Currently, I’m sitting out a monster of a storm on vacation. The trees are whipping back and forth outside my hotel room window and it’s pouring down buckets of rain. And yet, I’m still probably in a better head space than I’ve been in awhile.
For one thing, I’m at one of my favorite places in the world. For another, school has finally finished with the receiving of my grades, and though they weren’t what I would’ve liked, they’re still pretty good. What’s more, it marks the end of another school year, one more down until I’m done. Even better, I’ve been getting a lot of writing/rewriting done.
The Back to Roots rewrite is nearing the halfway point, or so I think now, so that’s really good news. I have about five weeks left to get the first draft done, and right now I’d say I’m in pretty good shape. (Note: this may change in a few weeks when I start running up against that self-imposed deadline and beating my head against the wall, but for now I think I’m doing okay.) Plus, I’m in large part liking what I’m putting down on the page, and I’m able to keep a fairly good two book arc in my head and think about what goes where.
There’s been some exciting news on The Recruited front that led to me doing a rewrite of chapters one and two, along with the query letter, sooner than I’d perhaps planned. I’m not going to elaborate right now, because I promised myself I wouldn’t in case things don’t come together, but I will say that I’ve finally caught a break that may or may not end up being lucky.
Having my parents help me edit my query letter, as well as the first five pages of the new Chapter One of The Recruited helped immensely. I knew I’d done my rewriting at least somewhat right when my mom sat back and said, "Now I’d even read the book." (If you know my Mom, you’ll know she wasn’t trying to be insulting.)
Haven’t been working on any of my prompts challenges yet, but that comes later. Once I’ve got a first rewritten draft on the page, I’ll get on with those. And hey, I’ve got my twenty-five songs, so I’m already ahead.
Anyway, I’m going back to enjoying my vacation. More updates ahead.