Cat Killing Coyotes: The First Sentence

Now that we're almost into March and the release of the book is fast approaching, I suppose it is time for me to start the promo, pump up, pimping posts again.

So here we go...first sentence of The Foul Mouth and the Cat Killing Coyotes:

There are days when I wake up in the morning and I just want to kill someone.

Release date is still moving around, think early April at the latest!

New Covers for FOUL MOUTH...again

It took four versions for me to end up with a BETROTHAL cover I can tolerate until I'm making the big bucks and can pay for true awesomeness on the artist front, so I suppose it's not really a surprise that I'm now on attempt number four with the FOUL MOUTH books as well.  This time, I actually like what I've done and I think they'll hold in there until the coming millions of readers actually find the series.

Fanged Lady:

Little King Henry:

We'll launch the Cat Killing Coyotes cover next month sometime in the pre-release build up.

Foul Mouth Second Drafts

All writers have different methods to get to the end of the road.  For me, the second draft is all about readying the novel for the rest of the process.  It's about coming back to the work with fresh eyes after a break, looking at it objectively, marking the parts where there can be additions, marking the parts that need rewrites, and removing the junk a first draft will always have.

1. Reverse Readthrough - I don't write Foul Mouth books chapter to chapter.  I write the "school" story first, then the "shop" story, and only mix them later.  When I start editing I put the emphasis backwards, starting with "shop" then going through "school", to try to balance the focus.  Usually this readthrough has some typos fixes, the occasional inspirational or clarifying sentence, but nothing large or earth-shattering.
2. Passivity - probably the most important part of editing, this is a word by word search of certain phrases that hold back and create a flat boring read.  I'm looking for "was", "wasn't", "weren't", "were".
3. Words That Suck - also a word by word search but here it's just my personal pet peeves, the words that the writing mind uses as a crutch but the editing mind should nix.  I don't like "thing", "obvious(ly)", "sudden(ly)", "because", "no doubt", "well", "stare", "smile", "mumble", etc.
4. "That" Edit - one word.  Often worthless and unneeded, get it out of there.
5.   Character Edit - For "Fanged Lady" this was focused on Annie B, only her scenes, trying to focus on her dialogue and focus on the scenes from her point of view.  For "Cat Killing Coyotes" it will be T-Bone.
6. Chapter-By-Chapter Edit - The first time I get to read the novel as the reader would, chapter to chapter, switching from "school" to "shop".  Here's where I mark addition places and rewrites for the third draft, probably more typo fixes too.

Foul Mouth 2's First Draft is Done

Talk about a weight off my shoulders.  Of course I had BETROTHAL even before I got around to FOUL MOUTH, so it's not strictly the sophomore jinx, but this was a tough one.  Mostly because so much of what's going on is set up work for the later novels in the series and the contained plots keep blowing up in our hero's face.  How does one write a novel about mistakes and failure without the novel itself becoming a failure?  It's a conundrum, but one I think solved.  There's a lot of great scenes in this one.  Maybe thee outright funniest scene I've written so far in my writing career.

Next up will be three to four months of editing.  Maybe one rewrite on a chapter.  Nothing huge.  Which means...May?  I guess.  Hard to have a firm release date as an Indie.

The Foul Mouth and the Cat Killing Coyotes, coming soon to a Kindle near you.