Sorry for the absence, but I fell off the globe for a bit: deadline drop-out.
The way I’ve been working with The Task Master (editor Dan)—or, rather, the way he has been working me—is in segments, 80 to 140 pages of The Next Novel at a time. Each time, finishing a revised segment has had all the intensity of finishing an entire novel: sleepless nights, dazed expression, constant preoccupation with the story in front of me.
I sent finally sent off this last segment—all of Part III (I’m getting there!)—on Saturday afternoon, after a creatively stimulating brunch with author C.M. Mayo. I attended her writing workshop the next day at the San Miguel Writers’ Conference: I’ll be using a number of her suggestions as I begin the more refined layers of the revision.
As The Task Master prepares the next segment (might it actually be the last?), I’ve cycled back to the beginning of the novel, making changes. I’ve promised the manuscript to my agent April 1st: that’s not far off, but it’s a deadline I’d really like to meet.
I’ve so many things I want to discuss here: the feedback on my title (which I threw open to readers of my newsletter), ideas that Catherine and I tossed about about publishing and promotion, her fantastic workshop, some experiments I’ve been doing with ads on FaceBook and StumbleUpon, some great blogs I’ve discovered, great books ….
But there I go, on the amble …
Isn’t that a wonderful expression? I discovered it this morning, researching 17th century theatre vocabulary. And no, it has nothing to do with theatre.
