If any of you watch my word meters (which I update diligently any day I write, even if I don't blog), you may have notices that the Write-O-Meter for Lady Libertine has stalled at 1,700 words, but the Revise-O-Meter for Living in Sin has been moving steadily toward the right.
I know, I know. I said I was going to write Lady Libertine and worry about revising Living in Sin later. But a funny thing happened on the way to that plan: Living in Sin finaled in another contest and I got so excited about my query letter that I absolutely had to send it to an agent. And even though I don't expect a request for a full from either of the contest or the agent (I believe in underexpecting and overdelivering!), if I were to get one in the coming weeks, it would be so not ready.
After fretting for several days over my manuscript's utter unreadiness for prime time, I realized I had a pretty good feel now for what should go and what should stay, as well as where I needed to tweak to ramp up the romantic conflict. So I decided to set Lady Libertine aside for a couple of weeks and focus on getting Living in Sin down to something approaching a saleable word count. I'm hoping for 105,000 words in this pass, but suspect it'll wind up being closer to 110K. But then I'll hand the whole stinking mess over to my wonderful critique partners for additional suggestions, and maybe on a final pass, I can get it to 105K or even 100K.
So that's what I'm doing with my time. What're you up to?
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Let's see. I've unburied myself from critiques, which means I can work on my own stuff. So I updated my WIP page for If You Asked A Rake to Reform. Fun!
I think by my emails you know that I've been in query hell for the past several days. Today, however, I'm really finished tweaking and I think I'm as pleased as I ever be with it so THIS IS THE ONE I'll be sending off to you.
I think it's neat that all writers "write different". That being said, I write short. . . usually my first draft comes in quite a bit shorter than my estimate. . . then, I revise, adding in a conflict here, a layer of symbolism there, a bit more sex here and there and voila, I find I've added several thousand words.
I often think taking out has to be easier than putting in. . .
I just made a promo site for an anthology I edited. Does that count as something I've been up to? :)
What I've been up to... well, I finished my EC challenge story; it's around 13K with room for expansion in edits (go me!)
How's yours coming along?
Yes, Jody, promos for anthologies "count", LOL!
And Annie, I've got a word meter for Untitled Short Story. That's the EC thing. It's sitting at about 3,800 words right now and I'm aiming for 12,500 (to give myself room for expansion, just like you). I have to admit, I like the story so much, if EC doesn't take it, I'll probably expand it to true novella size and try to market it someplace else.
Oooh, you tease! Bring it by my blog tomorrow for Workshop Wednesday. I'm doing first pages; we can help each other out.
I'm scrambling to keep up with my Friday blog, FanLit Forever entries, and critiquing. My revisions on my WIP are closing in on the end. It's going well.
I've done exactly the same thing you have, Jacqueline. I got a win on my current WIP and dropped revisions on a book I love to make this one ready. Only I never got around to sending my query letter. Oh well, it needed doing.
Alice
who blogger hates
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