For the first time, I might not make my deadline, and that really scares me. Or if I do make my deadline, I won't have time to have friends read the book before it goes to my editor. Yup, it's bite-my- nails time.
I thought I would bounce right back to writing after my Dad died last fall. In a way I did, because I had two months to polish the first Victoria Square Mystery. I started SentencedTo Dead, the 5th Booktown Mystery, in December--earlier than I had anticipated and figured I was on a roll. Unfortunately, it was a very s-l-o-w roll. No problem, I have until June 10th, which seemed a l-o-n-g way from Christmastime.
Then it was January.
Then it was February
Then it was March.
Then it was April, and suddenly there was a LOT of stuff to get ready for Malice Domestic conference. (And being nervous about being nominated, and then losing my bridge, and then losing the award . . . yes, very busy month.)
I came home from Malice determined to get a lot of writing done. Except, by the time I got back from Malice, I'd lost nearly a week. Since the 5th, I've been chugging away on the book--writing EVERY DAY and making good progress. (Although I'm about 2000 words behind where I thought I would be at this point.)
How's the book? I read the first half of it over the weekend and despite the fact it's been written in crazy quilt-patchwork fashion (here a scene, there a scene, everywhere a scene, scene--and none of them written in chronological order), I like it. Which I hope means my editor likes it, and ultimately my readers. Oh, and I have such delicious plans for #6 (Murder on the Half Shelf) . . . but first, I have to finish this. And then jump right into the second Victoria Square Mystery, which is due in September. (Thank Goodness I've had it on the back burner and have a pretty good draft waiting in the wings, because there's no way I could write an entire book in three months.)
I know this isn't a very interesting post, and I apologize. But sometimes a writer just needs to TALK about her work. But the thing is, I can't really TALK about it because it would be full of spoilers and then no one would actually READ the books.
*Sigh*
Okay, I feel better now. Thanks for letting me vent.
