Insecure Writer's Support Group

It's the first Wednesday of the month which means it's time for IWSG

Co-hosts this week are  Julie Flanders, Murees Dupé, Dolorah at Book Lover, Christine Rains, and Heather Gardner

I can't even believe that we've reached September already. I feel like just yesterday it was June. This summer just sped past.

I'm feeling really good, right now. Which is good, because I was pretty stressed the last month or two. But I did a crap ton of revisions on my WIP and I think it came out a lot stronger.
It still needs work, of course, but at least now it has a leg to stand on.

Of course, I haven't even finished the draft. I was at 82k, but with the revisions it's now down to 64k (and I cut closer to 30k, I just was also adding new stuff, too) but I haven't reach The End yet. Which is what I'll be concentrating on this month.

September will have to be a crazy NaNo. But instead of doing 1600 words a day, I'm going to be aiming for 4k a day. Well, not every day, but weekdays, anyway. Once I finish this draft, my life will be so much easier. I'll be able to relax some, take it a little easier. Work on some other things I've had to put aside for now.

So I guess that means I'm not feeling that insecure right now. Of course that could change. I mean, I'm writing this post on Sunday, and by the time it posts on Wednesday any amount of crazy stuff could happen. But still. Right now I'm good. And the horizon is in sight.

How are things for you right now?

In Which I Guest Post On The NaNoWriMo Blog

Hey all!

I know I normally don't post on Thursdays, but I'm just popping in to say I have a guest post up on the NaNoWriMo blog.

I'm talking about revisions so please stop on by!

Insecure Writer's Support Group

So, I totally missed last month's IWSG. I just completely didn't realize it was the first of the month or something.

My bad.

But here we are! The first IWSG for fall 2014. I cannot believe how fast the year is going.

As I mentioned on Monday, and a few weeks ago, I have been crazy busy. I knew going in that September was going to be my hell month, and it more or less was.

I had edits for All That Remains to finish up. I also had a bunch of pages on my still untitled WIP to turn in for my next MFA packet (that's due on Friday) as well as a ten page paper to write.

I probably should have been super stressed and junk. But surprisingly I wasn't. I mean, I could kind of feel that it was there, just hovering behind me, waiting. All "hey, are you suuuure you don't want to have some sort of stress freakout?"

But I was like, eh, no thanks. Instead I think I'll put my head down and get back to work.

I had definitely reached the point, though, where I had so much work that the only way out was through it. Which is in general I guess a good attitude to have. And honestly, if I had that attitude all the time things probably wouldn't stack up as much (though, to be fair, September Hell Month was just a timing thing and not brought about by slacking or anything.)

On the plus side about getting through September is now I have a bit of breathing room.

Until November that is, when NaNo starts. And yes I'm participating this year. I have a sequel to write. Which means my goal for October is to try and finish my WIP.

Will I be able to? Guess it's time to find out.

In Which I Draft

So I've been working hard the last few weeks. And hopefully that trend will continue. I'm written 30 new pages on my WIP (still just titled WIP. At some point I'm going to need to sit down and try to come up with an actual title. I HATE not having a title, even a fake one, for a WIP. Drives me crazy).

(I've been thinking of my WIP as a cross between these two things. Whether that will hold up the farther I get into it, we'll see)

I'm aiming to get another ten pages done this week. My MFA mentor said she wants me to revise my first 40 pages and that she'll read up to another new 40 pages if I want and I aim to take her up on that offer.

I've done a bit of revising on the first 40. Fiddled around here and there and addressed a few things, but some of the revisions I need to do are larger, so I think I won't start to tackle those until I print it out (it's easier for me to "see" spanning changes on hard copy as opposed to a screen) and I don't want to print it out until I finish my next 40 pages so I can print it all out at the same time.

The story is going well. I don't LOVE it yet, but I do like it and that's good enough for now. I've come to realize that I'm a person who likes revising more than I like drafting. So I can't wait to finish something so I can get down to fixing it and making it better. Or at least that's the theory anyway.

