One year later

Actually, it hasn't been quite a year since we moved. Still, I have that feeling that almost everyone has when I look back - "I can't believe so much has happened" added to "I can't believe it's been a year already."

Here's where I thought I'd be: I thought I'd be about to quit the part-time job I'd get while waiting for my first book to be printed. I thought that surely, in a year's time, I'd have an agent and a publisher. And at least another book and a half written.

Well.

In the last year, I've finished editing The Cherubim and written a third book (Shadow). I've queried a couple of dozen agents; one actually gave The Dead Rise a full read-through (and a rejection.) I'm no closer to being published than I was when we moved.

This morning, I got up and edited another ten pages of Shadow. It's the best thing I've written to date, but I feel that way about everything I write - because everything else I've written to date is pretty awful. So there's that. I'm trying to feel optimistic about Shadow because it's stronger conceptually than anything I've done so far; it's the first thing I've written where I have something true to say. But does that make a good book? It's the story, and I'm not sure how strong the story is. I have to wait until it's finished and Rebecca reads through it.

But I'm happy I'm still writing. Even though I've taken a couple of hiatuses over the past year, I still love putting words down. And it feels good to still have an outlet.

We're closing on a house in three weeks. Since February of 2009, we've lived in three apartments in three cities - I'll be glad to finally settle down for a while. And I'll keep writing, knowing that commercial success isn't just around the corner.

Description of my favorite hats

Things are getting exciting again.

Last weekend, Rebecca and I started reviewing The Cherubim - giving it that one last layer of polish before I begin querying again. It's good. It isn't The Best, but it's the first thing I've written where, on rereading it a couple of months later, I feel pretty good about it.

That's not true. I used to write short stories, and I *still* think they're funny ten years later. They're my sad little orphans; I feel pretty sorry for them, but they're kind of cute in their rag-tag dirty clothes and funny hats. But this is different - when I finished The Dead Rise, I was kind of embarrassed to show it to anyone. Whenever I sent it to anyone, I'd have this disclaimer of "This is the first thing I've written, I'm still working on polishing it up..."

So maybe this might go somewhere. Maybe not. Who knows! At the very least, I'm finally getting to the point where I'm wrapping it up. I started writing it in December of last year, and when I go back and reread the notes and the original, first draft, I can't believe how much it's changed.

I'll finish it up and start querying next weekend. And then I can move on to the second draft of Mrs. Shadow. And then Rebecca will have another book to read!

Number forty-four

Starting is the hardest part.

That's why, I guess, it's best to never take a break. Getting back into writing is terrifying. I stopped writing and editing after finishing the first draft of Mrs. Shadow. Vacations, visitors, Van Halen; every week, I told myself that something else was in the way and I needed to wait before editing The Cherubim.

It's been three months since I've looked at it, and a month since I've done any sort of writing (other than at our new blog. It's time to clean off the rust and get started.

Over the next couple of days, I'm rereading the book, making a few changes that Rebecca suggested, and then I'll start going over everything with a fine-tooth comb. Hopefully, when all is said and done, I'll have it in a place where I can submit it to Critique Circle, and - eventually - out to agents.

Granted, I don't know if this is strong enough to be published. I still have a lot of work to do!

Sorry for my lengthy disappearances, guys, and sorry for not posting more comments - believe me, I'm still reading all of your posts! I'm just being quiet right now.

And I'm still waiting to hear back about last week's interview. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Now - onto the editing!

At LAST

Tomorrow, I should wrap up the second draft of The Cherubim - and my lovely wife can finally read it. I'm really excited; she hasn't read any of it yet. I don't think she even knows what it's about.

Thursday, my family is coming into town to spend a couple of days. I'll take off to recharge my brain before starting Book Three.

Sorry for the brain-dead, infrequent posts. I'm spending my off-hours watching youtube videos of Sandra Lee, my new favorite person. Who else can make a $40 cake into a $500 cake by adding store-bought cupcakes, decorated cookies, and sprinkles? "Priceless", quipped a moronic co-host of the show, devastated after he was told his smiley-face cookie was too Wal-Mart to be added to the cake.

Day ???

I'm two-thirds of the way through the second draft of The Cherubim. Still spending 90% of the week in the office revising away; at least it's more readable than the second draft of The Dead Rise. Still going to get back to Critique Circle once the chainsaw's put away and the scalpel comes out (right now, I'm trying to get rid a lot of the mundane stuff - those who've read earlier drafts of my first book know what I'm talking about :-) )

I've started to worry about the joblessness. I know; I planned to stay out of work for four to six months. That's still very do-able. But I'm getting grumpier the more I read the news, and when I look at job websites - NO ONE is hiring, and the few times I've submitted a resume for IT positions, I haven't heard a reply back. Sometimes, I wonder if my email is working properly.

So I applied for a job at a local bookstore that's a quarter mile away. Think I did well on the application, except when it asked for a salary, I listed an hourly fee more in line with an IT position than a bookstore clerk. That was silly of me.

I'm still not sure what to do. I'm nearly done with the second book, but I haven't heard back from any agents in a couple of weeks. I can't decide if I should send out a few more queries, or wait to hear some kind of feedback from the agents I've already queried.

The Cherubim finished!

As planned, I finished the first draft of The Cherubim today. The ending frustrates me; I don't think it's 100% there yet, but that's what rewrites are for, right? I'll spend the next month working on the second draft. Normally, I'd wait a couple of months, but I think the near month long February break was long enough. Time to jump back in and do some serious reworking; I'll spend the next couple of days on a reread, since I apparently forgot 90% of the book.