I wanted to take a few moments today to talk about my current work-in-progress… or maybe I should say, my former work-in-progress since I finished the first draft on Saturday with a final count of 29, 514 words.
I’m not foolish enough to think that it’s done, not by a long shot, but the goal of writing it is done. It took me a month longer than I had planned but I’m very happy with the results. My daughter, who is also a first reader on the book, read it yesterday and said she loved it. While she might be biased, she rarely says anything like that unless she means it. She also peppered the document with many helpful comments.
Will this be the story that finally gets published? I don’t know and I won’t until the deed is done, but I can say that I took the comments from one publisher (who read my “Mik Murdoch” novel) and took them to heart in this book. The story is much more focused, character-driven and, I believe better balanced than” Mik Murdoch” currently is.
I’m hoping to get a few more people critiquing the book before I start sending it out, but I won’t be waiting long. My plan is and always has been to get the book submission-ready and in the mail before the end of August.
So what’s next? I thought about that long and hard yesterday and came to a decision. I have four books written and at various stages of readiness. One of those four is a sequel, so it will be sitting until the first book in that series is picked up. That means three books to worry about.
“Mik Murdoch” is currently out at a publisher, so nothing new is needed at the moment. “The Goddess Renewed” needs some rewriting before I can send it out and this latest book is going through the first-reader process.
So, should I start writing my next book or should I get the three books ready and in circulation? I’ve decided to bite the bullet and do the editing/rewriting that needs to be done. I figure that I’ll have that much better a chance to get something under contract. When the books are ready to send out, I’ll get them doing the rounds and do the necessary edits to some of the short-stories I’ve written. Then, and only then, will I start working on my next book (likely in time for Nano).
So, next step will be the rewriting of “The Goddess Renewed”. That should take no more than a month to complete but, this being summer, may take two months. I’ll also be getting the current book’s edits done too.