How about you? Do you like drafting or revising better? And do you prefer to have a title when you're drafting, or is it something that can wait until later for you? (and if you have any ideas for a title for my WIP of which you know nothing about, then feel free to shoot them my way)

In Which I Hodge-Podge

Bit of a mix post today. Mostly because I'm just so frickin' busy.

I spent the last two weeks doing revisions on ATR for the agent (tee hee). I tried to pump them out as fast as possible, for multiple reasons, but I also didn't want to do them so fast that the quality suffered, you know? But I think I did a good job. I definitely felt accomplished when I sent them back to Mollie.

And now I have two weeks to finish up my MFA assignments for my first packet, which is due on the 4th. I've already written my 40 pages, which is great, but I haven't revised them at all yet. Which is not great. I was also hoping I'd have another 40 or more pages done, so I'd be prepared for the next packet, but no such luck. I'm hoping that the next few weeks will be a little less hectic so I can start putting out some daily pages for it. I haven't yet reached the "I love this story" phase yet, which makes writing pages not as fun as I know it could be. But hopefully that will happen soon.

I also need to write a 5 page paper for my packet. I've read the book and I know my topic and some of the thoughts I want to tackle etc., but I still need to do it, and even though I wrote a paper to get accepted into the MFA, I'm still out of practice with paper writing, so I'm a biiiiiit worried. Not too much, but I'll feel a lot better once it's done.

And I have to write a process letter, which shouldn't be that difficult.

And, of course, at some point I need to get back to my reading list. I was burned out on reading a bit, so I took a break to read some NF, but once that's done, I need to get back into the saddle and start plowing through that MFA list.

Yesterday, I visited my good friend T.L. Conway's writing group. I'm a people person, so I always like meeting other local writers. It was honestly a big reason for why I wanted to do the MFA.

So I visited their writing group and we worked on queries and it was a lot of fun!

Tonight I have my own writing group. My goal was to start bringing my WIP for critiques, but since I haven't revised them yet, I decided to hold off until the next meeting. I just didn't want to rush it and feel even more stressed.

Lastly, I've got some news on the blogging front. I was invited to be a contributing blogger for YA Confidential! 

True story, I was always a bit jealous of peeps who were part of group blogs, so I was so flattered to be asked and I jumped at the opportunity. I haven't written a blog post for it yet, because of the aforementioned "business" of my current life, but I hope I do soon. But in the mean time, my operative profile has been posted and I've participated in a roundtable and the From the Vault questions and it's been a lot of fun, so maybe check it out!

So, what's up with you? Are you busy busy busy? Or are things a bit more sedate? Fill me in!
 

In Which I Am So Busy

I am ridiculously busy and probably will remain so for the next month or more. Outside of the holidays, which is, of course, taxing my time some, I have workshop pieces to critique for the MFA residency before the 9th (10, 15 page critiques to dole out) a manuscript I have to read for a friend (paying what I owe and all that), writing group critiques and revisions on All That Remains.

...and as I wrote that last bit, I totally just realized I forgot to print off my own 15 pages for my critique at the MFA. Nice move, Sarah. DERP.

I plan to keep up blogging here and there, but don't expect posts from me on the actual holidays and also I'll take a short hiatus while I'm at the MFA residency, just because it's ten full days of stuff and I won't have much time to check emails, let alone respond to comments etc (and I hate writing posts when I can't respond).

I wish I had more time. There are some great movies out right now that I'm worried I won't get a chance to see (Though I did get to see Desolation of Smaug this last weekend. Holy frickin crap how great was it? (spoiler: so great))

But Christmas Eve is tomorrow, which is awesome. I actually prefer it over Christmas day because my family has a delicious meal of crab legs and poté , and clam chowder throughout the day and we'll open one present each and play games and sit in the hot tub and be fat and merry.

yum...Poté

Christmas day, while full of awesome presents and stuff, is a bit too much of "we're required to go see other family" and while I enjoy seeing family, sometimes I wish I could just spend the day relaxing.

