greetings from typo land

The book is back from the proof reader, and I am going over his edits plus the last of the edits from the beta readers. And, man, does it take a village! My typos are simply astounding!

I have been participating in a great discussion over on Goodreads about reviews--specifically about nasty reviews. It's been great chatting about this, particularly given my job in publicity. One of the things we discussed were reviews that slammed books for what are essentially editing issues, and nothing else.

Now that I am in the thick of editing, I can say that it's a tough slog. I get how these books can come out with so many errors. I try to be more forgiving of the indie books. It's not easy DIYing this part. And even with the pros I enlisted to help me get my book "camera ready" I am still finding issues in the copy.

Slog on, my friends. Slog on.

Layers

Moving from writing purely dialogue with some stage directions thrown in has been a challenge. A friend once described to the act of writing a novel as filling a swimming pool with a syringe. Oh yes.

I write a section, and walk away. A few days later, I'll suddenly realize that I need to go back to that section and write in a character, or even just a beat or moment. It doesn't change the course of the narrative, but adds an additional layer to the story. It's more like "local color." And this happens over and over again. Write, walk away, add layer. Rinse repeat. 

I have to constantly remind myself to stop and be fully present in my character's moment. What does the temperature feel like? What color are the walls in the room? Is there a carpet on the floor, or is hard wood, or tile? That small detail can change the sound that my character makes when she thuds, or scrapes, or shuffles across the room. 

These moments are the syringe. The white space on my computer screen is the pool I am trying to fill. 

Kicking some ass...

Book 1 is finally in the hands of the professional proof reader now, who is picking up all my errors, misspells and probably tearing apart my grammar. I am actually pretty excited that I am working with this guy. He's worked on a number of UF books that I have really enjoyed. I am pretty stoked to work with someone with his level of experience in the genre.

While I have downtime, I am pushing on with Book 2. Since work is pretty demanding, I can't sneak in time to write during the day. But I am committing myself to 500 words a day. Not ideal, I prefer to do 1,000. But what I learned from Book 1 was that 1000 words a day, plus full time work = burnout.

But even as I move along at a sloth's pace, I am pretty happy with the start. Chapter 1 is kicking some serious ass. Literally. I just finished Chapter 2, and I am not too happy with it, but it's just the rough and there are still a lot of holes to fill. Plus, that chapter pulled away from the action. I really enjoy writing the ass kicking scenes. They are, hands down, my favorite chapters in Book 1.

I feel like I have found my groove with the action scenes, and am really stretching my imagination. I look at everything differently now. Random household items inspire new ways to pummel vampires. Great fun!