A book thing. I bought a cover. For a book I’m working to release in March. A book WAY out of my comfort zone. AM I CRAZY?
Yes, yes, I am. But hear me out!
Back in November, during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), I was working on the first draft of a book with my friend and co-author RJ Keller, but I also snuck in some words for this story that sort of popped into my head before bed. I swear, all my good ideas hit me right before I’m about to fall asleep. Rude.
Word by word, this story that stemmed from a seed took root. Characters that I had been saving for a different story altogether, told me, no, shouted at me, that THIS was their story and to find someone else for the lame project I had in mind for them. Again. Rude.
I finished the first draft of this new story and realized I had a nice little novella on my hands. The problem?
It was a sexy novella. I didn’t write sexy novellas. I wrote mostly fade-to-black love stories. This was not that. This was lights up, all action in plain sight…
Gulp.
After a second draft revision and much debate, I sent it off to a few people to ask them if 1. they thought this was a decent story given that it was so much smexy time, and 2. should I publish it knowing it was not my norm.
The feedback came back with a resounding; PUBLISH THIS NOVELLA. They gave me some minor things to add in order to enhance the story but nothing project stopping. The first hurdle of writing was reached. Write a good story.
The next hurdle was finding a cover on a super tight budget. Planning three releases in a year, you have to budget accordingly and if this one was going to happen, it HAD to be on the cheap.
For kicks, I looked around for a cover on my designer’s site and found a pre-made cover that really fit with my story. Even the color of the font was significant. Best part? It was on sale. It was as though the universe WANTED me to buy that cover for THIS novella. Sold. (Here’s a teaser of it if you didn’t see it on Facebook or Twitter.)
All that was left was securing an editor. An impossibility so close to when I wanted to release (late March.) Wrong again! I found someone right off the bat who I’d been wanting to work with and she was able to work with my insane deadline.
All the ducks were lining up. Full steam ahead. That means, this month…I do my last edit. Plug in the suggestions the beta’s made, get the manuscript to my editor by March 1 and then the fun begins in late March.
It will be a busy month getting this ready, but I know ducks aren’t always this cooperative, so I’m taking it as a sign and get my butt in gear to waddle in time with them.
Start looking for cover reveal posts, teasers, and pre-order links this month if you like sexy reads! If not, hold on. I have another release planned for June that is a light-hearted later in life romance!
Until then, I’ll be working my way through a few red pens.
Danielle Bannister, Author 