my mommy likes it, so there!
I've got this book coming out in June...you know, FORTUNE'S FORBIDDEN WOMAN, the sixth & final installment of the "Dakota Fortunes" continuity series for Silhouette Desire. And while I loved the characters & enjoyed the storyline, I have to admit it wasn't the easiest book to write.
Add to that the fact that my editor asked me for some fairly extensive revisions on the story before it went on to the copyediting stage. Oy, by the time I finished those, my eyes were crossed & I didn't know which end was up. There were times I found myself holding stacks of manuscript pages with...thanks to cutting or adding chunks of text & re-numbering pages...no idea where they belonged.
So I've been a little concerned about this story. I worry that it may not be the strongest I've ever written. That it may be lighter in plot & conflict than I'd like. That somewhere during that painful revisions process I somehow screwed things up so badly, no one will ever make sense of the text again.
Um, did I mention that writers can be somewhat neurotic? :-p
Then on Monday, the galleys for FORTUNE'S FORBIDDEN WOMAN arrived. The dreaded galleys, I should say, since I have not been looking forward to those at all. And because the deadline for this story was so tight & I ended up doing the revisions over Thanksgiving, I never got to see the line edited manuscript. This only worried me more, as I was afraid the galleys would then be riddled with problems, both due to the revision process & copy editing that I didn't get the chance to double-check or approve.
My mom always reads through my galleys before I do. She's a fast reader, has a keen eye, & I can always count on her to be brutally honest if she spots a problem. So I handed the book over to her--along with a warning that this might not be the best book I've ever written. I was under a lot of pressure & it wasn't my storyline & the revisions were from hell &...just don't judge me, okay?!?
But today, when she returned the galleys with her little post-it notations sticking out, she said it was a good story & not bad at all...& she actually smacked me with the manuscript for making her think it would be. Ouch. (Hey, we're talking 200 pages here, & she is not a gentle woman. It hurt!)
So maybe I don't have that much to worry about, after all. Maybe I won't bite my nails all the way down to the quick prior to its release, worrying about negative reviews & nasty reader mail. Maybe you'll actually like it & agree with my mother--no smacking, please!--that it's a decent story.
Maybe. :-)
The real test will be when I read over the book myself, though, because I'm the only one who knows what I wrote, how the story should flow, & can spot any glaring errors. There's also an online review site waiting for an early-early copy so they can give me an advance review quote. If I can pass both those hurdles without wanting to slit my wrists, then I may just have a shot at getting excited about this book again. *g*
Fingers crossed.
And, oh, yeah...don't judge me!
Add to that the fact that my editor asked me for some fairly extensive revisions on the story before it went on to the copyediting stage. Oy, by the time I finished those, my eyes were crossed & I didn't know which end was up. There were times I found myself holding stacks of manuscript pages with...thanks to cutting or adding chunks of text & re-numbering pages...no idea where they belonged.
So I've been a little concerned about this story. I worry that it may not be the strongest I've ever written. That it may be lighter in plot & conflict than I'd like. That somewhere during that painful revisions process I somehow screwed things up so badly, no one will ever make sense of the text again.
Um, did I mention that writers can be somewhat neurotic? :-p
Then on Monday, the galleys for FORTUNE'S FORBIDDEN WOMAN arrived. The dreaded galleys, I should say, since I have not been looking forward to those at all. And because the deadline for this story was so tight & I ended up doing the revisions over Thanksgiving, I never got to see the line edited manuscript. This only worried me more, as I was afraid the galleys would then be riddled with problems, both due to the revision process & copy editing that I didn't get the chance to double-check or approve.
My mom always reads through my galleys before I do. She's a fast reader, has a keen eye, & I can always count on her to be brutally honest if she spots a problem. So I handed the book over to her--along with a warning that this might not be the best book I've ever written. I was under a lot of pressure & it wasn't my storyline & the revisions were from hell &...just don't judge me, okay?!?
But today, when she returned the galleys with her little post-it notations sticking out, she said it was a good story & not bad at all...& she actually smacked me with the manuscript for making her think it would be. Ouch. (Hey, we're talking 200 pages here, & she is not a gentle woman. It hurt!)
So maybe I don't have that much to worry about, after all. Maybe I won't bite my nails all the way down to the quick prior to its release, worrying about negative reviews & nasty reader mail. Maybe you'll actually like it & agree with my mother--no smacking, please!--that it's a decent story.
Maybe. :-)
The real test will be when I read over the book myself, though, because I'm the only one who knows what I wrote, how the story should flow, & can spot any glaring errors. There's also an online review site waiting for an early-early copy so they can give me an advance review quote. If I can pass both those hurdles without wanting to slit my wrists, then I may just have a shot at getting excited about this book again. *g*
Fingers crossed.
And, oh, yeah...don't judge me!
