Tabitha Levin

We’ve got a title! We’ve got a cover! We’ve got a release date!

First let’s start with the title.

Two weeks ago, I was still unsure about what I wanted to call Feathered #2. I was playing around with the idea of marriage or joining. But nothing really seemed to feel right.

After a quick brainstorming session I’ve finally found the title I love.

FEATHERED BLISS

(It’s a play on ‘wedded bliss’.) What do you think? Do you love it as much as I do? I hope so.

Now for the cover

We used the same feather detail & design from the first book. It’ll be the same for all three books (Feathered is going to be a trilogy – so one more after this).

Here is what they look like together:

Nice, right?

Release Date

The tentative Release Date for Feathered Bliss (Feathered #2) is next week. 27th June 2013.

I’m fairly sure I can hit that. Currently the book is with the editor who is 70% the way through. She should have it back to me by the end of the week. I may need to re-write a chapter or two (character inconsistency issues – bleugh), but I’ll push to get that done quickly over the weekend. Then it’s one last proofread, formatting and LIVE.

I’m really excited for this book. I think it’s my best so far!

Keep an eye out, and remember – for the first week it’ll be 0.99 cents and after that I’m putting it up to it’s regular price of $3.99.

Talk (write) soon,

Tabs 🙂

I’ve just finished the second draft and the book is with my beta reader. They should get it back to me within a week, which means it’s getting closer! After that I’ll incorporate any changes they suggest (if I agree), copy-edit, proof and format it. I’m estimating around two more weeks.

So now it’s time to finalize the title so I can give it to my cover designer. We’ve already settled on the overall image (it will use feathers like the first book, but this time in a heart shape) but we need that title nailed.

Here are my options (I won’t tell you which one I’m leaning towards):

1. A Feathered Marriage
2. A Feathered Joining
3. A Feathered Union

What do you think? Do you have a favorite?

Tabitha

P.S. 125 words from Chapter 5

Wret flew a few feet from the ground. “It’s been fascinating to watch your developments, even from afar. I suspected her dead already, truth be told. History has not been kind to women who love Volante’s.” He looked away and sighed as he closed his eyes, as if remembering something from his past.

Zan bowed his head. He knew the story. It was the reason their races had not lived in harmony. Yet. “This could change things for us, Wret. This could be the healing between the races.”

Wret shook his head. “You are willing to sacrifice your right to be with anyone you want, to be with this one?”

“I love her. I want her, always. I have wanted no other since we met.”

I finished the first draft of Feathered #2 (yet to be named) late last week. I had planned on getting the second draft done over the next two weeks before I send it to my beta readers (okay beta ‘reader’ since I only have one ;)) and then make any changes and push to final editing.

But this week went haywire!

Firstly I’ve been having total computer nightmares with my hunk a junk not switching on properly (probably due to it being over five years old – which is ancient in computer years), and that everyone in the family uses the same computer and does goodness knows what to the files (they can’t touch my files thankfully).

Yesterday I couldn’t get on the computer at all – it just wouldn’t switch on, which led to an extreme Tasmanian devil style meltdown as I called and texted my husband with all manner of cuss words.

Secondly, the inlaws are down to install a new carport. For FIVE DAYS. I cannot get any writing done when father-in-law potters around our house mumbling something about screws and pivots when I’m trying to edit a sex scene. Trust me – creepy. And mother-in-law, bless her, likes to chat – a lot. *rolls eyes*

So I’ve hung in the towel and decided there is no way I’m getting anything done for the rest of the week.

I still think I’ll be ready before the end of next month. Fingers crossed.

On a good note, I’ve been doing some online creative workshops to improve my writing skills. They’ve been excellent and are really helping me fast track my writing chops. Who knows, I might even be ‘good’ at this writing thing soon 😉

Anyway, just wanted to give you a heads up on where things are at, for the two people that read this blog 😉

All the best,

Tabs xx

P.S. 149 words from Chapter 4:

“Watch where you are going,” said a woman’s voice. “You nearly hit me.”

A strong warm hand reached out for her, pulling her back to her feet.

