A Slice of Orange

So here’s what happened…

I had a book scheduled for September. It was originally supposed to release in August; I wrote about how it got pushed back to September. This is so funny, because it makes it seem like I haven’t written the book…but I have. The problem or glitch came up when I received it back from my beta readers. They liked it. Cool. However, I noticed there were a few things I needed to fix. Especially after having attended RWA. I spotted a few tense and tone things that needed to be cleaned up.

I didn’t expect it would take me as long as it did to clean it up. When I finally finished my edit, it left me with very little time for my editor to do her job and me still make my release day. All the books in the challenge are release at the end of the month. No particular reason, other than it gives me more time to polish and do some marketing. In this case, if I’d tried to get the book out, there was a good chance I’d miss my release day, and my challenge would go from 12 Titles to 11. I couldn’t have that.

I looked at my production schedule and saw I had two possible titles for November. One was lacking about 1500 to 2000 words and a good polish. The other, needed about 5000 words, a very good polish and a title. The title I had no longer matched the story. Why should you care about those books, when neither of them is Title No. 9?  Because in my original plan, I asked my editor if she could edit a short story and get it back to me within my time frame. She said yes. I was ecstatic because I knew I had these two options. WRONG…WRONG…WRONG. I reviewed both titles and realized there was no way to get either one ready and to her. Seems I spoke out of turn. Things weren’t looking good for Title NO.9.

Every day in my prayer time, I thank God for words. A few days earlier, I asked God for a title for the book with 5900+ words. On Thursday, September 15th, I woke and started my prayer time and this title popped into my mind. I shrugged it off, and it immediately reappeared. I got up, kept repeating the title as I made my way to my computer. Once the computer was on and my teeth were brushed, I started writing.

I couldn’t believe how fast the words came. By the end of the day, I had over 4000 words. I proofed those and the following morning, I made the corrections and was over 5000 words. I was hoping for short story length. Then the words kept coming, and I was at 7100+ words. The thought of a novelette was right there. I did another proof and soft edit. I had promised this short story which was now a little longer to my editor on Saturday evening. I sat in from of my computer only taking potty and food breaks. By Friday evening I was looking good. I was well over 9000 words. Now all I needed was an ending.

I got up Saturday with my 9000+ words proofed and ready to finish. I emailed my editor I was almost done and that she would have a completed project by Saturday evening. It was around eleven-thirty when I went to bed with a completed novelette. PRAISE GOD! But I was still not out of the woods. I emailed my editor and said, “I finished late. Here’s a rough draft. I didn’t want to break my word. Give me one more day to proofed copy.” She understood, and we were good.

The draft was my new best friend. I took it with me on Sunday and read in the car on the way to church, then while I was at a charity function working on the check-in desk, and anytime I had a few free moments. When I got home, I went into my library, the toilet with a pink pen and my draft. An hour later, I came out and implemented all the corrections. I emailed my editor and said, “I got home late. Here’s the book.”

I hadn’t heard from her to make sure she got the file, so I texted her on Monday. She sent me a message, “Got it. Give me a few days.” I breathed a sigh of relief. But I didn’t have a cover. When I write, I usually get cover ideas and will ofter have the cover before the story is finished. Not this time. I had the story first and was looking for a cover. I knew I didn’t want to burn one of my free image downloads on such a short project. Then I was reminded, I had a lot of images for a marketing campaign for my lingerie business. I pulled up a couple and went to work.

Later Monday evening, I got a text from my editor, “I got on a roll, here’s your book. Nice story.” I was shocked. PRAISE GOD! My deadline was looking doable. If I only had a cover. I mocked up two options. One I liked and the other was okay. I needed a second opinion. I ran both by my mother and took her suggestion.

So in a matter of one hundred and forty-four hours or 5 days, I wrote, proofed, had edited, and designed a cover for my latest book…number 9 in my challenge and my twelfth book over all. The final word count was over 10,000. And the title is: THE NIGHT I FELL IN LOVE.

I made my release day for the end of the month and here’s the bonus, on release day, it hit #42 in one of my categories on Amazon and remained in the top 100 in that category for four days. Because of the unorthodox way this book came about, I wasn’t able to do any pre-orders, but that’s okay. PRAISE GOD! YEAH!