I haven't forgotten about this blog. Really. I've just been so busy with the manuscript that I don't want to type any more at the end of the day. I figured I'd catch up later and I suppose that'd be right about now. Book 1 is still a year away from seeing the light of day, but it's been consuming my every moment for the last several months.
Draft 1 was cool.
Draft 2 was cooler.
Draft 3 was a pain in my ass, but it was all necessary and turned out really cool.
Draft 4 was a lot of cleanup detail.
Draft 5 was mostly nip and tuck, but wound up with an entirely new prologue. I'm definitely going to use the old prologue later, like maybe in Book 2.
Ok. You get the idea. Lots of drafts. This isn't my first go-around with the whole editing thing and the process for this one is far from over. I will tell you that this is the first time I've ever enjoyed the process so much. Other books were edited because they needed to be. With this one, I feel like the fussy parent spitting on his fingers and slicking back the kid's hair before he goes out in public. (or she...I don't know. It's just an analogy). That's a pretty tired metaphor as well, but it fits. Anyway, as hard as this job can be, it's truly been great. As this book gets closer to being published, I'm anxiously awaiting every next step in a way that makes all the others pale in comparison.
I can't wait to see what my agent thinks when she reads it. What will my editor say? Will the copy editors be kind? Please Lord let them be kind. What will the cover look like? I'm VERY anxious for that one! So far, I've been really fortunate with the covers of my other books and I haven't had a really bad one yet. Let's just keep that rolling, ok?
As of right now, the manuscript is printed and waiting to be sent in. I say there's only a few more years remaining where publishers will even need a printed stack of pages. A good portion of editing is done digitally and I made a lot of the initial submissions for this project through various emails. Even though emailing would be easier and save me a whole lot of money spent on paper and ink cartridges, there's something undeniably special about seeing your book all printed up in black and white. Seeing it on the shelves is going to be surreal and I cannot wait until Fall of '08.