She looked between the two people that stood before her. Bradley Simpson, looking taller than she remembered him, with newly cut hair, and by his side was Betsy Young, no, Simpson. Her hair was pulled back, with blond curls framing her face.

Ruby’s gaze lowered to where Betsy laid her hand, over her protruding round belly.

“Ruby?” asked Brad. “Well, if it isn’t. How are you?”

She looked between them, or rather, between both their faces and Betsy’s stomach.

Opening her mouth to speak, her tongue seemed to tangle in her mouth, blocking any words from forming. It was only a split second, but it felt like hours were passing as they stood in front of her, expecting her to say something.

 

I hoped to be further along right now, but life got in the way this month and I only averaged about 620 new words on the novel per day.  But at least I’ve reached the half way mark.

At the current rate I won’t get it finished for another six weeks — which is completely unacceptable, so I need to up my productivity.

I can do over 2,000 words on a good day, so if I increase my word count to double or triple my current average, I could bring it down to just a few weeks (and an extra week or two for edits).

I’m determined to increase output, which should be easy enough, but by how much remains to be seen.

But at least it’s getting there 🙂

In the meantime, here is another 100 words from the book. This time from Chapter 3:

   The wind blew heavier up this high. Zan had almost forgotten how much, not having been home in over a year.  His wings pounded the air with rhythmic pace as he got closer to his old home. The perfect base to stay while he tried to convince Wret to consider joining him and Ruby together.
His old mountain looked the same from behind, tall, away from the main glut of dwellings. Only a little more overgrown with shrubbery than when he last saw it. He’d have to attend to that.
As he rounded the mountainside, the doors to his old…

 

I’ve had a very slow writing week this past week, mostly due to school holidays (the kids driving me crazy) and that my mother is in town and staying with us.

As a result I haven’t had a chance to get to the computer much, so I only managed a mere 5,000 words.

Today I did buy a keyboard for my iPad though, so I’m hoping that I’ll be able to steal some minutes here and there while I’m sitting on the sofa. That’s the plan anyway. Although I’m not sure how my writing process is going to work yet using the iPad, since the document is in Word.

I *think* I’m going to put the chapter I’m working on into Evernote and use that to focus on, before transferring it back to the word doc when I’ve finished, but I might experiment with a few other methods over the week as well to see what works best.

In the meantime, here’s another sneak peek.

100 words from Chapter 2:

The iron gates of the Michael’s house were already open, expecting her, and she drove up the long driveway, parking the car next to the neatly trimmed hedge. It had been a while since she had last been here, she shivered. The memory of what had happened to her, Zan and Henry last summer still clung to her as she stepped onto the front porch.

“Ruby, my dear. A pleasure, as always.” The wrinkles around Henry’s eyes softened as he gazed at her admiringly, before he pulled her inside for a warm embrace. “Your mother told me you were on …”

 

I’m 14,000 words into the first draft of Feathered #2 (still a bit of an uphill slog to go) but I’m feeling good about the direction the novel is going.

There isn’t as much ‘actiony’ stuff going on, as there was in the first novel. I wanted to focus more on the relationship between Zan and Ruby in this. You also get to see more of Zan’s point of view as well – which we missed in the first.

The cover is all but done. The designer is just waiting for me to decide on the actual title first 😉 I’ve got a few ideas, although I need to narrow down my top three choices.

There’s no hurry for the title though, I’ve still got to finish writing the story first.

In the meantime, I thought I’d give a little sneak peek of some of the (VERY ROUGH) story.

So here’s 100 words to enjoy (taken from Chapter 1).

   Desire burst through his body, and his breath quickened to match his already racing pulse. He pulled her close, his wing feathers swaying as his hand wrapped around the back of her neck … his lips crushed on hers, consuming her with such force that she nearly fell backward. But he wouldn’t let her fall.
His smooth chest beaded with sweat, making it slick and slippery as she slid her hands over his hard muscles and around to his back. Her fingernails were sharp and they bit into his side as she grabbed desperately.
He pushed the bedroom door open …