Heather Ames's Blog - Posts Tagged "night-shadows"

I haven't been posting here for a while. Not because I haven't had plenty going on, but rather because I've had a lot too much on my plate.

However, after a hiccup for "Swift Justice," a new editor is now hard at work, and a publication date will be announced soon.

"Night Shadows" is halfway through its revision process. I've still got at least one more draft to work through until that one is ready for editing, but as soon as I rolled over that 300 page mark and had shaved close to 70 pages off it in the process, I knew I was really getting a handle on this once very large book. The critique group, my trusted fellow writers of the Pacific Online Writers community are with me on this revision journey and providing invaluable input.

The title of Book 3 in the "Indelible" series will be titled "Swift Retribution." As Brian Swift has demonstrated in books 1 & 2, he's determined to put both his professional and private lives on a more even keel. In book 3, he'll be trying to solve his brother's murder and discover more about his past. Kaylen Roberts will open a new club and take on more challenges, herself.

I'll have more information on my website shortly. 2017 is going to be a very busy and fulfilling year, as I also joined the board of the local Sisters in Crime chapter this year.

I finally came to a fork in the road where one path led to keeping 2 jobs, one of which had become too time-consuming, physically demanding and just plain stressful, and the other a journey at a far more reasonable and rewarding pace with many interesting side-trip destinations along the way.

Giving up my day-job is like jumping off a cliff without a parachute, but becoming a full-time writer has been an unfulfilled dream for many years as I tried to be fiscally responsible and work my way through to that fork in the road.

Now I can double my productivity, spend the time I need on research, promotion and supporting not only myself but the writing community as a board member of the local Sisters in Crime chapter.

I think I'm going to like this new, uncharted territory a lot, even if it has some bumps in the road. There's a lot to be said for the adventure of the road untraveled, and I've never been one to back away from a challenge.

I sent back the revisions for "Swift Justice" to my editor. After I get back the manuscript back from her, the final step will be a last pass to clean up any missed typos, after which it'll be ready for formatting. I'm ready to go back to "Night Shadows," so I can keep my deadline of completing the revisions for a late fall pub date.

"Swift Justice" is being proofread. The editing has been completed, and the publishing will be, as soon as I get to the end of this last read-through. The projected publishing date is the end of June.

"Night Shadows" is mid-draft, and the goal for publication is in October.

My website is in the process of being updated, and will contain more information on both books.

My website updates have been completed and the site looks great with a new look at www.heatherames.com. Not only is there a teaser for "Swift Justice," but the first chapter's there to read. There's another teaser for "Night Shadows." Paula Johnson did the updates. We chatted on the phone a couple of times and I did my homework to get her what she needed. New books, and a new look that reflects the tone of these books.

I have been very productive over the last couple of months, after getting partially derailed with a health issue that left me too painful to spend more than an hour a day at my desk/computer. I took a research trip to Maine, finding more than enough "atmosphere" when my visit coincided with Hurricane Jose finally ending his meandering around the Atlantic. My days and nights were filled with drizzle, swirling and drifting fog, and cool, windy conditions. All very much in the forefront of this suspense novel. I'm now in my last draft. After that comes the continuity read while searching for those pesky little mistakes that plague every author in every book--repeated words, characters whose names have been changed everywhere but one or two places, and those other little nagging errors writers have to pursue in an effort to stamp them out (never 100% successful unless you are a perfectionist writer who may never publish for fear of this bugaboo.) Pub date is still "on" for the end of November, with a book launch being tentatively set to coincide.

I wrestled my way through the last 17 pages of the all-important final draft of NIGHT SHADOWS. Now I get to work on the continuity round. This is where I look for discrepancies, even minor ones. Although the biggest trap is always touted as mistakenly changing names, hair or eye colors of minor characters, mine are usually more of the timeline variety. Making sure I give enough time for a character to leave a house, go to 2 different locations and then get delayed, all while other characters are converging on the same timeline from 2 different directions, and for very different reasons. Plot twists can be potential minefields for misinformation, and can pull a reader right out of a story. I've been there and done that myself. And then I've had trouble re-bonding with the book, the characters and even more importantly, the author.

When I first wrote NIGHT SHADOWS, I had certain ideas about the characters and how they would behave in situations. After a considerable hiatus between then and now, some of my characters have changed, perhaps because my own perceptions have done so, too, or perhaps because the times, they are a changin', too. My female protagonist, Carissa, changed her name and her attitude. She's not as much of a victim as she once was; she's developed a bit of a stubborn streak, inherited from her aunt, no doubt. She's also taken more control of her life, and I like her a lot more. I believe readers will, too. One of the men in her new life has made some changes of his own. He's become more of the man he could be and less a man of a time that has now passed. I like him even more as a result, and I believe he feels more at home in his own skin.

Or at least, It Had Better Be might conceivably be more accurate. I have 41 pages left on the continuity draft of NIGHT SHADOWS. I have fought my way through this draft, discovering those pesky issues that plague many writers--repeating the same information; oops I have the wrong name for a character or I changed a character's name only not in Chapter whatever; and did I really want so-and-so's fingerprints in this room or not? I researched info to confirm I was correct, and had done sufficient research in the first place (no, I'm not suffering from ADD or OCD) and made some changes that then required further research that led me down paths to enlightenment but took time away from the manuscript. Goal for this weekend? Finishing those 41 pages and continuing with the final read-through, started when I became too brain-scattered to pick my way through another chapter toward the end of the book.

I finished the continuity draft, then went through one more time to make sure any points I'd jotted notes on were resolved or fixed. Amazing how small things still needed tweaking, even after all the reading and the drafts. Does any writer ever feel completely confident that there isn't one word that shouldn't be there; one changed minor character's name that hasn't been changed? I even went over some of my research to make sure I had actually done enough (I had, but I learned even more about the mechanisms of lighthouses in the process.)

The paperback's cover is finished, but the Kindle edition needs some more work. The bookstore owner already contacted me about the reading/signing/book launch. The formatting process hit a small glitch (not minor for the formatter) but she's back on track after her computer's hard drive went belly-up.

I padded the pub date a little because I know how things can go wrong--Murphy's law will always come into play, regardless. I'm aiming for 2/24. I'll confirm as soon as the uploads happen.