Friday, August 15, 2014

What I'm Working On Right Now

So I wanted to wait until I had a decent amount typed up and locked in place before I officially announced what my next project was. And with almost a third-ish of the book done, I feel comfortable doing that now.

After writing 8 Alex Cheradon books back-to-back, I wanted to step away from his wacky world for a little bit and take a break. I've had this idea for sci-fi series that I've been trying to get around to for the last year and a half and I thought this was going to be the perfect time to dig into it. Unfortunately, after breaking a loose outline and starting work on, the series still wasn't coming together. So it got pushed back. Again. I'm starting to feel a little bad for the characters.

But. Now I had some time on my hands. I still wasn't ready to get back into Alex. Although, I am hoping to get the next volume of AC out around January-ish. Hopefully. Fingers crossed.

Instead, after listening to my wife and a couple of readers, I decided to revisit Reapers in Heels.

That's right. I'm doing a third volume of Reapers in Heels!

Tell your friends! Shout it from the rooftops!

Okay, maybe it's not that exciting. Or maybe it is. I've gotten a few emails here and there over the last year wondering if there were going to be any more RiH. Well, here you guys go.

So, what are the deets about the new volume?

-It's going to be 3 books.

-I can't announce any titles yet because I haven't settled on a theme. But I'm probably looking towards something involving the word 'Love' or maybe something having to do with shoes again.

-To prepare myself for writing these, I went back and reread the entire series (which, honestly, kind of felt like a narcissistic thing for me to do. Rereading my own work? Really?). It was actually something of a necessity for me, because as I was outlining Volume 3, I had a sneaking suspicion that some of my ideas felt rather familiar. And they were. Because I had already done them. So. Yeah. I definitely had to reread everything. But it's all fresh in my mind now. During the review of the first two volumes I made some corrections, tweaked a few things, nothing too major. Nothing that necessitates a reread. I realized that I don't pay attention to what I'm naming my characters and I had ended up with a lot of Steves and a couple of Lauras in one book. So I tweaked what I could, without making any major waves. Probably the biggest change was changing Alpha Reaper Steve Grant to Alan Grant. I kept Steve the Bartender the same and Steven Russell the same, when I realized that I almost never to referred to Russell beyond just Russell. But, I have learned my lesson and I am taking much better care of naming characters this time around.

-Because of the all rereading and editing I had to do on the first two volumes of RiH, the plan, right now, is to just plow through these 3 books all at once. I'm gonna write them back-to-back, and then edit them back-to-back, and then, probably (maybe), release them all at once, too. Maybe. I don't know. This could change. We'll see. Of course, you guys will be the first to know.

-And here's the part that'll make this announcement a little more bittersweet than you would like: It'll probably be the last 3 Reapers in Heels books. For reals this time. I'm writing these with the intent of bringing a conclusion to Avery and Brooke's character arcs. I'm going to do my best to answer as many questions and solve as many mysteries as I can. But there may be one or two things that slip through the characters. If nothing else, though, these 3 books will definitely serve as a "The End" for the Graves sisters.

(Unless, of course, I end up selling a million copies. In which case, I'm totally up for selling out again. Or, at the very least, creating a spin off.)

Okay. I think that's everything. Unless anybody has any questions? Feel free to ask. You guys are the best so you should definitely keep your eyes peeled next week because I'm pretty sure I'm going to release the first chapter sometime after Monday.

Alright. I need to get back to work now.