Onward we march. Highway Home was tinkered with by Vicki Weiland and the author yesterday. We gathered at Vicki’s beautiful apartment in Pacific Heights. There on the 9th floor we gazed a bit out to the north and drank in the splendor of the Bay. We’d been delayed in our meetings while Vicki continues to mend and I continued on the road. While away Teresa LeYung Ryan had given a scrubbing to the first 50 pages. Her editing suggestions were sorted through and where appropriate we made revisions to the text. I’ve got another 35 pages to adjust in the next few days that will be done and from there the manuscript will stand in submission form and as Vicki said, “we’ve done everything we can do, it’s done.”
A few comments by Teresa included the following…
“Your descriptions are engaging…. the settings come to life.”
“Many passages are exquisitely written…”
“You end many of your chapters with intrigue….Bravo!”
Hey, come one…. you got to ring your own bell sometimes…. and considering how many times others have over the years been so kind and supportive in my work as an entertainer, and this my journey into the world of fiction, it is appropriate I would think for those following my progress to get a preview of what some of the professional editors are saying about the work I am doing.
Getting a manuscript ready for submission requires a great deal of effort. Errors and uncorrected flaws are not going to pass muster. I’ve been surprised at how many places in my manuscript I’ve detected problems. It can cause a great deal of agony because sometimes the image is 99% there, but still it is not in the end making enough sense to stick and so you lose pieces of the work that simply can’t hold up when really evaluated. And that is after you’ve spent hours and hours playing with the thing again and again, but you just can’t make the thing fly.
I ought to have the thing turned around now in short order and next week with luck away the submissions will go. Aim for 15 out the door on your desk submissions per week… once the whole of this is prepared its as simple as print, put in envelope, and send out. Just do it. Don’t worry, don’t guess, don’t imagine, just do the work the rest will follow.
Now…back to work
