State of the Elfyverse, February 2014 Edition

It’s time once again for one of my periodic state of the Elfyverse updates . . . and tonight, I have big news.

My novel ELFY has been split, which many of you already know (especially if you’ve been following my blog for a while), and will be going as two books. I knew it was very likely that I’d end up with two new titles, as that’s what tends to happen in publishing, but much awaited my final turn-in of the ELFY, book one manuscript — including an official retitling.

Fortunately for me, a very good friend stepped up and did two wonderful things. First, she gave me an excellent promotional blurb — this is something to help people find your book rather than an author’s blurb, which also is an excellent thing to have (the latter is when an author recommends your book as worthy of interest, and says so with a quote) — which my publisher, Lida Quillen of Twilight Times Books, really liked. (My own efforts in this regard kept falling flat no matter what I did, so what my friend did for me cannot be underestimated.) And second, she suggested an appropriate title for the first half of ELFY, which is . . .

Drum roll, please:

AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE.

This makes really good sense, gets the point across that ELFY is a comic urban fantasy, and keeps ELFY in the title. I’ve asked that it be called AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE, part one of the ELFY duology, but all I know right now is that the first part will definitely be titled AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE.

I also received my copy of the ARC (that’s an advanced reader’s copy) to check over today, and I plan on doing that in the upcoming days. (I need for everything to settle for a day or two, or I can’t possibly check any remaining problems that might still exist, as I’ll instead see only what I think is there. Clear as mud, no?)

In addition, there is interest from my publisher in at least taking a look at the prequel to ELFY, in possible sequels (which have been in progress for years, as I’ve said before), and in my unrelated literary fantasy novel, CHANGING FACES. I just have to finish ’em up and check ’em over, which I plan on doing as I get time.

This is very good news, especially considering the fact I don’t have a publishing track record to run on. All I have is my bare word that I will get it done, and the fact that my publisher has worked with me in my other capacity as an editor, so she knows the worth of my word.

So I’m encouraged — Hell, I’m psyched, even — because it appears I may just be finally ready to break out as a novelist after ten solid years of trying.

Of course, there’s much to be done between now and then. The next few months, I’ll be using to get the second half (now a book in its own right) of ELFY fixed to the best of my ability. TTB uses good editors and proofreaders, so I should be in good hands, there . . . anyway, there’s no fixed timetable to get this done, but I’m personally shooting to get it done and taken care of long before the end of the year as I want to build some momentum.

And, of course, I have lots of other stuff to do — short stories to write, the Joey Maverick novella (or possibly a short novel) to write that’s centered on Bubastis (a place my late husband Michael, who created Joey’s world and universe, never went, though he did leave behind sketches of what he thought Bubastis was like and that’s helpful), another Elfyverse short story to finish (or maybe two) — but I plan on doing it.

All I can say otherwise is this: Thanks, folks.

Because I have the best friends in the entire universe, truly . . . without all of them, past and present, the Elfyverse would not exist, I would not still be here trying to get it done, and I would not be so achingly close to getting everything I’ve dreamt of for years to come to fruition.

Again . . . thanks, and many blessings, too. (You deserve ’em for supporting me all these years.)