The trailer is here, and the site is live...

Well, here we go.

It's the start of... oh, what is it the start of? Time will tell, I suppose. It's partly up to me and partly out of my hands, like everything else.

But it's an exciting day for me. The trailer is now available at the brand-new GraceandWitherbloom.com and you can find it on YouTube here.

I thought a lot about the trailer. I knew I wanted to do one for a long time. I think I decided to do it about halfway through writing the book. But the contents of what it would be changed a lot in my head. I wanted something fairly straightforward that also gave a real taste of the "feel" of the book. Some were probably a bit too ambitious and above my means currently and some just felt too much like a boring advertisement. So what I settled on was presenting the speech that opens the first book, The Girl Who Died Backwards.

(Oh yes, I forgot to mention... the first title and synopsis is up! You can read it on the website if you haven't already.)

But I digress. Once I decided on that speech it just felt right. I found some really wonderful music from composer Kevin Macleod that felt absolutely perfect, as though it had been written for Grace & Witherbloom. I put together the words with the music, with myself providing the dramatic reading. Maybe I was up too late, but while recording it I thought it didn't sound too bad and maybe I could use it as-is for the trailer. It would certainly be easier than going out to find someone to record the lines.

I woke up the next day and listened to what I had recorded, and realized I might have gone temporarily insane the night before. Just to confirm, I had my partner and my best friend Laura listen to it. Laura laughed out loud about 10 seconds into it. Everyone should have a friend like Laura. She saves you from doing some really stupid things. She and Paul both agreed that, while it was nicely dramatic, it had one flaw. My terrible, terrible British accent. Now, I was under no illusion that I was able to mimic a British accent well. But I thought it wasn't terrible. I was very, very wrong. I am no Gwyneth Paltrow.

This realization firm in my mind, I then reached out to various message boards I was a member of for a suitable reader. A volunteer stepped up. His name is David Nagel. His website describes him as a "spiffingly nice guy" and I certainly can't disput that. He went through about seven takes, patiently listening to my feedback and doing a great job in the process.

We are only ten days away from the launch of The Girl Who Died Backwards! It's almost impossible for me to comprehend that all the time working on the book is now going to see an actual result. As I said, it's impossible for me to gauge what sort of reaction the books will get. But to me it's going to be an accomplishment just getting them out in front of people.