collage

Ta Da!

Sunday, June 24

DARK TRIUMPH, she is done–whisked away to copy editing just in time. Of course, it will be back on my desk in two weeks and I will then need to go through it with a fine tooth comb, a pair of tweezers, and many brightly colored pens and post-its, but until then, I can call it done.

Truly one of the best feelings in the world. Especially with regard to THIS book, The One That Nearly Killed Me.

It’s not that I can’t write a 400 plus page manuscript in nine months. It’s just that it takes me  a minimum of six or seven drafts to produce a book that I’m happy with, and writing SEVEN drafts of a 400 plus page manuscript in nine months is a bit of a pressure cooker.

(And lest you doubt that I have been truly working, here is the evidence:*)

 

 

Note to Universe: In my next life, I want to be a more efficient writer.

And before you ask, word on the street is that ARCs will probably start going out in late September/October.

Also, I have made a Pinterest Board for Grave Mercy and will be starting one soon for DARK TRIUMPH.

 

* And please ignore the messy desk. That was the first thing I did once I finished the book–cleaned off my desk!

Grave Mercy Collage

Saturday, December 31

I become obsessed with my projects and I need to absorb them through all of my senses. Since I am very visual, I often create a collage of images that helps put me in the world of the story. Here is the collage I made for GRAVE MERCY. It has sat perched above my workstation for the last three years. :-)

 

Yes, it’s fairly ironic that there are so many old men in there when it is a YA, but what can I say? Most of the men of political power in Medieval France were old. Or at the very least well-seasoned. Some of the images are thematic, the masks for example, and obviously many of the images evoke the decadence of a royal court rather than feature the correct historical costume, but it works to get me in the story when I need a jump start, a touchstone, if you will.