"There's no point in spending your life in the pursuit of something that's easy." - Alice Kuipers

Monday, March 4, 2013

A Book in Progress

As you probably know, for the past couple of months I've been meeting with the current Writer in Residence, David A. Poulsen. He's been working with me on my manuscript; the same rough draft that made me a winner in the June 2012 NaNoWriMo challenge. Because that's what you get with NaNoWriMo, a rough draft. Sometimes people think they'll have a publishable book at the end of those thirty days and I think it's important to note that although you might have a great first draft, it will need to go through the usual process of editing, more editing, still more editing, followed by even more editing. But that's a topic for another day.

Anyway, to get back on track, since writing the rough draft of my book in June, I've been editing it on my own and now editing it with David. He's been fantastic, and with his guidance I've uncovered certain plot holes and character flaws that I'm now correcting. And the truth is, this project is one that I'm really excited about. This isn't the first book I've written, but it is the first book that I've been really excited about. With this book, I get a stirring inside that whispers, "this could really be something!"

I won't have time to go through the whole book with David before his residency is up, but he has me pointed in the right direction. And when I've finished this wave of editing, I'll be sending it in for a manuscript evaluation service with the Saskatchewan Writer's Guild. And when that's done and I've done even more editing, I'll be letting certain friends and family read it, so they can give me their thoughts. I'll also be applying for a mentorship program in the fall, and hopefully continue my work on it with them. I want to give this manuscript a real, honest go. I want to give it every ounce of my effort and attention, so that hopefully, I can turn it into something really special. Something worthy of your attention. Stay tuned!

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