In Which Rick and I Begin to Understand George

“The only kind of writing is rewriting.” ― Ernest Hemingway

So, a funny thing happened on the way to publication. We had a little crisis. These things happen in beta development, I’m told.

The book was sooooo long. Personally, I like long books. And Rick’s style is epic, which you might have noticed, invites books of Biblical proportions. But his epic fantasy is very action-adventury. Lots of things going on, lots of cliffhangers, lots of activity. Action-adventure stories aren’t generally super long books. We don’t want people getting “readers’ fatigue” (or something real which I don’t know the name of) and maybe get tired of the story. We want excitement! Joy! Anticipation!

We pondered what might be done. And Rick had an idea. What if we split the book in half, he asked. I opened my mouth to object that this was a crazy idea, and just closed my mouth. The idea was not crazy. It would require reworking a skirmish already there into a battle worthy of the end of a book. Some reworking of the next chapter so that it could serve as the beginning of a new book. It could work. It would (probably) shorten it to between 250 – 300 pages. Felt pretty good.

So we split it. And like magic (ha!), one book turns into two.  Which is kind of hilarious, since this book was split off from the original “first” one already. Perhaps we have discovered book mitosis.

Because of all this creative reworking, we will have to put off the publication date. We need to get this new improved part finished and polished and smooth, and make sure it fits with everything else. We need another round of editing. Some beta readers who haven’t gotten around to it yet. You’ll get the updated version shortly soon eventually I just don’t know. Let’s play it loose, OK? See what happens. And once it’s out, really out, we reserve the right to put out an updated version if there are errors with spelling or grammar, but we promise not to Lucas it.

We’re new at this; please be nice. What am I saying. You are always nice, and you smell good.

Remember, beta readers make better Christmas cookies,

Cathy

… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… are you still reading this?… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… so, why are you still reading?… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… are you really that hard up for entertainment?… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… well, have fun with it, then … this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because… this is the book that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends! Some writer started writing it, not knowing what it was, and he’ll continue writing it forever just because…
tl;dr: feels like we’re never going to finish