The Home Stretch

For those of you who have been waiting for more Windrider Sketches, I do apologize there haven't been more forthcoming in the past few weeks. It seems my attention has become completely monopolized by the last stages of getting Curse Bearer ready for its release this October.

I imagine it's possible that some of you who frequent this blog may be familliar with only Vinyanel and his exploits, so maybe a little summary is in order...

Curse Bearer is the novel I started before I wrote a single word of Windrider stories. Back when it went by its old name, Sword of the Patron,  I can credit the connection I made with Diminished Media to Curse Bearer's presence on a forum. You see, I was participating in an online critique forum over at ChristianWriters.com, and Tim Ambrose caught sight of the type of work I was writing and asked me if I would consider submitting a story to the then brand-new Digital Dragon Magazine. Hence, The Windrider Saga was born, and grew up quickly, while I also plodded through revision after revision on Patron. (Trust me, it needed it.)

Curse Bearer clocks in at about 125,000 words (in the 500 page range as paperbacks go) and is nearing its release, a couple months shy of the manuscript's 5th birthday. It doesn't much resemble the story that I first wrote in that original draft--the first novel I ever tried my hand at, and one I started naively pitching at writer's conferences long before I was ready. (God Bless Jeff Gerke for being so encouraging when I was clearly leaping before I had the sense to look.)

But time, determination, editing, and probably a little bit of luck have all converged, and here I am looking at having my third book released in two different series, all within 12 months of each other. It's crazy and exciting and exhausting all at once. But the typeset version of the novel is coming together, the cover is in the works, the marketing campaign is gathering funds one donation at a time.

Oh, and did I mention, the advance readers are starting to send in their thoughts on the book? I had to grin when I read this line from an upcoming review: "The story sidetracks a bit to introduce Culduin, the awesome elf of hotness, but the sidetrack is massively excused on his behalf. He's just a nice guy who patches up Danae, but he's also full of elvish awesome." It's always a shot in the arm to know the goal you've set for a character appears to have been achieved. :)

So, since I haven't managed to do anything more on the Windrider front, I'll throw a newly-scanned version of Culduin, the reader-dubbed awesome elf of hotness. ;)

I hope you'll join me on the adventure Curse Bearer begins this fall. It promises to be an exciting ride.