Author Update: Draft #3 underway and on schedule, Updated Editions likely early 2024

Hello Everyone!

It has certainly been a rather insightful week between editing and starting an online art program course. I want to say I’ve been more focused this past month and to a certain extent that has been the case. I’ve made some good progress on the third draft of book 3 that I’m happy with. This should be the final draft before sending it to my editor for review. The story is thankfully solidified and just needs some cleaning up to flow smoothly.

But I did also mention I started taking an online art program course. It may seem strange considering how much I complain about not having enough time to dedicate to my writing goals, but it will help in the long run. The most obvious reason is that I want to improve the quality of my book covers as most will judge books by their cover even though we always say not to. I was really unhappy with the book covers I had made for the anniversary covers and genuinely felt bad about it. I wanted to create something that looked more like a professional book cover. But something else I’ve come to realize is that it’s easier for me to write a character and their personality when I can visualize them clearly. The problem, however, is that the current way I draw takes me forever to finish a piece. With a story with so many characters, I need to get faster and better at drawing them. Luckily I’ve drawn most of the characters in book 3 so it’s made it a bit easier.

Regarding the progress on book 3, it’s still on track to be completed by the end of the month to send to my editor. Giving him a few months to take a look at it, should still be able to publish by the end of February or early March. While he’s reviewing and editing it, I’ll be figuring out the new book covers for the new editions of books 1 and 2. Hopefully it won’t take me too long to create them, but it’ll depend on how well I do with these art program lessons. Just need to make sure I stay focused and on track.

After book 3 is done, I’ll already be working on book 4 but I might also take some time to work on the outline of either a new story outside of The Legend of Nariko series or a prequel to the books. Still a bit undecided on that, but I want to finish book 4 before considering any other stories. Shouldn’t be getting ahead of myself before I finish the series I’m working on.

Thanks for sticking around!

– Raphael