To give you guys an idea of what I’m talking about, here are the opening paragraphs for both the new and old versions of Quiver. (A caveat: The formatting is probably going to be wonky. For some reason, WordPress doesn’t like me posting in info from other programs, like Word. Ah, well): 

NEW VERSION

 I never set out to be an outlaw.

As Gwendolyn Frost, my days and nights were filled with the duties and responsibilities of any young duchess of my wealth and station.

I never meant to become a vigilante, a ruffian, a fiend. Cheered by some, cursed by others, hunted by many. I never meant to rescue a hero, take down a tyrant, save a kingdom.

It just sort of . . . happened.

And it all started, innocently enough, deep in the forest with a simple bow and a quiver full of arrows . . .

OLD VERSION“You’re going to miss.”

The gruff voice sounded close to my left ear. Footsteps smacked on the cobblestones behind me, and a body leaned forward, brushing against my own.

“And miss badly,” the flat tone continued in my right ear.

I blocked out the voice. Blocked out the constant scuff of footsteps circling around me, the gloomy words of doom, the warm breath tickling my ears and nose with its sharp flavor of liver and onions. I blocked it all out until there was nothing left but the smooth bow in my hands and the small red smear of the target in the distance.

I lifted the bow to my shoulder, notched the arrow, and drew back the string with one fluid movement. A comforting motion, as familiar to me as a waltz or reel might be to any other young lady of my station.

“You’re going to miss,” the voice repeated, but it was a mere murmur now, a buzzing bee in the background of my mind.

My green eyes narrowed as I studied the target, using the faint cool spark of magic that I possessed to pull it into focus, until the red smear filled my vision with crystal clarity. A breeze gusted through the stone courtyard, barely a whisper against my cheek, but I adjusted my aim accordingly. My fingers rested on the bowstring the way a musician’s might on a cherished violin.

“You’re going to miss—”

I let go.

The arrow sliced through the air, a flashing silver blur, before hitting the target a hundred yards in front of me. Dead center.

So what do you think? Good, bad, indifferent? Craptastic all the way around? Share in the comments.

So there’s a little more than a year to go to the February 2010 release of the first Assassin book (the wait is killing me too!). A lot of people wonder why it takes soooo loooong for books to be published, so I thought I’d share a rough timeline of the major events that have happened since I first got the idea for the book until you guys can go to the store and buy it next year. Here goes:

Sometime around 2003 and 2004 (I think): I have an idea to write an epic fantasy novel about an assassin. I start writing said book, realize it’s crap, and start again. I start two or three more drafts, none of which are very good. Eventually, I put the idea aside to work on other stuff.

October 2007: I’ve finished everything I need to do on Hot Mama (the second Bigtime book) and have a break in my writing schedule. I’m itching to write a new series, and I remember that half-finished, craptastic, epic assassin fantasy I started. I decide to change it to a modern-day setting and make it an urban fantasy. I send that proposal and several others to my agent. She thinks the Assassin proposal is the best and suggests that I focus on that one (which is good because that’s the one I really wanted to write).

December 2007: I finish the first Assassin book and send it to my agent to read.

December-April 2008: The agent reads Assassin and suggests some revisions, which I do. We go back and forth a couple of times with suggestions/revisions/etc. Other people also read the book and offer feedback.

May 2008: The agent sends Assassin to an editor. I try to work on other things while I wait for news (waiting is definitely the hardest part of this whole process for me).

June 2008: The editor gets back to my agent and says that she loves the first half of Assassin, but thinks that the back half needs to be totally scrapped, which is a major, major revision. The editor calls me, and we talk about the book and the series. Her suggestions are spot-on and help me look at the book/series in a whole new way. Basically, I throw away the last 50,000 words of the book and take the story in a completely different direction.

This is really the major turning point of this whole process. Without this conversation, I doubt the book would have turned out as well as it did. But more important than that, the editor’s suggestions made me focus on what I do well and made writing fun again. Her ideas made the book into a fun, sexy, action-adventure Jennifer Estep book, instead of me trying to write a more angsty-type of book (which I don’t do very well).

Mid-July 2008: I finish the revisions. My agent reads and loves the revisions and sends the book back to the editor. I start writing the second Assassin book to keep myself from obsessing (too much).

