Saturday, September 28, 2002

Chapter 1 Revision Progress

Well, I revised and typed up Chapter 1 of Complimentary Murder. It is 19 pages, 1 short of the hoped for page goal for this chapter. I printed out a clean copy for a read through to make sure everything looks alright. If there is places where more can be added without padding the story I will, but basically this will be just a doublecheck for typos. I hope the other chapters are in better shape than this one was. No wonder the novel is only 40,000 words. It is pretty barebones.

Friday, September 27, 2002

Creeping

I managed to revise another couple pages in chapter 1 and typed in all the changes. I am only slightly over a page short of my goal to add 5 pages to this chapter. I'm making a lot of changes and adding a lot of new and more vivid setting details. I really think the story is much stronger for it. I would do more, but it is late and I'm beat-down tired.

Thursday, September 26, 2002

Called to the Principal's Office

That's the way I feel. I got an e-mail from the publisher at Rogue Publishing about the A Tangled Web manuscript with just a note saying she'll get back to me next week with feedback. Is it good feedback? Bad feedback? Minor changes? Gutting the whole manuscript?

I wish I knew!

A strong start

I finished the first scene of chapter 1 of Complimentary Murder. With it I was able to write 3 1/2 new pages of the 5 I hope to have by the end of this chapter.

Wednesday, September 25, 2002

The Latest Poop

I finally heard back from the Rhine Anthology folks. They are getting ready to go to press and want an author blurb. I'll be happy to finally see it when it comes out. This will be my first publication under the pen-name Amanda Marie.

I've done more agent research and ranked the choices. I have 7 top picks. I'll definately wait a while longer to let K. Cameron respond to my query before trying anyone new. (And if she accepts, I won't need anyone new!)

I outlined the 4 new chapters of Complimentary Murder and I'll write them when I reach the point in the manuscript where they belong. I've also followed the advice on

Monday, September 23, 2002

Cracking My Knuckles

I entered the minor revisions I made to Chapter 1 of Complimentary Murder a few months ago and printed it out so I have a clean version to work from. I also started making notes on the revisions I'd like to make and the info I plan to add for the 5 page quota.

One...Two...Three...

I'm doing the math. I don't know if other writers hack through the numbers like I do to decide on a writing strategy. For me, I feel better when I have a plan of action.

Currently, my rewritten version of Complimentary Murder is 40,000 words and 200 pages long. According to agent Andrew Zack's website mysteries fewer than 70,000 words are hard to place. So I need to add 30,000 words. That sounds overwhelming and it would be if I allowed myself to dwell on that huge sum. So I crunched the numbers and this is what I figure I need to do:

There are currently 18 chapters. 2 short early chapters are going to get merged and I'm figuring the last 2 chapters can count as 1 since they are short action chapters. So now I have 16 chapters currently (for math purposes). If I make each chapter 17.5 pages (adding 5 pages per current chapter) and add 4 new chapters I should hit my new word count goal. And at the rate I've been writing I believe I can manage adding the extra pages to a current chapter in a day and write a new chapter in 2 days. So in 24 days I should be done. If I allow myself a comfortable 4 days of writing a week, I'll be done in 6 weeks. If I manage to hit my goal AND write every day I should have it in 3 weeks and 3 days.

Sunday, September 22, 2002

Chapter 44 completed

The next chapter of PSI Emergency is tucked into the folder with its predecessors. The current page/word count totals are: 227 pages and 48,578 words. A mere 3922 words and the novel will crest the 3/4 mark. With the new outline I'm hoping maybe I'll be able to surpass the 70K word goal.

Getting Back on the Horse

I read the last partially written chapter of PSI Emergency to start shifting mental gears back to fiction. I made a few minor corrections and typed in the couple of handwritten paragraphs I had done before. Not bad stuff, if I do say so myself. I managed another 100 or so words to that chapter just to get the words flowing again. I'd like to finish the chapter tonight.

The Great Agent Search

I'm allowing more time on the query sent to Kimberley Cameron before sending out another query, but in the meantime I am organizing a list of potential agents so if Kimberley declines I'll know where I'm sending it to next, and after that one, and after that one and so forth.

I started with a list from the SFWA of the agents that represent 3 or more living members. I double-checked for AAR membership, genres of interest, location, ect. I've got a handful that are my top picks. I'll just check my list against the LMP next time I'm at the library and then rank them in the order I'll query them.

I find that knowing where I'm sending the query next before the rejection comes prevents the depression funk from delaying the next submission.

Do a Little Dance...

Done! I'm done with A Tangled Web and it is all sent in to the publisher.

Whoopie!