feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. How hard is this book? I think this is the hardest one I have had to write. I was about to send it to my editor yesterday, but before I did, I re-read it, I was apalled. There was no story. There were words, there were pages, but there was no plot! That’s what I get for not sticking to the outline.

In my defense, the outline I had written was not working. So I had to chuck it. I think the story is working now. I basically rewrote the whole thing in the past two days, and thankfully, I realized it just needed a bunch of little tweaks here and there, to make the story emerge from all that rubble/rubbish.

One of my editors always says writing is a process. It really is. As you work on it, you find out more stuff about the story, more stuff about what the book is all about. But there’s so much craft to it too–all those cliffhangers and foreshadowing stuff you have to put in, and then a really neat explanation at the end for everything so it all makes sense. But you also have to make sure your characters are interesting and likeable and believable the whole way.

It’s fun, sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it sucks. I think I’ve stripped away the garbage now–and have polished the diamond in the rough. I really tried to push very hard with this book, and I hope it was worth it.

I guess I’ll find out soon enough!

xoxo
Mel