I am thrilled to announce that I finished the revisions on my second novel!
I should have made this post two weeks ago, but the very minute I hit “send” to get my manuscript into the hot little hands of my extra special beta readers, my body decided to succumb to the viral miasma my kids have been bringing home from school all winter. I have been brutally ill ever since.
I suppose I should be grateful I managed to complete the revisions before contracting the plague. I am, really. But I am also wallowing in self-pity. I have never been so laid up by a virus! Usually I just take whatever necessary medications to suppress the symptoms and get on with life. That just isn’t working this time. I have barely managed to peel myself off the couch for the better part of two weeks and have spent most of my time napping or staring blearily at the wall and wishing I’d gotten my flu shot this year.
Anyway. I am tentatively feeling better today. Not totally better, but the cold-meds can get me through the day kind of better. So I’m in my office and going to try to get some work done that I planned to finish last week.
My husband is the first of my beta readers to finish and get back to me. He’s stuck up north on the ice road, and had plenty of time to read while waiting for his crossing. Some writers say you should never let your significant other reader your work. But my husband has always been my first reader, and often gives me some of the best feedback. He’s not a writer himself, so he doesn’t bother me about stylistic choices. And he has a great mind for details, so he’s quick to pick up on little inconsistencies in my descriptions. He did not find any major plot holes and says he loved the book. So I have high hopes for the next few to come in!
This whole outlining, fast drafting, and then revising process has given me hope that I can actually put out a novel a year. Or maybe even two! Once I’m finished my current “real job” project, I’m going to start outlining book three and it will be back to the grindstone for another couple of months.
How is this winter treating the rest of you? Anyone else caught the flu from hell? Hope you’re all taking care!
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