Sunday, October 14, 2012

Done and Done

Well, that didn't at all go like I planned.  You see, when I first heard about the Harper Voyager unagented submission window (See Oh Holy Crap from 9/15), I was all like "Hey, I can finish this and then tweak that and maybe, if there's time, I can polish that, too." 

Yeah.  Talk about pipe dreams.

I got one thing done.  Well, lots of things for one submission.  In the past month, I have...

- Finished inputting the last third of a total rewrite.
- Done a line by line deep edit of the entire 124K word behemoth, chopping out 16K words.
- Written a 1500 character synopsis.
- Polished the blurb part of a query letter.
- Re-read through the entire 108K words for typos.
- Fixed all 10+ pages of handwritten notes on said found typos
- Fixed two plot holes I missed before.
- Wrote the rest of the query with personalization for the contest.
- Submitted the synopsis, the query, the first 1000 words, and various other stuff via web form along with the entirety of the manuscript (attached in .doc form because they don't do .docx)

Everything but the first two items on that list, I've done in the last few days.  Proving, of course, that I can in fact do this deadline stuff when I have to.  And I did it with about 8 hours to spare.  AND I took care of a stray kitty-baby, plus tackled a clogged shower drain.


My house is a pigsty.  We did Dairy Queen for lunch and dinner today - and lunch on Friday.  Yesterday, I think my family foraged around the kitchen.  I don't remember.  I don't remember much of the past week.  I don't remember hardly any of the weekend.  Michigan won, but I didn't get to watch the game (due to said shower drain).  I watched the MSU game while I edited on the couch.

But I'm done.  I did it.  For a while there, I wasn't sure I could do it.  (I mean after the initial over-confidence went fizzle.) 

And I'm done.  Like a Thanksgiving turkey dinner, done.  Baked, basted, stuffed, and by the end of the day, down to the carcass.

Needless to say, I will not be participating in NaNoWriMo.  (Maybe NaNoEdMo, but that's something to think about on Halloween.)

This week, I will be cleaning my house before my family stages a revolt and the cats go on strike.  Do not expect anything writerly of me this week.  (Well, unless one of my queries comes back looking for a partial or a full, then I'll work.)

What did you do this weekend?  How does the coming week look for you?

6 comments:

  1. *shaking pompoms* You go girl! I KNEW you'd get it done. Now comes the really hard part--waiting. Here's hoping for good news soon!

    Clean your house, drink coffee, maybe you can catch the games on college football channel repeats, and then get back to work!

    Congrats. I'm proud of you for getting it done!

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  2. Thanks, Silver. HV says if there's no response in 3 months, it's dead, so I'm just going to forget it's even out there and work on something else for a while. Just not this week. I'm pooped. ;o)

    Oh, and congrats on your latest release!! Yay!

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  3. Yay, B.E.! Congratulations!!!!!!!!

    When you catch your breath, tell us about the baby kitty, please. :-)

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  4. Way to go, B.E.! I knew you could do it - such determination and dedication. Now, take that break - but just a break - and then get back to forging ahead on your writing career :)

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  5. Congrats! That's a lot to get done. I think one submission is pretty rad; two would have just been showing off ;) And now we wait.

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  6. Thanks, Deb! I haven't heard from the vet since I dropped her off, so I'm going with no news is good news. I'll call him tomorrow and see where we're at with the treatment plan.

    Thanks, Janet! Yep, just a break. Then back to work.

    Congrats to you, too, Alexia. Yeah, two would've been bragging, but wouldn't that have been awesome? =o)

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