Lake of Spirits is being proofread

Posted on July 20, 2011

Lake of Spirits is currently being proofread by four very smart people and I hope to get all edits back by the end of July so I can polish and complete the book early August.

Because of the nature of book printing, it takes a little while to get a printed proof back, check it over, then receive a first batch of stock copies (that is, assuming the proof is good enough to approve in the first place). But there's no reason to hold up the electronic versions, so Kindle and Nook readers can expect to see it available a little earlier.

After that, I'm torn. Aside from finishing The Impossible World, I want to write Book 5 of the Fog series as well as a completely different standalone novel. But which first? Hmm. Well, the answer is both. I going to attempt one of those "write a book in a month" things again, probably through September, while I take my time on Fog Book 5.

These standalone novels will each be a little over half the length of the Fog books and will be part of a series named Unearthly Tales. Yes, finally, after many years I'm planning to use my publisher name as an umbrella title. Think of the Goosebumps series. Think of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

The first in line will be The Impossible World, which as you may remember was written last November as part of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). It's fitting, then, that the next in line for this series of Unearthly Tales will be another that I plan to write in the space of a month (or thereabouts). And who knows, maybe all of them will be written this way. The thing is, when I scan through The Impossible World, it's really not bad at all considering how quickly I wrote it. I mean, all modesty aside, and once I've ironed out a few wrinkles, it reads pretty well and (according to beta readers) is pretty creepy and effective. And it's certainly weird enough to be included as part of my Unearthly Tales series. I need to redo the cover and polish the text, and maybe even think of a different title, but otherwise it's ready to go!

When it comes to non-Fog books, I swing like a pendulum between self-publishing and finding an agent. Right now I'm thinking of self-publishing again. After reading about the success of a fellow author (whose first two books I helped to proofread) I'm awed and inspired enough to kick myself up the backside.

So here's to the next few months, which are shaping up to be ridiculously busy. Fun – but busy.

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