Gary D. McGugan

It’s been over three months since my last blog communication. Apologies, faithful followers! It won’t happen again. But here’s where we are with preparation for Novel Number 2.

I always try to craft a good story that readers will enjoy. My methods may differ from other authors because I actively seek and welcome input. During August, I asked two professional editors to meticulously review the latest manuscript of my second novel and suggest ways to improve the final product. I also asked six readers whose judgment I value – male and female, young and not so young – to swear confidentiality and read the manuscript. From them too, I encouraged feedback and critical input.

Despite my best efforts to provide these people a clean, well-written, and error-free manuscript, they’ve managed to identify lots of little issues that I, Word spellcheck, and Grammarly all missed. They also offered some good suggestions about ways to thicken the plot or improve the storyline. Some wondered if I went a little heavy on sex. Others simply loved the story without changing a thing. I take all feedback very seriously, so for the next few weeks I was busy touching up typos, spelling, and grammar. Then, I read every word from cover to cover again – six times in all -- considering each suggestion for improvement. With each reading I re-wrote or tweaked passages to incorporate ideas I decided work well for this novel.

Since November, I’ve been negotiating with publishers. I’ll be changing publishers for this book because I’m determined to work with one who will offer more competitive pricing. Within a few days, I’ll make an announcement. In the meantime, I value your support to boost sales of Three Weeks Less a Day. Reviews are especially useful. It seems with almost every new review on Amazon, GoodReads, Indigo, or any of the online book retailers we see a few more sales. If you can make a few moments to post a review, I’ll be grateful.
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Please also share this post with your friends so they can keep pace with progress on the coming story. And be sure to let them know they’ll find the new novel even more enjoyable if they’ve read Three Weeks Less a Day. I can tell you some of the characters you enjoyed in that story will play even more exciting roles in the story to come!