One of my goals for this year was to write more. My husband had the suggestion of making a monthly feature to talk about my writing and how it’s going. I’ve decided to make this the first Tuesday of the month so you can all look forward to these posts with bated breath and get a little update on where I am.
This was a really big month for me. I’ve been looking forward to this post for weeks. In April, I was able to get five minutes of face time with a published author and I mentioned that I was writing a YA Historical Fiction novel. She asked me for a synopsis and when I said ti was Italian and Irish immigrants in 1920s Chicago inspired in part by Romeo and Juliet, she said she wanted to read it and gave me her email, saying she’d share her agent’s information with me. I thought I was going to die.
I spent the rest of the week furiously finishing my editing of the book and making some minor changes throughout so I could send it to her before she forgot about me.
I got a response two days later that she couldn’t read it, but would be willing to share her agent’s name as well as that of another friend who is an agent. She also volunteered to follow-up with her agent after I sent it. Honestly, this is the best I could have ever asked for. This author also publishes YA and historical fiction so this would be a good agent for me to connect with.
I’ve been doing a closer edit of the book since I heard back. I want to go through the ending with a more fine-toothed comb than I did before sending it off to this author. I had one scene that needed a lot of work.
I liked the scene originally. It showed character progression and it was fun, but my beta reader had recommended adding a more emotionally charged scene to advance the subplot with a minor character and this seemed like a good place. I re-wrote it to send out and made the scene very serious and sad. I had to change a lot to get my character to cry and for others to react but I made it work. Kind of.
I disliked it almost as soon as I began to write again. For a week before it came time to rewrite it, I was thinking of ways I could make it better. I talked to my husband about it a few nights in a row and fell asleep rewriting it in my head. I felt like I finally had an idea to fix it.
I finished it up last night and I’m very happy with it. There’s still a stronger emotion than the first rendition, but this time the primary emotion is anger. I also strengthened the minor character who I introduced to the scene and gave him a more final ending. I think I can finally call his arc complete and I’m very happy with that.
I expect to finish my editing next month. Then I’ll move on to querying the agents I’ve been recommended. And then the major querying will start. I think it’s about time for this book to see the light of day. Which also means it’s time to start writing again. And that’s a bit terrifying.
Until next time, write on.
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Taking On a World of Words 