Anyway, this was a really roundabout way to say my posts will be sporadic for a bit.

What about you? Have you seen Desolation of Smaug? Do you have any Christmas traditions?

In Which I Hodge-Podge

I can't believe we're into week two of December. 2013 went fasssst.

So the Baker's Dozen auction went well for me! (and thanks to everyone who stopped by and commented on my entry. Totally made my day)

I walked away with a full MS request, which I've already fired off. Starting on Wednesday, any other agent who bid or didn't get a chance to bid, can request pages as well and Authoress will forward any info from lurking agents.

Will I get any further requests? I have no idea. I reached my goal just by getting in so anything else is just icing on the cake.

(mmmmm cake).

I also submitted my 15 pages for my MFA workshop. So now I don't have to worry/stress about that anymore, which is good. I have 4 extra books I need to read for the MFA residency before Jan 9th. Luckily the library had all 4 in. Unluckily no one could find the picture book I needed so now I've got to wait for an email for when it appears. (Picture books, man. I can never find them).

And Wednesday we find out who gets picked for Pitch Wars. I'm excited. Not just for myself but to see if anyone I know or am rooting for gets picked too. I'd be excited if I got picked, no doubt, but I'd be perfectly fine if I wasn't.

Otherwise, this week I've got to start tackling some revisions and brainstorming others, which I'm excited about (but also a little scared. Because, let's get serious, I run through all the gamut of feels like all the time.)

And also try and finish up my Xmas shopping.

And that's me in a nutshell for another week. How about you? How are things going? Did you finish buying all the presents you need to buy? Have you been feeling all the feels? And staying warm (I can't express how cold it's been here (actually I can. Like -10.))

Insecure Writer's Support Group

First Wednesday of the month, which means it's time for Insecure Writer's Support Group.

So.  Last week I finished my final revisions on my YA fantasy WIP ALL THAT REMAINS.

It was a straight push through to finish them up and I'd say it took a good five hours to finish them. But I did.

Part of what motivated me to get them all done in one day was that I told myself I was allowed to send out a test query if I finished them.

And I did. I actually sent out two test queries, because why not? I'd been good.

So as of last week I officially started querying ATR. And as of last week querying has officially been going well.

It's funny. I've queried two other novels before. And you'd think by this point it'd be easier. And it really is in some ways, but writing up that first query, throwing in the sample pages, checking the sub guidelines one more time and then hovering over the SEND button--well, that apparently doesn't get easier. At least, not for the first couple of queries, anyway.

I try not to get anxious or nervous about it. I know once I start working on my next WIP (which is in the planning stage. Hopefully won't be too long before I can break it out) it will get a lot easier. But until that happens I'm just as anxious as I was during my first querying journey. Maybe more so, because the first time, you don't really know how long replies take. And the third time, you know which agents are likely to request from you, or to reject you, and how long it often takes.

Which means a lot of checking Gmail. Over and over and over again. Even on weekends, when it's rare to get a query response.

So, yeah. Turns out that even when you're an old hand at it, querying can still dredge up emotions. Even unexpectedly.

How about you? Any of you in the query boat?

In Which I Try To Decide

So I'm working on final revisions of my WIP All That Remains (OT - I start a lot of blog posts with "So". I know this. I sit here and try to think of some better way to start, but "So" just makes the most sense. Revision fail? I dunno)

Mostly all I have are minor revisions (well. I also still have it out with two readers. They could possibly have some changes, but I won't know until they're done). I've been picking at them a little bit each day. Because, truthfully, I'm trying to decide about what to do on a possible bigger revision. It would involve combining two characters. And not minor characters, either.

One is more fully realized, the other is not, which is part of the problem. But that character also has pivotal plot points, so I couldn't just, cut him out, you know?

I'd pondered this change a few months ago, and ultimately decided against it. Then I had a conversation with my lovely friend Tricia, and she brought it up again.

