Friday, October 31, 2008

The Curse of the Were-book

What is "ready"?
What does "ready" really mean?
What happens when a seemingly innocent manuscript turns out to be riddled with typos, grammar and punctuation problems?
It's the Curse of the Were-book, a shape-shifting demon that has confounded writers through the ages.

I read recently that a book should be three months finished before you even begin to approach people about representation. Whoever it was, she was right! Now that I've narrowed my list, and I've got my queries drafted, I can't lick the stamp, hit send, or even sit down anymore from worry. It's the Curse of the Were-book.

I'm reading, re-reading, and have had several readers give me their line notes. But is it "ready?" Will it ever be "ready?"

By Monday it will be ready. I'll have had four more days to ponder and procrastinate. They won't get it until after Halloween, Day of the Dead, and the scariest day of all, Election Day! Finally the Curse of the were-book will be broken!

Happy Halloween to all. I'm renewed, refreshed, ready to kick some curse ass!

Now go get some writing done!

2 comments:

The Bill Cochran said...

Geez as much as you stress about is it ready... makes me rethink whether my book was ready to send out when I did. And I still haven't heard back. Oh well... what's done is done. I believe your book is totally ready... good luck!

Jacqui said...

I think of my novel as more like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Half the time I love it and think it's a somewhat dorky genius. The rest of the time, it's an ugly monster, stalking me and interrupting my sleep with its horridness.

Happy Halloween.