External modems and internal vision

I feel guilty being even the slightest unhappy with my world, when I have water, food, a roof over my head, and medical care (at least until March 31st). But, it is the only way to let you know I have not abandoned my blog, it has just been a bit hard to get to lately.

You would think that you could plug in a new computer and be good to go, alas, NO!

My faithful Gateway tablet gave up its ghost. I am obsessive about back ups and also got a few hours advanced warning that things were not right, so i did not lose my book or anything, however, my new Dell Inspiron 1545 came complete with OUT a modem.

Okay, you look through the list of stuff you are getting and you notice what they are giving you but nowhere did it say, at least in noticeable letters, you do NOT get an internal modem. I then ordered one and got online quite fine until I went to my Master's Daughter for Christmas and enjoyed WiFi, came home and my Internet would not work.

Yes, I am still on AOL dial-up. It stinks, but it is all I have, so i checked the setting and I was indeed trying to go on dial-up, with my external modem and then I spent an hour, on the phone with Dell. We did so much changing that I could not possibly write down each step just in case and sure enough, just in case happened the next time I went to the library on DSL. And, it did.

So, I am currently on a very old Windows XP desktop, on dial up. Some days I can get on, some days I cannot. I am working on the laptop again but my eyes are complicating all of it.

This is also not the month to fight anything having to do with reading as I am having cataract surgery and, while I now have 20/20 vision in my right eye (a new one for me) I am really struggling to read. Believe me, had I known and if this was elective surgery, I would not have done it. I would rather wear glasses and be able to read easily. But, since cataracts have to go, I did not have a choice.

I am sincerely hoping that tomorrow, after the left eye is done, that things will eventually even out or whatever, at the very least I will get reading glasses, and life will be back to normal; well, as normal as my life ever gets, once i get my laptop working on line.

My Logline is finished! Hooray!

After a week and a half solid spent rewording my logline, not counting all the odds and ends of hours I spent in the past, I finally had a logline. Sent this one to my Master's daughter and five minutes later she sent me back a logline I like a lot better.

Diplomatically, she suggested I was too close to it and that I am working too hard to follow all the rules I read on the net. I think she is right about the second one. I want to have everything just right and ready when I send it out and am spinning in circles from it.

As far as being too close, that might be correct also, but I think I am just not looking at it from the right angle.

So, here is my new logline, my original edition, with major revisions from daughter and with revisions from myself:

A neglected trio of brothers with the will to survive, journey to a land ruled by the Thunderer of the Iroquois nation and guarded by a fierce black dragon man. As they strike out on a quest for security and friendship, they find that learning can be full of magic, compassion does exist, friends come in all sizes, and some battles are worth fighting.

So, now you all know what my Advanced Middle Grade Fantasy Novel is all about, and I may move onto the various synopsis, bios, marketing plan, query letter, writing experience and education; oh, and I am doing the WebSite NOW. You just have to bite the bullet and do it.

You really MUST read it aloud

As many times as I thought I had just one more edit, I do believe, this last edit was the last edit. It was the "read it aloud" edit and I am here to tell you that it is the one edit you must not skip. Nothing compares to you reading it outloud. You cannot do it while reading it to another person either. Do it alone. You will find all kinds of things, like places where the word "began" is better than the word "started", or where you should have a comma where a period should be or vice versa.

Husband was gone for three days picking up oldest son, Gaffer, from Duluth, Minnesota, where he was stranded after a three month futile job search. The second boy, EMT, was working each day and the youngest, JRock, was in school, so I took those three days to read my book. It was highly productive.

I had recently printed it out and had husband and EMT do their read throughs, marking comments. Now, it is Gaffer's and daughter's turn. I will take all the help I can get.

So, after having a month of power outages, a tornado and a large limb on my roof, and a computer melt-down, I am off to work on all those pesky things I need to submit. First up, is my log line and, while I have written about that before, I have found some new help, think I have a good one written and will write about that next post; providing I have power. It went on and off twice so far this morning.

