Making Progress

[heart of the books: source]

One thing my first set of Doomimals books have been missing is a center: a central villain, a central purpose, and a central motivation for my heroes.  And they all needed to be tied together.  Basically, it's been missing a heart.  It was a crazy bunch of events, one after another, but it wasn't clear how they tied together.  

[Hourglass: source]

So during this brief time I have a lot of freedom, I've been working on installing that center, that heart, on tying all parts together in terms of the opposing motivation of villain and heroes.  My nephew, a recently published author, confirmed that is the one big thing he was missing from these books.  He's been one of my mentors through this writing venture, so it's good to hear I'm on the right track. 

[Summer Reading: Source]

It's fairly clear I won't get all books revised and ready to go by the end of this this brief holiday break.  But if I can get through the first two books, that will be significant progress.  I'll shoot to have them all ready to go by summer, when kids everywhere will be seeking something to read.  

 

Winter Break=Writing Time

[busy-source]

 I kept hoping that I'd be able to squeeze time in for writing n the middle of work and chaos of my life.  But I've been working more than ever before, with a to-do list a mile long every time I paused from my regular job, including another job that ate up far more time than it should.  But now, we're moving toward the holidays, my load is lightening up.  Both jobs and my other burdens (other than mommying) are about to release their grip on me, for at least a few weeks, until a new semester begins in earnest.  

[Into a good book-source]

I plan to make a lot of progress toward bringing you those books I've been promising you, both the Doomimals chapter book series I've been writing and the bonus books, Just Us Chickens, about my boy's superhero group of chickens.  Ideally, they'll come to you before summer comes.  I don't have a set date yet, but when I do, those who watch this blog will be the first to know.  

My Nephew's Book

 

My nephew, Thomas Paxton, and I have been working on our books in parallel courses for years.  He has finally published his, indie style, and is paving the way for me to publish mine.  He will be my guide, as he has been on many things, as I go that way sometime soon.  His book, Crimson Nightfall: Everything Burns, is a dark fantasy about kids caught up in a dark war.  It's available for you on Amazon. 

He calls it a story of healing.  He's even received a voice of support by one of his favorites, Darren Shan.  The summary of his book reads as follows: 

In the world of Terra'Far, a nightmarish reality of monsters...A chorus of darkness and light...
Peter Wulfric gets lured into a blood-thirsty dance of shadows with Abraxan, the Gatekeeper of Souls.
A war of souls brew[s] between King Kresh and Priestess Alex, two monarchs, which rises from a pit of death.  A boy must learn to embrace his heritage as Shadowfang...Peter, his trusty hell-hound Aries, Vyrima, Sam, Vilus, and Orion adventure through the depths of darkness. Together, Peter and his friends who comprise the Shadow's Hand must rise to face the Unholy Trinity to prevent destruction to their world...

I have ordered this book and look forward to reading it, myself.  It's very different from my chapter books, but I know if you like dark fantasy that delves into the soul, this will be worth reading.  

Video Games!

[board game--source]

Now that my teenaged son is done with his first draft of the first ten Just Us Chickens books (remember--his chapter books on silly super chickens) plus some bonus books, he's now hard at work on a new project.  He's been learning about how to program video games.  We're wanting to include video games and card games with both my series and his, just for you.  He is working on inventing a card or board game.  It will most likely be a collectors' card kind of game that will come for free with the full edition of the first set of books.  With each set, you'll get more cards, so you can always play the characters you (or your kids) love.  

[video game controller--source]

He's also working on a role-playing video game for Just US Chickens.  You will be able to play adjustable versions of Impeckable, the hero who's a few feathers short of a full load, Shadow Chicken, a balloon-folding chickeny echo of a certain Dark Knight, and the heroine Death Layer, who rides around in the Invisible Something or Another (they can't tell what it is because it's invisible), uses her Lasso of Lies (a certain other weapon may be more useful but is copyrighted), and exploding eggs, as well as many more crazy characters we hope you'll love.   This game will be available with each Just Us Chickens set you buy.  It will also be sold separately.  

