The GoodReads giveaway of The Prophecy ended at midnight, and I could not be happier with the results. Nearly 600 people added it to their to-read list (I know, only a handful will actually read it, but still) and 1278 people entered the giveaway. Ten winners were randomly drawn by GoodReads, and I'll be sending their copies out hopefully today or tomorrow along with a special offer. A deep and sincere thank you to everyone who entered. I hope you enjoy reading Maya and James' story.

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Yesterday, I sent out the second e-mail to my mailing list with an exclusive peek at my inspiration for A Higher Purpose. I'm still toying with contents for those e-mails and this blog, but keep an eye out for some interesting features over the next few months as I delve deeper into the Daughters of the People series.

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I had a surprising offer in my inbox a few days ago from the editor of a state-level genealogical society's quarterly. Basically, she's looking for writers, knows I'm trying to build my (non-fiction genealogy) credentials, and hoped to entice me into writing for her. I have zero ancestors (that I know of) in that particular state, but I appreciated the offer and promised to get back to her in mid-May. 

Which reminds me, I'm supposed to be working on a couple of genealogy books right now. Whoops.

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I'm deep in the middle of writing A Higher Purpose, which I've tentatively scheduled for release on 7 April 2014. A couple of nights ago, I wrote the first sex scene, and was immediately struck by how wrong it was. Last night, I sat down and spent four and a half hours doing a deep revision, beginning from the first word, and ended up cutting around 3000 words. Not to worry! The story is now sharp and awesome, as I suspected it would be from the first.

There are two lessons here for me. The first is the discovery that I'm a linear writer, something I'd suspected before but can now confirm. It's really not possible for me to move forward writing a story when I feel that something is deeply off about it. That's why I edit as I go (the day after the first draft is written, not while I'm writing the first draft) so that I can catch those sorts of things before they become a problem later on in the story.

The second is that cutting verbiage isn't a big problem for me, as it is with some writers. (I'm not trying to put anyone else down. Each writer has his or her own process, and discovering what does or doesn't work is integral to maintaining any kind of manageable workflow.) Don't get me wrong. I save what I cut in case I need it later, and that makes it easier to cut, but I'm not married to the words; I'm married to the story. This is an important distinction, and an equally important realization.

I'm really having a lot of fun exploring Ella and Adam's world, and now that I've fixed those nagging plot problems, I'm as excited now to see how they end up as I was when I set the first word to paper. The story is progressing right on schedule and I hope to have a preview available for it soon.