With GLAMOUR version 02.5 now in the hands of my early readers, I’ve set the manuscript aside for the next month, and I’m looking forward to a little downtime. I’ve got some catching up to do. I’ve been so busy with whipping my story into shape, I haven’t had much time for anything else. On one hand, I’ve gotten a lot of writing done; on the other hand, I’ve really fallen behind on my reading.
· I’ve got a writing workshop coming up in two weeks that I am excited about (Dave Farland’s Million Dollar Outlines), and I need to read the (170 page, gulp!) workbook.
· A few months ago, I discovered Query Shark (check my Blog Roll on the right side of this blog). This wonderful professional agent offers to critique queries from as-yet-unpublished writers. Her advice is free, but she’s not giving it away, if you know what I mean. Before you submit a query for her expert feedback, you are required to read your way through the 200+ previous queries she’s already critiqued (and presumably learn from others writer’s mistakes first). I’m not ready to start sending out queries to agents yet (because GLAMOUR isn’t even close to being done yet), but can’t think of a better way to get into ‘query writing mode’.
I’m also working my way through the pile of still-to-read writing books, magazines, and fiction that I haven’t so much as given a second look to in the last two months. My blogging has fallen behind; both in terms of reading (people I follow) and writing. For example, I read a terrific interview with Stephen King this week by Neil Gaiman (check my Blog Roll for the link). Catching up on my reading and reading about writers in particular always invigorates and motivates me.
· And last but not least, I’m also starting to brainstorm some ideas for my NEXT story.
So much for downtime. I’ve got a hunch that May is going to just fly by…
