OK, folks, this is going to be a rather short post, but with a BIG announcement! Before we get to that, though, I should mention that the final editing process is going smoothly. So far, I am up to Chapter 20 of 42, almost halfway there!
The thing about fiction is you really never know what you’re going to get before the end. Distancing yourself from your draft helps you see things with fresh eyes, which is the goal every artist struggles to achieve: judging your work objectively when it’s so deeply personal. Too often, what you believe is a great story turns out to be a dud, which is why I always go into the final editing process with trepidation. Fortunately, I am very happy with the results so far. The themes are strong, the plot is gripping, the pacing flows fairly well, and most importantly, the characters are endearing. My only concern is with the length — for a YA novel, it’s a bit long at 170k words. The later Harry Potter books are well over 200k, but for a debut author who has yet to prove his market appeal? I fear agents/publishers will reject me out of hand or ask me to cut 50k from it, which I cannot do without seriously compromising the plot and character development. I admit there are moments I needed to cut, but I have also had to add words for clarity, reducing the overall length by only 1500 words. I guess I’ll have to wait and see what the judges in NYC have to say. Another option is to cut the story into two books, which I have no problem doing.
OK … it’s time for the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I originally planned to call it The Children of Aenya, a subtle homage to The Children of Dune. But given how we live in the age of the algorithm, and AI, I hesitated to go with this title, mainly because, despite my protests, Amazon continues to miscatecorize my books. The Feral Girl and Ages of Aenya tends to attract the wrong kind of readers, readers who aren’t all that interested in epic fantasy adventure, and the last thing I want is for people to assume that the children in my book are acting in ways inspired by Stephen King’s It. For the same reasons, I dropped the name Aenya—which was a painful decision, given how I’ve devoted close to half my life (25 years) to developing a fantasy world with that name. The second book in the series, The Princess of Aenya, was inspired by The Last Unicorn and The Neverending Story, yet Amazon directs this beautiful fairytale to customers looking for smut. I have even considered changing my name if it becomes necessary to combat the algorithm. But I am hoping the new title and Studio Ghibli-inspired cover art should (hopefully) get the message across. If not, I can always change it again, along with my name.
And the NEW title will be . . . (drum roll please)
THE STARGAZERS’ DAUGHTERS
Now, if you’re partial to The Magiq of Aenya, as I am, don’t dismay! From the start, this book was intended to be the first part of an ongoing series. And I realized that, just as Game of Thrones is the first book in A Song of Ice and Fire, my series needed a name. This is something I can keep on the down low until—fingers crossed—the stupid algorithm recognizes the the books of Aenya for the epic fantasy adventure that they are. When that happens, I will call the series, THE MAGIQ OF AENYA!
So that’s it, folks. The Stargazers’ Daughters is going to be part one of The Magiq of Aenya. This will be my life’s work until I die, because at 51 years old, I really don’t have time to plan much else. More importantly, I believe this is my best work. I believe this series will go down in history as one of the greats. I believe this series will end up on The Folio Society’s webpage, in a gold-leaf, leather-bound edition, selling for hundreds of dollars. It’s what, I feel, I was born to do, and I can’t wait for you guys to discover it, and love it, the way my readers have.
Next up: THE QUERY LETTER!!!
The Art of Storytelling 
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