Trials and Tribulations

And, just what does it tell you about my blogging, when I take a month off from posts and I gain a follower? Curiouser and curiouser! Forever, I have had one loyal follower, who has followed me through my "here is how to do your XYZ, on your website building or in your book, and then, Opps! I found a better way" postings.

I do thank you A LIFE IN THE DAY OF ME for being a loyal follower. Perhaps she is just too lazy to cut herself off from being a follower, or doesn't want to hurt my feelings, but thanks for whatever the reason is. And, thank you SHANI for joining our party.

I am still working on both the web site and the book.

I am downsizing the work involved in the website. It was taking too much time from my writing, when I am finding time at a premium. There will be nothing fancy, just get it up and done. I am tired of people telling me about all the broken links on my old one and I just want it all fixed.

I am up to chapter nine in the editing with Master's Daughter and her ideas have been invaluable so please do find a writing partner who can read your work and provide valuable insight. Master's Daughter is not for hire. She is actually working at Notre Dame this summer on some new fancy microscope. So, she is all mine, when I can get her.

The lack of posts. Could I just be lazy? I don't know but we have had a spate (gosh that's an old fashioned word) of illness. Mom was in the hospital again for her Congestive Heart Failure. I threw my back out, went to the ER, opted not for Steroids but to take Ibuprophen. Three days later my stomach was in such a mess I could not eat. So, now I have to have a stomach scope. More than you wanted to know, right?

Anyway, I lay here, propped with pillows, taking an occasional Hydrocodone for my back, and a something or other for my stomach and trying to focus on my book.

I do think it is time for an isolated writer's retreat. I'm off to do research on finding one. Hope you are all well. And WELCOME, new follower.

Yipee Ki Yi Aye! Character charts done!!

Character Charts are all redone. Like everything, it was a bigger job than I thought. As I went through each character chart, it was much easier to visualize these characters, now that I have lived with them for a while.

Several of the characters had their parts, in the book, fleshed out in the book as well.

Today, I was able to spend some time with Master's Daughter in person. I had to bring my spanking new Character notebook, complete with colored index tabs to separate teachers from students, from others. Her response?

"Okay! Now I know where I got the 'must have it alphabetized, organized, and in a folder' phobia from."

In all fairness, to moa', I believe it originated with my mother and goes hand in hand with the office supply mania we all have.

Now, if I could just learn to spell in Cowboy, my title might make sense

Instincts and names

I am currently revisiting the names of my characters. Some of these folks just have their own mind and do not want to be who I thought they were and, as their true colors come through, they need better names.

Daughter and I debated her feeling that she would rather discover who these people are than have a name hint at it. This debate was never resolved, with both of us seeing both sides to the issue, and me being of a mind that my eleven year old reader may well not even know what the name "means" the first time they read it anyway.

I have also tended to use names by the fact that I have never met a "Butch" who wasn't rather a bully. The first Butch I knew, beat my brother up every other day. He was around twelve at the time and my brother was under nine. So, think bully, I think Butch. This site Bad Baby Names put a new definition for "Butch" in the mix. One I had not thought of.

Then, there was AOL's article Does Your Name Spell Success? - Careers Articles. A real quick simplification of it is that if your name starts with an A or a B, you sit to the front of the class and your grades live up to your initials. Those whose names start with D and F however, tend to get those grades. There is a lot more to it, so you might want to read it, but it is something to think about. Also, read the numerous comments underneath that totally disprove their theory.

My last name put me at the end of the row of students and often at the back of the room; which was not real successful with my poor eyesight. I got eyeglasses and A's. So, I think our lesson here is to read the available information and take it all with a grain of salt. If it works for your character, it is right. If you change his/her name five times, try out the first name you thought of for the character. It may have been the right one all along. Trust your instincts.

