Hardcopy edits done!
Round four, aka “print it out and smear it with red ink” is finished! Whisper at the Top of My Lungs is one step closer to ready.
Soon it will be beta-reader time!
Drafts, Round Two!
Part of writing is knowing that pretty much nothing is ever “finished”; it just gets “done”. That being said, I have completed the first round of revisions on “Whisper at the Top of My Lungs”, a book completely without elves, trolls, or talking animals (it’s new ground for me).
It took a veeery long time, but it’s going to be worth it in the end. You’ll thank me when it’s finally released!
It’s been about a year…
Since I wrote a post on my own site. Bad author.
I would love to say it’s been because I’ve been so busy getting the next set of stories out, that I haven’t had the time. But that would be a lie. Oh, I’ve been working. And there are stories, but not ready for publishing yet, and so I have to apologize to both of my fans. 🙂
Whisper at the Top of My Lungs is in the editing/rewriting phase. It is not related in any way to Ruinmakers, excepting that I wrote it. Whisper… is a YA Magical Realism about a depressed teen boy who meets a ghost on his way home from school. Things happen like they always do, and they help each other move on.
Ruinmakers 2, tentatively called ThroneBreakers, is less than halfway done.
There is also a play, The Emerald Heart, that I just don’t know what to do with. In its current form, it’s longer than some of Shakespeare’s, which is absolutely intolerable to pretty much everyone (including me). I might adapt it into a historical fiction at some point and forego staging, because cutting it down would rip so much from it. Strong choices required.
All that to say, I’m still here and working, albeit at George R. R. Martin’s pace. 🙂
Paperback debuts at 63
THANK YOU.
I owe you my sincerest gratitude to everyone who has already bought a copy, told a friend about it, or liked/shared/commented on one of my announcements. I don’t want to exhaust anyone with too much news, but it’s been a much better book release day than I could have hoped or imagined.
Your individual acts have compounded together to create a tidal wave of support for me. For those reading already, or waiting for your copy to arrive in the mail: if you love it, please consider going to the trouble of leaving a short review for the book. It helps other people find it and love it, too.
Now, for the numbers:
This of course, is only Amazon, and doesn’t include other retailers like Barnes & Noble. In case you wondering, there’s something like 700,000 books it’s competing for attention with.
So thank you. From the very bottom of my heart.
Ruinmakers is here!
Dear highly intelligent, discriminating epicure of renowned good taste,
My novel, Ruinmakers, is finally available for sale after many long nights of writerly toil. Ruinmakers is a young adult fantasy filled with magic, manipulation, a little romance, and some really good fights. It’s available from all your favorite retailers as both a paperback and ebook.
This is a major achievement for me. If you would like to support me, there are a few ways to do so.
- You can buy my book this week!
- You can leave a 5-star review (Really, leaving a great review helps both now and later, and helps other people discover a great book they might enjoy.)
- You can recommend it to a friend, or give one as a gift
- You can share my book to your favorite social media
You can read more about it here as well as find a link to your preferred merchant.
Many thanks!
Jeremy J. Simmons
Layout has begun
Just a quick note – I’m now wrasslin’ (that’s wrestling, for non-Texans) with InDesign to make it do what I want. I spent pretty much all day yesterday trying to wrap my head around what kind of workflow would be most efficient in the long run. The good news for all the physical book lovers out there, is that I’m doing the print layout with some additional structure and linking that should make the ebook just a second click away from that.
Which means your print version may be much closer than it appears.
Major news!
The edits are in! Finito! Finis! Finished! The end!
As much as it tempts me to go back and rewrite the whole thing, I won’t give in to second-guessing because everyone I tell about the book seems genuinely interested in reading it, and it’s taken plenty long enough already.
Entering the final sprint – the cover art is ALSO nearly done. The colors and some minor layouts may change, but this is the bulk of how it will end up. The font and the phoenix are hand-drawn illustrations (by me), digitized and tweaked a bit to make ready for all of you. Enjoy!
Cover Art Sneak Peek!
Since it’s been almost forever since I’ve updated anything, here’s a sneak peek of what I’ve been working on!
There will of course, be a title on the cover, and not just pretty pictures. The phoenix was drawn by hand (over and over and over…) on paper, then on the computer. But it was just line art…so then I added gradients and textures to give it a little life.
Hope you like it!
(Some of) What Theatre Taught Me
Nearly every theatrical organization I can think of, for-profit or non-, devotes at least a portion of its efforts to theatrical education. Some more, some less; a few are even good at it. On the other hand, public schools are cutting back (and have for decades now) on arts education with the excuse that it’s “extra stuff”, and not important like math or reading. (more…)