Life -
So... apparently, I forgot about the Internet for a while. I know, hard to believe, but there ya go.
Life for the last few days has essentially been work with a bit of gardening and housework in between. I did buy some nice new dishes, making the switch from our old stoneware ones we got for our wedding to a set of corelle dishes that were on sale at Shop-Ko. What's so exciting about that, you ask? I live in a house with 2 mischievous cats, 2 incredibly large and clumsy dogs and myself, who exceeds their clumsiness in every way. Our old dishes, while a pretty color of blue, broke fairly easily, even the simple process of stacking them cracked one of the bowls, let alone being knocked off of counters and tables by cats, dogs wrestling, etc. I think it's safe to say that about the only reason we had any left at all is that they each weighed an average of 16 pounds a piece, and were too heavy to knock off of counters. Our new dishes are made of a lightweight glass that shatter proof and scratch resistant and they weigh around 1/16 of the old dishes weight, which is much more of a noticeable pleasure than I would have expected.
Yes, for those that are wondering, I did just write an entire paragraph about the wonders of a dish brand that I had as a kid and paid $35 for like it was the best new item ever. My only excuse is that my life recently has been pretty boring.
Writing -
A little less boring on that front. I finished revising my final three chapters and my new draft currently stands proudly at 49,235 words, which seems like a nice solid number.
I really think the manuscript could use a third and fourth run, but I don't have the time. I have enough days to run a final quick technical edit before The Whispering Ferns has to be printed and mailed in order to reach New York by the contest deadline. I'm not sure how I feel about that. In a way, I'm obviously annoyed that I can't nit-pick it until I'm happy with every sentence and punctuation, but it's also kind a necessary thing to seal it up and send it off. I kind of find myself obsessing over things like whether a sentence should have odd little 3 letter words and trying to find endless alternatives to the word "Said".
Instead, this morning, I forced myself to sit down and read the book out loud, rather than reading it silently, looking for errors. I think that helped, I found a few really awkward sentences, and one section that I was obsessing over actually sounds really smooth out loud. My only concern with this route is whether that will help me when it is being read by an editor for the first time.
Ugh. Pathos!
I don't know, for some reason, I've reached this point where I still love my story, but I don't want to send it in anymore. My real spot of contention is that I keep thinking it needs to be rewritten from a different point of view, but then I start debating on whether that should be first person or omniscient.
I like The Whispering Ferns' current POV, but I think some of the later books might be better served from a different format as the cast of characters expands. I'm thinking changing that would be a bad idea for the future, but I haven't the foggiest.
Meh. I shall continue to struggle onward.
6 comments:
Obsessive? YA THINK!!! Good Grief man, just send the thing in. I would not even mess with the tech edit, you'll just make your stress worse! I can tell from the way you wrote this post it's time you stepped away.
Step away from the story, man. It is finished.
BTW don't forget your loyal blog readers who have only read chapter 1. WHERE'S THE REST????
Hahahah
I am currently designing a logo for a blog where I can post some Moonstone Bay exclusive stuff, like character bios, other chapters, drawings, etc...
Dunno when or if it will ever get published, but I'd like to share what I have with folks and I decided that I'd make a new page for it (As if I don't have enough that I never update....)
*exasperated sigh* all right, I will patiently wait for the Moonstone Bay Blog (As if I don't have enough blogs that I have to follow....)
Meissner and I would have edited it for you if you had sent it to us. As it was, the first chapter was intriguing...now don't make us beg again. Send us chapter two....so we can beg later for chapter three. It's a great book, POV, etc. Mail it in to the contest and a half dozen publishers. But let your loyal readers keep reading it. We gotta know more about Smith, his mommy, his daddy and Moonstone Bay, WA!
Fair enough.
I'm waiting for Lindsay's edits on the second draft of chapter two, and I'll get it sent out.
Of course, I could possibly show up in Montana with a couple of copies of the full manuscript... ya never know!
I like how that sounds....Montana, manuscripts. See ya in July.
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