Life goes on and so does editing

As much as I would like to hibernate in a room and just write, life keeps on moving around me and requiring my attention. So, this week, I took the dog to the vet for some unexpected surgery and then was up all night with her, was at the ER till 1:00am with my EMT boy the next day (he keeps passing out), and the next day I took my mom to the ER for her Congestive Heart Failure. It's like a central Indiana ER tour, without sleep.

My body is still trying to recharge, so I spent the day surfing, the internet, not the waves. There are not a lot of waves in Indiana, and I found an interesting blog at BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency: How Long to Query.

BookEnds, and I hope they will forgive me for quoting, but BookEnds states: "Hands down one of the biggest mistakes I see authors making is spending all their time and energy revising, rewriting and reworking that first book. I know from experience that over time you can do more damage than good with all of that revising."

This is something I have wondered about as far as the book I am writing. I am actually working on my third book, none published though, so I tend to worry about everything a bit. But, I found one way to resolve that issue.

Never, ever, ever throw out or delete anything. I have printed this book out twice in full and I have CD backups for over three years now. I back up a minimum of once a month, and I do a flashdrive backup every night. And, I will say, that any time I thought to myself that I was not improving the book, I have been able to go back and so far the improvements have been improvements. That said, I will add that for my picture book, I still favor my original version and am very glad I kept a copy of it.

I did, however, reach a point with this book where I felt I had gone as far as I could and that is when I called in my Super-Hero .....Master's Daughter, to the rescue. Originally, it was for grammar and punctuation but it turned into so much more.

Master's Daughter is a sixth grade teacher, a writer, a worker with electron microscopes and now for her summer will be working with an Atomic Force Microscope. Her heros are Einstein and Yoda. She is bright and funny, knows today's kids, and we work so well together.

My book has been a family project: inspired by grandsons/sons, ideas from them and husband and now a massive tweaking with daughter. Her ideas have really added that touch I was searching for. And, no matter how much I wanted to get it out to agents and editors by June, the extra months will be worth it.

So, the lesson is, always keep backups at every step and try to stay out of the ER.

Characters, names, stupidity and Cultural Diversity

I’m going along just fine. Going over the end of the book for an edit and then along comes Master’s Daughter with a question. Well, a comment really. She’s my eyes and ears on the youth and little things that just seem to go right over my head, like a character with the name of Dama Gazelle.

Okay, it’s a fantasy, just accept the name. But, Master’s Daughter points out to me that the children are going to be calling her, “Damn a Gazelle.” Gee, duh, I never thought of that. Therein leads to days, the last three at least, of going over the names I have.

And, as long as I am doing that, I have some cultural diversity but not as much as I would like. One thing leads to another and, I have to admit, it just makes the book that much better. Of course, at this rate, I may be seventy by the time I am done.

Too busy writing to blog? Yeah, Right!

Unlike The Swivet [Colleen Lindsay]: "I don't know what we're doing for May, but I hope it involves Nerf weapons." I am not procrastinating on writing my book, nor am I looking forward to a Nerf war.

I am working eight or more hours a day on my book. I am now three chapters ahead of Master’s Daughter, who is helping me with the final line edit. What is my projected date for sending it out now; perhaps June? I hope!

I should add that I am working eight or more hours a day, given days when no one is ill, including me. The flues this year have been a real drag, and my mother is still battling one. So, when I take her groceries today, I am sure I will find myself bringing home some pesky germs to again spread the flu to our home.

What else am I doing? Well, it certainly is not blogging here, as you can all--all two of you--attest to. I do blog a bit more on my WordPress account: http://savanvleck.wordpress.com. Other than that:
1. I cooked Easter Dinner.
2. I am still weight lifting and doing aerobics.
3. I have cared for Irritating Little Chihuaha for several days; both before and after surgery.
4. I just bought groceries and will be baking cookies, to send to Army Guy grandson and his buddies.
5. I actually did work on the web site for several days but it was because I have some interest in my paintings from a friend in California.
6. I also have worked a small bit on my website for writing.
7. I watched Two and a Half Men last night and two episodes of Monk yesterday.
8. Watched son, JRock perform as a nasty prison guard and a Bobby/Policeman in a production of “Oliver” at the high school.

