Proof Copies

Happy New Year, dear Reader! I hope your holidays were joy-full and peace-filled.Well, some of you have already seen this post... because I was an idiot and scheduled the date for January 2, 2017, foolishly forgetting to change the year before I hit "publish." Ahem.Thankfully, my Mom was able to pull a sneaky covert op for me and delete the post from my dad's email before he saw it... so Christmas surprises remained intact. For those of you who didn't see the post... here is a little glimpse at what the (hopefully NEAR) future holds in store for your reading pleasure!Obviously, the copy in the picture doesn't have the actual cover on it... that's still in the works - but VERY NEARLY complete, which just has me jumping up and down and incapable of containing my excitement - it's SO GORGEOUS!!!! ... and the manuscript is still with the proof-reader, so the interior isn't finalized, either - though it will be VERY SOON! But I wanted to get a physical copy anyway so that I could send it to my Dad for Christmas, and.... well... because I just kind of wanted a copy for myself, as well... to see how big it would be and stuff like that. It's MASSIVE. And will be a teensy bit bigger, as this copy doesn't have a glossary or a map or anything other than the story... but it's really fun to hold.This is a dream that is going on 17 years in the making, my friends. A dream that started in May of 2001 and led to some of the most fun I've ever had while writing. Before that, I always figured that writing for a deadline or an audience or a job would take any and all of the FUN out of it... but I was wrong, and that first summer writing King's Warrior proved me wrong. Writing The Minstrel's Song has been an epic adventure in and of itself, and to be here, so close to the end of the journey... well, it feels good. But just because it's the end of an era for me as an author, doesn't mean a new one can't start up.So, as a special bonus... we decided to do up proof copies of the first two Turrim Archive books, as well... just for fun... because this is the NEXT chapter in my Author Story. And I am so very excited about sharing it with you, dear Reader! I think they look pretty snazzy, even with their temporary covers... there's something kind of fun about the simplicity of them. I know these two are a long ways off from being published... they have editing to go through still... but it's fun to be able to hold them in book form. Makes it feel more real, somehow.I'll be back next week for Nightstand Books! If you want to join me and show off what your stack of books here at the beginning of the New Year looks like, you're more than welcome to! I've got some intense reading to do in the next couple of days/weeks as I signed up to help judge a writing contest, but I do plan to be around the blog a bit more than I have in the past several months. This semi-unofficial break has been good, because I've got all sorts of ideas for blog posts in the coming days, and February is Fantasy Month is practically around the corner... please let me know if there are any topics you'd particularly like to see me write about with regards to the Fantasy Genre next month... I can always use ideas!