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Saturday, February 20, 2016
Friday, February 5, 2016
60 Days until Mind in the Clouds Release with 2.5 Versions…and Counting?
Time flies when you’re writing.
By my countdown clock on Mind in the Clouds, I am just 60 days from its release. And by the word counts on my various drafts, I have enough material for about 2.5 books. Of course, every author writes and re-writes paragraphs, even chapters. And on occasion, I save my drafts until I am certain which way I want to go. But interesting to me, that word count I mentioned before includes two independent and relatively complete manuscripts.
I am not sure how it works for any other author; I am not even that confident that this is typical for me, as I am talking only about book 2 here, not number 27. But, for the first two, I ended up with a couple of viable drafts even just weeks before going live. Don’t misunderstand me, I am not talking about two different stories, but rather the same story, but with substantial differences in timing, emphasis, and tone.
I understand the source of my dual-manuscript predicament. It is the result of my reluctance to show anything to anyone until I have a complete draft. And that reluctance stems from the fact that, in lieu of an editor (whose services I can’t afford even if I could obtain one), I am taking advantage of my friends. I know I need someone to tell me when the suspense has slipped away. I know I need someone to say when I have gotten carried away with backstory. And I know that, on occasion, someone needs to slap me upside my head when the psychological theory I quote is longer than the narrative. But I can only abuse my friends so much, and that means, I cannot be coming back to them every month with a new chapter 2.
So, until I hit the big one (a best seller, not the lotto), I guess I’ll just be writing a couple of books for each one I publish. And the night before it goes live, I’ll be sitting there at my laptop, finger poised over the submit button, debating, version A or version B…
Happy writing,
BmP