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Over the Hump
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I hope you all had a pleasant holiday. My Christmas present to myself was pushing that little progress bar to your right over the 50,000-word mark. I’m more than halfway done! (um, with my first draft.)
Actually, I’m very excited, because I’m hitting a great section in my manuscript. For the past 45K words or so, I’ve been carefully setting up for a sequence of events. And now it’s finally time for the events! It’s a whole different game. Instead of maneuvering People into Places so that Things can happen, I can finally just … let things happen.
I have also made a New Year’s resolution, one week early. I need to start talking up this book.
I’ve kept up an excessively self-deprecating attitude about it, both on- and off-line. But I know that needs to change. I have to eventually (ulp) promote myself. And although I’m not at the point where I’ve got a decent hook or high concept or sacred question to share, I’m pretty sure that the first step goes something like this…
(Fair warning: Stuart Smalley moment ahead)
It shouldn’t be so hard to type this, but oddly enough it is:
I like my book.
Ack. There, I said it.
No, seriously, that was hard. Perhaps I need to say it again, for practice.
I like my book. And I think other people will like it. It’s true that it’s not a textbook-perfect romance novel — I’m learning a lot by making mistakes. But I adore my characters, and I’m working very hard to make their story an entertaining read. So my New Year’s resolution for this blog is to list the many reasons you should be salivating to read it. Hopefully, that will someday gel into a blurb/hook/concept without my doing much actual work.
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Hey, I *love* your book. And your characters.
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Promoting yourself is *hard*. We’re our own worst critics, right? So telling people how cool we are is *hard*.
For the record, you’re cool. 🙂
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If you love your book, you are way ahead in the game. I know a fair number of published authors who hate their books when they get done with them.
Alice
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Congrats on getting out those four little words!
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Heh. I’m in a “hating the book” phase right now, with not just one project but several. I took it as a sign I needed to back slowly away from the manuscripts, scrub my house from top to bottom, and get back to writing sometime next week.
I’m GLAD you’re loving your book! That’s a wonderful feeling. 🙂 Congrats on your progress!
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Promoting yourself is VERY hard! But. . . it’s the way of publishing these days.
It’s good to love your book. I’m loving the ones I’m writing as Ericka Scott much more than my traditional mystery. . . and am beginning to think there’s not a darn thing wrong with it.
So, love your book! If figure if you don’t, no one else will either. . .
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Hi Eve,
What wonderful progress you’re making! It’s a beautiful thing to love your book. I actually do love mine also and I am already quite in love with the sequels I have planned (how exciting is that). I will love my book even more once I’ve revised it though. 😉 I can’t wait to read yours. Love that Gervais. He sounds like a man after my own heart.
Bev
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Thanks, all of you –
Who knows if I will still love my book at the 90,000-word mark. But I think it’s terribly important to love your characters. They’re in my head ALL the time, and if they weren’t fun, loveable people, I’d be miserable.
And Beverley – I’m glad you’re excited to meet Gervais. You should be. Gervais is very exciting. He is not, however, the hero of this particular book.
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Well then I hope that Gervais (who paints his women with a VERY large brush) will have his own story. How intriguing is that (the whole big brush thing and everything). Certainly makes me want to know more about him. I’ll assume you have a nice hook like that for the hero also…