What a Difference a Day Makes

I started the day quite differently than it ended.  This morning, I was blow drying my hair when my hair dryer attacked.  The kids, who were eating cereal in the dining room actually called to me, asking "Mom, whats going on with the blow dryer?"  It made this cracking noise, then a guttural growl, then a snapping sound.  I threw it to the ground in terror, hoping not to rip out a large handful of my hair in the process.  A quick glance in the mirror told me my locks were intact.  But the dryer was a goner.  I ripped the plug out and hurled it across the vanity.  I never touched it again.  My 8 year old actually threw it in the trash outside.  I refused to handle the thing.

Later, I had a terrific job interview and the unemployment check finally arrived.  Two pretty good things, almost enough to cancel out the manic hair appliance.  But the best was surely yet to come.

I have blogged before about prepping another manuscript for submission.  This one is another YA paranormal romance with a ghost story twist.  The working title has always been The Girl, The Ghost and The Guys, but after polishing it up, I have retitled it JUICE AND THE HIGH SCHOOL GHOST.  I like this title because it identifies both the genre and the age group.  I submitted it to my new publisher and somewhat held my breath.  Then, the aforementioned great news....wait for it......they love it!

My publisher not only loves it, she said the same editor I was lucky to work with for SPELLBOUND really wants to work with me for this one.  And the best news of all?  It will be released tentatively in September!  The news is just sinking in and I am over the moon.   What this means to be is it not only validates that I am a good writer, it validates I am more than a one hit wonder.  I jokingly wrote on facebook that I now don't feel like a My Sharona!  (Get it?  The one song that made The Knack famous before they faded into obscurity).

I think the very most best thing about the news is that I am energized beyond comprehension and the ideas flowing through me are massive.  I can't write them down fast enough!  Thank goodness for Blackberrys and my fingers of lightning!  And also the fact that since not many people read this blog yet, being grammatically correct has never been a pressing issue!

So stay tuned, this blog will once again catalog a publishing journey, this one now for JUICE AND THE HIGH SCHOOL GHOST.  Buckle up babies, here we go again!

Edits!

Today I finished the second round of edits for Spellbound.  The first round, I wrote about in this blog, consisted mostly of grammatical changes.  This time around my editor called me out on three main things I was guilty of:

1. Frequent retelling of the same scene from the point of view of different characters which only served to stall the story. 
2. Needing to watch my telling v. showing issues
3. Tense shifts

I started making the corrections feeling overwhelmed by the infamous "red pencil".  There seemed to be so much of it.  It looked as though someone had bled on the pages (figuratively, of course.  I received my edit pages via email.  how else?)  The funny thing is, as I began and got involved in the process, I started to enjoy it.

The investigator in me (my day job) came out and I prowled my pages searching out the literary culprits.  Once found, I sliced and diced until what remained were sentences and phrases pleasing to the eye and the palate.  I read them, said them out loud to my kids, and read them again.  When they worked, they passed.  When they didn't, I slashed and burned them again.  Before I knew it, I had cauterized and reworked the first thirteen chapters.  So, I shipped them off to my editor and held my breath.  The email came back fast.

Good job!

Woo-hoo!  Invigorated, I attacked the manuscript again.  Whipped out my sword and hacked through chapters fourteen through twenty-two.  Ha!  I must have been sleeping when I wrote those.  Done!  Confidently attached those and flung them.  New email.  I was a pleasure to deal with.  What?  Wasn't this what I was supposed to do?  Maybe I was new at this, but I was sure this was part of the publishing procedure.  I felt it was my duty to keep my eye on the prize.  I guess I didn't know some writers didn't always feel the same way.  As far as I am concerned, we were all on the same page....getting me published.  Why would I throw any monkey wrench into that process?

So it is with great pleasure that I announce that today, a day ahead of my self-imposed schedule, I have completed the edits.  My editor is more than pleased and mentioned I will now move on to line edits.  Never heard of those, but you know what.  I am into this.  Bring it on!