After sitting outside to work on Maire’s edit while the Kid took his four-hour post-grandma nap, I got a very dense headache. I know grass pollen, which I’m highly allergic to, is bad today, but the air quality was *awful*! Shower made everything feel better with no drugs.
Kid-free = productive.
The Kid is spending the day and night at his grandma’s, and so far I’ve been to Target, cleaned the bathrooms, vacuumed, did the dishes, two loads of laundry, ate lunch, and finished *four* chapters. I’m about to take a shower and get cleaned up, because when Mike get home we’re going to *dinner* – yes, I said dinner. Last time that happened was in April of 2009. And, no, I’m not kidding. I wish I had a babysitter I could trust, but honestly all the parents I know use their own parents. That works awesomely; I just wish I was the kind of person who didn’t mind exploiting it ;)
Brain dead.
After working all weekend getting my entry ready for the contest, my mind is too mushy to actually edit today, so I’m formatting instead. At least it’s something.
Phew.
Rewriting chapter one for the contest. It needed to be done anyway, but it’s been TOUGH. Reads better, though.
Two thousand words down, and it’s SO much better. Editing does have its perks, especially on a Sunday when there are a thousand other things I’d rather be doing ;)
The good thing about contests?
It’s not only that they put you in direct contact with agents and provide invaluable feedback. It’s that they force you to micro-focus on one specific part of your novel, and that part usually ends up so much stronger.
Case in point? I *love* my new prologue!
Well, now. I didn’t expect *that*.
This whole e-publishing idea has me actually feeling excited about my book again. I’m quickly moving through the current edit for grammar/typos, and as soon as that’s done it’s going to Maire.
I’m also getting editorial help on two small pieces that are giving me trouble. When that’s finished I’ll give it one last read through, then get it set up and ready. I’ve found the image I want to use as my cover art, so all I have to do is design the cover and settle on a title (99.9% there).
I might – MIGHT – edit my previous book, too, and put that up once this one’s done. I love the book, and if I can take out about half of it (that I put in as padding to make the word count higher…not knowing any better at the time), I think it has the potential to be a really solid romance. The other two books of that trilogy are outlined, too, so who knows? We’ll see what happens.
And I keep wondering if I’m going to continue on in the romance genre, or really go crazy and do something more in the vein of where I started as a writer. Not knowing is wonderful! :)
Why it’s good to have literary friends.
Maire and I have agreed to exchange manuscripts so that each has a fresh pair of eyes to check specifically for typos and grammar errors. After she gets done with my novel I’ll go back over it one last time just to make *absolutely* sure everything flows. Then (unless I’ve heard back from any agents) it’ll go up as an e-book.
It looks like from start to finish this entire thing will have taken a year to complete, but I’ve learned a LOT, so that’s all that matters.
