Remember back in December, when I announced that I’d delivered my manuscript for A Pixie’s Promise to Dreaming Robot Press? Well, I have a plot twist, literally.

The fine folks at Dreaming Robot Press got back to me about three weeks later. In the interest of brevity, I’ve created this condensed version of our discussion, which actually took place over the course of several weeks:

DRP: So, we like a lot of things in A Pixie’s Promise, but we think it should be two books.

Me: Uhh, what?

DRP: No, really, the first half is one story, and the second half is a different but related story, and its protagonist should really be Sagara.

Me: Dang. Yeah, okay, I can see that now. Yup, you’re right. (I am totally downplaying the massive case of heebie jeebies I had to overcome before I could get my brain around the idea.)

DRP: Problem is, neither half is long enough to be a book, so can you write two more halves to go with them?

Me: GAH. Um, let me think about that. (Two weeks later…) Yeah, I can do that. Kinda disappointed, though. I was gonna write Max’s book next. (Plot synopsis redacted due to spoilers.)

DRP: ZOMG, we want Max’s book, too!!!

Me: Hrm. Okay. Three book contract, then?

And then the contract negotiations began. I still do not have an agent, and there was no time to find one. I looked into hiring an intellectual property attorney, but they are EXPENSIVE. Finally, I posted to a few mailing lists, and several people suggested the Author’s Guild. It turns out that if you join the Author’s Guild, you get free legal assistance, including contract reviews.

Hooray for the Author’s Guild. Within a day of my request, they gave me a very comprehensive review of the contract with excellent suggestions, most of which DRP found reasonable. Finally, this week, we finalized and signed the contract. And that’s what’s been eating my life and keeping me off social media for the past couple of months.

The three books, all sequels to A Witch’s Kitchen, are:

A Pixie’s Promise – told from Petunia’s point of view
An Elf’s Equations – told from Sagara’s point of view
A Wizard’s Wish – told from Max’s point of view, and not loving the title, so it’s likely to change

Due to the massive changes, which I am diligently working on (or was until I took a break to write up this blog), A Pixie’s Promise will not be released until September. Here’s a rough schedule of all the books and when they will come out. Realize that everything after Pixie is subject to change.

So I’ll be producing three novels in two years. Yowza! But that’s good news for all of you. You’ll be getting lots more Millie, Petunia, Max, and Sagara than I’d originally planned. And after that, who knows? Perhaps a book for Thea? We shall see…