Book Two

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THE TWO is Here

TheTwo-ebook-cover

One family unifies, the other releases its army. And two people enter a war they can only survive together.

THE TWO, the second book in The Alignment Series, is now available on Amazon.

Sample or buy now: Kindle | Paperback

The Alignment is a contemporary fantasy series about two rival families and the people caught between them. If you haven’t read the first book, the Kindle version is free on Amazon right now.

TWO thousand thanks to the team who helped me publish this book: editor Jennifer Wingard, photographer Keith Lee, and the artists at DamonZa.com. I’ll be honest–I was worried about this book. The first draft was rough. My editor and I worked for months, polishing this thing into what I thought was impossible: a worthy sequel. And with gorgeous formatting and cover art, it’s made me very proud. I hope you enjoy it.

THE TWO
Book Two of The Alignment Series

Liv’s role in the war between the Bevans and the Moores is as solid as the motif carved in her protective amulet. The problem? She never volunteered. Her connection with Trey happened too fast. She can’t trust in love built by magic.

Trey’s place in the war has shifted. No longer the target, he’s just someone in the way. Not if he can help it. He’s packed and ready to return to the Moore estate. This time, he can’t bring Liv, but he can’t leave her to battle Moore-trained assassins alone.

Liv knows if Trey goes, the Moores will kill him. Trey knows their remote mountain home won’t be safe until he’s executed every Moore. And Liv has a secret that, if divulged, will propel Trey to the estate faster than his fifteen-year-old need for revenge.

The Moores don’t need Trey to come to them. They have a new strategy—an attack on the very thing Liv questions, the last thing Trey expects to be in their sights. Their love.

Sample or buy now: Kindle | Paperback

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THE TWO is Weeks Away

THE TWO is being formatted right now, so it’s officially hands-off for me. I can’t touch it anymore. I wish I could turn the darn thing off in my head.

I’ve seen the first draft of the cover. The cover! OMG the cover.

This just might be the last update before it’s published.

Progress of THE TWO
First Draft: Complete (121,293 words)
My revisions: Complete
Professional editing: Complete
Formatting: In progress
Cover art: Photographs for cover art delivered, cover art in progress

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Final Draft of the THE TWO is Here

August is here, and so is the final draft of THE TWO. I start proofreading it on my Kindle tomorrow. Give me (and my editor who’s also doing a final read) a week or two on that, then everything goes to the cover artist/formatter.

‘Cause guess what else is here. Photos for the cover. Stunning photos, I should say. My photographer is a wizard.

And we all love wizards, don’t we? Yes we do.

Final word count is 121,336. Here’s the progress report.

Progress of THE TWO
First Draft: Complete (121,006 words)
My revisions: Complete
Professional editing: Complete
Formatting: Starting very soon
Cover art: Photographs for cover art delivered, cover art starting very soon

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Book Two Progress as of July 14

Can I say I’m feeling a bit excited about releasing this book? Maybe. Just maybe…

That final polishing I said would take a week ended up taking three. But it’s worth it. Some of these changes have really made this book what I hoped it would be.

We’ll see what my editor thinks. It’s in her hands now, for her final pass. And I’m going to take a much needed break à la a little Burn Notice or Orphan Black before my real vacation begins next week.

Because we all know taking two little kids to the beach for the first time ain’t gonna be no vacation.

Progress of THE TWO
First Draft: Complete (121,006 words)
My revisions: Complete
Professional editing: Editor’s final pass in progress
Formatting: Not started
Cover art: Photography for cover art in progress

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Book Two Progress as of June 24

I cut 8,276 words. You can thank me later, because it was a lot of crap NO ONE SHOULD EVER READ.

And that’s after I added a whole new scene of about 500 words. So I actually cut more than that. Like, closer to 9,000. WHAT. Just what.

I’m doing some final polishing. Easy stuff. I should be done with it in less than a week and be able to send this thing off to my editor for her final pass. Yep, you heard that right. We’re almost there.

Oh! And I saw some shots from the photographer and they are gorgeous. He’s going to reshoot with a slightly different setup and some updated props I made. If the new shots are better than the initial ones I think I just might die. The cover is going to be amazing.

Progress of THE TWO
First Draft: Complete (121,006 words)
My revisions: Complete
Professional editing: Prepping for editor’s final pass
Formatting: Not started
Cover art: Photography for cover art in progress

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Four Q&As about my WIP

Janna G. Noelle has requested I participate in her four-question quiz about my current work-in-progress, THE TWO, which will be published in a couple months. Like most of her blog, these questions require a degree of thought my poor brain might not be suited for right now after being abused by revisions for the past few months. But it’s worth a shot. Let’s hope what comes isn’t pure gibberish, or words crossed out and replaced by synonyms then crossed out and replaced by another synonym then crossed out and replaced by the original word. What? Yeah. Exactly.

1. What are you currently working on?

THE TWO, the second book in The Alignment Series. I wrote the first draft in 2009 and it’s had little attention since then. I knew it would be rough going in, but it’s proven me wrong. It’s not rough. It’s downright terrifying. Come-out-of-the-mirror-Carol-Anne terrifying. Someone please get me out of this mirror.

2. How does your work differ from others in its genre?

Well, for a fantasy, it’s very real. Approachable. Easy to digest. I think a lot of people stay away from fantasy because the entry into the world is jarring. Too many strange names, strange places…you won’t find anyone with an unpronounceable name in my books. Sometimes I think it falls closer to magical realism for this reason. And for a romance? It doesn’t follow the formula. I usually call it a love story to save my fragile human bones from sledgehammers wielded by hardcore romance readers. There’s no sugary sweet happily ever after here. Strap yourselves in, people. There are twists in this road and lots of bodies to roll over. And be sure to duck when the gunner takes aim.