I'm just not sure. How do you know if making a big change like that would make it better? Or just different? Anyone have any thoughts? Because I'd like to hear them so I can decide what to do.

How about you? Writing? Revising? Something else? Fill me in!

In Which I (Still) Revise

Revising. Revising. Revising. That's what I'm doing right now. Well, it's specifically what I WANT to be doing. I'd say I've only been about 60% successful the last few weeks just because of work, and MFA application stuff and other junk.

I heard back from one reader (you know who you are and you are awesome) and I made some big changes based on that. I may still make some more big changes based on her feedback, but I'm sitting on those a bit to let them marinate and also wait on a few other readers.

I really need to work on emotional things throughout the whole MS, as well as some entire MS setting work and theme weaving and junk, but for that I'm going to need to print the whole bad boy out and get to work with a pen. Which is fine, I'm looking forward to it, but I don't want to do it until I'm fairly set on the big picture things that have happened. So until that happens I'm just kind of...tinkering I guess. Which is fine. Stuff gets done. But it doesn't get done quite as fast as I want it to.

So, yeah. Just keep on keeping on I guess.

How about you? How's your WIP going? How was your weekend? Did you see Iron Man 3 (because I did. I saw it HARD)

In Which I Feel A Bit Lost

So, yeah. Like the title says I've been feeling a little... aimless I guess? I dunno. And I don't know why. Maybe it's because my class has ended, though I don't think so. Most likely it's just nothing brought about by nothing that's left me in a funk.

I'm working on revisions, and I know some bigger changes I need to make, I just... haven't. And there are also some bigger changes I'm pretty sure I need to make, I'm just not confident enough to make them yet.

You know, kill your darlings and all that.

I have a whole character at the end of the MS I think I need to cut. And it's hard because I really love him. He's awesome. But he's not in it much, and while he provides an opportunity for the MCs to really solidify some things before they go off to the final climax and junk, I'm mostly worried that he slows the pace too much when things should be ramping up.

I tell myself I could use him elsewhere. If I did a sequel for this MS (and of course I'm bouncing ideas around) he could easily fit there. But what if I don't actually write a sequel? Then he's just gone and that makes me sad.

So mostly, I think I just need some outside eyes to tell me if my suspicions are right and he needs to go, or if I'm just crazy and the pacing is fine. I don't think it is, but I've been wrong before.

So, yeah. Just kind of meh about revisions right now. Hard decisions make for some hard work and I'm just having some trouble with it right now. I'm sure it will pass, it always does.

How about you? Killed any darlings lately?

In Which I Incite An Incident

So class has been going great. Week three was when it really stepped into high gear. We had the first critique session, and guys, it was so awesome. Everyone had such great feedback for the writer. I'm really hoping that I get such helpful critiques as well.

My 20 pages are up tonight. My first 20 pages on All That Remains. Because I'm kind of struggling with the beginning. I mean, I like it, I want to hope that it's actually okay, but I worry that it takes too long to get to the inciting incident.

The issue is that in order for the II to make sense or carry the weight it needs to carry, there has to be some understanding of the relationship between the MC (Lea) and her BF (Val) and their families.
If you don't have that, then yes, the II is terrible. But if you do have that, then the II has deeper impact. (aaaaaand just like that I want to watch the movie Deep Impact.)

So,hence my struggle with the opening. I'm hoping the critique will either put my mind at ease, or confirm that my suspicions are correct but also help me generate ideas on how to fix it.

How's March coming along for you? Are you revising? Drafting? Querying? Tell me all about it!

In Which I Make New Goals

All right! We're already a few weeks into 2013, so time to get going on these 2013 goals!

It seems IE is the problem with my inability to upload pics. I switched to something else and Voila!

2013 GOALS

1. Revise All That Remains
2. Query All That Remains
3. Take at least one writing class before querying ATR
4. Start another novel
5. Lose weight
6. Read 62 books
7. Revise Break Free (again)
8. Seriously consider getting my MFA

1. Pretty clear what this means. Revise the shit out of it. It needs it, too. I really hope I can get the word count down. BUT I'm also worried the word count is going to grow...