[Kids playing--source]

He also plans on creating a side adventure within the Just Us Chickens video game that features my characters, the characters of Doomimals.  He'll also have a several-level retro video game wherein the main characters of Doomimals fight through several monsters using various powers.  Fight alongside Tessa, Kitt, and Davis through several of the monsters you'll read about in the series.  This, too, will come free with the purchase of the series of books.  Be watching for future news.    

Looking Forward

 

 

[A scene from Just Us Chickens.]

 While I'm working on editing Doomimals, my chapter book series, my boy is working on new added material.  He's now done with his first ten books plus five bonus books of Just Us Chickens, that chapter book series about wacky super chickens.  He's now taking a break while I polish my first set.  The first three plus the bonus books have already been quick-edited and illustrated.  I'll just have to do further editing then edit and illustrate the rest before I can present it to you, the reader.  

Shorts Chicken

He's starting short stories that will be released first as a teaser, one that as Indiana Jones spoof called Just Us Chickens and the Muffin McGuffin" followed by one he just thought of called "Just Us Chickens vs. the Fanciful Fanfiction of Mary Sue" [rough working title] about how this crazy phoenix named Mary Sue tries to force the chickens to listen to her latest creative stylings, only to have her reading interrupted by a monster.  I look forward to hearing these wild stories.  Meanwhile, my friend is working on animating wacky animates shorts to familiarize you with the characters. The host will be Shorts Chicken.  Be watching for those in the not so distant future.  

[Xad, a character from books to come]

While I'm working on editing the first set, we're working on conceptualizing the next set, using the three-part story, which I'm using to retrofit and revise my first set, to shape my next step from the ground level.  We have the next nine (plus a bonus) planned, including the kids' character development arcs.  We'll have them outlined and have storytelling rules of thumb ready to go as I write, so revision won't be nearly difficult the next time around.  I look forward to presenting all of this to you.   

Progress at Last

 

[A new drawing I added to one of the books.]

I'm truly actively working on reworking my chapter book series, Doomimals, with an eye to getting it to you, the reader, as soon as possible.  I finally have a plan to proceed, including all the feedback I've received from fellow writers, the three-act structure for individual books and first 9 books, notes on story structure from a writers' conference, editor feedback I've now boiled down to a template I can use for each book, and some other adjustments I've decided to make for consistency's sake, including things like foreshadowing, consistency of character names and disabilities (one is hard-of-hearing, and another is ADD).  I've also had to tweak art and add more illustrations if a chapter has grown so big it has needed to be divided.  Now I'm making progress, these books should be ready for you soon.  

[Editing]

Up until now, I've been trying to figure out a plan of how to proceed.  I knew I wanted to rework the books in a way that would be most appealing to you as a reader.  I also knew I wanted to build up story arcs and consistency across the nine books, to the point where all books build together to work as one book as well.  I now have realized I was missing a most critical item, among other things, across all books, which is building up the question that drives the story and the heart that drives each book.  I know the kids all want their families to be reunited, and the way to do that is to save the world.  That kind of thing will help the books stay compelling throughout the read.  

Due to life getting busier with kids in school and an increased workload, I can't promise it will be ready this month, but I'm hoping very soon to be able to get it submitted to the editor.  I'll let you know here as soon as I have specific dates in mind.  Stay tuned, and I'll keep you posted.  

Lightbulb

[Key Lime Python]

As you know, I've been working toward preparing my chapter book series, Doomimals, and my son's two chapter book series, Just Us Chickens (about zany super chickens) and Key Lime Python (about a swashbuckling snake who regularly takes down cosmic entities to protect the universe), for publication, so you can read them.  Just this week, in one of many conversations on the books, we came up with a brainstorm on how to unify not just the first book into one coherent whole but also the whole first set of 9 books (plus a bonus, backstory book), which is what we'll release first.   

