Back at it!

And so it begins.

I’m officially diving back….feet first (though it kind of feels more like head first) into The Legacy.  The book.  The one.  The dream.  The mystery.  The labor of love that earned me two agent readings and two “not quite right for me, but keep up the good work” and some very good, very solid, constructive criticism that also left me feeling a bit defeated and derailed and after months of living together quite intimately, The Legacy and me, well, we needed a bit of a trial separation.  I was a little bitter and resentful.  And The Legacy well, she was just sitting idly by, doing a whole lot of nothing.  So I made a decision and decided to walk away for a bit.

We were on a break.

But time has worked its magic.  Inner calm.  Fresh outlook.  The bad feelings are gone and I’m holding on to the good ones. I mean major agents told me my writing my GOOD.  And that I just need to keep working on it. Some people never even get to talk to an agent.  Hello!  I’ve already come further than I ever realized I could.  How in the hell could I stop now?  Walk away from this?

Answer:  I couldn’t.

So I’m ready to face the music…or the words, as it happens to be…lots and lots of words.  I’m ready to give it that umpteenth chance (I’ve honestly lost count), but I think it deserves it. I’m not ready to give up on this story yet.  (I am my own biggest cheerleader right now…my own motivational speaker….my own militant disciplinarian that forces myself to sit down and do this, hopefully daily, but definitely not when the “muse” strikes.  She’s an uber unreliable one that Muse.

So here’s the master plan – once more with feeling – dissect the whole damn thing chapter-by-chapter, in somewhat painfully excruciating detail.

"When your story is ready for rewrite, cut it to the bone.  Get rid of every once of excess fat.  This is going to hurt; revising a story down to the bare essentials is always a little like murdering children, but it must be done." 

- Stephen King

And so begins the rewrite.

If you’re a writer you know it’s a brutal process.  But that whole time/space thing makes it much easier, for me at least, to be subjective and too see all the things I couldn’t see on the last read-through.  Including the typos (argh!).  Ah, hindsight and perspective.  Love you.  Mean it. 

 “Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now.”
—Annie Dillard

Fabulous-Agent-who-gave-me-hope-#-1 told me to move more action forward.  In my head I was keeping some of those “shazam!” moments for later on…..for the reveals.  Building up the story.  Telling the story so all those reveals make sense.  Rewarding the reader for staying with the story. But FAWGMH#1 reminded me that I might lose my reader before I got to the “shazam!” so MOVE IT FOWARD.  I’ve put down books that haven’t kept my attention….I don’t want to be the book that readers put down.  (Kiss of death.  And you probably only get one shot….I don’t tend to seek out authors when the first book I read by them left me flatter than Stanley).  And if I don’t move the action forward I may never see my book anywhere outside of the four walls of my apartment. 

So here goes….time to add in more action. More clues. More threats.  Raise the stakes.  Cut out the sagging scenes.  Nix anything that JUST DOESN’T WORK.  Get in there.  Get uncomfortable.  Solve the problems.  Figure out the mystery of the story. 

That’s what it’s all about. I love a mystery.  It’s why I’m here. That and my dad telling me years ago that I should give writing a mystery a shot instead of the women’s fiction I was knee-deep in, because it’s what I truly loved. 

And if I didn’t do this.  Didn’t give it one more solid go, I would always regret it.  

“Forget regret, or life is yours to miss.”

"Write while the heat is in you. ...The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with."  - Henry David Thoreau

Heat wave outside that is finally, I pray to God, coming to an end.  It’s forcing me to stay inside, or at least giving me a good excuse to stay inside, so here we go. 

Starting stats:

Pages - 370

Chapters - 23

Words - 94,825

Game.  On.

And no worries...I'm a terrific multi-tasker so am still clocking some TV time and will be sure to throw in some TV commentary soon. 

And OMG am DYING to talk about Katie and Tom and her sweet, sweet freedom!!!  

But before I can play, I have to work.  So here we go.  

Revision Day 1.