1. Revising middle grade novel
2. Buying a house
REVISING:
This took five days of solid work. I mean SOLID work. I spent seven straight hours on Sunday deleting, adding, cutting, pasting, you name it, with my wife and Blondie away at the park and pool. Between teaching and family time, I don't get blocks of writing like that very often. Did I mention how much summer is the best season of the year, mainly because I get two and a half months, free of work responsibility besides reading, to do anything I want or anything that I can afford to do.
In summary, I revised the manuscript to death (with notes from a trusted reader) and fired it off to two agents who requested it. The reader was someone I was introduced to via email through one of my regular critiquers. We hit it off right away and swapped a few chapters. (Funny how you can tell if you like and trust someone or not after exchanging a few emails. Maybe a sixth sense writers have. Anyone else?) Said reader brought up some fantastic points that I took and ran with, one which gave breathing room for storylines to connect and weave together to form something that's hopefully coherent and makes sense in a small town, quirky, eerie, character-driven kind of way. With that novel sitting in the inboxes of previously mentioned agents, I can focus on my WIP (another MG novel).
This brings up the thought of how happy I am to be a writer living now. Can you imagine the time and effort of dipping the quill in and out of ink jars. Yes, there is something therapeutic and phenomenal about writing free-hand, but it takes the kind of minutes I don't have. Also, I would like to thank the entire agenting world (well, almost) for getting with the times and going green. Email. It's that good, isn't it? No post office. No standing in lines. No stamps. No licking envelopes. No tearing open envelopes. Manuscript sent from my lap, literally, with the push of a button. I embrace technology, but I still can't see myself with an e-reader or Kindle. There is something about a book, the cover, pages, spine, smell, the amount of room it takes up, that makes it special.
If the people who make Kindles can figure out a way to manufacture the smell of a new book into the keyboard or screen, I'm in.
BUYING A HOUSE:
Offer.
Counter offer.
Best and final offer.
We still don't have a house.
I don't want to talk about it.
FINALLY:
Welcome Rhonda and J.R. Pull up a chair, stay awhile, and make some chalky friends.
Rhonda, please don't take offense to BUYING A HOUSE section. You know what I'm trying to say. We're all in the same gang.
Thanks for the welcome. The extinction of books in their physical form is a pet fear of mine.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on the house hunting. It's a great time to be buying out there.
ReplyDeleteAs for all the time summer provides, I find myself wasting most of it. There's something about the scheduled rigidity of the school year that makes it easier for me to carve out writing time. Knowing I literally only have between the hours of eight and eleven o'clock at night to work forces me to do so. In the summer, I keep telling myself, "Oh, I've got lots of time. I'll get to it later this week."
Not good.
Good luck with your house hunting!
ReplyDeleteWow, what an incredible block of writing you got done! I have hardly written this summer. Kids are home and busy with swimming, baseball, and usual kid stuff. We've also had relatives in on and off all summer so I've had little time to write... BUT I have had a lot of fun and great family bonding times!
J.R. - I agree
ReplyDeletePMM - I know what you mean about the stability of schedules. Seems the more work I have, I become that much more productive and disciplined.
Kelly - swimming, baseball, fun times. Baseball IS the best game ever invented... besides Cornhole.