End of August Update
Hello! There has not been much to update you on over the past few weeks. I’m still waiting for my beta readers to get through the novel before working on my final draft and implementing the long list of ideas that I have been workshopping over the past few months. I have been anxious to get back into the story and finalize this manuscript and get it in the hands of the right people! I know that many of you are ready to dive into a copy of your own; that moment is coming soon! I recently redesigned the cover of the book and have incorporated it into my recent printings of the second draft, which can be seen here:
I am thrilled at how they turned out and it’s another thing to check off the list. Of course, a publisher might have their own ideas for the cover art and that will be fine, but I wanted something special and personal on these drafts. If the publishers do decide to change the art, these will live forever as collector’s items and possible special editions—more on that in the future.
As for my current progress, I have been revisiting my maps of the world and fixing some of the ever-changing landscapes of Aria, Uron, and the many places that the books will eventually take the readers! With the additions to Book One, I found that the world was not represented to scale and wanted to give the readers a solid visualization of where all the events take place in the world. This will be helpful to anyone curious about where various villages and kingdoms are in relation to each other—while being fun to design to boot! These are not currently attached to the beta reader’s copies, but will be included in the final, published draft. In fact, none of the current drafts have ANY art in them. That will change in the next draft and will be something for beta readers to look forward to checking out.
While art has been my primary focus right now, I have also been working on that short novella that I began about a month ago. It is moving along nicely and will be a fun adventure to read between books one and two! Once the first book is released, that novella will not be far behind it. Book Two (title still a secret to everyone except Amanda) will likely be close behind, too! The first draft for that book is between 35-40% of the way complete with a finale that I am itching to bring to life.
For now, I’ll continue to keep you updated as the process continues and the publishing steps advance. Each day brings us closer to The Age of Gods and I cannot wait for all of you to finally be able to dive into the world! Hope all of you are well!
-Justin
