I wanted so, so badly to put a book out in 2024. Midway through the year, as I was working on The Color of Rage, I realized that I was stuck (tried to make it a mystery and I don’t really know how to do that), and that I’d never, ever have it ready for even a developmental edit in time to get it out in 2024.
But . . . I did have a completed novel that I loved (seriously, I’ll probably never have that much fun writing a story again), but it was missing something, and needed a little work. So, I dug up It’s Raining Men. I don’t remember when I’d started it–2018? 2019?–but I finished it in 2020 and then set it aside.
It was strange to work on stuff I’d written so many years ago. I’m, thankfully, a better writer now, but it made editing . . . weird. It’s also a little bit heartbreaking to delete and revise stuff I’d polished to a shine. It was the best I could make it back in the day, but it was time to make it better for today.
I was suprised by how much I changed it and how much I continued to change it with each round of feedback from editors and beta readers. It even got a bonus beta-read because of a sticky issue. But I finally finished!
Then I ran into cover issues, which I’m still resolving, but should have everything ready for a February 11 launch. A few days before Valentine’s Day, for that last-minute gift.
When I pushed back the launch date from December to February, it felt as good as taking off a bra at the end of a long day. It felt as if I had forever to get the story proofread and read through one final time before formatting for ebook and print.
But time is a tricky bitch, and I’m not feeling so expansive any longer, when it’s due to launch in less than a month. I still have time, but it’s funny how both abstract and concrete time can be. Mostly, I’m looking forward to looking back on this time.
