Over the summer I wrote a few blog posts giving an overview of what the process is like, at least for me, when it comes to writing a book. In the spirit of continuing that theme, I have some more to say tonight.
It's crunch time now. In a good way.
There really isn't any bad news here, but there are some challenges on the horizon. Basically for the rest of October, any time I have that isn't used up by school will be dedicated to working on revisions for the manuscript I wrote this summer. I took the first month of the school year off from even thinking about it, then started working on edits over the past couple of weeks.
I spoke with Carrie recently to get her take on the new manuscript. Long story short, we're now looking at a time window within a few days of Halloween as a target to get the new manuscript out for submission. Why Halloween? Maybe it will clear that up if I reveal the current title -- "The Living Side of Dead." Who knows if that title will end up sticking, but that's what we're going with for now. It's very much a ghost story, and shows the influence of many scary sources.
Revising is a lot of work. Our plan is to take it on in parts and keep the momentum moving consistently forward: me working on the changes we discussed as she provides feedback and going back and forth until it's nailed down, then moving onto the next issue, and the next, and so on.
The whole thing is head-spinning right now, to think that an idea I had just over six months ago could be a manuscript on submission in a matter of weeks. It's not going to be easy, but I know I can meet that approximate deadline. I know if I decide to do the work, I can get there. I'm thrilled I have the chance to do this and it's very important to me to justify the confidence Carrie has that I can pull it off.
It's pretty lonely work, though. Leaving school right away, pounding down a sandwich to keep from starving and then spending the bulk of the evening parked in front of the laptop. Of course I'll take some breaks along the way in there -- do some reading, take some walks, see a movie or two, maybe hang out with some people just to get some air. But it's isolating work, and a lot of it in a short time.
So, if anyone reading this wants to offer some support along the way, feel free. Maybe just some random bits of encouragement? Maybe thinking up an incentive to push me harder? Something or anything to keep me motivated and keep my brain firing on at least most of its cylinders? It's going to be a long rest of the month. Whatever anyone can think of to help me focus, I'll take it.
Because here's the thing. I have my own reasons for wanting to be done by the end of October, and one of them is pretty big. As some of you know, November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo as its known in the writing world. I've done NaNo several times over the years, though I haven't in the last two.
But this year, even after spending the summer putting together the draft of a whole new book? I have an idea brewing that I really, really want to try out. And it would be really tough to start writing one book at the same time I'd be trying to finish another.
Twenty days left in October. I'm super anxious to see how this unfolds.
And now it's time to get back to work.
No comments:
Post a Comment