2. Just what it says. When it's ready, start querying. (unless of course I snag an agent with Break Free, which is still a possibility, since I'm not even halfway through my query list yet (things were delayed due to revisions))

3. I had a discussion with a writing pal recently (*cough* Lola *cough*). And I explained to her that I feel like I put in a lot of time and effort and hard work into writing. And even though I truly believe all things happen when they're supposed to, I'm also constantly worried that maybe my "trying hard" isn't quite good enough. I feel like I need to grow as a writer and though I did have some growth this year (Break Free was a HUGE step in the right direction for me) I still feel like maybe I didn't grow quite enough. SO! That means writing classes. At least one. Maybe more. I'm going to skip some conferences this year and put that money towards classes. I've already signed up for one, which starts at the end of Feb. I'm super excited!

4. I always like to have something going when I'm querying, so when I start querying ATR, I'll need to start a new novel to keep my mind off it. And, if for whatever reason I don't start querying it this year, there's always NaNo.

5. Same old goal. Already down a few pounds (probably just Christmas fat)

6. I hit my goal of 60 books last year so I moved it up a bit more. If I succeed, next year I'll up it again.

7. I got a free edit from an editor a few weeks ago (due to QT connections) and I got the notes back. The majority is just little line edity stuff, and since I agree with most of it, I'll be digging in zazzing it up once more. But it won't be anything huge, so I don't have to worry about the existing fulls already out.

8. Yep. Hamline University, which is a local university here in the Twin Cities (of which my good pal Teebore is an alumni) has an MFA in Fiction Writing for Children's and Young Adults. Which I knew about, BUT I just recently realized it was low residency. Which means I can keep my job AND work on the MFA at the same time. And since it's just down the street (pretty much) the twice a year on campus residencies is as easy as getting in my car and driving a few miles. I have some serious decisions to make, regarding this, as well as submission materials and all that jack to get in a row (not to mention financial stuff, which I am not great at figuring out) so I don't want to force myself to make a decision. BUT I do want to force myself to have a sit down, crunch some numbers, get things aligned before I decide one way or another.


So there you go! Nothing too crazy or out there, and I see 2013 being successful.

How about you? What are some of your new goals or resolutions? 

In Which I Finish

Here we are, a week before Christmas (for those who celebrate) and I'm in the happy position of having finished the first draft of my current WIP All That Remains!!





It took me over a year to complete that baby. BUT, to be fair, it really only took less than 3 months of actual writing. The rest of the year it was just set aside while I was working on Break Free.

So yay! I'm super happy it's done. I'm going to let it sit for a week or three, work on some short stories and submissions. And then it'll be time to tackle the revisions (of which there will be many).

It's 110,000 words and I'm hoping to get that down some, but more importantly, I need to smooth that baby out, fix the plotting and the characterization and all that other fun stuff. Maybe I'm just crazy but I like revising and I'm looking forward to making this MS the best I can.

So how about you? How's your writing going?

 

In Which NaNo Is Over

Holy crap - this is my official 500th post. Cray cray!

(to be fair, there's got to be close to half a dozen "oops" posts in the history of this blog. But still. 500!)

Anyhoo, so here were are. December 3rd. NaNo is a few days behind us. You can see my Winner badge over to the right.

This was my fourth year competing and my fourth year winning. Though this is the first year it took me until the last day to hit the 50k.

Thanksgiving almost murdered me this year. I only had 10K left after the holiday, but man...a good 4K of that was like pulling teeth.

The good news is, I'm almost done with the first draft of my MS All That Remains (and this bugger is going to clock in at over 100k!)  The bad news is, it's going to need a lot of work. I had to pants the ending and even though I had a perfectly serviceable outline for the rest of it and THOUGHT I knew what the themes and conflicts were, things morphed more than usual during the drafting. So everything needs to be really smoothed out and linked together and junk.

But that's okay. I like revising. I'm excited to get to work on it once it's done.

