As the title of this update mentions, The Bright Spot is officially 1 year old! This time last year, I created a document and just started typing. I had the beginnings of an outline that was very, VERY different than what we have today. I've learned an astronomical amount of things in the span of a passing.
Growing up, I've always had issues paying attention, sticking to one thing, or finding motivation to do anything. I always wanted to write a book or make a video game, but I hardly had structure or accountability for either. With this track record, The Bright Spot shouldn't even exist. Yet it does because this story needs to be told.
I can't believe how real these characters are to me. It feels like I could reach out and touch the protagonist, Caelius. I could imagine myself dueling with Jaime, dining with Dan, and hunting with Oberon. They are real because I willed it to be. I hope you feel the same when you read it.
It is my feeling that a story is not finished until it is read, and that the reader finishes it through his or her life experience, prejudices, worldview and thoughts. - Annie Proulx
The third draft is coming along very well. I just crossed the 50% mark, meaning I'm about 10 days ahead of schedule. Theres a good chance I'll be finished sometime mid-june. I'll take a week or two doing a preliminary pass and then I'll send a digital copy to beta readers.
I'll give the beta readers a month to complete the book. And I'll make the necessary changes. After those edits, I'll send it to a copy editor who will clean up my prose and make it sparkle. I assume the next thing I do is format it for publishing, send it to my printer, and then there you go. I won't throw out an arbitrary date because I will ship it when it's ready. If I say September 1 and I have all the books in August, I'm sending them out in August.
Update: I wrote this out a week ago, and I want to give a quick update on this last paragraph. I created a timeline with projected dates, and it's looking interesting. Obviously, every deadline is loose but could swing in either direction. My goal is to publish before the end of the year, though! Just be patient. No one wants you to read this more than I do.
The copy editor quoted me $1600. Anyone know how to make $1600 quickly? Other than a crowdfunding campaign *wink*
New cover and updated Blurb
Slightly touched up, but it's still mostly the same.
My next update, I'll have finished draft 3. I feel like I'm on the edge of burnout, but luckily I'll have all of July to relax---or work on another project.
Also sorry for the lack of preview chapters for draft 3. I want to fix formatting on everything once Draft 3 is finished, that way I don't need to go back again.
