11/13/15
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I got a lot accomplished this month, except I wasn't able to tick off every item on my goals list like I was supposed to. Instead I let my muses take me where they would. Luckily for me, that was my number three goal, so it wasn't like I was completely deviating from my to-do list. I just wish I was able to do more. Here's how I did:
10/29/15
10/25/15
10/23/15
I'm not entirely certain what to do about The Case of the Wandering Wolves. As I was originally writing it I thought it was short, sweet, and deeply flawed. I sent it off to two beta readers, who agreed with me that there was something wrong and pointed out ways to fix the issues. After putting their wonderful and very helpful advice to good use, I thought I had all the problems in the story fixed. I added an entire prologue, rewrote a number of scenes, and changed much of the original tone of the story into something totally new. I set the story aside to sit for a few short weeks when I thought I was done.
This week I pulled The Case of the Wandering Wolves back out to start a final edit and to format it for submission. As I was reading through it I realized that I'm not entirely certain I was actually successful at fixing it. I've found myself reworking scenes I already changed before, and I'm generally dissatisfied with the overall feel. Which leads me to my quandary: is the story really that bad, or am I over-analyzing it? The most basic fact is, if the story is bad I shouldn't submit it. Why waste LT3's time with a submission they're going to reject. Plus, anything I submit should convey a good work ethic and respect for the craft. Doing otherwise would only hurt me as an author. On the other hand, if I'm overthinking the story because I'm so worried it's bad, I might lose out on the amazing opportunity to be part of the anthology call. What if all it really needs is the deft hand of a practiced editor, which LT3 will provide should they accept the story. I shouldn't discount this story out of hand just because I have some reservations about it. I therefore don't know what to do with The Case of the Wandering Wolves. There isn't enough time for me to send it to another beta reader for clarification as it's due in just under ten days. I will need all of that time to give it a final edit. Please let me know what you think! The worst LT3 can say is no, and it wouldn't be my first rejected story, but should I bother submitting it at all? 10/19/15
10/2/15
9/26/15
I've partially brought this on myself, unfortunately, but all of a sudden I'm totally swamped with edits and have zero time to get any writing done. That bites. Coming up with new scenes and fun dialogue is so much more interesting than learning what I did wrong and having to fix all those mistakes. Still, the edits need to be completed and the sooner I'm done the sooner I can return to writing.
First I've been working on the edits for The Case of the Wandering Wolves. This story is for LT3's Private Dicks call. It's about a private detective known as Coyote who is investigating the kidnapping of a young girl all while trying to snare his mate. It's an older story set in the same world as my story Heartbeat. I shined it up, but it didn't quite feel right so I sent it off to two beta readers. They've both since returned their recommendations to me and there's a lot to fix. I actually put off working on what the beta readers sent me for a few weeks. I told myself that after I finished with my six week summer job I would still have plenty of time to get this story ready to submit. The truth is, I do have that time. The story isn't due until October 31st, but there's still so much I need to accomplish before it's ready that I do feel the date is going to creep up on me. I was just starting to make progress in TCotWW when LT3 sent me round two of the edits for Dragon Deception, book two in my Supernatural Consultant series. These edits have a due date and take precedent over a story that hasn't even been submitted yet, so I set TCotWW aside and got to work. Usually the second round is very straightforward. The major issues were supposed to be taken care of in round one, so round two is to make sure that I didn't bungle fixing those issues. I bungled. It's taken a while to fix everything I messed up. I was almost done with Deception when LT3 sent me another email. They had the copy edits for Dragon Consultant, the first book in my Supernatural Consultant series, and I needed to fix a few things the copy editor didn't like asap. Obviously the book that's coming out in a few months beats the edits for the next book in the series. Luckily, I love playing with these dragons. It's never a hardship to go through any of my Supernatural Consultant stories. It still took me a couple of days to make sure I answered all the copy editor's issues. I sent the story back to LT3 this morning, which means Dragon Consultant will be one hundred percent ready to go on December 9th. With Consultant back to LT3, I could return to Dragon Deception. I am almost done fixing the last of the problems. There are exactly two more and I of course left the hardest for last. I'm hoping I can figure them out tomorrow, after which I will read through the story one last time before sending it to LT3. I have never before had two stories in the same series ready to go before the first book even came out--and there's still time to make progress on editing the third book, Dragon Dilemma, if I really want to go for a record. It's taken me a little longer than I originally planned to get Deception back to LT3, but I'm still within the deadline. I'm not worried about getting it back to them in time, but I am worried that I spent too much time away from TCotWW. Six weeks out from the due date feels like plenty of time, but I still have a lot of editing to do, then I have to set the story aside to rest for a bit, and then I have to return to it and do another round of editing before I can even think about getting it formatted for submission. So now you see why I haven't been able to get any writing done this month. I want to get my story for LT3's Roughhouse Raiders call close to completed this month and see about finishing The Red Apple Witch so I can get that ready for LT3's Fairytales call. Nothing else on my to-do list has a due date, but that list is so long that I was hoping to start whittling it down this month. I guess I'll see what else I'm able to accomplish once all the edits I have to do are completed. |
Coming Soon
Gifting a Dragon's Heart
March 19, 2024 Soul Bond
January 30, 2024 Twin Elements
October 17, 2023 Witch
April 15, 2023 AuthorMell Eight is an author writing with NSP. For more information about Mell and her writing, please visit her website: http://melleightfiction. Tags
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