I'm waiting for the publisher to finish what I hope is the final cover mock-up for Incendiary.  I expect it to be ready for me to approve around Tuesday, which is October 30th (Evie's birthday).  Once I approve the cover, they'll send me the first print (proof) of Incendiary.  So, right now I'm just waiting and listening to this amazing song by MUMFORD & SONS called I WILL WAIT...

I have to admit that I messed up.  The reason the cover isn't ready yet is because I didn't make changes to the mock-up for a few days after I received it.  I was still operating under the old process.  I concentrated on doing the interior corrections because the interior takes so long to proof.  I didn't realize that they won't let me make those changes to the interior until they send me the first printed proof.  (In the old process, I could make changes to the PDF and then they'd send me the printed proof afterward.)  Now, they send the printed proof first before changes are made and they can't send me the proof because the cover isn't finished.  I think I lost at least 3 or 4 days by being stupid.  (<--Which totally kills me.)  So I'm really sorry about that; I don't think I can fix it.  I asked if they could make the interior changes that I want without sending the printed proof, but I ran up against "the process."  Apparently, "the process" was put in place to streamline, well, "the process" and nobody gets around "the process" now.  Can I go on record as stating I hate "the process's" guts?  I can?  Great.  I hate it.  (<--That is sarcasm.  I understand that it was my mistake; I don't have to like it, though.)

Here's what I'll probably do:  the minute they ship the printed proof, I'll turn around and submit my corrections (meaning: I'm not going to wait 3-4 days for the book to get here; I'm going to gamble that the only things wrong with it are the things I could see in the PDF.)  I might be able to make the time back up that way.  (I know, not smart to thwart "the process," but I think it will work out.)

So, basically, we're waiting until at least Tuesday for the cover (and cross your fingers for it to be brilliant because I don't even want to think about it not being right).  I just have to keep in mind that when it's done it'll be awesome because they make amazing products. 

Here's the hard part to discuss: I think that the earliest that I can possibly get the print book of Incendiary to release is the second week of Nov. but it's more likely that it'll be the third week of Nov. now.  The ebook follows about 2 weeks and 2 days later (that is based on my experience with the time frame for the past 3 novels).  Yes, killing me is an option, but then there will be all those nasty legal issues afterward and that seems a bit tedious.  As always, I will keep you posted. 

As compensation for having to wait longer, I'm going to do a giveaway for a signed copy of Incendiary.  I'll give away one of my first prints of Incendiary when I get my shipment.  I'll post the contest in the next couple of days on my other blog (the main page of my website).  Sorry I'm messed up!  I hope you win!

Hi!  I just downloaded the full interior proof for Incendiary about twenty minutes ago.   I can't wait to get this to you so that I don't have to continue to hide all its secrets.  This amazing song is ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN by ELLIE GOULDING (and I plan to listen to it when I take my oh-my-gosh-I-can't-freaking-look-at-this-anymore breaks).  I'm going to go proofread now, wish me luck...

I'm going to read the proof over and listen to it on my headphones in the next two days.  I'll note any changes so that I can resubmit it. CreateSpace will be sending me a physical proof in the mail when the cover is finished. Crazy, huh? Almost there!!

The cover mock-ups are IN and they're AWESOME!!  I'm freaking out because the only problem I'm having with them is that they are BOTH AMAZING and now I have to choose.  Thank you CreateSpace and Team Fusion!!  YOU'RE ROCKSTARS!!  I've been listening to ANGELS by THE XX trying to decide which one to pick.  This song reminds me of Evie...

And since Russell has gotten almost no action on the Incendiary updates blog so far, I'm including this song because it reminds me of him.  It's called SYMPTOMS by ATLAS GENIUS.

This next song is a teaser of sorts.  It's called HAVOC IN HEAVEN by JESCA HOOP and it is crazy!  I can hear this new character in Incendiary in it (forgive the picture, it was the only one on You Tube). I'll call this character: Character #1 because it appears first in the story (first of the new characters).  (Don't you hate how I say "it"? I know, I'm mean.)

CreateSpace has definitely upped their game to rockstar status; they sent me the interior format mock-up and the cover mock-ups yesterday and they're incredible.  I have a huge problem now: I have to decide between two amazing covers.  (That's the best problem to have.)  I'm going to take a couple of days and mull over the covers, but don't worry, I already approved the interior format mock-up. They will now format the entire book based on the two chapters I approved.

Once they format the entire book, they'll send me a full PDF and I'll do a read through to catch any errors I might have missed.  I'll be able to make up to 80 changes to the PDF for free (these are changes that I want to make, not changes due to keening errors or other errors in their formatting).  If there are more changes than that, I'd be required to fix them on my word document and then reload the file (and I think it cost something like $199 to do this, but I've never done it that way so I'm not completely sure).  So it pays to do it right the first time.  (Lesson learned the hard way, I've had 80 changes before and I don't recommend it.)  I expect to get the full PDF by next Tuesday.  Cross your fingers!