So today was Bree's first full day of school, and Dom's first day of school ever. It's also the first and only time they'll be in the same school together. They get out of school at different times, so we got to talk to Dom about his first day. He got a sticker today for reading a word in a book for the teacher, and he saw his big sister during lunchtime. She even gave him a kiss:) They're both getting so big, it's kinda sad and scary.

But it was so quiet here without them, and I like quiet:)

Baby boy is taking a nap, so after Bree got home I sent her and Dom out to play. Let them run off some energy before dinner...

Meanwhile I'm doing some heavy-duty writing, as well as working on a timeline for the book so I know exactly what happens on which day. That helps with the streamlining, too.

Overall a great day.

Jenn

Well editing tonight chopped about 16,000 words! Geez! Alot more than I thought. I have about two chapters to change pov in, a couple new transitions to write, and then it's just the ending... assuming the answer to my previous post is to leave the snippet povs as is.

The kids are being angels and hubby was called in to work tonight, so I might just have this thing thrown together tonight:) My mother is stopping by tomorrow to stay the night, so whatever I get done by dinner time is about all that will get done for a few days. Wish me luck!

Jenn

Other than the protagonist, the antagonist, and the love interest, I prefer books that have few POVs. But what do people think about snippet povs? You know, those one or two scenes from a random pov, that helps thicken the plot, or give a different perspective on one of the main characters. I have quite a few of them right now in First Heir, and I need to know if I should slash and burn them, or if having a few snippet povs isn't something to worry about...

Jenn

Gone, but not gone, I suppose:)

I was at the inlaws for twelve days and had a nice, relaxing time, but I *did* do alot of work. In fact, I got more writing/editing done in those twelve days than I've done in months. Insomnia stuck again while I was there AND I was participating in the proposal package focus group (which was amazing, btw, and I'll write more later) so I did alot of work and loved it.

I have edited the first three chapters of my still-playing-with-the-title book, and need a few volunteers to read through them since they're so new. I *may* post them on OWW, but if I did it would be closer to the end of the month. I'd rather have a few people who read the old versions take a look at the new one. I think I addressed every conceivable problem/question/concern from my reviewers and the members of the ppfg. I think they are super-sharp now... now all I have to do is examine the whole-book/plot issues I still haven't addressed. I have three possible solutions and I just need to pick one. I may do a poll, once I figure out how to summarize the changes I propose doing:)

Anyways, just thought I'd let people know I haven't been online much, but I've been working hard.

In other news, my story should be coming out this month in Beyond Centauri... I'm eagerly awaiting my payment and contributor's copy!!

Like I said, I'll post later about the ppfg. It really was amazing. I learned alot, as I had 13 reviews and did 13 reviews, not including the "please look at this revision" ones:) I've volunteered to hod another one in January, too, so if you have any WIPs you're going to be marketing next year, please think about joining the focus group. I think it's by far the best way to get feedback on a package before sending it out.

Tata for now...

Jenn

Well, I'm going through my book chapter by chapter to do a full, chapter-by-chapter synopsis to help with my regular synopsis for the focus group. It's something I did once upon a time, before revisions, and I can't find it regardless. While I'm doing that, I'm going through the whole novel review I received from Anna and tweaking a few things as I go. Moving a scene from the hallway to a bedroom. Little things like that.

I'm also marking things that I plan to cut in another version, one that recombines book one and two into a whole nother book. It requires alot of chopping, as together both books run to 225,000 words. I have to chop a thousand to make it work, but I thought of a way to do it while on my plane ride the other day. It's not something I plan to do now, but it's something that tickled my fancy.

Maybe my plan is ludicrous and I should throw it out the window. I don't know, but while I'm going through the book anyways, it can't hurt to think about what can be done without or rearranged. It might help if the novel is signed but the editors want changes.

Anyways, I've gone through the first third of the book doing my little chapter summaries and feel that sense of accomplishment. The book has changed so much from the last time it was shopped around and I like the changes. Anna's comments on the whole ms are helping me like it even more, as I tweak bits and pieces for clarity and such. EXACTLY what I needed when I asked for someone to go through the whole thing. I'm thrilled. Surprisingly there weren't any major issues in the first third. I'm crossing my fingers that the rest of the ms goes as smoothly:)

Anyways, I'm done for tonight. It's one in the morning and I get to get up with the kids in six hours. Hubby's time off is over and it's back to the grind for him. Tomorrow I clean my a** off because on Friday the in-laws show up for the weekend. The Saturday is baby boy's first birthday. Cakes are ordered (yes, two because hubby demands baby boy have a small cake of his own to tear into) and I got alot of my to do list done today. Booked the kennel for the weekend so stupid dog doesn't bark all weekend. No luck finding a home for her. Going to ask the kennel for some ideas. They also do adoptions. Anyways, I might not be online much until Sunday night when the in-laws go home. I have my synopsis focus group to check in on and such, but I'll be busy.

Jenn

I think my muse is back, not up to speed, but back. I'll be working on BH for a while. And maybe some short stories. I'm going to let the world of the heirs of Elcara sit for a while, including FTB (or whatever I'm gonna call it), BTF and my new Legacy book. I need something less complex, something fresh. BH is completely fresh and poses all sorts of opportunities and problems for my creativity. Plus it's a project I can work on with my hubby...

I stayed offline most of the day. Had company for the first time in ages and then drowned myself in episodes of 24. And now I'm off to bed.

I started this week off with five hours of sleep. Last night I got four. Never more than six, though. Stress gives me insomnia and the next five days or so will be incredibly stressful. I may not be online much, though I have the April Issue to get wrapped up.

Next weekend, though, I plan to cram as much sleep as I can into the four days he's off.

Until then, I'll be a bit of a zombie. But at least he's coming home tomorrow night.

Jenn

I finished Chapter three of Battle Healer tonight, after my breakdown and two shots of Bailey's Irish Cream. That's another 2500 words dropped. Nice. They aren't as elegant as the rest, and I don't have that much-needed end of third chapter hook, but I think it's coming soon and I can always recalculate the chapters to make that work.

It's mostly a poor little sylvan fey getting thrown into a world she can't comprehend with people she doesn't understand. But we have some nice magic cropping up, which I like. Hubby approved, though I had to redo some descriptions based on his feedback.

I'm much too tired and just a little tipsy, so I'm going to call it a night and go to bed. Exhausted, frustrated, but ending on a high note.

Jenn

I posted this on OWW because I need a larger scope for the feedback, but I'd like my trusty friends to have a say, too:

I'm working on the first three chapters on one of my finished books, getting it ready for the proposal package event, and I'm still confused about where the story should start.

I keep getting negative comments about the book starting off with everyday stuff. Character building thrown into a typical day so you can see who the story is about, get a glimpse of their personalities, and get your bearings before the catalyst hits.

This confuses me because almost every book I read starts with the character going about life until BOOM! Something happens.

So why I am getting comments that everything before the catalyst is a waste of space?

The catalyst happens at the end of the first chapter. That seems fairly early to me, not late.

I know without specifics it's hard to answer, but let's step back and be general. Where should a book start, how far in should the catalyst arrive, and what kind of information do you want before the catalyst hits?

Jenn

And yes, I'm still working on another revision for the query letter summary. Kill me now...

... I finished the edits on FTB. I wish I felt I could post the chapters on OWW for review, but no one would read them, I don't think. Too many edits, too many versions posted too close together. Pooh!

Anyone up to reviewing them offline for me? It's about 7350 words. If yes, email me. If not, I suppose they can wait for the proposal package event in June.

I have mucho work to do on the query letter, apparently (Thanks Patty!) but would still love other feedback before I play with it. Too bad Ms Snarky Shark won't be reviewing mine on her blog...

Anyways, here's the stats of FTB's 1st three chapters:

Ch 1: 0% passive, 79.9% reading ease and 4.8 grade level. 2618 words.
Ch 2: 0% passive, 78.6% reading ease and 4.8 grade level. 2324 words.
Ch 3: 1% passive, 79.7% reading ease and 4.7 grade level. 2408 words.

I tried to get rid of that 1% passive, but the three passive sentences work nicely the way they're written. Besides, I think it round up and I'd rate it a .5% passive myself:)

Anyways, I had to chop a whole seen down into one brief report, cut the entire dressing scene with Navessa (though it'll be moved to the next day where I originally had it - moved it for filler and now moving it back. Figures.), and morphed two scenes together so that the sister discuss their assassination attempt late the same night, not the next morning. Lots of work, which is why I'd like it read through. The first chapter only had minor edits, but the next two was slaved over for about two hours. That doesn't sound like alot but my bum hurts and my back and shoulders are aching. I feel like I've been here for ages.

Oh, that's why. I checked back at my LJ post that spurred these revisions. I've been working since 8, not 10. Four hours is more like it.

Anywho, I'm off for a hot bath (my characters got one and I'm jealous) and bed.

Sure got alot done today... don't know why I allowed myself to get so downtrodden this afternoon. It's been a good day, and successful in many respects.

Night!

Jenn

Over and over again I get feedback that a scene drops the tension of my book or story, that it's too normal, too ordinary, with not enough tension to push the plot onward.

I'm a bit troubled by the constant need for tension and dramatics, though. I like writing about the everyday stuff, too, as you could probably tell by CON. I like writing about family jokes, kids being cute, girls trying on dresses and joking about their dates. If everything is just one big mess after another, it feels too contrived. If there's always a shadow hanging over things, it ruins the pleasure. But more importantly, I think seeing the normalcy helps define the problems when they do show up. Especially with CON. Seeing the child grow in a normal, loving atmosphere makes it very clear he's not missing out on life and love as he grows, yet when he realizes he's not living with his real family, all he can see is what he didn't have, not what a wonderful childhood he did have. I like that definition, I think it's necessary, and it also happens to be exactly what my characters show me their lives are like.

I'm one of those organic writers who honestly feels like the stories are coming from the characters. I create them and breathe life into them, but they develop in unexpected ways, do things I didn't see coming, and give my books the vibrancy that keeps me writing.

Ho hum. I just don't know. Yes, everyone says the books all lose tension, but they also all agree that it's worth reading on. So what's right? I don't know. But I thought I'd post this here and see if I can get some feedback to discuss.

It's just so frustrating, and that's what's making it so hard to finish my books. The "lack of tension" comments pull me down and I get frustrated and want to throw it all away. Thank God my books aren't in paper format. I'd have shredded them again and again.

They say you have to hook the reader in the first few sentences, again at the end of the first chapter, and again at the end of the third chapter. And keep the rest of the book interesting. But with all those hooks, how are you supposed to create a rich world for your characters and let them live? I hate books and/or series that have one bad things after another happen. I like seeing happiness and the everyday. It makes things more realistic. Sure everyone has a bad day, but how likely is it that one character just keeps getting a storm of bad things happen to them over and over again?

I stopped reading Terry Goodkind's series because there' always one more big bad thing that threatens to destroy their world and there's always the unlikely hero (the same one, over and over again) to fix it. It's jut unrealistic that his world keeps getting threatened and turned upside down. And how many times can he lose his damned wife?!? After seven books it was too much. At least in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time there are several main characters all working towards realistic goals. Their lives aren't peachy, but then again the books don't have endings. It's not eleven books with eleven bad things threatening to destroy the world as we know it. It's eleven books encompassing their lives as they try to reach the ultimate goal. Yes, it drags on in places. There was a time when I thought he was purposefully dragging it out to make more money. But it seemed realistic that A should happen, then B, and watch out for C & D! Even so, there's a point of normalcy in each character's life, a point when they know what lays ahead but just live in the moment for now. And those moments are so precious...

Ok, I drag on. And I'm in the middle of review # 36. I should stop while I'm behind.

But I'd really love to know why normal life, filled with insights about the characters, need to be thrown out the window in favor of the next looming disaster? Afterall, if someone tried to kill you but you think it's a random event, you've survived and are unscathed, don't you try to savor life afterward? Spend time with family? Make new friends? You don't just cower down and wait, knowing something else has to be coming, do you? I've never come close to death, but I've heard it changes your perspective. That you start appreciating what you almost lost. So why can't my characters do that?

Jenn

Poll #1167343 What to do!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 2

What should I do next?

I had someone I trust read through what I have of CON and the same plot issues have risen from the dead, just for different reasons. Seems no matter what I do to kill them, they keep resurrecting. Evil necromancers!

She did give me much for food thought on how to resolve these issues, but, oh, the work! I switched back to CON after FTB and BTF because I wanted something simple and easy. I have again deluded myself.

Ho Hum. I took a look at Laurin, the other book I planned to finish in April. It should be better, but I'm uninspired. It also has about 35K to it and needs about 60K more before I consider it done. I thought it was more finished than that. It's also YA and I'm so confused by the YA scene right now. I'm not the only one. All everyone agrees on is that the rules no longer apply and you can pretty much do whatever you want. So much for rules. I'd like some guiding light, you know?

I spent part of today snipping Ryant out of BTF since the poor chap is dead. No difficult, but tedious. I did a find/replace on it and replaced his name with ***REPLACE ME*** so that I could find them easier. He's almost entirely removed so my biggest questions is what to expand on to give the book some depth. I know I need an interrogation, just not sure where it's appropriate and what should or should not be gleaned. And what about senior bad guy? He's not in FTB anymore, but I think I can explain that. I'm just not sure I want to.

I put aside FTB again because I really am having too hard of a time reading it slowly and carefully. I've never had this hard a time editing my own work. It's driving me bonkers. Luckily a friend, same one who read through CON for me, is willing to do FTB, too. I'm going to try skimming the rest of any major issues, and leave any minor line nits for someone who hasn't read this stuff a hundred times.

Regardless, I've been suffering from sinus congestion and pain, as well as a migraine all day. I'm crabby, in pain, and just want to run away to a comfy pillow on a cloud and drift away. I can't wait til tomorrow when the kids go back to school. Then it's only one more night of hubby working and life can revert back to a semi-normal pace. He gets four days off, then starts the day shift. Hurray!

Jenn

Am I the only writer who keeps a copy of each revision of a book, just in case you want to refer back to something you've since changed? I was looking for something tonight (which I never found) and realized just how many "working versions" of my books I have.

I started Finding the Balance back in high school (yes, that was in the early nineties) as a YA fantasy adventure split between Earth and a foreign world of Telcar. During college I revisited the book, named it The Heirs of Telcar, and tucked it away until my pregnancy in '97 when I had alot of free time and sleepless nights. I edited that first draft, and again tucked it away until about '01 or so when I joined OWW and posted the whole book through the workshop. I sent it out to Tor in August of 2003, my first submission.

Worked on it again at the end of 2005 and starting submitting it again in '06. It's still out at one publisher and I expect to hear back sometime in April. Since that time, I've reworked it once again, this time as a stand-alone, and plan to have it polished up by October. I'll start back at square one in regards to where to send it and it what order, since it's been ages, it's completely rewritten and revised, has a different title, and is now a stand-alone.

It is the book that will not let me go. I've finished the edits on it, though, have a draft of the synopsis, and just need to figure out hwo to get it read through before I consider it done. Once I've exhausted the markets and agents this time around, if it hasn't sold, it's dead. I don't know what that'll do to the sequel, BTF. Time enough to worry about that. It needs to be redrafted, or at least the beginning, now that FTB is a stand-alone. It shouldn't need too much work, actually. Just removing Ryant, who is no more. Poor guy:)

Anywho, that's not all I've worked on since high school. I have dozens of stories, as well as about a half-dozen other novels in various states of chaos. I dally with the stories every so often, submit a few and get a publication here or there, but I get bored submitted stuff; I'd rather be writing. It's my goal this year to finish four of the novels. Or should I say, to polish and submit two of them and to finish writing the other two. Then I have the two newbie novels, Battle Healer and Legacy. They may or may not see any action this year. I have to get the old stuff out of the way. It'd be a nice to have a portfolio of novels to send 'round. It's the dreaded synopses, outlines, query letters, etc that will slow me down, I think.

Back on topic, though, I have files upon files upon files of drafts for FTB, all the way back to it's first computerized version from college. I;d say about 50+ versions, most of them obsolete or duplicates. Impossible to sift through, yet I'm scared to delete any of them. I have a pretty good memory, and I can remember parts I've written here and there, and there has been times when I remembered writing about something, cut it, then wanted it back or wanted to use it as the base for something else. With a little work, I can find it. So these obsolete files have served purposes in the past. They didn't tonight, but it was a small bit and I couldn't remember any of the text exactly enough to do a proper search. Oh, well.

But I wondered if I'm the only one who keeps everything, a computerized pack-rat afraid to send anything to the trash. I have copies on iDisk, on floppy disk, on CD, and in various storage places online, too. If one day I really did want to clean up, wouldn't know how to start...

Jenn

Well, something a friend said in their LJ in regards to my worries about my on-again, off-again trilogy. Should FTB be a stand-alone? I have two versions - one cuts off any chance of the already-written sequel working at all. The other one is not stand-alone in even the slightest sense.

My friend said: "My instincts are telling me that you should market it as a stand-alone story. . . . Any sequel can be tweaked into a life of its own. I really believe that."

And my response (mentally, of course, because I try not to argue with generous people who offer their advice on my problems) was that if I leave it as the stand-alone, by sequel is dead.

So tonight I started thinking about how I could tweak the stand-alone into still allowing my sequel to work. Can you imagine it was pretty damned easy? Instead of killing off the sister, kill off the lover. He dies, life goes on. Sister dies and the other sister is a broken shell with only half the magic necessary to fix the world in the sequel. So Vienna resurrected tonight and Ryant died. Pretty damned easy to alter; I was shocked. And Arienne can still be pregnant in book 2, just daddy isn't around. Afterall, either way he knocked her up mid-way through book 1. His death didn't change that. Oooo, the possibilities.

So, anyways, now I have to rework my synopsis and find someone to read through the whole ms. I've made so many changes I don't know if I can catch any glitches anymore.

Then I have to rework bits and pieces of the second book to do away with Ryant. I also have to come up with a new beginning, since I had to take the first four chapters of the second book and attach them to the end of the first book so that their journey is complete. So much to do, and I'm so tempted to start tonight. But it's 4am and my hubby is already peeved that I didn't get to bed hours ago.

I should sleep... but I know my mind will be reeling from all of this.

Sometimes inspiration is a pain:)

Jenn

Well, I finished the synopsis for CON and realized people are gonna have alot of problems with the book. Not the plot, characters, etc, but when you can directly quote large chunks of the book into the synopsis because it already sums up events, then the book isn't telling enough of the story. Hopefully reviewers will tell me what need expanding. Since the book is on the short side already, that's a good thing. Maybe I was so happy to commit events to paper, I skimmed too much. Ok, not maybe. I skimmed too much. But it did help me write the synopsis:)

Synopsis is written, but it's five pages long and I think I've lost that edge, clarity, etc that'll allow me to objectively trim it down at the moment. I don't want to post it on OWW for several reasons: 1) I haven't scored any loyal readers to the book yet, and I want to do that before giving away the plot; 2) It's too long and too rough to have people nitting it; 3) I want to trim it down at least by half before polishing it. It needs to be put in present tense, for one and smoothed out alot. I just don't know what info is important enough to keep and what can go.; 4) I just posted three posts on OWW that have not a single review, so I don't want to pst anything new... duh!

So I did something I never do - I emailed some of my more loyal reviews and a few of my closest writer-friends to see if any of them have the time and/or desire to take a look at it. I trust all of their feedback greatly and if even one of them can help me out, it'll be a tremendous help.

