I can’t remember what I’ve told to whom, so some of this might a little bit of old news and some might not be. I apologize if you already know some of it, but if you want to know what is going on with my books, please read on anyway.
After writing Amazing Grace in a shorter time span than I thought I’d be able to do and editing it even faster than expected (though not too fast), I excitedly set a mental goal to publish the novel on February 14th. I then sent the document to my beta readers. The last two weeks of December, I started to go through their comments. As I have changed some things and considered the comments, I came to realize this book would not be published on February 14th and that it would also be the longest novel I have published so far.
I am currently at over 61,000 words and if I add as much as I am thinking I will have to add, I will for sure make it to 70,000 if not more. I am still hoping for a Spring 2015 release. Right now I am thinking April, but I won’t say for sure until I get the new scenes added and have a better idea what I’m doing.
Since Amazing Grace is a continuation of Be Thou My Vision I had hoped to publish it shortly after and, Lord willing, I will publish it before June. I know there are at least a few people out there who are waiting anxiously for the third book and I am trying to get it to you. But I do not want to write a sub-par book just so you can read what happens to the characters. I wish I could write six books or more per year like it seems other authors can, but I cannot do so either time-wise or quality-wise.
One of my goals as a writer is to write good quality books in both content and actual writing. To this end, I recently purchased a few books to help me write better and with more description. I look forward to implementing some of the things in the books.
I am still writing book four and can’t wait to find out how my characters decide to end the story, but that book has also stalled a little right now. I’m sure it will continue soon, but at the moment, my characters are taking a break from speaking to me.
This summer, I hope to publish at least one, if not two or three, short stories. Each story is connected
Mockup, and possible final, title for one of the short stories.
(barely) to Amazing Grace. You do not have to read Amazing Grace in order to read these stories, however. Each of the stories is about a mail order bride and one is about a man who writes to a mail order bride only to find love in his own hometown. These stories will also have hymns as their titles and I can’t wait for you to read them. Of course, I have to edit the one and write and edit the other two, so I’ll have to wait, but those are just minor details, right? 😉
Sorry for the long, rambly post. I applaud you if you made it all the way to the end and I hope it was at least a little bit interesting.
Have you ever run into major snags like this? Have you ever had to change your plans for publishing?
Faith Blum 