End of November progress report

November was a month of ups and downs for me. Like I mentioned in my last post, it’s always a hectic month with my birthday and the holidays, and this year I knew it was going to be even more crazy because I was having a friend come and stay with me for several days right before Thanksgiving.

What I didn’t bargain for was an unexpected stress: my oldest dog becoming suddenly ill and ultimately passing away a week ago, on the 21st (the first day my friend was here, too—because it wasn’t hectic enough). Because of the suddenness of her illness and the uncertainty around it (we ran dozens of tests and ultimately there didn’t seem to be anything pinpointably wrong with her, which meant we spent weeks wondering if she just had some kind of infection that she would recover from, or if it was something worse—even at the end, the vet’s best guess was that it was just old age and end-of-life shutdown, because they could not find anything wrong with her), I spent the time that I would have liked to have spent on writing taking care of her, worrying about her, and then, finally, grieving for her. 🙁

So. November was a bust, writing-wise. Fortunately, my current projects are flexible enough that I think I have some leeway to get them done in December. Regardless, don’t worry—the Fourth World tie-in short will definitely be ready by the book’s release date!

Speaking of Fourth World, I may not have gotten a lot of writing done this month, but I did a lot of back-end stuff getting the book prepped for its release! I’ve scheduled a blog tour, an interview (where I’ll be discussing asexuality in YA fiction), and more fun events to tie in to the release next month. And if you’re interested in some signed swag, you’re in luck—I’m working on a way for you to get signed copies of my books, goodies and more, and this will also be ready to go in time for the release of Fourth World! And, finally: if you’ve been waiting on an ARC, you won’t have to wait much longer! They should be ready to go by the first of the month, so if you’d like a copy, just fill out this form and I’ll send one your way. (These will also be available on NetGalley at some point soon, so if that’s your preferred method of getting review copies, hang in there!)

Incidentally, advance reviews are already coming in—Brenda J. Pierson, who was kind enough to offer me some editorial feedback on the book, had this to say about it:

Fourth World is a gem. Exciting and interesting while covering the span of archaeology, time travel, government conspiracies, overcoming diversity, individualism, and friendships that defy odds. Chiavari paints us a vivid colonized Mars with such beauty it’s effortless to believe.

I may or may not have squealed with joy at this. ;3

So, all in all, November was not exactly the greatest month, but I’m looking forward to what December has in store! More soon. 🙂