Saturday 4 October 2014

Letting Go


I marathoned this week.  I know, not a real verb, but it works better than using it as a noun because I didn’t run a marathon, I sat one, in front of my computer.  I had planned on winding up revision on Raven’s Path by mid-October.  I finished on the 2nd.  Euphoria swept through the house.  I shouted, my husband cheered and the dogs romped with joy at the noise—and at the fact that I was finally getting up off the couch.

Thanks to beta readers from Germany to California, Raven’s Path is stronger and leaner.  I culled over 4,000 words, leaving it now at 118,000 words.  I have tightened my characters, analyzed dialogue, added beats, taken out beats, looked for too much tell and replaced with show, searched my “ly’s” and my “felts”.   Check, check and more check.  I’m done.

So, what’s next?  Seek representation?  Look at publishing houses directly?  Self-publish?  It’s not that I haven’t done my research on all of the above, I just haven’t quite made a decision.  I tossed and turned all night.  In the morning, I decided to put it back on the proverbial shelf.  I’ll go through it one more time, in a month or so.  Will I find anything earth-shattering to work on?  I doubt it. 
Maybe I’m afraid of the next step.  After all, this one is my first born.  Maybe, I’m just not ready to let it go.

2 comments:

  1. Let it rest, Rose! You'll see clearer, cleaner ways to tighten it or strengthen it. After all, that's part of the process. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  2. ZanMarie,

    It seems that separation anxiety is sending me in a different direction than I had planned. Will need to readjust those monthly goals. Hope my cheerleader doesn't mind!

    ReplyDelete

A huge part of publishing a book is promotion. If researching a story is a rabbit hole, creating promo material is a black hole. There is an...