And, that is my life and why I am just tooooo busy to post here. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I do not want to tell too much about my book and I have no other interesting life and nothing to say. Honest!

Two days of research equals a page this time.

Sorry, yet again, for the long absence, but the book has to take precedence over the blog at this point. It is one of those things you can taste; the joy of when you are actually ready to send your book out into the world, to survive on its own

Master’s Daughter is really busy right now, so I think she may have a plot to slow me down. She keeps finding neat things I need to do with the book.

As a sixth grade teacher, who is writing a teacher’s companion for my book, she has been a great source of inspiration. This time, it was all about the phases of the moon. I did not really think about children having a problem with this concept. Apparently, younger children seem to view the phases of the moon as if the moon could change its shape.

The world in my book is greatly influenced by nature. They do not live in little square wooden boxes, as we tend to do and so they must learn to live and survive in nature. This means they need to understand the natural world and so I have again spent two days researching a way to say something in one page. That amount of research generally results in one sentence. Good thing I love research.

So, now I shall pay Master’s Daughter back and shoot my new page off to her for more corrections. This is a discussion of the phases of the moon. I am afraid it might be too long or unclear, but she will let me know.

My Long Absence

Wow! This has to be the longest time between posts yet. But, trust me, my reader. It will all soon be worth it. I am so close to the place where I can begin submitting my novel to agents.

That is very exciting to me. Everything clicked and my Advanced Middle Grade Fantasy Novel (could that get any longer?) is down to the "wrap up" chapter. One day, the big scene just fell in place.

Actually, I reached that point in my millionth edit and just kept going this time. Master's Daughter and I are up to chapter seven in our joint edit.It is amazing to me, that she picks up on the exact same spots where I have thought, "This isn't right. This isn't necessary. The wording is off." Thus, showing me that I need to trust my instincts more and that everyone needs a partner editor.

The edit is picking up words mostly, or where a scene is confusing. It is nice to have a second pair of eyes, or should I say, a second brain, to help me find the right word.In the evening, when my brain is a bit tired, I do a few more things on my web site.

The website is coming along well. I have my graphics ready and I am working on my text only pages, knowing that the wording for those, will go into the graphic version, so I am killing two birds with one stone.I have worked out how much I can say without giving too much away and making the web site interesting enough to get people to return.

I look forward to the day when I can post a request here for help in critiquing it. Nothing really humorous to write, just that Master's Daughter found my pile of leaves confusing. And, if you want to know what I'm talking about, you'll have to read the book.

My Book Map progress

I have been ignoring all of you lately. But, other than the foot of snow that had our car trapped for six days, and school cancelled for four days, and the flu that I just cannot seem to shake, and my mother's birthday and my birthday, other than those, I have a good reason to ignore you. I am outlining my book.

There has to be a reason I am having a problem writing, also known as putting off, the ending of my book. So, I am taking Brooklyn Arden: Search results for Book Map advice and creating a Book Map. That was a link to what I found with my search for Book Map. I did not find the post on doing the Book Map, but there was a neat blog about the artwork she has made in her own apartment. Tres Cool!

I am up to chapter 10, which is on its way out. Yes, a whole chapter is just taking up valued word space, and it is redundant to a future chapter (which is much more important) and, like all things I take out, I save a copy in its own file. I have deleted many of these files later and I may this one or I may put it in a future book, but for this book, it is history.

There is one little section, which will be worked into the next chapter. But, I feel as though I am getting somewhere already, even though I have yet to go back through the Book Map and really look at what is going on in the book.

This is also giving Master’s Daughter a break from editing as she has a lot on her plate right now and could use a break.

So, I sit here with the flu now turned into something that is settling in my chest, and move on to Chapter eleven, with ten nine more to go.

