I wrapped up my holiday travel with my family last week, but I was away from my desk until late Friday, so it was not the most productive week in the writing world.

I did accomplish a few different admin tasks related to our upcoming releases, as well as a few editorial tasks necessary to push The Politics of Fear and The Girl Who Woke the Moon closer to the finish line. I would very much like to sanctify the six-month pre-release marketing plan for both upcoming hardcover releases, which means these manuscripts need to be in finished form sooner rather than later.

I got my first look at the paperback proofs for Ophiuchus Flinched, which required me to put in a little work with series artist Zefanya Maega to get that one in sparkling shape. Cover art always loses something in the transition from digital to print, so the proof process is essential to ensure Zefanya’s stunning artwork looks perfect on the shelves. This wasn’t a major overhaul, but we did have to tweak the typography and the color saturation to make sure everything reads clearly in physical form.

The Politics of Fear is getting very close to galley-ready. I intend to finish the long-gestating polish draft this week so I can get the manuscript out to a proofreader. I’ve been at this writing game for a long time, and fortunately, most of my drafts don’t require major overhauls. By the time I send a manuscript off to a developmental editor, I’m usually pretty confident that it’s working in all the Big Ways. Feedback on this one was a little bit more comprehensive than I’m accustomed to, which makes sense given the length and complexity of the book. I agreed with almost all the editorial notes, so the polish draft has been a bit of an undertaking. That said, the previous draft was already a big hit with beta readers, and this version is magnitudes stronger. I can’t wait for y’all to get your hands on it.