Monday, September 12, 2005

Congrats to the New Orleans Saints! They won 23-20 over the Carolina Panthers in a kickoff in the last few seconds of the game! Awesome! On the flipside, my team, the Rams, got creamed. By the 49ers. THE 49ers??? What the...! Okay, okay, enough about that. I won't turn this blog into a football blog. :-)


Okay, I'm jittery and I'm not getting any sleep. I'm excited. Now, you probably would think I'm excited about the release date the day after tomorrow. I would think that too. But that's not the case. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about it. But that's not what's keeping me up. It's the completion of this second book and actually turning it in to my editor and awaiting her feedback. The more I revise it, the more I get excited about it.

And this process is a bit different than Counting Raindrops. With the first book, I had tons of feedback--although I didn't believe them when they told me that they liked it because I thought they were just trying to be nice. LOL The first to read it and give me feedback was Tiffany in Cincinnati (You'll see her in the acknowledgments). I remember going to her house and she read it for me in installments as I wrote it. It was nerve wrecking for me, although I don't think she knew that. I was sitting across from where while she read pages. She'd read silently, then all of a sudden, just burst out in laughter. And I'm wondering, "What? What? What's so funny???" And she'd read some more and just laugh. And (she probably doesn't remember this) her first feedback comments to me were, "Oh! You got skillz!!!" LOL And I'm sitting there, grinning until my face hurts, but wondering, "Okay, what does that mean?"

I find that I'm analytical. It feels so good when people say they enjoy your story or enjoy your writing. But I always try to capture it. To put it in quantifiable terms so I can understand. So I can create a formula that I can repeat over and over. I still don't have that yet and that's the only thing that makes writing nerve wrecking for me now that I have one (and almost 2) completed novels under my belt. On the other hand, maybe it’s good that I don't know because if I knew exactly, I would probably try to concentrate on that as I write instead of writing freely. With the first and now the second book, I just wrote without worrying about style. And perhaps for those who like it, that's the reason they like it. Logically, I'm sure this is the case. But still, there's that knuckleheaded nerd in me that's trying to figure out a formula.

Okay, last day of revisions!!! Got to make it good because right now I'm running on caffeine, adrenaline, and no sleep! LOL

6 comments:

LadyLee Mon Sep 12, 01:08:00 PM EDT  

Umm, let's see... didn't my hometown team, the ATL Falcons, beat your St. Louis Rams for a chance to go to the NFC championships last year?

Hmmm... I THOUGHT SO! (LOL LOL)

Anyway, don't go "formulaic" on us. (But if you do find something that works, package it up and sell it to me;)) But seriously, are you seeing your writing style change or is it remaining pretty even? Since every story is different,is it even possible to come up with a formula that works every time?

There are several people reading my manuscript, and I don't like folks who say "Gee, it sure is good." Give me some critical and analytical people. Some argumentative folks. That's what gets me hype right now.

You are like, the Queen of Revision or something like that!(LOL) Hope your editor has good comments for you!

Cherlyn Michaels Mon Sep 12, 06:34:00 PM EDT  

Why u gotta bring up the past? That's SO LAST YEAR!!! LOL (I'd go on, but I think I'll wait until we get some W's in the column). :-)

Oh, I didn't mean formula stories. For those who do enjoy my writing, I'm just curious about what it is they like. Basically, I'm thinking too much as I always do. :-)

I'm going to have to hire you as my publicist because you come up with the best names for me: Jedi of Visualization. and now Queen of Revision.
LOL

Rose Mon Sep 12, 11:56:00 PM EDT  

Congratulations on the completion of your second novel...I'm sure that you will hear good things...

Anonymous Tue Sep 13, 12:14:00 AM EDT  

Congrats on getting your revisions done. I am sure that the more books you right the more your style will probably develop. You may even have a style now and not know it.

The Foxybrown Show Tue Sep 13, 07:36:00 AM EDT  

Ladies and Gentlemen....Foxybrown has just entered the building..............

Cherlyn Michaels Tue Sep 13, 09:28:00 AM EDT  

Hey Rose and Court,
Thanks for the congrats! It feels so good to be done! And Court, you're probably right. Who knows, I may have a style already. :-)

Hey Foxy!
Good to see you! Thanks for dropping in. :-)