My stomach drops a little every time I think about the folks who are feeling disappointed this morning because they haven't made it into the Baker's Dozen adult group. For as much as I've had happy tears in my eyes this morning over the jubilant email responses I've been receiving from the winners, I'm also painfully aware that not everyone has been afforded this particular warmfuzzy.
I've already talked about reasons Jodi and I say no. It sucks, but it's part of this journey. If anyone feels the meaning of "no" deep in her gut, it's me. (It's I, actually, but that sounds ridiculous.) You all know how long I've been at this thing. Many of you have been waiting for my Big Announcement. Some of you may be wondering how the heck I can have been agented for this long (it will be 4 years next month) and still not have sold anything.
Yeah. I wonder that, too. But it is what it is. This is my journey. I like who I have become because of it.
If you need a little pep talk today, read this fabulous article by Julie Butcher. (Talk about perfect timing.)
So Jodi and I have less than a week to finish up the YA and MG entries. WE WILL PREVAIL. We've got 2 more 2 1/2-hour sessions to go to get through the entries, and then 1 final session of about an hour to cull through the maybes and come up with our final list of 35. It's a wonderful excuse to spend time with my beloved Jodi, for sure. And to have things happen, like Jodi's sticking a ferret's cute face up close to the FaceTime screen, so that I squeal and reach for its nose, only to accidentally disconnect our FaceTime session. Or to thoroughly embarrass my husband by announcing to Jodi that he is currently standing just off-camera scratching his butt.
Good times.
Anyway! YA/MG winners will receive emails next Friday. (And please add facelesswords(at)gmail.com to your contacts to avoid the spam trap.)
As for me personally? I'm still drafting on schedule. I've got 45,500 words now, and may I just say that I don't think I've ever rambled so much in my life? I'm not sure what's going on, but by this point in my word count, I should be well into Act 2 of my plot arc. And I am just now getting into it. I really don't have plans to write a 135,000-word story, so obviously I'm going to have lots and lots and LOTS of tightening to do. This is driving me crazy!
Has it ever happened to you?
I'm guessing that I'm just needing to flesh out a lot of things -- particularly character relationships, as well as plot and worldbuilding. Honestly, I'm beginning to feel a bit exhausted. Is this story bigger than I had originally planned? Or am I truly just churning everything out so that it makes sense right from the beginning? I'd like to think it's the latter. All along, I've seen this novel as a stand-alone; I don't want it to grow to epic proportions.
But, hey. Sometimes these things happen on their own.
So that's me. Plugging along as always.
Oh, I almost forgot! I'll be doing a drawing this weekend to choose a winner from all those who commented on our genre mash-up. I'll also post the finished story (it's a bit scary-crazy). The prize: A 3-page critique.
(And if you didn't make it into the Baker's Dozen and you'd like me to critique your first 3 pages to let you know why your opening isn't quite working, email me at authoress.edits(at)gmail.com. It's $18 with a 1- to 4-week turnaround.)
Happy weekend!