Love Bytes says hello and welcome to Cooper West, joining us today to talk about the re release of “Mixed Signals”.
Welcome Cooper 🙂
A Tale of Two Editions
By Cooper West
The release of my book Mixed Signals represents a story over five years in the making! Do I mean it took five years to write it? Ah…no. No, not quite! Since people are asking what exactly what I mean by that, and why this is release is a “second edition,” I thought I’d share that story here with the fabulous Love Bytes readers!
So, this release? Is not the first one out of the gate for this story. I almost hate saying that, because the novella that was released years ago was not great. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t terrible. It was just mostly a set up for a story I did not tell fully, the way it was supposed to be told.
I think every author has a story like that under their belt: one they sent out into the world unpolished, or unfinished, or just half-assed. We always regret it. We always cringe when someone justly criticizes it, because we know in our hearts that they are 100% correct. We always think, “if only I could grab it back and redo it!”
Thanks to the wonderful team at Dreamspinner Press, I got that chance, and boy-howdy did I grab it!
The book now is over 230 pages long, where the novella barely hit about 50 if I remember correctly. Oh yeah, I grabbed that plot, shook it up, and rebuilt it from the ground up.
What does it take to completely rewrite a story, make it so much longer, and more importantly: why?
A while back I clued my newsletter subscribers into a few of the reasons why the original novella was so choppy, which mostly revolved around me trying to finish my graduate school program while scraping by with a part time job and also coming down with whooping cough (I do not recommend that, it was horrible). Altogether that was a perfect storm of things that made my writing falter, and in the end, I just wanted to get something published so I could move on.
But I’m going to let you in on another aspect I haven’t talked about much, anywhere: my insecurities as an author.
I’m one of those writers who loves the act of writing. If I could, I’d just write and nothing else. But a primary reason for that is the minute I sit down to review anything I’ve previously written, my brain cramps up with fears about how terrible a writer I am. Back in my early days as a professional author, this meant that I would railroad over myself in my attempt to just move on: “Of course the story sucks! I SUCK! I’M TERRIBLE AT THIS! Just kick it out the door!!!”
Which, maybe you don’t know, is a rather self-defeating mindset that leads to exactly the result the fear is based on. I put out a sub-par book because I was terrified of putting out a sub-par books. Oh, the irony.
Sure, there was a confluence of events that led to my impatience with the original version of this book, but that right there? That insecurity? That was the engine running the bus.
Running that bus at full speed and not putting the brakes on meant that my worst fears were realized, and the story that got published was far, far from the story it should have been. Mind you, I did have beta readers and editors suggesting that maybe it could be extended? A little? Fleshed out a bit? To which I was flying by at 100 mph in order to escape that fear.
Fast forward to a year ago, when I realized I had to do something about Mixed Signals. Why? Because I opened the original text file and looked it over and just…just started writing. I started writing and did not stop until I was two-thirds of the way into a novel.
I don’t know what inspired me other than a driving need to tell the story I really wanted to tell. But there I was with a completely revised story and nothing to do with it. I reached out to Dreamspinner Press in the hope that they would want a rewrite, but ready to argue to get the rights back to self-publish if I had to. I don’t know why they accepted the offer, but I am forever grateful to Elizabeth and the whole team there!
So what really is the difference, now? First off, the rushed ending is no more. Second off, there is a lot more, shall we say, courting between the characters (the heat level is, I guess, fairly warm because I tend to focus more on the slow-burn and UST than I probably should, oh dear). Third, there is a lot more to the overall plot and especially the back stories of the characters.
Will I ever be totally happy with this story? Ha. Ha. No. Never, because no author is ever totally happy with any of their stories. That’s just how we roll! But I do love the book, I think it is leagues better than what it used to be, and I love the leads — Frank and Benjamin are a bit of a mismatch from the start, but that’s what makes it so fun as they spin each other around in confusion and, yes, mixed signals! I hope you enjoy it!
Title: Mixed Signals (2 Ed.)
Author: Cooper West
Blurb:
Devastatingly handsome pilot Frank Sheldon is doing his best to avoid his inheritance of money, charm, and good looks by rebuilding his life on his own terms after being discharged from the Air Force just before the repeal of DADT. When he unexpectedly meets the eccentric geek Benjamin Kaplan, sparks don’t quite fly, despite Benjamin’s obvious interest. Frank is not one to back down from a challenge, but what does any of that have to do with his sister’s campaign for governor, or the muckraking political website attacking her opponent, who just happens to be Frank’s unlamented, very closeted, ex-boyfriend? It’s hard to fall in love when all you are getting is mixed signals!
Busting out of the fanfiction scene in 2012 with the publication of her first original full-length book, Dawn in the Orchard, Cooper West writes stories that capture the heart and imagination. She is now known for her bestselling book The Protector, set in her unique Guardsman’verse of weredogs and bonded pairs, and plans to continue to release more books in that series but also enjoys writing modern, quirky contemporary romance stories. She’s still a fangirl at heart, with an everlasting crush on Chris Evans and an ever-rotating list of OTPs. Bisexual and raised in a queer household, Cooper has been writing “slash” since she was a teenager and did not understand much about biology. She’s learned a lot since then! *wink wink nudge nudge*
- Website: https://cooper-west.com/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/cooper_west
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