Thursday, September 04, 2008

The Agony of the Finish Line

Ok, so I'm not at the Galley stage on Pardy Boys, but I am finishing what seems to be a close-to-done draft. And it's agony. Five hour spell check, including formatting, etc. I've spent hours going over 30 pages of line notes. And at the last moment a draft got lost in the shuffle, so I had to painstakingly recreate it using TrackChanges: merge. It was as much fun as it sounds. But I am really familiar with my own material which feels nice. But I fear getting so close to it, I'm not seeing the problems from above. My mind wanders to "the next" book. I feel so well-armed from the conference that I don't want to lose momentum. But my arms literally ache from the hours of typing and mousing. Secretly I dream of sleep and Kansas where a country house I seldom get to visit waits for me.

The finish line. It waits.

Now get back to your book!

Graeme Stone Agency Review Invitational

Now that I'm in the "readers" stage of the Pardy Boys, I've got to start thinking about agencies. Anybody else poking around, got feedback that's printable? If not, email me privately and I swear it will go with me to my grave.

My dream is Writer's House, though I secretly believe they're too literary for me. I'm intrigued by FireBrand, and have a card for an agency from two years ago, which is when I first started pitching Pardy.

Lastly, if anyone wants to read it (250 pages of wild, young gay detective-ness), I'll gladly trade. If you know anyone who would like to read it, please pass them along to me.