Part 9 - The Web Site Design

The above image is a list of the graphics I am working on and getting ready, to place on my INDEX page. I had to create a lot of these, alter, make the backgrounds invisible, and spend a ton of time just on getting the graphics ready.

You can throw up a webpage in a day, but if you are interested in using the website to sell yourself, as a writer, or your writing, you will need to give some thought to:
1. Why are you doing it?
2. Who do you want to reach?
3. What is your message?

This is the fourth web site I have designed: Three were for my artwork, one for another person. But, I still felt the need to spend a lot of hours, this time, checking out other writers, published and non-published, web sites. I made notes on what I liked and what would work for me and notes on what I thought was bad. I googled “What makes a good web site” and I have read a ton of information on what works and what to avoid in web design. Website Ideas for Writers, is a great site to stop at: Website Ideas for Writers, the official idea site for writers

If you are still unsure if you should have a website, as an unpublished writer, here are some reasons to do it. Dawn Chartier ~ A writers life: Websites for unpublished writers

I have mentioned before that I am going a bit off of the “writers” site advice and going directly for the series of books I am writing. I have a few minor writing credits, like a story in “Good Housekeeping” and I would just like to try something different. To me, I am selling, not just myself, as a writer and my writing, but I am selling this story. I want to make my site fun and interesting and something that might make someone, preferably a twelve year old reader, a teacher or a librarian, refer someone else to look at it, and that might entertain and enlighten an editor or agent.

All the while, keeping this doable with the time I have to invest in this site. So, my design is first. I already mentioned working with Master’s Daughter and others on the design for my site. I want it to be interactive, just a bit, and so I have designed a bulletin board interface, with objects that will move a bit and link to other pages. Is this above my capabilities? Possibly, but that has never stopped me before.

Above my bulletin board will be a line telling my viewer to click there for the Text only version, for accessibility. I am creating a simple link to a text version of the page. I know there are programs that will pick this out, but I am just going to cut and past the text and put it on a simple page with no graphics.

A note here: You need to sit down, at this point, and draw a simple sketch of the layout of your page. Where will your links go? What will they be? What text will you have on your index page (that is your first page)? What colors will you use? Google that if you are unsure, or go to 500+ Named Colours with rgb and hex values and drool over all the great colors you can get. Believe me, it is a lot easier to have your design down on a napkin than to keep redoing it in your WYSIWYG html editor.

After I have my graphics ready, I will print out, to scale, the bulletin board and the graphics and do some cutting. I will probably spend an hour or so rearranging the printed objects on the board until I am pleased with the design. I have found, in the past, that this is the easiest way for me to arrange the look of an element of my page, than doing it by rearranging code within my WYSIWYG editor.

There is a ton of help on the web. Not sure of a background? Google it. Need a template? Google it. Want to look at what others have done? Google it.

The Best Laid Plans

I am spending a week at my free personal editor's house: Master Daughter. She has high speed. No, that is not why I came. We usually spend a week at her house during the holidays. It was a wonderful week too and you will have to read my personal blog, Savanvleck’s Weblog, to see just how wonderful it was. But, back to the high speed.

I've been working like crazy, since I finally have a finished design for my web page, to get it done so that I could do the uploading and checking on high speed. Well, you know how well my "plans" work out. I thought it was looking pretty good but the best laid plans are now trashed.

Fortunately, it is for an even better, more dynamic site. This is really what I wanted all along. I wanted a site to entertain and keep people coming back for more.

Master's Daughter took one look and started adding and adding and adding. And, the ideas were too great, and in keeping with my book, to pass up.

I know your web site should be about the author, but I plan (there's that word again) on breaking with that a bit to start getting people interested in the book. I've learned a lot more programming in the last few weeks that I think I can pull this off and I already know what my opening page will look like, so that's a benefit.

