In a Whirl

Progress on Amelia Rider:

1. I am trying to work through my first ten pages for a workshop exercise. I've worked through a few problems and am now going on a cliche hunt. I plan to catch a few big ones.

2. Normally I would have left this manuscript alone for a while longer to let it (and me) sit. But I am trying to meet a deadline for a fast-approaching workshop and so I plunged back in a little sooner than I would have liked. It is always scary to reread something that isn't perfect (or near to it) and I am often appalled at some of my mistakes.

3. Three readers currently have some or all of my book and I always feel vulnerable when my writing is out to a reader. But feedback is really helpful for me so I have to push through the vulnerability and wade through the (often) constructive criticism.

4. I have to construct some query/synopsis sheets for my own information. I hate writing synopsis'. They are incredibly tricky. Let the record show that I would rather throw 75,000 words together in a narrative than write a single page synopsis.

5. Already putting red pen marks all over the first few paragraphs that I sent out to readers. Ugh! If I am finding this many errors and bumpy sentences then what are they finding?