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Thursday, August 06, 2020

Let the Countdown Begin!

One month! Finally, after all this time, Wicked Intention is one month from its release date.

Revisions are finished and now the book is with a copy editor who will double check my grammar, punctuation, and make sure there aren't any other mistakes. This is getting real!

Finn and his heroine have been with me for more than ten years. I checked. I'd written a proposal (three chapters and a synopsis) in 2010 for this story and it had been percolating in my head longer than that. I'd been working on revisions when I was forced to put it aside to meet another deadline. Then life stuff came up and the writing took a back seat for a long time. Too long.

I never expected this story to take as long to write as it did, but it has a bit of a different structure and I had to feel my way through that. This structure is also why I'm nervous about its release. There are people who I know aren't going to like how the story is setup.

But this is the way it wanted to be told, and while I did try to guide them to a more mainstream format ten years ago, I surrendered. Those of you who read the blog regularly might remember that my characters are in charge and I'm only along for the ride. It's a pain.

Despite this, I love Finn and Zo and their book is one of the books of my heart. I've been lucky enough to have three of those. These are the characters and stories that won't go away no matter how much time passes or how many other projects I work on. And for ten years, Finn and Zo have been in my head, showing me scenes--some of which didn't make the book because 1) there wasn't room for them and 2) they didn't advance the story.

As excited (and scared) as I am to share Wicked Intention with you, I'm also sad. While Finn and Zo will hang around for a while, it won't be too long before they leave me. It's like friends moving away and I've been spending time with this couple for a decade, so it's really going to be sad to see them leave. The bright spot is that the epilogue in the book that closes this suspense arc will be their wedding. Maybe they'll hang around to get me through that.

In the meantime, I've turned to the next couple in the Paladin League series. Griff and Cat. I'm writing chapter two now and yeah, this should be interesting. Stay tuned.