Yeah, that was a winning post title. Hmmm...I think I short-circuited my creative brain cell this weekend. Yes, singular. I'm pretty sure I only have one.
So, writing round-up, here we go. This weekend I finished what I hope will be my final proofread of Finding Sanctuary. Like the proofreading process for London Escape, it's seemingly endless. Here's how it goes. I start reading on my Kindle (I prefer my new Kindle Fire for this, since it's so much easier to take notes), the second I spot something I don't like, a goofy sentence, a missing word (gasp!) or a repetitive word or phrase I make a note of it (love Kindles for this feature!) After I've done four or five chapters I then sit down at the computer and work through these notes with my manuscript. I usually end up re-writing a sentence here and there. That's where I run into trouble. See, if I spot one tiny error, I want to start the proofread again. Which means I'll probably give it another skim-reading after I've finished with these notes. It's basically a never ending process. And it still won't be perfect. Frustrating much?
In other writerly news, this week kicks off the beginning of Amazon's breakthrough novel contest. This contest is HUGE. Let me tell you how huge, they only accept the first TEN THOUSAND applicants. Ten thousand. They've recently expanded to include five different awards in five different genres. Last year London Escape was finished just short of the end of January deadline, so it's been on my radar for nearly a year. The prizes are HUGE. Fifty-thousand dollars and a publishing deal. So yeah, I had to enter. Of course, in my head I stand no chance at winning. I've already received enough rejection letters to get used to the idea, but all I can do is try. My weakness is that I don't write "literary" fiction, but that might be okay since I' entered into young adult category Also, my other weakness is that I don't write what's trendy for YA right now (no dystopian or paranormal.) But you never know, that might be in my favor.
WHATEVER!
We shall see.
OH! And since I made a much-needed trip to the office supply store to stock up on legal pads and pen refills (took me two trips to get the right pen refills for my good pen, ugh!) I'm totally back in business on book three. Which is why I said I short-circuited my one creative brain cell!
