Hello, and welcome to the Second Update on my epic fantasy series, Histories of Drakmoor!
Awakening Audiobook Edition
Production continues on the audiobook edition of Awakening. At present, I do not have a confirmed release date for that as yet, but having listened to the audio for Chapters 1 through 10, I cannot imagine being more pleased with the work to date. You can listen to the audio for Chapter 1 here (Dropbox) or here (YouTube).
I do believe I made a couple Facebook posts about the audiobook edition, but in case those slipped through the cracks for you, the only other notable piece of information is that the novel is being narrated by Mr. Spike Nesmith. I met Mr. Nesmith through one of my best friends, and I am very glad he agreed to the work. I clearly remember sitting at my computer, listening the ‘demo’ recording of Chapter 1 he sent me to be sure I wanted him to do the work, and the whole time, there was a voice cheering in my mind with the thought, “Yeah! That’s what my book is supposed to sound like!”
As I have more information on when the audiobook will be released, I will provide updates either here or on Facebook. Given the occasional absent-minded writer shtick I have going on, it’s entirely possible I’ll provide updates at both locations. 🙂
Into Vushaar
I have been pursuing the rough draft of Into Vushaar (Histories of Drakmoor, Volume II) since a day or so after I put Awakening up for pre-order. I have made excellent progress…except for the small fact that I hate it.
I try to do a good job of posting my writing sessions on my Writing Log, and most of them actually make it there. If you’ve been following that, you’ll see that I’m currently in Chapter 32, and I always plan for my rough drafts to be in the neighborhood of 85,000 words (or 43 chapters). About six chapters ago, I realized I was much further into the story than I thought I should be for having completed Chapter 26, and I decided it was time to check my Chapter List (a list of one-statement summaries for each chapter I want to write) to refresh my thoughts about what came next. Imagine my surprise when I saw that what I had just written in Chapters 19 – 26 were roughly Chapters 29 – 36 in the Chapter List.
Whoops!
Ah, well…no harm, no foul. I liked how I’d reached Chapter 26, so I decided to run with it and worked up a new Chapter List to carry me from Chapter 27 to 43. I spent a couple days refining that and resumed my typing. Well, here I am…trying to write my way from Chapter 31 to 39, give or take (the last three or so Chapters are already planned out and beautiful)…and I’m just not liking what I’m writing. It’s work, not fun. And regardless of whatever other rules one must follow in this field of art, there’s one rule that I live by when it comes to writing, always have and always will.
If you’re not excited to write it, no one will ever be excited to read it.
So, I’ve decided to go back and revisit every chapter from Chapter 14 on. Naturally, this will affect the soft publication date I had for Into Vushaar. It would be beyond a miracle for this to be published by 30 October 2018. I am now aiming for a publication date of 8 January 2019.
A number of people have told me they want to know what happens, and I appreciate and am grateful for those thoughts and comments. I realize no one wants to hear the publication of something they want is going to be pushed back, but I would rather publish the best work I can–even if it takes nine months instead of six–than throw something out there that anyone can see isn’t my best effort. I would not appreciate my favorite authors doing that to me, and while I doubt I’m anyone’s favorite author (outside of perhaps my mom), I’m not about to do that to any of my readers.
As I have more information, I’ll keep you updated.
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