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[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

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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

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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.