Excerpt Out! March 31, 2011

You know it’s getting close to launch day when excerpts from your book start appearing around the web. My editor and I finished the last of our proofreading (30 pages of changes folks!), and the publisher just sent me copies of the FINAL version in all its various ebook formats.

And now that the last of the changes have been made, samples are being drawn from the document and shared around the world. Here’s the link to the excerpt on the publisher’s website:

http://www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=96&products_id=445

A month and a half left to go…

C.

#AskYAed(itors) December 18, 2010

Two children’s editors from Egmont (USA) hosted a tweetchat session tonight where people could ask questions about the publishing industry. They’re very helpful and willing to answer pretty much anything. In fact, if you have an Amish YA novel with oodles of swearing in it, you’re golden right now (just kidding, but it was a funny topic on the chat tonight).

I asked a couple of questions. One related to the time frame for nudging an editor who’s doing a favour for you, and I’ve decided I may send an email in the new year. But there’s really no rush, and I don’t want to pester anyone over the holiday season.

The other question related to the notion of posting original fiction (short stories and whatnot) on my blog. Both editors thought it was a good thing; but for two almost different reasons. One editor loves seeing original content on author websites, and the other thinks the content should be used as a marketing tool to increase buzz and interest in the author’s books. The first option means putting it up whenever, the second means putting it up once a book exists in the real world.

Now I have even more food for thought!

C.

Confidence Boost October 17, 2010

*happy dance*

I contacted my publisher yesterday because I need a VERY SPECIFIC letter to send to the IRS in order to receive an ITIN (which will prevent the IRS from keeping 30% of my royalties). I mentioned in passing that I was planning a sequel to The Firestorm Conspiracy, and wondered if Lyrical Press would be interested in looking at the manuscript once it’s complete.

I figured I’d be thrilled to get preferential treatment in their slush pile (after all, the contract is only for one book, not like an agent who–theoretically–is invested for the author’s entire career).

The response was:

“Yes, just submit the manuscript to your editor.”

*faints*

No queries.

No slush.

Just pass the completed novel on to my editor.

Wow.

Isn’t that just the coolest?

C.

A Firestorm of Editing September 18, 2010

My next round of edits are due at the end of the month. Don’t worry, I’m not leaving everything until the last minute. In fact, I spent a good portion of this evening working through the comments and changes my editor sent. I am proud to admit most of the changes were related to Americanizing the spelling of words and replacing the longer em dash with two short ones.

Did you know parentheses and semi-colons are ‘high-risk’ punctuation? I have been tasked with ruthlessly hunting those symbols and erradicating them from my manuscript.

I went through the entire document (even though I told my cheerleader I was only going to fix twenty pages a night) and dealt with all the quick fixes. I smiled when I realized just how much of the ‘red ink’ was gone once those were taken care of. Then I scoured the first twenty and either re-wrote things for clarity or, in one case, explained why I’d done something the way I had. If my editor still recommends changing it, I will – I just want her to know there was a method behind my madness.

The editing fire still coursed through my veins once my nightly allotment was complete, so I sat back and worked through another twenty pages. I probably could have done more, but then I remembered I needed to write a blog post and I want to send a few more queries out tonight.

I’m not going to go overboard with the editing each night. I don’t want to push myself to exhaustion, which is why my goal is an easy twenty pages. I want to feel relaxed and content with the manuscript when I send it out for another shredding.

C.

I Have an Editor! August 25, 2010

I know you know this as you suffered through my week of revision hell, but I had to say it again because I received an email from her last night. She sent me my first round of copy edits.

Let me tell you, when I saw the email in my inbox, my pulse sped up just a little. What if she hated it? What if it sucked? What if I needed to write the whole thing again?

Then, when I noticed the attachment icon, my pulse raced. I didn’t want to open it. I didn’t want to see what she’d said. I wanted to bury my head in the sand and pretend I’d never written a book.

My hands trembled when I clicked on the message. I needn’t have been so freaked – she loved it. In fact, she said she got so caught up in the writing she forgot she was supposed to be editing! I opened the attachment to see how deep the shredding went. My editor is thorough, I’ll give her that – but it wasn’t that bad. I skimmed her changes and suggestions, and found I pretty much agreed with each one. I was thrilled to see some scenes made her laugh and I even surprised her with a couple of plot twists!

What a relief! Discovering my editor and I were on the same page in terms of where we want the book to go completely vanquished the fears spawned by the arrival of the email.

I have work to do on the manuscript, there’s no getting around that, but I also realized I actually wrote a book that’s going to be published. And that’s pretty damn cool.

C.

I Have an Editor! July 8, 2010

Last night I received an email from my editor at Lyrical Press. She sent me a lovely email with many attachments and a timeline. I am super excited, but also a little daunted.

I have some more paperwork to fill out (a 4-page long form) and some “pre-editing” to do; all before the end of the month. The form is very detailed and I can see why she’s giving me nine days to complete it. As for the pre-edits, she sent me eight pages of things (over-used words, passive voice, POV shifts, incorrectly used words, etc) I have to search for in my MS before sending it to her for her first major pass through.

In order to help me out, she also sent a checklist that I can use to make sure I pre-edit for everything. It’s two pages long… but aside from being somewhat daunting, I am honestly looking forward to getting down to work.

The challenge is going to be balancing this work (which is contractual and will result in income) with my personal goal to complete the first draft of Nikko’s Bond by the end of the month (which is the book the agent wants to see and could result in income…). Plus, I have to remember I have a family who want to see me once and a while.

C.