Now, to go home and redo that page and work on the secondary pages. I can always go to the library to do my uploading. Our dial-up is just not reliable enough to do it.

Hope you all had a great holiday. I will start posting more regularly in the New Year.

Three things to get ready during your final edit

Master’s daughter and I are up to Chapter five in the final edit. In between the twenty other jobs she has at any one time, I am working ahead as the end of the book was less edited, by me, than the first half. And, when I take a break from that I read editor’s and agent’s blogs.

I am focusing on blogs that detail things like:

Writing the perfect Query letter- my favorite is Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent: Query Letter Mad Lib. He has several posts on writing a query.


The real chore for me is how to do write a synopsis. Author! Author! » Synopses is a good place to look. It is a blog that meandures a bit, but has a wealth of information for writers.


Putting together two writer's biographies. Author! Author! » Author bio has several blogs on writing your bio. They lay it out in a very simple manner.

A writer’s biography is something I had not thought a lot about. I have always had resumes and artist’s resumes. I had just not thought about needing to have your writer’s bio polished up and ready for submitting immediately. I guess I was thinking, you get an agent, you get a publisher, and somewhere along the way they say, “We need a bio for your flap copy, oh, in a few months.” Not so!!!

You need to have two ready. One for the agent to help sell you and one, shorter one, for your book flap. We are using positive reinforcement here.


I have noticed a change in author’s biographies. I am seeing more and more that represent the author’s writing, rather than just dryly saying, “He graduated from no-name college and lives in Nevada with his wife and three children.”

It is a great trend. It makes the author a real person and gives you insight into what his writing is like. My problem though, is I really think I am much funnier with my biography, than I am in my book. It is good I can see the humor in my life but is it going to give someone a false sense of the humor, which may not be there, in my book? I do not want to disappoint.

Chapter four editing.

First, how do you like my new color? I am not a “pink” person. My whole closet is black, white and grey with just touches of bright colors. I would love to paint some golden yellow walls and maybe a red wall in an office, but I am not a pink person at all. However, I thought this looked restive. It must be the bubble gum affect.

Do you remember the bubble gum study? Years ago, they painted the jail holding cells bubble gum pink. There was a study that found out it was a calming color. Years later they found out it was not a valid study; or said that. We had done the parlor games where you have someone hold an arm out and try their best not to let you pull it down. Then, you hold up a bubble gum color paper (construction paper works), and they stare at it for a minute and then you tell them not to let you pull down their arm. You reach up and with little effort at all, you just pull their arm down.

So, stay mellow, and now for information on my ongoing edit.

I have been in a funk lately. Why? Who knows? Maybe I need to stare at Bubble Gum pink. But, I have tried to find something to say to all of you, and nothing sounded worth it. All it takes to get me going again is to receive a new Chapter back from Master’s Daughter with editing remarks.

I am just starting to go over the edit; but I will share some of what I have learned, so far.

I am finishing up on the first book in a proposed five book series. We are only up to Chapter four on our final edit, and I felt that I was perhaps telling too much in this chapter. It is a transition, from the world they lived in to the fantasy world they are traveling to. I was covering government and money, plus foreshadowing a future battle scene.

So, my editor’s general comments are that:

1. Do not remove the government section. My imagery is interesting and she feels it is helpful to understand about the “similarities and differences in the organization" of the magical world and our world.

2. The foreshadowing, of a future battle scene, definitely works.

3. Discussion of money: She feels kids would enjoy it and, being the first book in the series, it is a needed explanation of the basics.

4. What would be an exclamation word, that kids would use that would not date the book but be timely? The word “Awesome”was suggest by JRock and is agreed on by Master's Daughter; unless, she states, "I am going to use text messaging lingo." Trust me, I am NOT going there.

5. And, she does not like the straw man and, frankly, neither do I. It was one of those things that sounded funny when I wrote it and just stayed there. He has no purpose; he is not coming back into the story, so he is out.

Those are just primary impressions and now I shall go through comments and suggestions line by line and bid you adieu, until tomorrow.