How did you NaNo 2012 treat you?

In Which I Revise (Still)

So I'm revising Break Free. Scratch that. I've been revising Break Free for maybe 2 months? 3? I dunno, I'm a terrible estimator of time and I'm waaaaay too lazy to go look.

Okay I lied. I'm not that lazy. Okay wait. Yes I am, I'm just more curious than lazy. It's been just a little over 2 months say my records. Granted there were a few weeks in there where the day job was so so busy that there was no writing done at all. And also a week of vacay where the writing stuff was not done. But still, you get the idea.

Anyhoo, where I'm going with is, next week I have another week of vacay. Staycay actually. And by vacay I mean, not working at the dayjob. Instead twin and I will be working around the house. Preparing the veggie garden for winter, yard work, house repairs etc. So, you know, better than work, but still actually doing work.




True story: this is not our garden

I'm really, really close to finishing these rounds of revisions. And then I can send the MS to a few beta readers and hope they give me the sign off to send that baby back into the world. If not, it will be more revisions. It's not like I'm really in a hurry, but I kind of am in a bit of a timing crunch to get it back out as soon as possible for varying reasons that I won't get into because that's a whole post on it's own.

So for right now, my goal is to try and revise the shit out of the MS this week in the hopes that I can send it to beta readers and not have to worry about it on my staycay. And by worry about it, I mean, not have to worry about how I'm not revising because I'm tilling the garden or tevs.

So anyway, wish me luck!

How about you? Are you revising? Or writing? Or brainstorming? I want deets!

In Which I Contest

Man I've been doing a lot of contests lately. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. Especially since I've taken a short hiatus on querying while I finish up another round of revisions.

But they just seem so fun and everyone's involved and I always like to be involved in things when it seems like everyone else is and having fun. I can't help it. I like being part of the group.

I figured my chances for Pitch Madness were slim, since I'm not great at writing pitches. I'm not bad, I'm just no comparison to those peeps who are ah-mazing at it. So I didn't make it to the next round in that one, which was expected.

But both GUTGAA and Come and Get It rely on the query and first 250 words. And I'm much better at query writing. I made it to the second round of CAGI (I was #72) and our entries will be posted starting today for browsing agents. So that's exciting! Of course, there's always a chance I won't get any requests and I'm okay with that.

GUTGAA round 2 winners won't be announced until later this week, I think. I feel like I have a good chance, but again, it all depends on the judges personal tastes and who else you're up against. Either way, it's been fun and I'm glad I participated.

What about you? Have you been participating in any contests?

In Which 600 Words Is Not 1500, Brain

So, as I've mentioned before, I've started working on my put aside WIP All That Remains (about an assassin girl, seeking revenge for her murdered family. FUN!)

It's been going kind of slow. Part of that is due to the day job being more or less crazy for a few months (and continuing on in that vein probably to the end of summer) but some of if is just because of me.

Sometimes writers ask other writers whether they think writing or revision is harder. My answer to that is "both". While I'm in the midst of writing, revising is harder. And vice versa. BUT! The hardest part of all is switching between one or the other. If I've been writing a new novel and I finish the first draft and have to start revising, ugh, I hate it. I just want to keep writing new stuff and not worry about revisions.

And it's the same the other way around. Which is where I am right now. Every time I open my word doc, I sit there and bitch and moan about how I wish I was done with it so I could dive into fixing it. I just want to go back to revising something so bad!

And then, because of that, when I stop my whining and get down to work (because I'm pretty good at reminding myself that if I want a MS to revise, then I need to sit my ass down and finish the WIP) I get in the groove and I write TONS of words and I feel great!

And then I check my word count and it's like 600 words. WTF, right?
I know it's just because I'm not yet in the writing groove, and once I do that I'll be able to sit down and pump out 1500 words in an hour or so and feel great (and to be fair, I did have one 3K day which was nice) but seriously brain, stop tricking me with the 600 words feeling longer. That's just not fair.

