My mantra this year is “Action Creates Inspiration.” Which is weird, because I’ve never had a mantra before. Until now, mantras seemed pretty hippy-dippy to me.
Not to get all Han Solo on everyone, but I was convinced that there’s no pithy saying that controls my destiny.
A mantra still doesn’t control my destiny, but it’s certainly helped. Not only has it proven to be true, it’s kept me moving forward when I wasn’t motivated and lacked good writing habits. Last year, I made a lot of changes so I could focus on my writing and I’m determined to show results for all my efforts.
Speaking of efforts, let’s talk about a book update!
KARI HUNTER BOOK TWO
I’ve been writing like the wind, working on the second book in the Kari Hunter series. Seriously, I’ve never written so much and so consistently in my entire life, and it feels so RIGHT. I hoped to be a lot closer to the finish line by now, but we have a few chapters that need rewriting. Once that’s done, I need to give the whole thing one more quick read-through, and then it goes off to editor #1.
I’m so freaking excited about this new story and I can’t wait to share it with you. It’s just that I’m looking at the calendar and I can’t figure out how it’s already March.
Meh.
But I’m cruising along. I have a title for the new book and a new designer is working on the cover art. I wanted to hire the original artist but she’s no longer in business, so I’m working with Jenny at Seedlings Design. She’s extremely talented and I’m so excited to work with her. We’re going to have a cover and title reveal coming up soon.
But first, a new cover artist means cover changes for The Fourth Channel.
If you’re following me on Twitter or Facebook, you probably heard me talking about this. It’s too much work for artists to replicate a different artist’s work, and I want all of the books in the series to fit together visually, so I need to put new art on The Fourth Channel. While I was originally torn (and kind of sad) about this, it gives me the opportunity to do something I’ve been thinking about for a very long time: release a second edition of TFC.
THE FOURTH CHANNEL, second edition
The feedback I’ve received about The Fourth Channel has been amazing. However, I’ve heard from a few people who felt lost during the book’s opening. They were confused about the time period or the world or who Kari was… and I understand. I’ve learned a lot about novel structure over the last few years, so I know how to fix it.
Remember chapter five where we go to the club and meet Cody Springer, and Cody meets Kari and the fire extinguisher? That’s now chapters one and two. I’ve already sent the revised book off to my developmental editor and she says the new order is good. She had a few notes that I need to address, but otherwise there are no huge changes. Please believe me when I say that I didn’t rewrite the story. There’s not a lot that’s brand new here. It’s simply a change of order, and I think you’ll find some additional color that will interest you. But know that the story is the same: Kari’s still a hot mess, the knives are still hilarious, and Cody Springer’s still a jerk.
The new edition of The Fourth Channel will be out before the second book. I have the new cover in my hot little hands, and we’re going to do a cover reveal very soon.
Stay tuned.
Jen Kirchner 