Happy Official Start of Summer, everyone! I hope you’re enjoying the weather where you live, and not suffocating in this terrible Midwestern humidity like I am.
Since it has been over a month since I’ve blogged and I’ve had a super busy spring, I thought I would just do a quick rundown of everything that’s been going on writing wise and otherwise.
I finally finished an extensive rewrite/revision of Facing the Music back in May, and I am super stoked. This story has been such a roller coaster ride for me, but this is the most excited and encouraged I’ve felt about it in a long time. Part of that excitement has to do with finally going back and charting my progress over the years, from initial idea to now, and being amazed at how far I’ve come. When all that you’re focused on are the endless, trying days of revising and rewriting and reworking, it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture and forget that all your hard work is going to make the story better.
The other thing I’m excited about though, at least as far as Facing the Music goes, is that I am going to start querying soon. No more wimping out, or deciding to rewrite the whole freaking thing another time. I’ll be sending this revised version out for one more look from a couple people I trust, and then I’m going to make the changes and jump in headfirst. I could spend forever striving for perfect, but I’ve finally realized that I’m not striving for perfect. I’m striving for a story that I can be proud of, and ultimately, a story that’s published. And I’m not going to get there if I never let anyone else read it.
In the interim, I’ve been working on yet another draft of my mystery WIP, which is progressing fairly well. This has been such a tricky project for me–partially because I’m new to mystery writing and partially because I had never quite managed to figure out how I wanted to frame the story. I’d always envisioned something complicated and messy, with multiple POV characters clamoring to share their version of events. And every time I re-started my drafts, I’d be trying to shape the story into something else. Now that I’m letting it be what it wants, and damn the torpedoes, I’m enjoying the drafting process a lot more.
I’ve also been reading like crazy, and reading as widely as I can. I’ve been spending lots of time with friends and visiting with family, planning a vacation, and experimenting madly with smoothie recipes as a way of beating the heat.
I hope you’re enjoying your summer just as much as I am, and that you’ve found plenty of time for writing, relaxing, or whatever else you love to do when it gets warm. 🙂