister brand to CD Baby, and from what I’m seeing, they could potentially provide not only the ability to deploy ebooks to all the major ebook vendor sites, but ALSO printed copies. Most importantly, they claim they give 100 percent of sales back to the author. Now, since these are the same people that do CD Baby and I know of several musicians (including my very own beloved spouse) who are happy with that, I’m inclined to look on BookBaby favorably. But does anyone out there have any direct experience with using them, or know people who do? Let me know!

Right now my highest priority is finishing the last round of edits on Lament of the Dove so that I can fling that back at Carina Press, finally. I’m hoping to get that done by February 25th so that I can have it off my queue before Dara and I run off to Canada for a grand four-day weekend of awesomeness! After that, my next priority will be spending as much of March as possible finishing Bone Walker so that I can then get it edited.

More as I know it!

February 15, 2012 by
Bone Walker, Short Pieces

And in addition to queries today

I have thrown just under 300 words into the still-untitled story of Elizabeth and Ross, and have accordingly finished its first scene. Elizabeth has agreed to help this desperate guy whose sister has been murdered. God help her. 😉

I’ve also thrown a few measly words into Chapter 11 of Bone Walker, but not much to speak of. The muse mostly wanted Elizabeth and Ross tonight.

Let’s see what I can do tomorrow. Bed now.

January 30, 2011 by
Bone Walker, Valor of the Healer

What happens when you don’t make quota

Well, I didn’t make it a whole month before hitting a day when I just could not make myself write anything. It’s frustrating, but it reminds me of two related and equally critical things I’ve had to learn to keep in mind when working on my projects.

One: it’s okay to have a day here and there when I don’t write anything. There are writers who can churn out several thousand words a day; I am not one of them. I do have a full-time day job, and that does slurp up a considerable amount of my daily ration of Brain. Especially during weeks when I’m running short on sleep, when I’m all thyroid-y, or both. Like this past week. I spent all of Saturday, pretty much, thinking “well gosh I should write something”, and wound up playing a lot of Unwell Mel and watching crappy movies instead.

Two: while it’s okay to have an off-day every so often, I can’t let myself default to that, not if I want to get anything done. So I made a point of writing a page in Bone Walker last night, and tonight, I yoinked some more words out of Chapter 20 of Lament.

I’m not bothering with posting actual numbers tonight, since I’m still sort of sleep-deprived and thyroidal. But this is me saying that yes, for the last two days in a row, Writing Things Did Happen. Slow, small writing things, but as long as they happen, I’ll get there in the end.

January 17, 2011 by