When I told myself I wanted to finish my third draft of If I Let You Go by Christmas, I didn’t realize I had about half the book to go. This is probably because I was using two different types of paper stock. Oh well.
The first half of the book was painful to edit, but as the story went on, the writing got better. Because I didn’t write every day, some of the plots were a tad disjointed. I’ve done a lot to correct that. I’ve decided that I have chapters upon chapters to add, including a prologue. I might even change my entire ending. I still can’t decide. My editor, my amazing boyfriend, threw out an alternate ending that somewhat appeals to me. My ending leaves room for a second story. I’m not sure what route I want to take.
At current mark, we’re looking at 43,670 words. I set a goal to edit half the book by Christmas. Now, I’m setting a goal to type corrections and additions – at least 500 words a day/3,500 words a week – until it’s done. This will most likely be around January 20th. Keep in mind, I’m cutting some stuff out, so the book isn’t going to be 56,000 words. It will, I think, be about 50,000. I’ll try to post status updates here.
Then we go into round 4, where I will beg my boyfriend to read through it again. And I’ll review his notes, make possible changes, and honestly…
After that, I’m going to take a break. I’m going to work on cover art, learn how to set this up for publication, do some marketing, work on other stories… And then review it a final time. With luck, it will be like reading any other book. I think that after working with totally different characters and plots, I’ll be able to look at If I Let You Go more objectively.
I really want to get this story out there, but I don’t want to fall into the trap of being one of those self-published atrocities who makes typos and misses details and has the writing ability of a piece of cork.
This Christmas eve, one of my boyfriend’s relatives announced to the family – who wasn’t paying attention – that I wrote a book and she hoped she’d see it in the Yankee Swap. It wasn’t there, but I am hoping it will be available sometime in March, or possibly slightly after. I should have a date in mind roughly one month before I’m ready.
On another note, I do want to comment on sexism, misogyny, and objectification in this industry because I’m finding them on some level.
In my quest to make writer connections via Twitter, I started DMing with someone – mostly conversational stuff. What do you do for a day job? What do you write about? That kind of thing. I did some research on the guy. He’s written a number of books – all with God awful cover art – but they’ve sold some copies. One in particular garnished several dozen reviews.
Now, you can go on Fiverr and pay for fake reviews. Just because someone has reviews doesn’t mean they’re real – let’s keep this in mind. He also has over 50,000 Twitter followers. Again, these can be bought. Or, they could be real. I’m open to the disappointing possibility that people legitimately like this slimebag.
This guy started calling me sexy, pretty lady, etc. I could see right where it was going. Show me your t*ts and I’ll tell you the tricks of the trade!
Show me a kindergarten coloring book and I’ll point out the fonts that would look better on your book covers.
Lady writers, don’t fall for this sh*t. We are totally capable of being successful without resorting to participating in unsavory things. I promptly blocked this loser.
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