Editing madness

A Dream and A Kiss is entering its final stages of development. I recently joined a critique group of local writers and submitted the first few chapters to the group for beta reading and editing. I got some really good and very helpful feedback. Positive feedback included "I feel like you really know your characters," "If you get this cleaned up a bit, it could easily be the best book on my shelf," and "For a first draft, it is really clean."

I must admit, those points made my head swell up at least two sizes.

Critique points included things like my characters acting inconsistently, needing to add action tags to make my characters come to life a bit more on the page, and a few points about clarifying historical accuracy.

Overall, I'd say I fared pretty well. I always feel a bit anxious when I release my work into the universe. I spend so much time with my characters that they become almost a part of me. To hear anything negative about my work is painful for me. I know, I should grow a thicker skin, and I'm working on it. Not everyone will like my work, I know.

So, now I'm gearing up for my second critique group session. I'm feeling more and more confident about the quality of my story and I can't wait for Warner's story to be completed. He is such an intriguing character and he certainly meets his match in this book. He is going to have a couple lightbulb moments along the way and, of course, we'll have a visit from his two brothers later on in the story.

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2016 and the end of the holiday season. Phew! We made it.

In the last four weeks since I blogged last, I have continued to work on my novel, had my 2nd wedding anniversary, multiple holiday parties, holiday travel, Christmas Day and all of the associated binge eating and general merriment, reunions with old friends and family members, more travel. Oh, and I caught a cold. Instead of ringing in the new year with a champagne toast and passionate kiss as the ball dropped, I was snuggled up on my couch in a Benadryl-induced haze. Luckily for me, I am finally feeling better.

I don't typically do New Year's Resolutions. Let's be honest, I'll be all gung-ho for the first few weeks and then motivation will falter and discipline will desert me. However, this year, I resolve to finally finish my current two works in progress. I want to get at least one of them ready to publish and be well on my way for the next to release. I am sorry to report that, per the previous reference to motivation and discipline, both of these qualities have fled in recent weeks. What that really means is that I need to get my butt in gear and get to work, which I am hoping that my newly acquired editor and critique group will be helping me to do. Nothing like a little external motivation to keep things moving, eh?

Therefore, my plan to have A Dream and A Kiss ready to release mid-February may not work out as planned. I can't release it in its current state...that is unless I want to lose all credibility as an author and alienate what little readership I have acquired up to this point. Quite the opposite of my master plan, to be honest. So, I'll simply have to keep pushing back the release date until it is ready.

Now, it's back to work I go...