August-September 2008: The editor who suggested the revisions loves the new take on the book and makes an offer for three books. My agent also gets another offer on the Assassin series. At this point, there are lots of e-mails and phone calls going back and forth between me and my agent, and my agent and the interested editors discussing the various deal points, etc.

September 2008: We go with the first editor who suggested the revisions.

November 2008: My editor tells me that there will be three Assassin books out in 2010 — February, June, and October. Which I think is pretty cool since the first book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger.

Coming up in 2009: I’ll get cover art at some point, do a final round of revisions, do copy edits, and read through the page proofs for Assassin. In late December/early January, some reviews will start coming in. And then in February 2010 — about seven years after I first had the idea — you guys can actually read the book.

So that’s a brief recap of the history of the Assassin series. So yeah, it’s a long wait, but I really think it will be worth it. I guess we’ll find out this time next year! 😎

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while now, but I’ve been updating the Web site a bit. One of the things that I’ve done is post the first chapter of the Assassin book online. You can read it here.

Warning: The Assassin book is an urban fantasy, and it’s a lot darker and grittier than my Bigtime series. There’s lots of violence and swearing. My main character is an assassin, after all, and she does kill people. (She wouldn’t be much of an assassin if she didn’t kill people, now would she?).

But if you’re looking for a strong, sassy female character in an action-packed story, you’re in the right place. Happy reading! :ww:

I had a happy new year’s post, but it looks my computer has eaten it. So anyway, hope you guys had a great start to the new year. Mine involved football, napping, and working on Assassin 3, so it was all good. 😎

So it’s also time to write down my annual resolutions and goals for 2009. Here goes:

WRITING GOALS

1) Finish writing Assassin 3.

2) Write rough drafts of Assassin 4 and 5.

3) Revise Spy and Spy 2.

4) Write my urban fantasy western idea that I’ve been thinking about for a while now.

5) Pick one of my young adult ideas and write the darn book.

6) Write a heist book (think the new series Leverage on TNT, which I totally love).

READING GOALS

1) Read 75 books this year.

2) Catch up on all the series that I’ve fallen behind in (like Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files).

3) Read buzzy new releases in a more timely fashion so I know what the heck people are talking about.

PROFESSIONAL GOALS

1) Sell more books

2) Sell books in a new series or in a new genre (like young adult)

3) Network and promote more (even though my next book won’t come out until 2010).

PERSONAL GOALS

1) Make more time for my friends and family.

2) Relax and take things in stride.

3) Stop being so scheduled and regimented.

4) Have more fun.

5) Try new things.

Can you tell that I like goals? 😉

I doubt I’ll keep all of these, but they give me something to shoot for. And admittedly, some of them are completely out of my control, like selling more books. Don’t know if that will happen or not, given the craptastic economy. Editors are being very selective these days. But I’m going to keep writing the best books I can. So we’ll see what happens.

What are some of your goals for 2009? Share in the comments. :ww:

You know that major good news I teased you guys about earlier this week? Well, I’ve finally gotten the greenlight to announce that … drumroll please … the Assassin series has sold! Huzzah! 😎

My wonderful agent has brokered a three-book deal with Pocket (which is part of Simon & Schuster). The first book is tentatively titled Gin on the Rocks and will (hopefully) come out in fall 2009. The books will debut in trade paperback, then get re-released in mass market.

At this point, a lot of stuff is still up in the air. I’m not sure if we’re calling it the Elemental Assassin series, the Gin Blanco series, or just the Assassin series. The title might change too, and I’ll let you guys know when I get a specific release date.

The books will be a little different from my Bigtime series. The Assassin books are urban fantasy, instead of paranormal romance, and follow one character. Since the books are UF, they are quite a bit darker and grittier than the Bigtime books. Lots of people die in some fairly gruesome ways, and the language is much harsher. But at their heart, the Assassin books are still fun, sexy, action-packed fantasies.

The main character/narrator is Gin Blanco, who runs a barbecue restaurant by day and assassinates people by night. Gin is an elemental who has the magical ability to create, control, and manipulate ice and stone (the other two elements are fire and air). There are also vampires and giants and dwarves galore, and the book is set in the fictional southern metropolis of Ashland.

Anyway, much more to come. Right now, it’s happy dance time! :ww: