Where to?

It's Friday again - the weeks seem to go by faster and faster!

Monday I submitted UntitledSecondBook to a publisher. That bears repeating: Monday. I submitted it. Submitted UntitledSecondBook. To a publisher.

It'll be a while before I hear anything - everybody is going into the holiday season so I'm sure it'll be after business ramps back up in January before they get to it. I don't remember stressing about it last year (I submitted Game Plan in November and heard back in January), but that was likely b/c I didn't expect much from it.

And the question becomes - what do to in the meantime? I have a couple of ideas but neither feels like a really great idea worthy of a novel. I think that's why I like writing novels instead of shorts - coming up with worthy ideas is the hard part for me. Once I have an idea, growing it out and in, finding the details and describing the situation, building the characters - that's all fun. It's coming up with an idea that is tough. It needs to be worthy - relevant, interesting, new (well not new, nothing's new is it? But newly packaged)... It doesn't come easy to me.

I think I may come at it by a character this time... I have a few that are lurking in the shadows in my head. Sounds kinda crazy no?

Today I get to go by Woozles to drop off a few signed copies of Game Plan! I'm excited it'll be on a real shelf. A real book on a real shelf. How cool is that? So if you want a copy of Game Plan and are downtown Halifax check it out there - would be great if they sold out and had to order more! ;)

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17 Pages

I have 17 pages left in the UntitledSecondBook to edit before I throw up and send it off to the publisher for a submission. It's not any easier this time. In fact, I think it's harder. When I submitted Game Plan it was a pie-in-the-sky shot - nothing to lose, might as well send it. But now that I've published one book, I feel like I'm tediously treading on shaky ground - is a writer still a writer if no one wants their second book?

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Ahhh

It's 8:26am, the house is quiet enough that I can hear the heat pump and the dryer. My fatcat Abby is perched on my left leg, Luna is on Rookie's launching pad on the floor (he needs the pad there to jump onto the bed) and Rookie is snoring in the living room by the door. I have no idea why he won't sleep in here when I'm home? My tall glass of Diet Coke is half gone, but still cold - the bubbles are popping at the surface. The lights are down, but my desk lamp is on, spotting the computer. The clutter that lands on my desk through the weekend has been cleared away so that only my old Cabbage Patch doll, Danielle Daniel's  Brave girl print and Brett Lawrie (the bobble head version) are watching me...

I've got the whole day ahead to tie up loose Game Plan strings and soak in UntitledSecondBook edits.

Ahhhh.

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