[Little Dread Hen's Phoenix Form]

Heretofore, I've emphasized the coming of the Dog of War that the kids will need to fight.  That will still be the case, but I will foreground the Little Dread Hen, aka Nugget, an evil phoenix and a bad guy who is and has always been there from the beginning, but who hasn't been properly built up to and foreshadowed.  I am a pantser, so I tend to have a vague idea of where I'm going and pin it down with a rough outline as I go along.  Now that I have these first several books, I can use the literary techniques I have learned through my experience earning a bachelor's and master's degree in English (see my other writing blog) to turn these books into a unified set, building up to a finale, akin to the first season in a series.  My boy's afterwords are even called "post-credit scenes" as in Marvel and other such movies.  

I'm still shooting to get these books ready by early fall since I have most of the next two weeks earmarked for that purpose.  I'll keep those who stay tuned here posted on all the developments as I move that way.  

Stalled

[source]

This is usually the time of year when I have plenty of time to get writing, editing, etc. done.  But this is a strange year.  I usually teach two classes, which leaves some time between grading weeks.  But everything has switched around at the school where I teach online.  I only got one class to teach.  Also, COVID disappeared some of my work from my other job in the beginning the quarantine but has added work on this other end.  I transcribe for students and other clients who are deaf and hard of hearing.  Work usually dries up between school years, during the summer.  This year, I've actually been able to get a lot more work than usual, in part because of the COVID situation.  Between teaching and my other day job, I'm busy a lot more of the time than I expected, leaving me less time to work on writing.  In addition, I've been helping family members work on their homes, one family member to prepare for a refi and one to prepare to sell one home and move into another.  This has eaten up what time work has left untouched.

[source]

Sadly, this has put a damper on my enthusiastic progress toward polishing my stories.  Now that work is slowing, and the other two situations with homes are close to a resolution, I believe I can spend the last half of summer focusing on editing and polishing my writing.  This is going to happen.  It has to.

Just the Polish

[The Doomimals kids meet the Just Us Chickens.]

I'm down to just one step before I can bring you those books I've been talking to you about, the chapter books called Doomimals (about three kids and their animal companions protecting the world from the evil Dog of War), Just Us Chickens (about the kids' allies, a team of super chickens, trying to save the world if they can stop tripping over their own feathers), and Key Lime Python (about a world-traveling, swashbuckling snake who is the only one standing between the galaxy and certain destruction at the hands of the Radiance).  Those lovely illustrations my niece and I have been working on for months are ready and waiting to be added to my teenaged boy's books and mine.   I even have an animator working on short, silly videos we like to call "Chicken Shorts."  I'm getting closer to being ready to publish.  

The one thing standing in my way is kind of a doozy and one I've struggled with for a while, and that's finishing polishing them and getting them ready for the editor.  I've already had a freelance editor look at the first one.  My beta reader is just about done going through them and giving me all her reviews.  Another beta reader has time opening up to read the rest.  I have feedback and writing suggestions from various sources.  Now, I just have to finish applying it to these books.  This is the hardest for me because when something feels finished and clear to me, I'll have other readers go through and point out the flaws and holes.  I'll hear about this new and exciting approach to editing that your book is not and cannot be complete without, and there are many of those.  

[Designer Hen, who can draw anything, and it comes into reality.]

It comes down to when is your work actually ready, and when does it just feel ready to you?  I submitted one book I'd spent a long time perfecting to a publisher only to be told it was nowhere near ready.  At some point, with my hybrid publisher standing in the wings, I will just have to call it done and submit it.  I know that time is not yet, but I hope it will be soon.  Then, you can start venturing into this crazy intense reality my boy and I have been working on developing, down to a periodic table of new and invented elements and a list of new laws of our alternate universe that feels like our own but isn't.  You'll read about chickens who know they're in a book, even one who has her name on the book as illustrator because she's just that powerful, and about so much more.  And it's all in bite-sized, 5000-20,000-word chunks.  It's going to be fun.  If you want to get a sneak peak, feel free to read my free short story.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.  

