Tuesday, March 15, 2011

My Writing--where it is now

I've been revising my novel THE WAY THE WIND BLOWS, keeping in mind the feedback I've gotten from editors through my agent. A number of the editors had similar concerns, so I itemized them, and made decisions about which ones I agreed with. I've been fixing those things, rewriting in places, changing a number of word choices. I think the story is stronger than it's ever been.

One of the common assessments was that Sidney's parents' situation should be placed up front and not used as a "reveal" later on. That has worked much better. I thought it would limit the story, but it's actually much better.

One of the things that has been keeping me going is that the editor from Penguin said they had passed my manuscript around for a while as they were deciding. I think they were fairly close to signing me. Now hopefully with the rewrite, they won't hesitate. I can't imagine anything more exciting for my writing than signing with someone like Penguin.

I'll be working on my soccer book DEFENSIVE in the next few days. I want to get it ready for editors by the end of the month, if I can. I have some ideas about what I need to change, but overall it's going to take some investigation.