New version of Self Arrest!

I just pushed out the third edition of Self Arrest to Amazon and Smashwords. This updated version eliminates several editing issues that I recently discovered.

Once the new version has finished processing on Smashwords, I'll post a free coupon code here. It will be good through the middle of April so people who have already purchased can get an updated copy.

The next morning...

Here's the coupon: ZL83L
Get the book here.

It's been awhile...

Since I last blogged.

So what's been going on? Quite a lot...

1. I sent Fire out to my first round of beta readers about two weeks ago and received the last of the comments over this past week. It seems I have a lot of work ahead of me between now and 15APR, when it goes to my editor.
2. That's right - my editor. Rather than self-edit this book, I've decided to hire a pro. In the past, I did all of my own editing. This is really hard. Really really really hard. And it takes a lot of time. And I still miss stuff because I'm just too close to mywork. I'm looking forward to the experience. I'm sure it will be painful, but in a good way - like working out.
3. I just wrapped up a light re-edit and re-proof-read of my first book, Self Arrest - cleaning up some of the mechanics and stylistic issues that I learned how to address while editing Patriot Paradox. It should make the book a much better read. The new edition (3.0) will be available in the next week or so.
4. The sequel to The Patriot Paradox.. It's still cooking.. Once I get #3 and #2 done, I'll swing back over and focus on it 100% (well - excluding the time I spend publicizing Fire.) Right now the first draft is sitting at ~50K words. My plan is to do one month of 2K words/day to push it up to ~110K. That will give me a good base from which to slice and dice, hopefully arriving at a final length of around 80K. Why 80K? Well - the one comment I keep on hearing from readers is they want more Kurt and Amanda. This is how I'll get there. I tend to write a lot of exposition during my first draft, most of which I slash and burn during the next two. Starting with more means ending with more. I hope. For example -The  Patriot Paradox began life at 78K and ended up at 51K. We'll see.

Get both of my books for #free at #smashwords

Use coupon RAE75 - good through 12MAR11.


The Patriot Paradox
Self Arrest

Procrastination is my business

Today was one of those rare days where I had absolutely no commitments other than writing. It was awesome.. I spent the first few hours of the morning at the newly remodeled Wilmot-Murphy library.. They did an awesome job putting that place back together.. Tons of light, comfy chairs, and lots of space to camp out in solitude with a laptop and get words onto the screen.

After that, I headed over to Jimmy John's for a little lunch. #5 hold the dressing, add hot peppers and Dijon.

Home was next. It was a warm day, so I decided to hang on the back patio and work on revisions for awhile. This is where the trouble started...

As I was working through my first set of revisions, jets began to fly overhead. Lots of jets. Different kinds of jets. Jets I've never seen before. So I broke out my camera and took some pictures. Here's one:

I'm not sure what kind they are. I think the plane on the left - with two tails - is an old one - like WWII old. They flew around pretty much all afternoon, doing big figure eights over Tucson.

After I got bored of taking pictures, I sat down again and revised a few more chapters.

Then I got bored. Again.

I wandered into the house, on a mission to find something to take my mind off of sentence construction for a few minutes. Lo and behold, my Great Dane Titan was crashed on the living room floor. I gave him belly rubs for a few minutes.. and then I had an idea. How many toys can I pile on top of him before he gets up and walks away? I have no idea where this idea came from, but it seemed quite clever at the moment, and it was something to do....

Here's the result:

Doesn't he look psyched? He should be. Not every dog gets to be buried in toys.

Anyway - I did finally manage to re-motivate and I'm proud to announce that I only have 7 more (out of 36) chapters of Fire to finish revising before it goes to my editor. Seven more! I'm almost there!