Last Steps

[source]

I really have two primary steps left before I can bring my material to print for you, the reader.  My primary beta reader is almost done with reading through the books and giving me feedback.  My illustrator and I are almost done putting the final touches on either initial illustrations or touch-ups.  I've entered the basics into Scrivener, though that will be an ongoing process, so we keep all characters, world-building, etc straight for future stories and so we can have plenty of information for the Wiki my boy wants to assemble.  We're all but done with the periphery work. 

[source]

Most of what is left is finishing pulling feedback together and applying it to the stories.  I'll be applying specific feedback to the individual books but also turning that feedback into general ideas of things to improve on everything.  I have almost all the feedback I've been given ready to go and am just waiting for a bit more.  However, while I'm waiting for that to come in, I'll start organizing what I have and just launch in starting this weekend.  We're just that close and hoping to get these books published by early summer. 

Inching Closer to Publication

[Three main characters from Doomimals plus Dad, by Ghostelle.

I've now finished a read through my first ten Doomimals books, turning them from rough drafts to more polished drafts.  They're now in the hands of my beta reader, and she's finding them enthralling and fun.  She said once she gets into a book, she can scarcely put it down.  One day soon, you'll get the chance to read about the adventures of Davis, his twin, Kitt, and their younger cousin, Tessa, and their battles with the evil Dog of War.  You'll also meet their animal allies, Fluffy the blue tarantula, Snuggles the pastel python, Cookie and Ru the crazy cats, Zippy the tortoise, and several others.  You'll recognize events and themes from familiar stories like "Chicken Little," "Three Little Kittens," "Three Billy Goats Gruff," among others, but yet find these adventures reimagined with sci-fi, fantasy, and humor, geared for an audience of kids aged 7-12. 

[Just Us Chickens--officially illustrated by Designer Hen.]

Ax the Narrator, my teenaged boy, has finished his bonus books about the Just Us Chickens, a spin-off of my series.  He took the chicken from my Doomimals Book 1: Cockadoodle-DOOM, a sci-fi adaptation of "Chicken Little" and turned him into a cowardly hero, one of a league of super (silly) chickens.  He has written the first three books of the regular Just US Chickens books, the back story of his Superman spoof, Impeckable, and the first book of a separate spin-off series, Key Lime Python, a swashbuckling, galaxy-traveling heroic alien snake. 

[An illustration from book two, once again officially by Designer Hen.]

I'm right now touching up the color illustrations for Chickens (officially drawn by a character in the book).  I've illustrated (in black and white) 6 of my books, and my illustrator is finishing up the beautiful drawings for the last book I've asked her to illustrate.  Within a few days, we'll have a full set of illustrations for all books.  I hope you'll love these images. 

[Soon, you, like the Doomimals kids, will get to meet the Just Us Chickens.]

All I have left is to finish loading all stories, background, and feedback into Scrivener.  It's the final major revision before I get these books into your hands.  Once that's done, Ax the Narrator will set up a Doomimals extended wiki.  For future updates, watch here as well as my webpage, which will very soon feature a page all about Chickens.  We look forward to announcing the actual publication of our first collection of books. 

Where Am I Now?

[source]

In some ways, shelter in place has made finding time to write easier.  I've lost a lot of work, so I have a lot more time on my hands.  On the other hand, I can't say I've used it as wisely as I could have.  I've been helping my boy work toward getting his first ten done.  He's now done with the first eight books in his series (plus his bonuses), and he's taking his spring break off to just enjoy his time.  He has a hard time focusing otherwise but doesn't enjoy anything quite so much as coming up with and writing stories down.

