It means nothing to you, but it happens to be the last chapter of Murder on the Side, the first of my River Bend Mystery Series, and I started the final edit on it this morning. I set a goal of Dec. 31st to have it complete, so I seem to be on track. Of course, my readers will point out a few things to touch up, but nothing major. The joy of novel writing comes when you hit the final turn. For me it was somewhere around chapter 20. Then you just can't type fast enough. It's when you settle into the groove and your best writing comes out. I stumbled at the beginning. With the help of my wife and crit partners, I made a few course corrections and got it on track.
This is my third complete novel. They get better with each attempt. Is this the one that gets me on the board? I think so. I'm confident enough to start book two of the series in early January. I still have to write the proposal, which takes considerable time as well, and send it out to agents. Maybe by the time the ACFW conference comes along I'll be on my way. Will I quit if things don't turn out that way? Absolutely not. We try again. And again. It's what we do.
I am eagerly anticipating 2007, even January. What a wonderful life I have. What an awesome thing it is to have no regrets.
4 comments:
Way to go, dude! What a wonderful feeling, isn't it?? I'm about to finish my contemporary.
I know what you mean about having no regrets--it's a glorious thing, isn't it?
Have a great New Year!
A good attitude to have, I think. I'm ambivalent about your starting in on the next in the series (having done that myself both in a way I regret and in a way that worked very well for me), but hey, it's your life. Just be aware it can backfire on you.
On the other hand, I had completed The Serpent's Kiss right around the time we were negotiating contracts on The Devil's Pitchfork, so we were able to get a 2-book contract and use it for leverage in negotiations, and it made my publisher confident enough in my writing abilities that books #3 and #4 were contracted for on the basis of titles and one or two paragraph synopses, so yes, there can be an upside.
Congrats.
Best,
Mark Terry
www.markterrybooks.com
Congratulations! Great that you finished. Looking forward to reading it. Where's my red pen?
Congrats! I hope to be writing a similar post soon!
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