Now I need to go do some dishes, some laundry, and - oh yeah - EAT! I haven't eaten anything since about midnight last night. I manage to keep three kids fed and happy but half the time I forget to feed myself and do silly things like sleep. One load of dishes and laundry done, then I'm back on OWW to do some long overdue reviews. I can eat while I do that, I think. Maybe.

Chapter One of Legacy is complete at 2240 words. My writing must be improving because it's 0% passive on the first try, with a Reading Ease of 81.5% and a Grade Level of 4.4

Hmmm... methinks I should compare BH and CON's first chapters:)

Okie dokie. So, Battle Healer is 2979 words, 1% passive (gotta find and fix that, eh?) 91.4% Reading Ease and 2.5 Grade Level. Hmmm. Don't want a 3rd grader reading that one I don't think.

Child of Night, after several polishes, in it's all-but-final form is 2188 words, 0% passive, 84.6% Reading Ease and a Grade Level of 3.5. Right where it aught to be. I haven't decided if it's YA or not. I think it could go either way. If I can try for adult fantasy, I will, but I can fall back on YA. Should it be the other way around?

Anyways, by comparing just computer statistics, Legacy is just as polished as CON, which has been reworked over a dozen times in the last three years. I'll consider that excellent news.

Now to see about a synopsis for CON. I hate synopses. Evil things. Ok, so not evil. More like the naughty gremlins that stalk into baby boy's room at night and tousle his hair.

I decided to go ahead and edit the first three chapters of CON based on the wonderful reviews of my favorite people - you know who you are! - and reposted them together. Then I threw up Chapters 4-7. We'll see how they fare. I don't think anyone has seen past the first three chapters before, but I could be wrong. Either way, I expect them to be raw and am prepared for a whole bunch of "what happened? the other three chapters were so much better than this!"

I'm also nervous about the transitions between gaps in time. I expect a few slaps on the hand for that, but I'm one of those organic writers who doesn't plot much out and this is the way Leandro shows me what happens. Blame him!

Anyways, now that I've gone and worked on CON, I feel better about my other two books and all the reviews ahead of me. Unfortunately, my stomach is extremely upset and I may not get another lick of work done tonight. Might need to lay down with a good old-fashioned paperback book. We shall see.

I wish my muse would pick a book and stick with it. I'm now in the middle of three books: Child of Night, Battle Healer, and now a brand new project, Legacy of the Emerald Throne. It's a book I planned to write after I finished the ill-fated Breaking the Fear, about Arienne and Vienna's mother, Breanne, who died very young of a a mysterious wasting away "disease". Now, I wasn't sure how I'd do the book without giving away the "secret" that Arienne and Vienna would have to learn on their own since mom was dead, but now that those books are dead, I can do so much more with Breanne's story. I didn't know where to start before, either, but my muse knocked me on the back of the head this afternoon and I've written most of Chapter 1 in the last hour. 1300 words. Maybe, when I'm done with Breanne's book, I'll have an idea how to fix my problems with Finding the Balance and Breaking the Fear.

In the meantime, I've got three projects I'm juggling and my muse can't seem to focus on one for long. I've been flipping between the new Legacy and BH today. I'm not actively working on CON right now because I want to see how crits of it go on OWW. About mid-way I'll know if I'm on the right track. I can't wait for the stupid crit contest thing to end so my readers come back. Everyone's drowning in contest reviews. I averaged 10 reviews on my BTF chapters, I'd like to get 5-8 on each of my CON chapters before posting something else. I may or may not post more BH chapters as I get them done, but I'm worried about getting and keeping readers on more than one project. Maybe I'll just post multiple chapters together of CON to get it reviewed faster. The chapters average 1500-2000 words each, so posting three chapters at a time isn't terribly huge, though I'd prefer no more than 4K words a post. Maybe posting two chapters at a time? Any thoughts?

