After months of marketing and promotion for Red Polka Dot, I was finally able to sit back down and begin editing my current project. As I said in Don Tate’s interview, I’m pretty superstitious about talking about my current works. But if you want to read an excerpt from the first chapter (and note, this is by no means in it’s final form), you can click here.
The most unnerving thing about this new project is that I haven’t come up with a title yet. I know the title isn’t really important at this stage, but I always feel comforted when I know what I want to name the novel. I have a working title for the book, but I’m not sold on it. Of course, my agent and editor will have a lot of say on the title as well.
I love re-reading my work, especially after not looking at it for a long time. I forget all the little things I put into the novel that make me laugh. This sometimes gets to be problematic, though, as I find myself reading for enjoyment and not actually editing the novel.
I don’t keep track of my edits, but if I did, I would imagine that I would be on draft number six or eight at this point. Unfortunately, I’ll probably have at least six or eight more edits of the novel before it’s published.
Some advice for aspiring authors – invest in a good personal laser printer. Don’t rely on reading the manuscript on the computer screen. I promise, it looks entirely different once you have a hard copy sitting in front of you.
Good advice. Afer reading this, I did just that. Printed out my manuscript and read it. It worked.
It’s my first time here and I am impressed.
Don’t worry about the title, it will come just when you needed it. One day it will pop right in your head.
Best of luck on the new project!