How I’m Doing on The Quest for Home– 4

Over the past 25 years, I drafted five books but never published any. When my kids became adults and my job moved home, I had time to finish them. This one–The Quest for Home–is the final of those five:

Driven from her home. Stalked by enemies. Now her closest ally may be a traitor.

Based on a true story, this is the unforgettable saga of hardship and determination, conflict and passion as early man makes his way out of Africa and across Eurasia, fleeing those who would kill him. He must be bigger-than-life, prepared time and again to do the impossible because nothing less than the future of mankind is at stake.

With a planned publication of Fall 2019, here’s how I’m doing:

• I’ve had a month of tech problems. I lost my Surface Pro in South Korea while traveling with my kids. Then, came home and my desktop was dead. I borrowed my husband’s laptop which worked well but slowly (one screen instead of two; none of my bookmarks, the hated trackpad instead of a mouse). I think life is finally back to normal but we’ll see.
• I have several efriends who have offered to be beta readers for The Quest for Home. I can’t tell you how much this means to me. It’s a job I never offer to do for others because I am not good at, so I have no real way to repay their efforts. But I’m thrilled to accept.
• I’d be happy to offer an ARC copy of this book in return for a few early comments? That would be in August/September. Any takers–I’m at askatechteacher@gmail.com!
• I’m ordering the cover this month. Soon. And I can’t wait.
• I haven’t yet started on Deborah Jay’s wonderful list of 10 things to pay attention to in a series. That will probably be one of the last editing bits I do.
• Still editing… Sigh… I’m still on piecemeal editing, where I search for repeated words and phrases, cliches, repeated unusual words, word frequency, grammar, passive voice, filler words, weak adverbs, and more. This lets me zoom in on phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to fix problems. I’ll know when I’m done because I’ll stop wincing every time a edit a paragraph. Next, I’ll reread the entire book for flow, pacing, and readability. I expect hope to start that by August.
• As I edit, I’m taking note of all the plot threads that I have to resolve in Book 3 of the trilogy, In the Footsteps of Giants. Unlike one-and-done novels (books not part of a trilogy), I don’t have to tie up all the loose ends in this book.

Something I noticed: When I look at the “Customers who bought this book also bought…” slider on Amazon, I’m thrilled that both books in the Man vs. Nature saga (that would be Born in a Treacherous Time and Survival of the Fittest) are always the first in each other’s list. Isn’t that what we hope for in a series? Do you check that, too?

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Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy, the Rowe-Delamagente thrillers, and the Man vs. Nature saga. She is also the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, blog webmaster, an Amazon Vine Voice,  a columnist for TeachHUB and NEA Today, and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. Look for her next prehistoric fiction, The Quest for Home, Fall 2019. You can find her tech ed books at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning