Last month (here) I wrote about how bummed I was. Revisions to Book 1weren't going worth a shit. Really. Yeah, that book. The one no one was interested in. I was convinced it was crap. My writing was crap. My writing career would never happen. It was all crap.
Sort of like:
In fact, I became so unhappy with the whole concept, I shoved it off to the side and started working on some new projects. And, like the dumb-Ass I am at times, I also did this completely lame #Pitchmad thing on Twitter for my second book. Why not? I was already prepared for the inevitable response -
But here's the thing - the publisher liked it. THEY LIKED IT! I was all "OMFG" and "ROFLMAO" and - well... it wasn't pretty. Happy, very happy, but not necessarily pretty.
And then... AND THEN!!! I was offered a contract. Not just for Book 2, but the entire trilogy. THREE BOOKS, people. A THREE BOOK CONTRACT!!!
Well knock me down with a shot of Scotch - You can read all the details (here).
Which of course, made me all -
So yeah, a lot can happen in a month!
And what am I doing now? Well, I'm well into the second book in the PHASMs trilogy, with a deadline that seemed "do-able" at the time but is starting to make me cringe. I'm also working on the developmental/content edits my editor sent back last week - I love saying that - "MY EDITOR" and I'm also outlining book three in the series.
I've sent in my cover design questionnaire, my author questionnaire and my bio and I'm working on a list of places for book signings and other publicity for my publicist. Yes, I love saying that too - "MY PUBLICIST." I'm such a fucking geek.
My publisher (another thing I love saying) is anticipating a March/April release, with a preceding cover reveal and lots of fun to get everyone excited and chomping at the bit to read the book.
Because...
And do you really need a reason for a Chuck?
I'm doing my part as well. I'm running a contest the entire month of August to let YOU guys - all of YOU - pick my author photo. Hey, you might win an Amazon Gift Card too, but you have to leave a comment or "like" my Facebook page to do so. You can go (here) for the contest. After all...
And, because I don't have enough going on in my life right now, I've also joined the Masquerade Crew as one of their talented, multi-faceted and always helpful book reviewers. Yay me!
So, am I still an Insecure Writer? Oh, HELL yeah! I probably always will be. In fact, Sunday I was all freaked out and trying to figure out how to get the damn edits done: by line? By page? By issue? Crap - I had no freakin' idea where to start. I mean, my editor was nice enough to color code everything and send a master list - sort of like a "cheat sheet" for completely trashed authors to go by - but still, where the hell do I start?
It came dow to this:
Fortunately, I was commiserating (without alcohol, thank you very much - she lives too far away) with my friend JD (NO! Not Jack Daniels - didn't you read the whole "without alcohol part?) and, being the author/mentor/fellow OCD personna that she is, she pried me off the ceiling once more and gave me sage advice. Which I never would have figured out myself, because I was too busy hyperventilating and squee-ing like Miss Piggy at a bacon sale.
Tackle the big things first - the content stuff. The adds and deletes. The rest will follow.
So simple. So direct. So - JD! Oh - did I mention her third novel is coming out at the end of the month? Yeah - she's pretty awesome. And she has a contest going as well - check it out: (here)! Between her and my cp CP, I'm actually getting some work done. Of course, my Scotch input has drastically declined. But don't worry - my Rum intake is making up for it!
So - I'm off to the editing cave to do more
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