True North Issue 5 October 2023: Keeper Of Secrets
My monthly newsletter where we talk all things bookish and everything in-between
Pour lire ce numéro en français, cliquez ici.
Hi book friends!
I went on a book haul this month and boy did it feel good! I had been holding back for the past couple months because of my ever-growing TBR, but I just couldn’t resist this time. I treated myself and I don’t even regret it one bit😉.
I’ve learned a lot of interesting stuff and I even came across some serious deals like a brand new hardcover for $8 CAD. Exactly, I couldn’t simply not buy it.
I went heavy on non-fiction this time because I barely own any and my business needs it. As for fiction, I pre-ordered a handful of collector’s editions with beautiful stencilled edges which I will reveal to you as they come in the mail in the next few months. I love those editions because they’re absolutely stunning in a bookshelf. At the same time, it gives me some ideas for special editions of my own I would like to launch on Kickstarter and hopefully my own store soon.
Remember when I said I would read Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, another BookTok sensation? Well consider it done. And. I. Loved. It.
I highly recommend this book for any Romance or Fantasy lover. It’s definitely a page-turner, and leans heavier on the Fantasy side, so be warned ! It’s also the first book in a 5-book series, and I’m excited to say that book 2 titled Iron Flame will be released this coming November. You can already guess what I’ll be reading then.
Promised Land Rewrite Update
I decided to go back to the basics and learn more about crafting stories, hence the stack of non-fiction books you saw earlier. I have now gained a new perspective that drove me to rethink the entire structure of the book.
Don’t worry! I’m not deleting 145k words of work just yet. However, the book needs a major overhaul to make sure I don’t leave out any loose ends, while keeping its main focus. I have learned so much about the craft in the last 8 years and I try to make every book better than the last. Of course, since it’s a trilogy, any misstep comes back at you in the last book, ready to suck the life out of you.
I had a grand vision for this series: many characters, many subplots, everyone having their own agenda, you name it. It does get pretty hard to juggle with all those competing subplots without losing focus and momentum. The book will take more time to be completed, but I think it’s for the better, not worse.
I think the need to go back to the basics really struck me as I was editing the new dual POV of book 3. I realized I needed to dig deeper to really capture this character’s story and do them justice. (Yes I’m using gender-neutral so you can’t guess who it is haha!).
However, the French edition of the book is still planned to come out in 2024. As for the English edition, well North Star is next in line and ready to go. If you haven’t heard much about North Star, it’s simply because I need to update my author platform, my store and prepare the Kickstarter Launch for 2024. It’s a lot of work since I’m revising my entire launch process, which I must admit, I hadn’t focus on. Instead, I mainly experimented in the last couple of years without having a clear plan in mind. Living abroad where I couldn't even order my own books made it uber difficult to manage a book launch. And then there was the distance.
I feel like 2023 was mostly playing catch-up on everything I had missed in the past 6 years, but I’m slowly getting there, which means I now have a much better understanding of how to do business, I have a new writing & editing approach to crafting books to test out, and I have a new plan for launching my books.
I can’t stress enough just how much work all of this is. It simply isn’t just do it and forget about it. I constantly need to iterate until I find the right combination that works for my brand. One of the things I am most proud of this year, is using Substack to share my newsletter and bonus content.
I’m sure that the wait and effort will be worth it for the other aspects of my business as well. 😄
Swimming Lessons & All Things Rollerblading
I’ve finally made the plunge and started my swimming lessons (pun intended!). I can’t tell you how weird and challenging it was for me to stick my face in the water, breathe out through the nose, not bend my legs, kick my feet super fast, keep my chin down (and cross my toes for good measure 🤞🍀), all at the same time, so I wouldn’t drown in my first class!
My brain literally overloaded. 🤯
Obviously, there was this guy who could actually swim and who was showing off in our class. I will never understand people who enrol in a beginners’ class, while they are clearly not beginners. Not only is it a waste of their time, but it adds some kind of peer pressure that is anything but helpful.
Anyhow! The second class was canceled, so I really hope I can get more practice soon before I forget everything!
As for rollerblading, I still go for a ride once or twice a week. I’m glad I’ve picked up speed, balance and stamina. My footwork is becoming more stable and I feel more confident as well. And surprise! I went on my first ever fall-free ride. I managed to stay on my feet without breaking my neck for once. Slow, but steady progress wins at the end of the day. 🐢
Keeper of Secrets - The Ark-Hives Report 001 - Bonus Content
I finally wrapped my head around the format I want to use for the monthly bonus content. 🥳🎉
I wanted to keep the Amaranthverse alive in-between releases and I think our private investigator V.J. is doing a pretty good job at it. My goal at the moment is to release a new report every 2 weeks. Expect to learn more about the nooks and crannies of the Ark through 2023 and 2024.
I’m actually enjoying this process a lot and I can’t wait to see what this will look like in a year from now, because this universe is vast. Hopefully, this will also give you something to read until the next book release.
For those of you who will be following V.J., there will be a common thread from report to report as they discover some lurking secrets of the Ark. Keep an eye out for any clues. If you read the books, it’s going to help a lot!
For this first series of reports, I’m mostly focussing on the content from Flower of Memory, and I will do so for quite a while. A lot of you have read the ebook already, so it makes it easier and more accessible to all my readers. Eventually, the bonus content will dig into book 1, then book 2, etc.
If there are any aspects of the series you would like to know more about, you can leave a comment here or send me an email. I’ll pass on the message to V.J. to see if they can look into that. 🥸
*You can expect the monthly bonus content to be exclusively available to paid subscribers around 2-4 weeks after the end of the month. This may change in the future as I have more content on Substack.
What’s Next?
My main focus for October will be to attend the literary events coming up. There will be CanCon in Ottawa and Congrès Boréal in Montreal. I’ve been busy preparing some marketing materials, mostly brochures and business cards to promote my business and my books. I’m pretty happy with how it came back from the printer. My hope is to expand my network of readers and authors as much as I can in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, I will be continuing the major rewrite of Promised Land with the new approach I am now using to write fiction. So far, it’s going well. I am digging into my characters’ past to see what I’ve missed and I find nuggets here and there that will probably make it into the book. Mostly, I’m at a stage where I need to update my old character sheets. A lot of decisions were made while writing the series which are not reflected in my story bible. It’s high time I updated everything. I’m hoping I can get back to rewriting the first part of the book by the end of the month if time allows.
NaNoWriMo 2023 is coming up fast and though I skipped it last year, I’d like to do something this year. I think it’ll be a great opportunity to prioritize the rewrite of Promised Land, which means I should be able to write/rewrite/edit at least 50,000 words in November. If it were just me, I’d prefer to aim for 50% of the book, so we’re looking at a word count closer to 75,000 words. I don’t want to make promises, but I’d love it if I could finish this new draft by Christmas. I might be getting ahead of myself but I always like a good challenge!
Thank you for supporting me and my work. Please share this blog with your friends who might be interested so we can grow our community.
Happy reading!
Dave Dufour a.k.a David M. Snow
It’s already the end of the Monthly Issue of True North. Here are a few things you don’t want to miss:
Download your free digital copy of Flower of Memory, the prequel novella to the Amaranth series, a sci-fi dystopian story with a touch of fantasy, for a limited time. Ideal for fans of Hugh Howey’s Silo and The Last of Us.
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