A Little Touch-Up, And Then ...

My latest rewrites have been a fantastic experience. My first John Craft chapter is split into two. The introduction to Sean McNabb is completely different ... much more streamlined, much more to the point. I have added a bit of a preamble, in which one of my characters is up at night and thinking about one of the main points of the book ... which I will detail later.

I also am learning to write. Not write in a journalistic sense ... I have done that for 37 years ... but as a novelist. My biggest flaw earlier was that I was still writing like a journalist. When we write a story for a newspaper, we have 10 to 30 inches (that latter number is generous on most newspapers) to tell about the event or person. We get in, establish facts, give supporting information, wrap it up. I was writing the opening of my novel the same way ... and it doesn't work. Or at least good novels don't work that way.

The key for me? I am relaxing as a writer. My later chapters let events and characters flow, but my opening chapters were burdened by that journalistic pace. That isn't the case now.

I am approaching a select few agents with my changes. Most of them will be those who have shown interest before but thought my writing needed to be upgraded. One will be an agent I sent to but never heard from, but I hold him in such high regard that it is worth another shot.

I have some touch-up to do on my manuscript ... page numbering and such ... and then it will be a go as far as casting my hopes onto the publishing waters again. I am dedicated to this project, and I know it will work. I also want to get back to my second novel, which is a kick to write.

So, away we go ...

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