Another Step in the Process

K.D.’s steps to publication so far:

1. Write a book

 

 

 

 

2. Revise book

 

 

 

 

3. Revise book a lot more

4. Convince people to read the book

5. Write new book

 

 

 

 

6. Revise first book again

7. Submit book to agents

     8. Eat chocolate and wail when book is rejected

9. Write more new books
                                                                                      



                                                                                   
 10. Revise first book four more times

11. Cry when book is rejected again









12. Go to giant conference and finally! INTEREST
14. Negotiate contract

15. Eat WAY too many lemon Oreos

 

 

 

 

 

 

16. Sign contract

 

 

 

17. Revise book AGAIN with editor…

Now trust me when I say that is a very cliff notes version of the last six years of my life. So here we are at the next step in bringing this little-book-that-could to your eager hands!

Is it ready you ask? Nope, not yet, but almost!

Big thanks go out to the lovely Paula at Blue Tulip. She walked me through the process of content edits with only two nervous breakdowns. (Not her fault, I had a tech issue that nearly drove me insane) Thankfully my dear friend Sharon took pity on me and walked me through how to fix said issue.  

Even though I wouldn’t have thought it possible, she taught me a few things I didn’t know about the book after six years of revising it. Just goes to show that you never stop editing. There is always something that can be tightened, fixed, or moved around all in the hopes of making the story better. She also made a process I was very nervous about much easier than I ever expected.  

So what’s next you ask? Well, I’ll tell you.

MORE EDITS

Two more rounds of a different type of edits will be next up in the process. Good news is the other pieces of the project, such as the cover art, are complete (YAAAAAAAY!) And I hope to show the cover to you all very soon. I’m very happy with design Laura created. It’s beautiful!

It's not long now! Keep visiting the blog, Facebook and twitter to catch updates and don't forget to give a book some love!

Until then,
KD

 

 

 

 

                    

What’s on the Nightstand? 9/9/14

After a little visit to the Hernando Library, I found a lovely little title and a few others to bring home. (Well, maybe not so little)

“The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making”

By Catherynne M. Valentine

“September is a girl who longs for adventure. When she is invited to Fairyland by a Green Wind and a Leopard, of course she accepts. (Mightn’t you?) But Fairyland is in turmoil, and it will take one twelve-year-old girl, a book-loving dragon, and a strange and almost human boy named Saturday to vanquish an evil Marquess and restore order. Not since Oz has there been a land-or a cast of characters-so rich and entrancing.”

Seriously, that’s the title.

It’s a lovely little book and winner of the Andre Norton Award. Great story full of color characters. I’m actually reading it before bed to Son#2. He likes it a lot.
Now I know for all you new visitors you are like, wait. Don’t you write New Adult and Erotica???
Why, yes. Yes I do. But I will always be a reader of all kinds of books first. I’ve never been a genre snob or been one to turn away a well-crafted story. And this is a well-crafted story with beautiful prose. If you need a little something different, give this book some love.
Until then,
K.D.

F U, Cancer

“How’s your Dad doing? I never see you say anything about him on your Facebook?”

This is a question I hear often. I understand the inquiry and appreciate when friends worry about him. It’s usually friends asking who know, love and are praying for him. Please know every single moment of positive energy and love you send into the universe for my family is a gift and is appreciated from the bottom of our hearts. But for the record, I won’t be discussing my Dad’s cancer, his treatment, his diagnosis or progress on social media.

And here’s why:

From the first moment since we found out, I’ve been raw, shredded, knocked off my mooring and drifting, grasping, searching, cheering for those crumbs of hope, crumpled in despair when a cancer cell eats that crumb, resolute, AND SO ANGRY sometimes I can’t see straight or breathe. Sometimes all these feelings happen in the same moment and completely overwhelm me. So if I’ve been able to answer this question for you in person, it’s only by the grace of God I didn’t ugly snot cry all over you.   

The main reason I can’t write about the specifics are because every time, every single solitary time, those kinds of words come out of my mouth they nearly rip me apart. That’s what cancer does, you know. It tears things up.

I HATE CANCER.

I hate those rampant little asshole cells who grow and push into places they don’t belong with a fiery passion. How DARE those cancer cells touch my Dad?! The unmitigated GALL of it all nearly turns me into a rage beast! There is no making sense of cancer. There are no answers to all the whys. And as a person of action, I’m crippled by the strangle hold of not being able to do one damn thing about cancer being in my Dad’s body. I’m a fixer, damn it, and there is just no fixing him.   

Well, I never said I was rational about it.

As an author, my life is dedicated to words. I see them in my dreams. They dance on the surface of my world. Words on the page bring emotions roaring to life for me with each combination of letters. So to write about all the treatments and symptoms blah blah, medicine, blah blah, doctors would absolutely rip me apart inside. I just can’t endure using words to describe the things that have thrown my family into the gapping maw of emotional hell for over a year. I actually don’t even know if I could communicate them properly.

Anyway, it would probably all come out as GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRajsdhfkaugsidgfaisdgbifabsd;f.

So we if see each other in person, ask away. I won’t ever mind you asking me about Dad. I know you’re asking because you care. Cancer is a fact of my life now. It’s touched me and I’ll bear that mark forever. I will bear it with courage for him. He’s endured cancer treatment for me and my family. Being courageous for him is the least I can do.  As far as the words I put into the world, you’ll see my dog being spoiled, my kids being kids, me hanging out with writers and readers, the characters and stories I create, and me drinking more coffee than I should.

And giving cancer a double middle finger.

K.D.