Summer flowers

Master's daughter and I are on a roll right now. She is catching my omniscient first person, that should not be there, and keeping me on track. So, I thought I would just share a summer flower today.

What my personal editor taught me

Here is a flower from my garden, this past summer. 'Tis the season to cover the garden at night, pick the seeds and run in to warm up. I ran in last night to a great email from my personal editor.

YIPPEE!! Last night I received a partial first chapter edit from Master’s Daughter. Gosh, what an eye opener.

FIRST: All my charts and trying to keep track: I am new to Word and never had a Word Processor before that had comments on it. As a legal secretary, I had long used WordPerfect, at work and home. The last few updates though have taken it down the tubes. It jams constantly. The charts I have been making are being, figuratively, burned and I am using comments to put in foreshadowing etc. It also helps my editor, daughter, know that yes, this is an important point to leave in. Honest girl, it will make sense some day.

This will really help me too as some things are mentioned because it is laying a bit of groundwork for book two or three, and even five, in this five book series.

SECOND: Oh, how long ago Jr High school was. I did teach art to Jr High students for three weeks a summer, for five years. JRockGuitarMan, one of my step-son/grandson/ward came to live with me and entered seventh grade, so I had a refresher. But, there are things I just need to keep in mind and I was not. While, I may not always act my age, I have forgotten some of how a Jr High student’s mind works and Master’s daughter teaches them every day, so she is catching those things.

Her comments include:

“Reader is now thinking …”
“Needs transition”
“Reader’s thought: Is ‘glint’ an object or a reflection?”
“This doesn’t seem to fit here; awkward.”
And more

I worked on her comments and am now ahead of her edit and hoping to send the rest of Chapter 1 and then chapter 2 in a few days. Somehow, I must have sent her a partial first chapter. We are going to work on this chapter by chapter. It will be so much easier to track things now with Words comments.

I feel like I am back on track, thanks to my own personal editor.

Master's Daughter plays head games

I do believe that my non-paid technical editor is playing some head game on me. It's not like she does not have enough to do, that she would spend time to actually make her mother think her mother (me) is going crazy.

On the 22nd she wrote, "I haven't had a chance to download the chapters." (I had sent her the next six) "I hope the edit I sent last week wasn't too discouraging." Whow! Great way to get my attention. She sent me back my first four chapters, edited and discouraging???? Where are they?

Okay, I got this late at night, and of course, I spent two hours searching for the missing email. Not in Spam, nor in deleated, nor in read, nor in new. I had messages about Christmas presents and about her Soldier son. There was a joke or two about ear plugs and Palin, not in the same vein mind you, althought that might have been a good idea. But, nowhere is there a "discouraging" or otherwise edit from Master's Daughter.

I wrote and told her I had not received the edit and that I would not consider a critique discouraging. I am an artist. I have been critiqued for twenty years. I can handle it. I would rather find out what is wrong from her before I submit and get a form rejection letter. I can hardly trust my own judgement on this as I ALWAYS think something, mostly everything, is wrong with my work. I will never submit my book if I go totally on my own instincts. I will edit the life out of it and out of me.

So, here I sit, watching to see my mail jump from 80, in my in box. I save mail, okay, so shoot me. It is still not jumping to 81.

Oh, I just looked. She sent me that note on the 23rd. Honestly, I thought it was like four days ago. Okay, so I cannot be too irritated. She does have a life. It is just, WHAT IS WRONG, GIRL??? I have serious revision work to do and I want to get started.

Are you out Trick or Treating again??

Back in Business

By the way, the book looks better to me again. Guess, I just need to keep my hands off editing when I am exhausted. Nothing ever works right at those times. I am back editing and lucky Master's Daughter was sent the first twelve chapters last night, for her final technical edit. I am sure she will wake up and be just delighted. After all, it's mid term time in Indiana and she has a room full of sixth grader's to grade.