LUCY BURDETTE: It’s been a busy stretch, what with making the transition from Connecticut to Key West, finishing the first round of edits on my book 16 (coming next July), working on a short story, working on a murder mystery for the Friends of the Library, and so on.
I can’t tell you too much about the new book without spoilers – for some reason this seems more challenging than with other books. But I remember talking about the inciting event in an earlier essay. This involved Hayley Snow going along on a safe custody exchange, which I know some of you worried about. I think I’ve fixed the book so that is addressed—we’ll see.
Here is a bit of the opening again, but this time with a note from my editor. There are a lot of notes like this sprinkled throughout the book, which can feel impossible when they first arrive. But I’ve learned that addressing them always, always makes a book stronger. The trick is to read all the feedback a couple of times and let it sink in over a couple of days—the answers will come! In summary, I’m very lucky to have this editor! I’m also grateful to have my long-standing writers group pals Ang and Chris to bounce things off.
Next, the manuscript will be sent off to the copyeditor. She or he will look for grammar and spelling mistakes, errors in the timeline, and general consistency. Over the course of 26 books, I’ve hardly had the same copyeditor two times in a row, so this process can be a little more fraught. Keep your fingers crossed for me please. Meanwhile, as we were driving, the cover arrived! (You can preorder here.)
What do you think? My only complaint is I wish some of that fruit was plates of cake and cookies:). But I'm thrilled to get a little mental rest from the book and work on some other things. (Although I'm rediscovering that short stories are hard!)
How do you celebrate the end of a big project? or do you just move on to the next item on your list?
**Meanwhile, here are some deals for you. The ebook edition of A DISH TO DIE FOR is on sale this month for $1.99!
**The audio editions of THE KEY LIME CRIME and DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS are both on sale for $1.99! (Not sure how long this one will last...)
**Finally, after a several month delay, the audio edition of THE MANGO MURDERS is finally available!
I really like this cover, Lucy . . . .
ReplyDeleteAs for the celebrating the end of a big project . . . I usually just move on to the next thing on the list since there's always something else to do . . . .