Editing whirlwind

So I have this wonderful publicist who believes in my book and wants to promote it to other publishers. I knew it needed some serious proofreading. So how do you proofread 185,000 words in just a few days? Call in your friends, writing buddies, and critique group!

I'm a very, very fortunate man. My alpha readers were busy, and my small critique group was busy. But my other writing friends and critique group were not. So I was able to recruit 13 readers to do a crash proofread from Friday to tomorrow. Now that is amazing. When I think about it, I've had about 25 active readers provide feedback in the last few weeks. I just hope I can sell that many books! I may have tapped out all the possibilities... ;-P

Still, I can't believe the awesomeness of these folks. Really, to pull together like this, at the last minute, when I can see how busy they are. Truth is, I've cashed in a lot of favors, and now am indebted to the gills. They've been extraordinary, and have proven to me that no matter how many times you read something, you can always find something else. So at some point you just have to put the pen down and let go.

So, I finish this tomorrow, off it goes, and then I can concentrate on my trip to the Marshall Islands and Tonga. Come July, I'll have some serious critiquing due for others...

To post or not to post...

This is one of those posts that is not really a post. I mean, you have to post to keep people, like you, amazing readers, amazed and reading. But sometimes there is really not a whole lot to post. So what do you post when there is little to post? A post about there being little to post about.

I wonder if this is annoying, or actually some totally cool chiasmus that I wasn't aware of???

Anyway, my Mom was here for the weekend. She's a wonderful southern lady originally from Tennessee, now from KY, and so we of course had to watch the Preakness this weekend! It's in the family blood! What an amazing race, too. The filly won. I don't care about the odds--that was extraordinary and not necessarily a clincher. What a horse.

Well, since this is really a post about nothing in general, just to keep tantalizing you, I'll finish writing nothing about something. Or is that something about nothing???

I Submitted My MS to a Publisher!

Yep, per request, I sent it in. Now I'm totally on that roller coaster of freaking out and not knowing how to handle this awesome experience. Of course, this is a special circumstance, and though I pitched the book successfully, the publisher doesn't currently publish epic fantasy. But there is the tiniest possibility this could be their first endeavor into that genre. If not, I'm still amazed at my good fortune and grateful for this person's interest in my work. At the very least, she will provide professional feedback and may have more to offer.

How awesome is that? How tremendously blessed I feel!

Writing Groups--Awesome!

Ever wonder about critique groups, writing groups, and such? The reality is this: if you want your writing to improve, you need impartial readers giving you honest feedback. You need people who understand something about what you write--your genre, your style, your target audience, etc. People who know the difference between a broadsword and the broad side of a barn. That's assuming there still are barns where you live.

Anyway, the point is that I have received some awesome feedback from folks from my bootcamp at Storymakers. These people are good.

But I've also joined another writing critique group online. That group has some excellent contributors, but my reality is that I just don't have the time that they do. I'll see anywhere from 15-25 posts a day. And there are a lot of people on this critique group. And they have a lot to contribute.

That's the problem. I want to be a part of the group, but my life is just prohibitively busy. Work, family, church, attempting to edit and write my own things. I think maybe I need a smaller group, I think. One with as much fire and gusto, but not quite so much happening that I feel broadsided. By the barn, not the sword.