My success rate is dropping

After months of Internet impairment, I am happy to say I am connected to the world again. Good stuff. I felt so lost and alone without Twitter, FB, and all the other modern day conveniences that didn't exist until, well, they weren't around when I was a child, let's just say that.

And I grew up just fine, healthy and happy to play outside.

So what in the world happened that two months of phone based internet and frequent stops to McDonald's (and not necessarily for food, although I like burgers as much as anyone else) left me feeling like an appendage was missing? Sigh. I think I need a life.

But now that I'm breathing again, I thought I better improve my success ratio and write a quick blog before I get back in the editing trenches.

Cliffhanger Editing is alive and thriving, and morphing into a bigger beast that isn't quite ready to be left out of its cage.

And Rachel and the gang are seeing their second book improve and grow as the third and final chapter of the Bitterroot Mountains starts its long journey into light.

Shannon and her complicated love life hasn't received their just attention, but that's coming too. She's knocking at the door, waiting to be left in. Everyone just has to wait their turn.

And my favorite recent movie pick? Well, we'll get into that next time.

So many changes

Okay. I admit. It's been forever since I've written anything for this blog. I am totally, 100% guilty.

But there's been a lot of changes too.

My personal life has been absolutely insane for the last 10 months, and that takes a lot of the blame.

But my writing life has been really busy too. Rachel, Leonardo, and the gang are in their first stage of revision for the second book. The first draft came up several thousand words short, and so there's been a lot of detail that has been needing attention.

Another book, Whispers at the Grande, a romance, has been working its way from my mind to my fingertips. It's still a work in progress, but its coming along. I suspect you'll be hearing a lot about Shannon very soon.

Also, querying has been going better. And that's to say, someone is taking a good ol' looksey at Shadows. (Shriek, eek, ahh, and all the other kind of screams you can imagine). There are no guarantees, but Rachel and Leonardo are itching to begin talking to you all very, very soon. :)

And one other thing. My friend and writing partner in crime, T.J. Loveless, and I have began an editing company. That's right. I'm a regular entrepreneur now. LOL! We'll be talking to you all about our adventures in querying and helping you with editing your manuscript so you can get into the trenches yourself. :) Check us out a cliffhangerediting.com.

So that's the update for now. I promise, I will try to pick this blogging thing up and do it right this go around. We can talk books, editing, and one of my other favorite pastimes - movies! I mean, hey, why not, right??

Moving Forward

So, while this blog has been focused on Shadows book one, I have been ironing out the other two books as well.  In fact, working on writing book two now.  Chapter Three.  It's such a different end of the spectrum to be working on a first draft again after so many months (literally years) of editing and rewriting.  A bit refreshing and a big daunting at the same time.  The roughness of a first draft has a much different feel to it than a work that is more polished.  Of course, as you can guess, I'm sure.  But it's fun to be writing something fresh and giving Rachel, Leonardo, and the gang to voice something new again.

I've read a lot about not continuing work on the rest of a series before it's clear that the first book is going to be picked up.  It makes sense, of course.  There is SO much work to the entire process.  It would make more sense to spend that time on something fresh to present to someone - just in case.  And it's not that I don't have other ideas rumbling around in the my head - even on paper in the form of other WIPs (first couple of chapters anyway).  But honestly, Rachel's story has to be completed in my mind.  If I can find the time, I may begin working on one of the others at the same time.

For now, though, stay tuned.  Rachel and her friends have A LOT more to tell you about, and some of their surprises are going to shock you :)

Discouragement and well... encouragement...

I'm quickly learning that trying to get a novel to see the light of day is a mixed bag of emotions.  Excitement that you are actually going down this road.  Encouragement when beta readers come back having actual feelings towards the world and characters you've created, and discouragement when the form rejections begin coming in.  It's not an easy thing, trying to get published.  Worth it all in the end, I'm sure.

But it puts a whole new meaning behind the phrase "enjoy the journey, not the destination".

Just my thoughts for the evening.  Be back soon!

The first 200+ words - Revisited

So here are the changes made to the first two hundred and fifty words of Shadows.  The previous first 200 have been moved to a different location in the novel.  See what you think :)

Rachel Brackett once again whisked away the tears which blurred the road signs and white lines that marked Highway 93.  She shook her head with the slightest of motions, weary of the torturing memories.  Relief, pain, sadness, excitement – a concoction of feelings brewed within her.  All the emotions she hoped to sort out and get under control.  Some day.  But not just yet.  She still wanted nothing more than simple avoidance.  She sunk the memories deeper within her consciousness, and then pushed a button on the driver’s side window.  Fresh mountain air wafted through the car.  That was what she needed. Fresh air, time and as much distance from the past as possible.

She glanced out the window, and returned her eyes to the road, thumbs thumping against the steering wheel.  There was no denying how captivating the drive had been since leaving the city.  Winding curves shimmered in the high afternoon sun while they twisted through rich jade broadleaf and evergreen trees. Alongside, rushing rivers snaked through deep gorges and under occasional white stone bridges.  Their shores were decorated by wild flowers, and more than one fisherman stood knee deep in their waters while lines danced in passing wakes. The alpine peaks of the Sapphire Mountains to the west and the Bitterroot Mountains to the east jutted were snow-covered, even in mid-June.  And the further south she traveled, the closer the mountains edged towards the road, their cliffs laced with trees and trickling water.  

Changes

Shadows has undergone some changes in the past week - mostly to the first and second chapters.  It's been a learning experience.  A very frustrating, throw-my-computer-out-the-window kind of learning experience.  Nonetheless, perhaps the manuscript is all the better for it.  And I'm just purely exhausted.  Oh, and along with the changes, my query letter's first line has been changed as well.

So now I'm submitting once again.  That's the real test - if all these changes finally catches the attention of an agent.

Will keep you all posted!

Revisions, revisions, revisions .. now holding my breath

I just completed another set of revisions.  Made some changes to chapter one, another change to the middle of the story, and some cleaning up of typos that I didn't catch the first hundred times I read it through.

So what's next?  Well, I'm ready (as ready as I'll ever be) to start submitting again.  I have a couple of agents picked out that I really like, and am so nervous about submitting to them.  Anyone picking up the book would be an honor. But I researched a couple of agents in particular, and they would be my "dream agents" (as I've heard the term coined over the last week).  If they like Shadows... now that would be ... a dream come true!  LOL!

So I'll keep everyone updated as I continue on this journey.

And in the meantime, it's time to start working more earnestly on Book Two!