Two interesting things have happened to me this week.

First, I canceled my contract with the publisher of my upcoming book. There were no differences between us. No hardships. They are a micro publisher who only publish in Ebook format. My contract was signed over a year ago and due to delays often brought on by real life circumstances, they just haven’t gotten around to publishing my book. I’d been waiting patiently. I finally sought advice from a writer friend who told me what I wanted to hear. So, I sent an email asking if we could cancel the contract.

I got a quick reply that they were happy I sent the email they’d been unfortunately avoiding to send me. Like I said, no hard feelings between us. And so now, a book that I wrote in 2012 is finally free. I can do what I want with it. I can find another publisher. I can forget about it and sit on it a few more years if I want. Or I can get to work, reading it over again, giving it to my editor, polishing it, and ultimately publishing it myself.

And that’s what I’m going to do.

I think the last time I touched the manuscript was in 2013.  I’d forgotten most of it by now.  I wasn’t even sure if my heart was still in this book. Sure, deep down, I knew it was. It had to be in there if I wrote it. But sometimes when there is so much distance and time between us, the heart goes quiet.

I found the manuscript and read the last chapter a few nights ago and all the emotion kicked in and came flooding back. Yeah, there it is. I’m in this. My heart is in it. I knew it always was. So… let’s do this.

And so now I’ll proofread and polish it and turn it over to my editor in May. And while she weaves her magic, I’ll think about and work on a book cover (honestly, I’ve already started thinking about the cover). And when she’s done I’ll make the corrections she suggests. I’ll format it. I’ll send it to some beta readers. And then…I’ll release it out on its own.  And then I’ll celebrate. After three years of waiting, another one of my babies is all grown up and going out into the world to find its place in it.

Another good thing about doing it myself is that I can do a paperback version as well. The micro publisher only did E-Books.  There’s no money to be made in paperback books (but since when have I ever done this for money?) but it’s still nice to hold your physical book in your hand.  I also have family that don’t read E-books and prefer hard copies, so it’s nice to be able to do this for them too.

The second interesting thing that happened to me this week involves my work in progress that I started this year.  If you read my blog posts, then you saw me mention it in some of my Write or Wrong posts. I thought I was off to a good start but quickly lost steam and didn’t know what to do with it or where to go.  My editor suggested that maybe my thoughts were tied up with this finished book and what was going on with the publisher and all.  And I can see that. I definitely feel different about all of this today than I did yesterday.  So maybe that was affecting me creatively.

My biggest conflict this week, now that I am back on track with the work in progress, is what to call it.  I’m stuck between two titles and not even sure about either one of them at this point.  What do you think?  The first working title is “Late for His Funeral.”  It has a double meaning which would be revealed in the story.  The second is “If You Need Me” which is not as mysterious but also has meaning.  Any thoughts on which you like best?

I’m kind of hoping that as I continue to write it a brand new title will reveal itself to me and I can stop tormenting myself over choosing between these two.  But for now the working title is still Late for His Funeral.

So, I’ll have a new book out this year and I’m working on another one! Yay me!  Oh!  And I almost forgot to mention that this new book is the sequel to my second book, Stealing Wishes.  It tells the story of Auden and how he returns to Memphis to try to reconnect with Blaine.  It’s called Feeling Himself Forgotten. You can learn about it here! More news about it to follow as it develops!