Thursday, February 10
I like it
So I get home from picking up my son at school last night and swinging by the library only to get home and have my daughter say she needs to go to the library so she can do some research on a state park and use their computer to build a PowerPoint for a presentation. Sigh. It's been a long day, and it's getting to be a long week and I'm not feeling all that great about my progress or the book. Stupid Inner Editor has shown up sometime late morning. Bleeech.
But wait: library time! So I gather up the paper copy of the novel and, after we pick up her friend who's has to do the same work, we arrive a little before 6 p.m. I settle into a table down in the periodicals, not far from the licking flames in the fireplace as the girls get to work. And I get to work for 90 minutes or so.
And I make progress on the copy, editing a couple or three (four?) chapters, getting to chapter 19 or 20, page 49 or so (nearly half-way of the 111 pages on this print out). I made good additions to sections of dialogue, realized one or two possibly good ideas (will have to revisit later) about breaking up a chapter by splitting it and moving part to earlier in the book. And while there was one bad rough spot, a long dense chapter written in the wrong tense and the wrong style (all tell, no show) for what came before and after, the rest of it seems pretty OK. Maybe even good. Hey, I think, I like this. This does have potential. I can see a couple of early problems, but yes, this is going good.
And so on the drive back home, I started thinking again about this upcoming writer's conference in Colorado Springs, the Pikes Peak Writers Conference, which I've been thinking of attending (with Jared, who I think plans to pitch 'Wrath'). And in my vision in the car, I see myself talking to agents and book editors, making the most of one of the most important parts of the conference: the opportunity to schedule 10 minute pitch sessions with literary agents and book editors. I might just sign-up and see this through, making sure I get a good solid draft done before then.
But wait: library time! So I gather up the paper copy of the novel and, after we pick up her friend who's has to do the same work, we arrive a little before 6 p.m. I settle into a table down in the periodicals, not far from the licking flames in the fireplace as the girls get to work. And I get to work for 90 minutes or so.
And I make progress on the copy, editing a couple or three (four?) chapters, getting to chapter 19 or 20, page 49 or so (nearly half-way of the 111 pages on this print out). I made good additions to sections of dialogue, realized one or two possibly good ideas (will have to revisit later) about breaking up a chapter by splitting it and moving part to earlier in the book. And while there was one bad rough spot, a long dense chapter written in the wrong tense and the wrong style (all tell, no show) for what came before and after, the rest of it seems pretty OK. Maybe even good. Hey, I think, I like this. This does have potential. I can see a couple of early problems, but yes, this is going good.
And so on the drive back home, I started thinking again about this upcoming writer's conference in Colorado Springs, the Pikes Peak Writers Conference, which I've been thinking of attending (with Jared, who I think plans to pitch 'Wrath'). And in my vision in the car, I see myself talking to agents and book editors, making the most of one of the most important parts of the conference: the opportunity to schedule 10 minute pitch sessions with literary agents and book editors. I might just sign-up and see this through, making sure I get a good solid draft done before then.