Meanwhile I wish my muse would shut up for a bit so I can do some reviewing. I owe about 10 reviews, that's only counting people have have something posted that I haven't reviewed yet. Then I have two complete mss I'm going through, one for an OWWer and one fore a Critter. I enjoy being able to read a whole WIP at once, and I don't exactly need review points. I have 70+ and at the rate I pot stuff, they'll last me a while. I'd like to finish up OWW payback reviews first, then nail down one of the mss over the weekend. My husband is off to LARP in this crappy cold weather, so I'm alone with three kids for the weekend. Sounds like I wouldn't get any work done, but the kids all got to bed about 8 and I'm a night owl:)

Gotta run, but may post more tonight...

Well, after posting the synopsis and first three chapters of Finding the Balance, everyone said "been there, done that... what makes your book so special?" Ok. So they didn't say it like that. It was more like, "Hey the writing is spectacular, but..."

I spent a night thinking about it and decided I've held on to this series (now just a single book) for fifteen years. It's time to let go. I have two other books that people seemed to like. Let's work on those!

Now, I don't for one minute expect you to believe I just pushed Finding the Balance aside and said, "Oh, well." I admit it. I cried. I vented. I demanded of the sky why I'd wasted fifteen years of my life. But then I got over it. Quickly, actually, because I guess I saw it coming a long time ago.

Anyways... that's gone. Done. No more. Bye bye Heirs of Telcar. Arienne and Vienna are no more. Telcar, Mandora... all gone.

So since one of the two "golden" books is 2/3rds done and the other is all of one chapter (hehehe) I decided to try and finish the one that's closest to being done. IF and only if it got positive feedback on OWW. Well, it did. Stellar, in fact.

"This is what I mean! This is more like it. Yes, yes, I like this." AND Excellent chapter. I really thought the dialogue sounded true. AND The narrative has a nice stride that carries the story along at a consist pace and changes direction to keep up a high level of interest. We're still learning, but the learning is interesting because the more we know the more there is to discover. This works. Good hook at the end, too. Your vision of this place, these characters, and the direction of the story feels strong. Let's go.

Soooooo. I'm going to keep posting chapters, finish the last third of the book (yes, I know what happens I'm just not sure how much to tell along the way), write a synopsis, and try to have the proposal with me in October at Archon and the WFC. BTW, is anyone else going to either? It should be a smashing good time.

Jenn

Well, after a long discussion with my husband about the options I had for my trilogy, he gave me a great suggestion for a solid ending to the first book that would completely negate a second and third book. That doesn't mean I can't write them, but the book is now a stand alone novel, complete with a stunning, gripping end.

Ever scrap two books, one of them completely written, both of which tell over 250,000 words of surprises, twists, and otherwise great stuff? No? It's painful. I'm still in pain. But damn do I have a great book out of all of it. Finding the Balance is 125,600 words long and is as done as it's going to get. I'm going to start all over, resubmit it everywhere (you never know, maybe it being a trilogy is why it was declined several years ago - or maybe the market's changed) and see if I get any bites. If yes, great. If no, then I'm putting it away as a nice little project I started in 1993 that took me 15 years to finish. Geez, that's depressing.

The painful part is over, though. I did all my revisions over the last five hours, stopping only long enough to eat two donuts. I'm going to be a zombie in three hours when my kids get up, but I finished it. I even polished up the synopsis. How cool is that? I'm super-editor!

I've posted the synopsis on OWW and will be posting the book, as well, in larger chunks than I normally do (hey, other people do it all the time!) and will hopefully have a package out to agents within a month.

Then I have two other books to pump out - Battle Healer, the new project which people seem to love, and Child of Night, which is about 2/3rds complete. I have two other novels in various states of disregard I can work on after that. Feel that energy? Yep, that's super-editor morphing into super-author. Come to bring fantasy to the masses.

Yeah me! (As London Tipton says on my daughter's favorite show, The Suite Life of Zach and Cody) Yes, I know. But give me a break. It's five AM and I've been typing non-stop since 11pm. Sleep is for losers. And people with jobs.

:)