18 to 24 January

Weekly word count: 5200 words

I'm nervously counting down until my proofreads arrive back and I can actual post Revelations on Amazon.

But I'm also pleased with how Metamorphosis is coming along.  I've ripped apart the plot and put it back together again with a better plot line and character arcs.  I do this fairly often when writing my "first" draft.  I find it takes me four or five times through the material before I have a draft I feel is worth sharing.

The constant rewriting is why I don't do elaborate plotting right from the beginning.  I have my outline and my photo album full of cue cards so that I can make notes.  But I know I'll end up ripping most of it apart anyway.  So I do a careful and detailed outline for the first ten chapters and let the rest stay nebulous and vague.

I'm also looking at starting up a Twitter account.  I know it's a great connection tool but I've been wracking my brain about what I could possibly tweet since I don't tend to venture too far from the office and home on a regular basis.  But it occurred to me that there is one area where I venture out: the books I read.  So maybe that's an option.  I have my Goodreads account but posting a review of every book I read would be time consuming.  This way I could do a one sentence review, which might be easier.

First two weeks of January

Life got away from me last week, mainly because I had my nose to the grindstone.  I got my line edits done, leaving proofreading as the final editing step.

Now comes the breathless waiting to see if I'll get my proofreading done before my release in February.

This has been very educational, although emotionally difficult.  I'm fairly thick-skinned when it comes to my work.  I can appreciate constructive criticism and I'll swallow my pride to learn.  But that doesn't mean I don't have the self-esteem crashes and "But that's not what I meant!" soundtrack wailing in my head.

My book is better for having been edited and I'm very grateful to everyone who has taken the time and energy to think about it and teach me what to do.

I've done considerable reworking on the plot for Metamorphosis.  Things feel tighter and more interesting now.  I'm going back to a weekly word goal.  If I want to have my draft done for end of July, I need to do it.  4000 words a week.  No exceptions.  No excuses.

Starting off 2015 right

Welcome to the year I make my debut as a professional author ... or the year I crash and burn as I'm revealed as a talentless hack.  Whichever.  Either way it should be entertaining for the audience.

I'm slowly pulling my act together.  There's still a lot to do but I signed up for a blog tour with Xpresso Book Tours.  And I'm recruiting help to figure out why my Createspace account doesn't want to acknowledge my existence (I've tried sending flowers but it's not working). 

I've gotten my first round of line edits done and now I have my second round to do and my final proofread before the only thing standing between me and my release is my own administrative work. 

I also think I found a title for the sequel to Revelations.  I'm thinking Metamorphosis.  Any thoughts or suggestions?