Friday

My twenty-four year old sister has this charming little dance she does when she does something well. It involves placing her hands in front of her, palms up, fingers pointed skyward and bobbing up and down and side to side, while chanting "Go me! Go me!" in a rhythmic fashion. I've always wished I had that kind of confidence. My first thought whenever I have some success involves self-critique. It also involves wondering if it was a one time shot.

I spent the morning editing T.W. I am nearly done with this particular trip through it. I've fixed most of the major plot issues, addressed the foreshadowing and have caught most typos (there weren't many, compared to my usual first drafts). Though I still need to address a few details (like titles of books) I can think of two more fixes that I will need to address and then I will send it out to a reader who hasn't seen it before. Not a friend this time. Not someone who will be worried about offending me. My goal is to have this thing publishable by the end of April. I have no intention of dithering around with it for years trying to get it perfect. 'Aint no such critter.

Of course, as I finish this thing up, the question becomes, "Now what?" For the first time in four years, I don't have an idea for a book hovering in the back of my head and it's a strange feeling. I've glanced through the dusty halls of the back of my mind and there's nothing stacked in any of the corners. Maybe I'll return to short story writing for a little while while TW is visiting with various agents. Maybe I'll join a writer's group. I understand that there's one that meets about forty-five minutes from here.

By the way, I'm reading a charming little humorous paperback right now entitled "sMothering" by Wendy French. I found it in the dollar store on a rack of what is usually awful fiction. I'm not sure how it made it to that particular rack, as it means that it was a left-over and didn't do well on the fiction market. It's very well written and funny as well. I hope her other books do better.