[An illustration of one of our crossover books, drawn by Ghostelle]

Meanwhile, I have just one more book waiting for its illustrations.  All others have been done, though some of them need a bit of polish I can give them now I've become better at digital art.  Also, I'm all but done with editing my book drafts for my beta reader, who is rapidly plowing through them and giving me feedback.  I'm hoping for some other feedback, but we'll see.

[source]

Also, I've been working on Scrivener skills.  Very shortly, I'll load all my world-building information into Scrivener as well as all books in my series and my boy's series.  We'll compare them back and forth and make sure the overall structure works.  We'll also be applying all editor, beta reader, and other feedback we've gotten.  That's the big thing that we need to do before we can proclaim ourselves done and get this first collection polished and into your hands.  We are shooting to do it before summer, but we'll see.  Stay tuned for further updates.

Progress Report

[One of my illustrations]

I'm now done with my part of the illustrations.  My illustrator is almost halfway done with the second-to-last of the sets of illustrations.  My later ones plus hers make me want to revisit my early ones with my improved skills. 

[Editing: Source]

I'm right now skimming through the last 3 books in the series, preparatory to sending them to my beta reader.  She's already gone through the first five and has sent feedback.  That was one major concern.  I now have her feedback, some feedback from a few other beta readers on early books, and an editor's feedback.  I'm still hoping for more. 

[Source]

As soon as that's done, I will enter everything I have into Scrivener and will look at them holistically, comparing them to the hero's journey, story grid, and other story formatting guidelines.  Once all of this is done, I'll be ready to submit it to my publisher.  I feel closer all the time.  I'm hoping to get it all published by early summer. 

Almost Done Illustrating

[My illustration from Arachnageddon, book 7]

I have finished the sketches for the last round of illustrations I'll be doing for my chapter book series, Doomimals.  Because my nephew's wife has illustrated the first two and has started work on book 3 then will finish up with book 4, I needed to do the rest.  I started at the other end and have illustrated them starting with the bonus book then moving on to 9, 8, 7, etc.  I'm now working on book 5, which means I'm almost done with my part of the illustrations.  They lack the sparkle hers have because I don't have near the experience that she does with digital art, but they have a certain charm.  I'm overall pleased with them. 

[Revision; source]

I have been assembling techniques from webinars I'll use to attack the revision step once I'm done with illustrations.  My nephew helped me figure out how to transfer all the background and world-building information plus all the drafts into Scrivener.  That will help me assess them and compare scenes.  I'm also researching the Story Grid, which will, paired with the traditional story structure, help me turn my rough drafts into polished drafts.  I also have feedback from an editor on the first book, feedback from experienced writers on first through third books, and a reader busily reading through those books and the rest in order to give me feedback.  I'm also hoping to get some help from my nephew whose specialty is structuring stories.  I'm shooting to be ready to publish by summer.  

[A scene from a Just Us Chickens bonus book.]

My boy is, meanwhile, busily churning out the rest of his first ten books plus some bonus books, so not long after my books have been published, the spin-off series of Just us Chickens (about a superheroic group of chickens) will be ready to go.  In the meantime, he'll tack a few chickens books onto Doomimals to introduce you, the reader, to his series.  Both series, plus the sneak peek at his other series about a globetrotting, superpowered snake, Key Lime Python, are hilarious and can be enjoyed by readers of all ages.  We're inching closer to introducing you into the Doomimals Extended Universe.  

Illustrations

[Illustration for book 2 by Ghostelle.]

Those two weeks came and went, and I have made some progress but not as much as I'd hope.  As an update for my Doomimals chapter book series, I've been working hard at illustrating the last several, while my illustrator is working at the first few.  I'm hoping to get done with my part of the illustrations within the next two weeks.  

 

[Illustration from the Just Us Chickens book]

I also have some readers and enough knowledge to get going with Scrivener.  As soon as I have finished my illustrations, I'm going full bore with writing. I'm almost done editing my boy's Just Us Chickens and Key Lime Python books.  I'm shooting to be done revising, editing, and just all around ready to get it published for you by late spring/early summer.