3. Why do you write what you do?

I have no idea. It’s like taking in a stray animal. I didn’t choose this book. It chose me. And then it had kittens under my porch. (This happened to me with real kittens, too. Real kittens and metaphorical kittens seem to agree that my brain and my house are nice places to live.)

4. How does your writing process work?

I’m a pantser who has a hard time keeping up with the seat of her pants. So I take a lot of notes. Pages and pages of notes in files I review periodically to refresh them in my head. I email myself things when I can’t get to my manuscript. Lines of dialogue, scenes, ideas, anything. It’s all clear in my head but very unorganized outside of it. That dichotomy has me feeling a bit crazy sometimes. A bit unglued.

Many thanks to Janna, for prompting me to do this Q&A. Every time I do something like this I learn more about my books. She’s working on her own fantasy(ish) novel, set in 13th century England. You can read her Q&A here. I wish she’d hurry up and publish. I feel like I’ve been waiting for it since the Middle Ages.

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On My Birthday

I had the day off work. My three-year-old let me sleep past nine. We didn’t get dressed ’til 10:30. We watched almost an entire season of Adventure Time then wrestled on the floor. He did a cannonball off the couch, straight onto my shin. Tomorrow, I’ll have the bruise to prove it.

After picking my kindergartner up from school, we sat outside on the patio under billowing cumulonimbus and ate barbecue chips and drank lemonade. A hawk circled above. I told my son it wanted to eat his brain.

“Mom, would you be sad if it ate my brain?”

“What do you think?”

“I think yes.”

“Would you be sad if it ate my brain?”

Big smile. “Yes.”

Oh, the love between mother and child.

At some point, I got a call on our land line, from THE LAND LINE’S OWN NUMBER. No one on the other end. Thank god for that.

Because I was afraid it was going to be my future self, telling me I have a lot of editing to do. And it’s sitting on the kitchen table, waiting for me, and I shouldn’t be watching so much Adventure Time.
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I knew book two would need a ton of editing but I wasn’t prepared for the depth of hell I’ve descended to. I’ve switched to editing hard copy by hand, if that’s any indication. I can’t estimate my progress at this point. I can’t even see an end ahead.

I’m still aiming for summer publication, but it’s going to be late summer. To those of you waiting, yeah, I feel rotten this is taking so long. But be VERY GLAD for my red pen. I wouldn’t wish this draft on my worst enemy.

Oh, and I got a great review today. Thank you, Morgan.

I couldn’t have planned a better birthday.

Tonight, I edit until the witching hour.

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Book Two Progress as of April 9

Someone on Pinterest said THE ALIGNMENT is “truly a great book, and an even better love story.” I don’t use Pinterest, but thank you, person on Pinterest. :)

Editing progress for THE TWO: We’re working on big picture items right now, so I can’t really give a percentage of completion. As of today, my editor has taken a turn and I’ve taken a turn. Now it’s back with my editor again. Let’s call this Round 1. Of how many rounds total? I’m guessing 5. But don’t hold me to it.

I think we can consider cover art to be started, too. A couple weekends ago I dropped some props off with my photographer, Keith Lee. We examined the props and discussed my vision at a table in a packed Jimmy John’s and I’m pretty sure the other customers thought we were larpers. And no, I’m not telling you what those props are. Sorry. Keith is experimenting with different setups and lighting as we speak. He’s a bit of a photography god. I can’t wait to see what he does.

Progress of THE TWO
First Draft: Complete (129,282 words)
My revisions: Complete
Professional editing: Round 1 Complete
Formatting: Not started
Cover art: Photographer at work (shooting props)

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Draft of THE TWO Finished, Off to Editor

After a vacation day from work which had my butt in a chair writing from 8:00 AM until 4:42 PM (only stopping to do one load of laundry and eat an apple and a microwave burrito) this draft of THE TWO is finished. I’m not sure which draft it is—somewhere between 5 and 10,000. I lost count along the way.

It’s in my editor’s inbox now. Yes, that inhuman squealing you hear just possibly could be me.

The word count has changed, so I’ll update that in the status.

The editing stage is a multi-step process. My editor will go through the whole thing, then I’ll get it back and do another revision based on her edits, then she goes through it again, etc. I’ll try to keep the status updated with which step we’re in.

Progress of THE TWO
First Draft: Complete (129,282 words)
My revisions: Complete!
Professional editing: Starting soon (less than a week)
Formatting: Not started
Cover art: Not started

EDIT: And I almost forgot! THE ALIGNMENT is today’s Book of the Day on Indie Author News!

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Book Two Progress as of January 4

Progress of THE TWO
First Draft: Complete (126,180 words)
My revisions: In progress (26% complete)
Professional editing: Not started
Formatting: Not started
Cover art: Not started

It’s still planned for release in the summer of this year.

The free Kindle promotion of THE ALIGNMENT ends today, so if you haven’t grabbed a copy already there’s still time.

THE ALIGNMENT has made it to #15 in the Top 100 Free of the Kindle eBooks > Romance > Fantasy category and #635 Free in Kindle Store. What a thrill!

I plan to do another paperback giveaway on Goodreads soon. Sign up with your email address in the sidebar if you want notification when the Goodreads giveaway begins.

And to all the awesome people who purchased THE ALIGNMENT on Amazon this week, happy reading! I hope you enjoy it!