Note to self... DON'T re-open the manuscript!

So... I've done it, once again. I opened the manuscript for Everealm and started editing.

Again.

I made the rule to leave Wildfire alone but I had no choice but to open Everealm today. I was attempting to get the formatting ready for paperback publishing. And how can you see the story in front of you and NOT read any of it? Well, you can't.

And of course, I had to make minor edits as I went along. It just doesn't seem possible to read it without making changes, mostly removing commas and shortening sentences as I tend to write long and winding sentences. But I do think that my writing gets better toward the end of the book and into the next book when I started to get a feel for my writing style. I'm not as tempted to edit Wildfire again, as I am for Everealm. But in my defense, also I feel the need to polish the first book, constantly, because readers have to be able to finish reading book #1 or they will never make it to book #2.

I started around the "terra circle" (AKA, "Who are your parents?") part and read all the way to the Harvest Festival (AKA, the tragic wine cellar scene). Then I had to stop. I still get the 'feels' when I read certain scenes, and that one just gets to me. It was a hard scene to write, as well.

Speaking of hard scenes to write, I am so excited to really get going on Blood Moon. It will have a few 'steal your breath away' scenes. One scene, especially, has been replaying in my mind for weeks now and I had to finally get the scene written, albeit early. I keep those "snippets" on hand for when I reach those scenes as I'm writing. I still have a few things to work out with the timeline, but it's mostly just figuring out the transition to book #4, which I am still working on a plot and title for. I have so many ideas but I don't want to overload the series with too many plot threads. There are so many already!

Since the sun is about to rise, I'm off to bed!

P.S. Wildfire copies have just been sent to YA Bound for the bloggers who have volunteered to participate in the blog tour for Wildfire on September 21-25. I can't wait!

P.P.S. I made a few updates to the blog layout, including new social media share buttons and these awesome flag icons, to the right. It has been a super busy August!!

~J.D.