Holy smokes this looks so cool!
@AudraBalionArt did up a custom stencil and then hand painted the edges of #CrownOfHorns.
It’s a little too time consuming to do en masse, but perhaps make a few and silent auction them at a signing event in support of charity. 
What do y’all think?
Thanks so much! The cover was done by my amazing partner @AudraBalionArt
Originally, it was going to be another illustration like the ones she had done for the book. But then she decided she wanted to go the extra mile and did a whole dang painting!
I have a book! And my first two local launch events are scheduled!
I am so excited to finally share my work. Ever since I was a little kid, I said, “I want to be an author when I grow up.” I made it happen.
The book will be released in the coming weeks. Dates to come soon as I finalize some details for print on demand. Until then, find out more here and join the mailing list to be informed when #CrownOfHorns releases!
https://audra.balion.ca/crown-of-horns/
#scribesandmakers Self Promo Day!
#WordWeavers 5 Most important thing about worldbuilding to you?
That it serves the story.
I have a baseline and I keep it flexible enough to change if it improves the story.
I had a beta reader for #CrownOfHorns tell me they usually avoid #fantasy because they often get so lost between places, people, history, and systems. They found my book very accessible, I think in part because I only shared as much of the world as I needed to execute the story. They were intrigued, not overwhelmed.
Working through my book launch checklist. Today was... webpage!
My partner, illustrator, and technically publisher, already has a site so it was just a matter of adding a page for #CrownOfHorns
https://audra.balion.ca/crown-of-horns/
Let me know what you think and if there's anything that stands out that should get fixed.
My partner working on the painting for the cover of #CrownOfHorns!
Starting by tracing one of her illustrations via projector.
Then artist magic happens.
Then I have a book cover!
Two years ago, @AudraBalionArt was working late one night to finish her graphic novel—one she had been working on for ten years!
I secretly ordered her an ice cream cake that night to celebrate its completion.
Today, she comes home with a cake for me to celebrate the completion of my novel #CrownOfHorns!
She wanted them to write “Down with fascism” on the cake, but after a weird look, she decided on a different reference from the book.
Thank you, sunshine!
#writingcommunity
I’m on page 300 of 416.
So… damn… close…
#amEditing #amWriting #CrownOfHorns
Awww man! Editing a chapter and I had to fix phrasing in three sentences. Otherwise... chef's kiss.
Hot damn that feels good!
I’m editing #CrownOfHorns right now while @AudraBalionArt works on illustrations for it next to me.
Me, making some off hand remark about a picture being 1000 words.
Audra: So how much of this book have I written, then?
Me: Well, if we say a picture per chapter, plus the cameo portraits, that’s 46,000 words. Compared to my 100k, you’ll have written almost a third of my book by the time you’re done!
I took my book from 45k words to over 100k. I talked to my partner about the additions and she was skeptical. She figured it was a solid, tight story—not without some issues but not needing a bunch of extra stuff.
She finished reading the revised version last night and gave her seal of approval! I realize she’s contractually obligated to be nice to me, but this is a key confirmation that I didn’t wreck the book.
Tonight… beta reader feedback!
#amWriting #writingcommunity #author #CrownOfHorns
AHH!! I'm done! #CrownOfHorns
Okay, not done done... but done this phase.
In August, I set about to complete "my final edits" for my book. What happened instead was a rethinking of key elements. I blew the book up from ~250 pages to over 400!
I have finished this round of edits and extensions. Now I need to get it in front of readers again. But I did it!
I'm really proud of this milestone.
(Concept for cover below.)
When my drive to finish my book had been rekindled this spring, I had just under 50k words. It was an edit of the first draft that I had done the year before.
This year I committed to working it to completion and that included a lot of edits and additions.
Today I officially surpassed 100k words. What a wild milestone that I never imagined I would hit.
Earlier this year, a friend of mine read my book and inspired me to get back into it and work it to completion. She suggested I aim for a 300-page novel. I was sitting at ~200. It was a stretch goal that I would only aspire to if I felt I could add enough worthwhile content.
Today I crossed that threshold and sit at 320 pages, 80k words (double the word count of the first draft from 2020!)
I’m very excited.
Which brings me to today. Up to 65k words, recorded an audio version, and I’m bribing beta readers so I can get more feedback.
I’d kinda like to make a go at #publishing at some point. Even if just a small self-published run.
If the idea of my book is interesting to you, or the story of how I got here, let me know. Or, even better, if it isn’t, tell me so I don’t waste a bunch of money trying to get it in front of people! 
That’s all. Have a great day!
7/7
#CrownOfHorns #writing #author
I put the project aside again. Three years later, I decided I should edit my work.
10 days! And I did a round of revisions on the whole thing. Big improvements to the beginning and the ending especially.
In all of this time I only had one reader: my partner.
That was okay. This project was more about me getting a creative outlet than anything.
Things changed a few months ago when I finally got another reader. Her encouragement spurred me onward.
My story was a fantastical political thriller, following three characters through the rise of an authoritarian regime and the fight against it.
A war-torn nation, whose racial prejudices are based on the shape of others’ horns, seeks to unite under a banner of peace. At first, we might feel empathy for the one who bears his banner and root for her. But as time goes on, we are drawn behind the curtain. There are no benevolent dictators.
5/x
It wouldn’t be until 2020 that I picked it back up in earnest. The pandemic meant that the big trip my partner and I planned for our 10th anniversary was cancelled.
So I took that time off and I wrote. I wrote the entire novel, 45k words, in 10 days.
It was wild, exhausting, and exhilarating.
The backdrop to my writing was similar to its conception. Protests and police brutality: the BLM movement.
History repeats.
I created characters and a history, she illustrated them, and I put together an outline.
I wrote out a few chapters—just sketches really—to help capture some of the key scenes.
Then the project faded. I cycle through things like this a lot. Intense obsessions which later fall by the wayside. It’d be almost 10 years before an #adhd diagnosis helped me make sense of it, but thankfully I had found ways make my peace with my creative cycles earlier.
3/x
#writing #author #book #CrownOfHorns
My first ideas for the book came about around 2014. The Euromaidan Uprising was happening in Ukraine and I was following the news intently. My partner is a 3rd-gen Ukrainian making the situation very meaningful to her.
The images coming out of the protests and the brutality that resulted haunted me.
One of the regions in her world drew a lot of inspiration from Ukraine. She even named cities after her family. I worked with her to make this the setting for my book.
2/x
#CrownOfHorns #writing
