February 2010 Archives

For better or for worse, the manuscript is out of my hair. I emailed it to my editor an hour ago. I knew it was time to get some distance from the manuscript when I started changing things and discovering that it wrecked something I was setting up for later. When I get to the point where I'm changing for the sake of changing, it's time to walk away and get some fresh air. Now, all I have to do is wait and fret and worry and agonize and wonder why the editor is taking so long to get back to me.

On the bright side, I can use the time to get cracking on the first draft of Code Breakers Club.

I keep looking at the file, thinking just send it to the editor, but I can't. Not just yet. I want to tinker with sections and punch up the humour and clean up the writing. One more day to go over the manuscript and then I'll send it on Thursday... maybe. Every play a video game and hit a section you just can't complete, and you won't quit the game until you do? That's how I feel right about now.

Lack of motivation, energy and desire. That's what I've been experiencing for the last month and a half with this manuscript. And now that I've finished the first set of revisions and polish (still have to cycle through for technical elements like grammar and repetition of words), I finally realize why it has been so hard. This is my goodbye novel. I'm ending the mystery series with characters I've grown to love. It's like writing your will. Everyone puts it off, because to deal with it means to confront your own mortality. In a way, I guess this final book in the series is forcing me to confront my own mortality. It was so hard to say goodbye to the characters and I kept putting off the ending forever.

I have to be honest here. I did tear up when Marty and Remi had their reconciliation scene. Not sure if the kids will get it, but for me it was a very tough moment to write and reread. I'm going to get my wife to read the manuscript tomorrow while I hit the gym and run off a week of sitting on my butt and eating carbs. Hope she likes it. If all goes well, I'll spend Monday doing clean up, and I'll send the revisions to my editor for the next round.

As hard as this process has been, I'm thankful for the experience. Lesson learned: if I write another series, don't plan an end to it. It's way to hard on the heart.

No, seriously, this was a pretty darned good rejection. I had sent The Bone House, my thriller play, to be considered for publishing and I just received an email from the publisher, who loved the script. The problem was she didn't think she could sell it to her marketplace (academics and community groups).

I'm going to use this rejection as an example to new writers about how even good manuscripts won't find homes right away. I'm thrilled that the publisher loved the script and I totally see why she had to pass on it. Does it make the rejection easier to bear? You bet!

My kitty keeps jumping in my lap and going to sleep. I think I might take the hint and shut down for the day. After a great start yesterday, I find myself spending more time on Twitter and Facebook than on my book. I'm not at a hard part of the manuscript. I'm just feeling lazy.

Also, I've decided to discontinue linking blog entries to my Twitter account. It's okay to share my navel gazing on this blog, but I can't compete with the likes of Kevin Smith's Southwest Air rants.

Okay, let me see if I can keep working. Oh, kitty, what's that you say? Playtime? Maybe, just maybe.

I've decided that the polish/punch up stage of a manuscript is my favourite. I'm sailing through the first three chapters and having fun bumping up scenes with a few more details and hacking out the boring bits. It's much more fun to work with something that exists than to have to invent from scratch. Yay! Granted, the first part of the manuscript is in good shape. It's the latter half that needs careful attention. Let's see how happy I am in a few days.

Tough day. I slogged through the climax and just tried to get to the end. As usual, under pressure I went into my default mode of writing dialogue. That's okay, I have a roughed in ending that works. Now I just have to go back to the start and make it pretty. Sadly, I had to miss the opening keynote of #futureofstory to get the revisions done. I just knew that if I went out tonight, it would be another week before I finished the revisions. Now I can take it easy over the weekend and peck away at the polish next week.

Tomorrow, I sit on a panel about the future of writing for kids/youth. Should be an interesting one. Mark Haroun is a senior story editor for Heartland and Gail Sobat is a y/a fiction author. In preparing for the panel, we've had some animated email discussions. I can't wait to hear their thoughts in person.

Remember when you were a kid and your parents told you to eat all your vegetables or you'd get no dessert? If you didn't own a dog, you had to force yourself to clear your plate and it was culinary torture to swallow cold peas and mushy carrots. That's what it feels like to finish the last few pages of my manuscript. I know my treat is near, but I have to eat the vegetables first. I was hoping to finish today, but my "veggies" turned out to be too much to handle in one sitting. Tomorrow, I'll finish the revisions, but I have to chew on a couple of thoughts before I commit them to paper. From now on, when students ask me what the greatest thing about writing is my answer will be "finishing!"

Making major changes in a section of a manuscript is like the building of the Chunnel. You're coming at the story from two different ends, and tunneling toward the middle. You hope that the when you get to the middle, you've made the right decisions and the sections will merge together with little work. Sometimes, you miscalculate, and the revisions can't connect to the work you've already done, forcing you to start over or trash another section. Sometimes, you calculate right and the revised section smoothly fits with the other sections. In this case, I guessed right. Phew. Just another 5 or so pages to revise and I'll have something that I can polish.

I'm in the home stretch of the revisions. One new chapter to write and then I can hook up to the existing climax and tweak until I get to the end. Sometimes, I feel like a tourist who has strayed from the map. It took a lot longer than I thought to find my way back, but now that I see familiar landmarks, I can pick up the pace and finish it off.

To be honest, I was starting to despise the manuscript. I didn't think there was enough action to it, but with the latest turn, I feel a lot better. That said, I just want to get this thing off to the editor so I can focus on a new project. The change of scenery will be good for me. Okay, hold it together for another three days. Just three more days and three more chapters... I hope.