A Much Needed Regroup

This writer needed some time to regroup.

Last spring, I attended Crimefest, a crime writer's convention in the U.K.  I carried something very precious in my hands - my first manuscript.  It was an amazing experience.  I met other aspiring authors like myself, there for the pitch meetings and work-shopping opportunities.  I had precious face-time with agents and editors.  I had drinks and dinners with accomplished authors.  It was surreal to go to the train station on my way out and see their books sitting on the shelves at the train station bookstore.  All of it made me want to succeed in that world more than anything.

But most important and valuable of all, I got some advice.  The advice was to rewrite my manuscript.  Pffffffft.  Can you just hear my bubble burst?

She told me that my concept would be excellent for the young adult audience.  <Sigh.>  How on earth could I take characters that I created to exist in a certain time and space and make them into something completely different?

The first thing I did was get myself copies of the hot young adult fiction that I had never even so much as glanced at before - Twilight and the Hunger Games.  I was immediately hooked, and realized that my writing style was perfectly consistent with theirs.  So maybe I should think about it.  Maybe something new?  The problem was, when I tried to write something new, the old characters came out.  When I tried to invent a new plot, the old one came out.  It made me realize that maybe I should give a rewrite a try.  To my surprise, the rewrite only took about five weeks.  The biggest problem, was that it was summer vacation and with three kids at home and vacations to enjoy, my attention was divided, to say the least.    Sometimes though, we just need to step back, take a minute and regroup so that's what I tried to do.

But now, schedules are back on track and so am I.  I'm happier with it than I've ever been.  I've finished the edits and I'm back to the painful process of sending it out to agent slush piles.  We shall see what happens and I will keep you posted.