Where Was I?

Wondering where I've been? Well, here's a list of things I've been doing in lieu of blogging:

• Editing Shadows of Ourselves and making it available for pre-order
• Giving Blood of Midnight a new editing pass
• Finishing up the paperback stuff for Souls of Salt & Seawater
• Drafting Dreamwalker, which you can find on Goodreads here
• Reading the new Sarah J. Maas book and crying
• Getting a new bedroom door (my old one was broken)
• Starting to take prozac
• Enjoying the fact that spring is here
• generally living life

I've gotten a bunch of work done in the past few weeks, but I've barely been blogging at all. I probably should've kept up with it better, but Shadows of Ourselves (pre-order it here!) was taking up all of my energy.

I also designed the cover for Tears of Sunrise, the sequel to Blood of Midnight. I really love it. Once the newly edited version of BOM is up, I'll be putting out a new cover for Scars of Dusk, too.

Right now I haven't finished the editing pass, yet. It's nothing major, just cleaning up grammatical and spelling errors that slipped by in previous edits and making a few things clearer. If you've already read it, the changes in the new edition won't be too big - there are new paragraphs, here and there, and new lines, but no new scenes or chapters. Just general confirmation of a few things I didn't make clear enough, and generally tightening the manuscript.

The blurb for the sequel is also up, and I want to start drafting it as soon as possible so I can share the covers. The verb tense in this one has changed, and so has the protagonist - though Dru and Lilac will be featured heavily, it's an anthology series, so the stories also stand on their own.

My word count goal for this one is around 35 to 40 thousand words, and my goal for Dreamwalker is roughly the same, so I'm going to try to make Dreamseeker the same length.

Anyway, if you'd like a review copy of Shadows of Ourselves, feel free to hit me up in the comments of at ApolloBlake@mail.com!

Formatting and ARCS/Review Copies

Today I'm doing some editing and then hopping over to formatting work for paperbacks. I haven't put out any paperbacks yet because, frankly, I'm lazy. But I've had people tell me they want physical copies of the books, and I want them too, so I'm putting them all out through Createspace.

I've used them for paperbacks before, back when I wrote my first book, at seventeen (a novel that nobody but me is ever allowed to see, that will never see the light of day, because that's just how bad it was) and liked the finished product. So.

I'm making SOSAS my priority, and Rage and Frenzy will both be available only in the bundle edition because on their own I think they'd make too-small, floppy books. Plus they're better when read together.

I think I'm personally most excited for the Blood of Midnight paperback, though. It's going to contain Scars of Dusk, the short story, in the paperback edition, and I can't wait to see them in person. I have a feeling that cover is gonna be super pretty.

Aside from formatting paperbacks, though, I'm also looking to send out some review copies of the ebooks.

Particularly for Dreamseeker:

Dreamseeker is a novella I wrote with teenagers hunting monsters, kissing, and travelling to other worlds! It's urban fantasy with sci-fi elements, and here's a quote:

“I’m always going to be there to help you fight, Hugh.” Why were we whispering? Why was he so close? Why—

Whyishetouchingmelikethis?

Hugh’s fingers were tracing the bare skin of my forearms, fingertips smoothing over the cold of the room and destroying every thought that passed through my head. There was just the heat of him, the thrill of his touch that never got old.

“I know,” he said. “I know you will.”

So, there you have it. Romance and terrifying monsters! Plus, that's a pretty cover.

If you're interested in reading Dreamseeker (or any of my published titles!) and leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads, leave a comment below with your email, or email me at ApolloBlake@mail.com, and I'd be happy to send you an ebook of whichever title you're interested in.

Among other things, I'm reworking the Lilac Jones Adventures (going through and giving them a firmer editing, as well as writing another one or two stories to wrap up that series. Originally I was going to write a spin-off novel, called A Darkness So Divine, but the idea for that book was a loose, underdeveloped one, and although I'm probably use those characters someday, that project in and of itself is scrapped. At the same time, I need to end Lilac's story, because I think her stories and fun and cute and because I owe it to anybody who was invested in them.

I'm also giving Souls of Salt & Seawater a firmer editing, but that's honestly just grammar and formatting stuff where I've found tiny errors. Lots and lots of formatting, and it kills me every time.

So, yeah, that's what's up: I'll be posting links to paperbacks within the next week or so, and the new editions of SOSAS and TLJA should be out sometime soon, as well!

I'll probably be doing a rafflecopter giveaway for new Lilac Jones ebooks once they're out, so keep an eyes out for that. And, as always, thanks so much for reading guys!

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