writing and books update

I just wanted to give you guys a quick rundown of what's going on as far as my books.

I finished the first draft of the Chroniker City novella Le Theatre Mecanique a little over a week ago. It's about 35,000 words. I'm now in the sit-and-wait stage, but I plan to start editing this coming Monday, at the latest. That will take about a week, and then I will send it to beta-readers. Once they've responded, I will implement any suggestions they make and do one final pass of the manuscript. Estimated release date: April 16th. And here's the cover:

Next. Once the novella is published, I will start the second edit of The Wizard's Heart, my Persian-inspired fantasy novel. It's sitting just over 100,000 words (I think; it's been a while since I opened the document). So, that should take me a month, maybe a month and half to edit, meaning it should be ready for beta-readers by the end of May. They'll have two months to respond, so I should have all the feedback for it by the end of July. Once I have that, I expect it will take me another month to implement changes, fix anything they might have pointed out, and do one last proofread. So, if everything goes to plan, I should have it ready for publication by mid-September. No date yet, but I'll let you know when I have a more accurate time. And hey look, another cover!

And lastly, while The Wizard's Heart is out for beta-readers, I will be working on the sequel to The Clockwork Giant, The Guild Conspiracy. I need to spend about a week hammering out the plot and seeing what I can keep from the original half-draft, and then I can start drafting the rest of the book. Because I already have 42,000 words to work with, I don't expect that it will take me too terribly long to finish the book. Hopefully—like, it would be an effing miracle—I'll finish the first draft in the two months that The Wizard's Heart is out for beta. It's a bit of a juggle, but I think I can do it. That means, once The Wizard's Heart is published, I can take a bit of a break from writing for a little while and let The Guild Conspiracy sit for another couple of weeks while I have a nice, relaxing break. That would put me starting edits sometime in October. Now, things will probably get in the way. The fall is always such a busy season for me, lots of traveling and such. So, unless I am a miracle worker, I probably won't have the book out by the end of the year. There is a chance that I can work some miracles, and I will do absolutely everything in my power to get this book out by the end of the year, but don't cross your fingers. You see how things worked out last time. >_<

In the meantime, I hope you're excited about the novella release coming up next week, and the fantasy novel release this fall. I know you're excited about those covers. 

Thanks for reading, and sorry for the silence. See you guys later.


Final note: no, the blog is not disappearing, obviously. I'm going to gear my posts more toward readers and fans instead of writers, and I'll update when I feel like I have a bit of information to share. Mostly, posts will be about major events in my writing—starting and finishing drafts, upcoming releases, etc.