Arran's Story Is In!

You may be wondering what I'm talking about. Worry no more. :P I turned in the finished MS for Arran's story, Tangled Up. This is my second foray into menage, but the first into M/M. For those of you grossed out, then stop reading. I wrote the characters the way they told me to.

This is the story that follows Must Be Doing Something Right and Learning How to Bend. Funny, Nate from Must shows up in Tangled Up, but Seth and Abby really don't other than a mention.

I have to admit, the hardest part of writing this story was making sure Arran and his partner, Sav, didn't sound campy unless they were trying to. I've found, when reading M/M stories, that lots of times the authors will make the gay men sound... campy. Yes, I know, some are more effeminate than others... just saying. Arran and Sav are comfortable with who they are and still--their words, not mine--manly men. :::Shrugs:::

But since Tangled Up is done and in the editor's hands, I'm going to tackle the edits and rewrites on my farmer, as well as finish the ghost hunter story and give Megan a hand on her vampire stories.

Yeah, I'm a busy girl. :) But I love it.

New Contract for Must Be Doing Something Right!

Just wanted to tell you all since I finally got said contract in my hot little hands, Total-E-Bound contracted the follow-up to Learning How to Bend, entitled, Must Be Doing Something Right. This is the story of Courteney and Nate (who shows up in LHTB). I got a tentative release date of late June.

I'm psyched.

I also sent in my farmer (now 40k) for resubmission and vampire (42k) is currently with and editor under first consideration.

Wish me luck.

Toodles.

So I Have This Story...

You may nor may not remember me talking about my farmer story. I subbed him and then got a reality check that knocked me on my behind.

BUT

I realized that the story I thought was SO GREAT... was really hiding within a huge story that was more junk and fluff than anything.

So what did I do?

Well, I cut the thing down. You see, I had a wonderful CP tell me, hey, this is written like a short story, but it's a full... what if you cut it down a bit? At first, I blanched. Cut my masterpiece down? Blasphemy! I had three other CPs look at the story and tell me it was ready to sub... um, not quite.

I thought about it a bit... yeah, it really did need cut down. Soooooo I went through with the proverbial red pen. I have no idea how much I chopped off, but I know it lost 6 chapters at least. We'll see. Among other things I did to make it better, was I had my Dh who hates to read (Romance is like asking him to eat his foot) to read it. And yes, he's found things in the slash-and-burn version that needed help, but he's also good at being blunt and honest. Funny, he's never worried about hacking my ego to bits BUT it helps. Really.

So I plan to send it to my trusted CP and then once it goes through her inspection, then I"ll resub it. At least the editor said, yeah it needs help, but send it back, I'll be happy to check it out again.

So back to my bat cave.

Toodles.

It's Official!

Apparently my computer tells me that I hit 50k, but according to NaNo...It was 49,491...

Am I discouraged? Heck no! The thing still needs words added, so I added away. And yep. I made it. It's official. WOO HOO!

And I see my pals Clare Revell and Helen Hardt made it! Way to go ladies!

But wait! There's more! (Sounded like Billy Mays there for a sec, didn't I?) My rewrite just might be ready for resubmission. I need to get that danged old synopsis written, but, I will meet my December 1st deadline.

And since I'm so excited, I'm posting my winner badge. Yep. I'm thrilled.

Now What Do You Do?

Okay, so the manuscript wasn't quite what the editor wanted. She's asked you to resubmit after you've worked "really hard". I know it's an ego crush to hear your baby isn't good enough.

But think about it this way: no one really gets it right on the first try.

Where would scientists be without experiments? Where would dancers be without practice? Do you really think actors just walk on set and get the scene in one take every time?

Ummm, no.

There are some out there who think writing is a get rich quick scheme. I hate to break it to you... it's not. Yes, there are writers out there who sell LOTS of books and there are those who make the NYTimes Bestseller list. They have also worked their behinds off to get there. And the book on the list, more than likely isn't their first ever book.

Now I'll be honest, there are some who do strike it rich on the first book. I'd be willing to bet that that book wasn't their first foray into writing. Many writers start out BLOGGING, writing articles for the newspaper, or in freelance journalism. In other words, they wrote before they wrote.

So back to the resubmission... I've been there a few times myself. It is frustrating, but if you get past the frustration and personal pain of rejection, you'll find that the changes are things that will HELP the work.

Are you worried that the editor will change the flavor of your work? Or change your voice? It might, but I doubt it. Your book will sound like the voice you gave it if you stay in command of the manuscript. A good editor will keep what you have built and help you to build on that foundation to make the work stronger. I promise.

Well, enough of my soapbox for today... I need to find some eye candy.

Toodles.