Back in June, my lovely agent yanked me and THESE WICKED WATERS from the slushpile. Which turned my slogan, a young adult writer braving the slush pile, on it's head.
Since then I've procrastinated remodeling my website...
Until today.
If you get this post via email, I'd advise visiting my website and exploring--quite a few things are different!
For those of you who clicked (or tapped) to get here. Explore! I've made some changes: color scheme, layout, new signature, etc.! Let me know what you think.
And, can I just say, I hate website design. It takes so long to figure things out. We writers have it tough.
Back in mid-June I got to share some very exciting news with you guys. You can find the original post here.
So, what am I up to post-agent-getting?
I plan to write a series on what to expect after signing with an agent. But I haven't experienced each step yet. So this time around, I'm sharing updates of what's going on with me writing-wise.
My agent and I have been steadily working on THESE WICKED WATERS. No major editing overhauls, just a few tweaks and changes. If things stay on track, we're hoping to be ready to submit to publishing houses after Labor Day. How exciting is that?!
Yeah, I can't quite believe it. Yet.
But as excited I am about THESE WICKED WATERS, it's not my only toasted bread in the Fondu pot (can you tell I'm craving something particular?). I'm also editing SECOND-HAND SCAVENGERS, my NaNo project from last year. I hope to have my first round finished in the upcoming days so I can send it out to beta readers.
On that note, if you're interested in swapping stories for beta reads, just let me know!
Isn't life exciting?
As I've sworn before, telling people your writing goals makes a difference.
It makes you stick to them.
Which is why I'm updating you on my dismal progress.
Slow progress is being made with THESE WICKED WATERS. I feel like I've been editing this book forever. Maybe I'm having a hard time with motivate because there is so much work to do. I have pages of pages of notes left to enact, and I'm halfway through the novel!
Thus, I've set the following goal for myself: edit one chapter of TWW a day.
Yes, the number's a little underwhelming, but doable. That way I don't feel like a failure at the end of every weekday. That'll be a nice change.
Now for a new manuscript! Any of you remember SECOND-HAND SCAVENGERS? Well, I'm prepping it for entry into Ink & Insights! Placing third last year earned me a free entry, and boy am I going to use it!
The goal for this novel is a lot simpler: finish editing 10,000 words by Saturday--Monday at the latest.
I can totally do that.
...Right?
Wait, it's mid April already? Wow. Where did the time go?
Luckily I am making progress with this month's Classics Challenge: A Tale of Two Cities. Sort of. Okay, I'll admit it took me a long time to get into Dickens' novel. There were moments where I had no idea what was going on, if my Facebook post is any indication.
If any of you are reading along, I'd say Chapter 5 is where things start to make sense (though there are still a few passages that boggle me). While Dickens does have a penchant for unnecessary descriptions and paragraphs that I'm 98% sure are pure satire, the story is interesting. I already have a sort-of crush on Charles Darnay, a falsely accused young Englishman.
As far as the ending, I have no idea what to expect. I've never seen a movie based off of the book. All I know is that the French Revolution is going to be involved somehow--which is always a very scary "war" for me to read about. As a kid, I read Sovay and was terrified.
Hopefully that won't happen with A Tale of Two Cities.
That said, I'm only on page 150 out of 400+, so I've got some work ahead of me. But I'm looking forward to it.
...I think.