So what about you? Which do you like better: writing or revising?

In Which I Share More Stuff Pt. 3

All right! This is my last post regarding the Children's and YA Literature Conference. This will just be covering Megan Atwood's Steps for Revising which I'm sure we're all interested in. At least I know I always am.

Fun fact. After this panel (and some thoughts from a trusted Beta Reader) I realized I was finally ready to begin querying my MS Break Free. So, officially I started querying three weeks ago. Fun times! Cross your fingers for me.

And since we're on crossing fingers - today is also the day the 8 Agents participating in the Writer's Voice Competition vote on the entries. Cross your fingers (again) that I get a vote. I would be over the moon happy if even one agent would like to see more.

OK. Sorry. Back to the revisions.

Megan Atwood was awesome. I would, hands down, take a class from her. She was also really really funny, which is always fun.

Deets on her: Megan Atwood created the Young Adult imprint Flux through Llewellyn Publications and was an acquiring editor for five years as well as an agent for one year through Firebrand Literary. She currently writes work-for-hire projects for publishers and has published 14 children's books.

OK. Her steps for revision:

1. Feeling for the bones: Does your premise suit your story? Does your story start in the right place? Is your narrative Arc arcing? Can you add some more sensory language?
2. Characters: Does your MC grow/does the inner journey match the outer journey? Are secondary, yet important characters growing (or not)? How often are you in your character's head - when can you ground emotion in the body (show don't tell)?
3. Pacing/Suspense/Foreshadowing: What scenes need to be slowed or sped - are your important scenes given the time they deserve? Are events and emotions "earned"? Are you giving out the right info when you need to? Do your chapters end with some sort of suspense and are you zigzagging those so as not to fatigue your reader?
4. Language: Are you overusing dialogue tags? Which words can you change to enhance ambiance?
5. Repeat: Put it aside for at least two weeks and work on something else. Try to read for pleasure to turn off your editor brain. Then start over at step one.

So there you have it! It sounds easy, natch, but we all know it's much harder than that. Still, it's always nice to have a game plan

In Which Break Free...er...Breaks Free...

So the other day I got second place on a blog contest, over at the awesome Lisa Amowitz and Heidi Ayarbe blogs. Second place won some awesome books, which, as stated, is awesome! Because seriously, I could always use more books. Right? Right.

The grand prize was  a blog banner design and a partial request from Lisa's sweeeet agent Victoria Marini. It was originally just going to be a 5 page crit from Victoria, but she was all, pshaaa, I'll read a partial. Because she's cool like that.

Anyway, Sandra, the chick who won the grand prize had some exciting news. Victoria was already reading her full MS, so that meant I got to have the partial request!

Super awesome great news for a Friday!





BUT! And it was a big but, Victoria had already seen my Glimpse of Another Shore during my first query rounds AND during a Secret Agent contest I participated in last year.

I sat down and thought about it really hard. Yes, I'm still revising Break Free, but also, I'm on the last legs of the revisions. And almost everything that needs to change is from the middle to the end. The first 50 pages only brought me to chapter four, I think, and those first couple chapters had been revised TONS, both by myself and critiqued by no less than 7 other people.

So after spending close to 8 hours on Friday giving those 50 pages a microscopic line edit, I made the decision to send Break Free out into the world.

I'm kind of freaking out a bit.

Here's the thing. I don't usually worry about my MSs once I'm querying them. Because if I've reached that point, I've also reached the point where I feel like I can't do anything more with them. I can feel confident in their query and their sample pages.

And though I'm confident about Break Free (I LOVE that MS) I'm also worried about it because I haven't reached the "there's nothing more I can do" stage. At least not with the stuff past those first 50-75 pages.

Sigh.

Anyway, really what it comes down to is I'm nervous for Break Free's baby steps into the big wide world, but also excited. Because this part of the writing business is always very exciting to me. I love querying and the accompanying roller coaster.

So, there you have it. That's a microcosm of what's been going on in my world.
How about you? What's been shaking?

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