Finally!
Thursday, February 4th, 2010SWORD & ILLUSION IS DONE!
Okay, now that the cheering and celebration is done, a little disclaimer.
The book, first draft was finished about 3 or so years ago and it went through a massive edti/rewrite/set aside period that included my husband reading the whole book and making comments. Then I went through the whole book again and found a MAJOR plot problem at the end that I sort of knew was there but had put it out of my head saying, “oh, it’ll be okay. No one will notice.”
Of course, they would and it messed up the great ending I’d wanted.
So, we had a big brainstorming session which led to major plot changes/fixes/etc.
So, that led to major rewriting and getting to a point where I edited and fixed each chapter individually and then he would read it and “declare” it finished.
THEN a month or so ago, I got to about the halfway point and had over 90,000 words declared finished or nearly so. We talked about cutting the book in half as it had come to a point that felt like an ending. Not to the whole story, but to that part of it.
When I decided to do that, it required a few more chapters/scenes to tie up a few ends and put a period on that part of the story, so that’s what I’ve been working on.
Last night, I packaged it all up (all chapters in one document run through spell and grammar checker) and handed it off to him.
He did tell me that he found a few minor problems in the first chapter, but when he’s done with it, I’ll take one last run through and start sending queries to agents.
I am getting my rights back to Attack of the Queen as that’s the first book in the series and while I love that Wings published it, I think I’m ready to move my career in a different direction.
Yay for me!



On Sparrow Hill by Maureen Long is the second book in her series, The Oak Leaves. I will admit that I didn’t read the first one when Ms. Long was gracious enough to add me to her “influencers” list and I got my copy of On Sparrow Hill directly from the publisher, but even so, I had no trouble enjoying this book thoroughly. I could tell there was a story before this one, but rather than making me feel I was missing something, it made me want to read the first one, just to see how they fit together.
The next book I want to bring to your attention is Lethal Deception by Lynette Eason.


