Take a Breath and Move Out

Yes, it was a stressful process to ramp up for an agent's review and then not make the cut.  The take-aways, however, is an appreciation for the process, a brain smarter in regards to the business of writing, and an established process for quick edits that works exceptionally well for me.

Now it's time to take a breath, regroup my thoughts and shattered ego, and take the new knowledge and move out.

Into the Red Zone

And so it goes.

Just a little over 24 hours to finish preparation for submission.

Yesterday was spent piecing the Chapter 1 rewrite into something worthy of the opening chapter and making it interconnect with the rest of the storyline.  In addition, I decided to add Chapter 4 to the packet I'm putting together for the agent, which will make it an additional 40 pages ready to go if requested.  Although I had to push myself through the day the motivation is still there!!

One of the key take aways from the past few days is it reenergized the learning process.  I know, life is a learning process, but I am talking about refreshing the basics of the craft.  Each morning and the last thing at night involved studying books about description, plot, editing, etc.  Maybe it was divine intervention or whatever, but this time to hone the craft finally hit the sweet spot.  As a result, there is now a collection of five books highlighted and tabbed to be reviewed and at the ready whenever future manuscripts are prepped for final draft.

The following are the five books on my list.  This may by overkill for what works for you, but I'm a slow learner and in need of a large crutch.

The Writer's Guide to Character Traits by Linda N. Edelstein, Ph.D

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King

Plot by Ansen Dibell

Scene & Structure by Jack M. Bickham

Description by Monica Wood

Okay, time to get at it!!

Meeting the Timeline

Late into the night reorganizing the manuscript!

Everything organized and ready to begin the rewrite.

Pressure!

Have been working on "Hellbound Train" for the past several months, with a few thousand words--and four chapters--short of my original goal.  The operative word: original.

With that in mind, and as fate would have it, I have an interview with a literary agent at the end of the week.  Fortunately, she only wants to see the first ten pages, and we'll go on from there.  Okay, no problem.

Until the call came in the writing process was geared around getting a first draft completed.  Suddenly the anxiety level slipped beyond the capabilities of my blood pressure meds and the brain immediately clogged with all the necessities of retooling for final draft mode.

Okay, lets think about this.  Break down the tasks into realistic bite-sized pieces and go from there.  First, medicate.  It only took a couple of cabinets before the bottle of tequila was dusted off and doing its job.

Next, pull out the first chapter and see what the challenge is going to be.  Disaster time.  This one was well beyond the capabilities of FEMA.  At best maybe it could be sold as an example of what an opening chapter should not look like.  Always thinking.

Breathe deep, more medication, move on.

Hardening my heart and soul, it was time to rip the plot, story line, and a few other things apart.  Seeking out the weak areas, paying careful attention to the flow, and putting a bullet into at least one character the manuscript was carefully put back together (see photo).  When the dust settled not only was the trashcan stuffed with a discarded character, but 7,000 words were piled atop of the body, and the manuscript dropped from 35 chapters to 23.

The following photo is my writing area locked and cocked to kick off another day.

A first look at "Hellbound Train"

The following is a first look at "Hellbound Train."  This is the first in a three series collection of Alan Burke novels.  You can follow the writing progress in the righthand corner of this blog.

Alan Burke is a security consultant and he is tired. He has a new home in the secluded fringes of Nevada's Comstock region and wants to raise a few head of cattle and just enjoy life for a while. But when he agrees to help a former beat partner find his missing son it opens the preverbal Pandora's box. Suddenly a recently released from prison drug lord, an outlaw motorcycle gang, a contract killer, an elusive band of eco-terrorists, and his girl friend have other things in mind for him.