What’s Up Wednesday
Time for a quick What’s Up Wednesday update. WUW is the brainchild of Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk who wanted a quick-and-easy way to catch up with all their bloggy friends. Visit their blogs to see how you can join in, and find other WUW participants.
What I’m Reading
I’m still on WAR AND PEACE. Don’t expect this to change for a while. Not much to say about it right now, especially since I’ve not given myself a lot of reading time lately–something else that may not change for a while, unfortunately.
What I’m Writing
I’ve received the last of my Beta Reader feedback, so I have started the final round of edits. This is where I incorporate their wisdom, and polish this thing into a query-able state. I was going to devote a whole blog post to thanking my Beta Readers, but I fear it would get lost amidst the A-to-Z Challenge articles this month. So, I want to take the opportunity now to say a huge THANK YOU to my Beta Readers–Team Awesome, who have truly lived up to that name:
Stephanie Allen
Kris Atkins
Rachael Kirkendall
Elodie Nowodazkij
Jennifer Pickrell
Kip Wilson
If this novel gets me an agent, you guys can take a share in the credit.
What Inspires Me Right Now
See above under “Team Awesome.”
What Else I’ve Been Up To
Aside from the usual, I’ve been busy visiting fellow A-to-Z bloggers. I suppose I could list all the lovely comments I’ve been getting for my 100-word flash fiction posts under “What Inspires Me Right Now.” If you want to read my A-to-Z posts to-date, here they are: Ash, BOLO, Cold, Delete, Elf, Flash, and Grandfather. Today’s will be posting in just a few minutes…
How’s your week been?
Good luck getting your book into queryable shape. That is always intimidating but exciting! Good luck! And especially good luck with War & Peace. I have never attempted because the size always intimidates me!
Thanks, Rachel–I am excited about it. I refuse to be intimidated by WAR AND PEACE, though it’s fighting with me to find the plot… 🙂
War and Peace is definitely a expedition. Have fun with it! And yay to getting you MS to that point. Betas are just priceless. Good luck querying – and let us know what happens !
Thanks, Tonja. You can be sure I’ll be sharing as much as I feel appropriate along the way… 🙂
WAR AND PEACE was my so-called Summer Book for a few years, and I did manage to finish it 🙂 And yay, glad you’re diving into the next round of edits…Looking forward to happy updates on that front 🙂
Yay for finishing W&P, Elodie! And thank you for your Beta Reading help. 🙂
Rock on, Team Awesome! Glad to see you’re still joining in What’s Up Wednesday as well as motoring away on the A to Z challenge. You’re so productive this month! 😀
Thanks, Emma. I think it helps that I scheduled all my A-to-Z posts in advance. That frees me up to do WUW, answer comments, visit blogs, and other life-related things… like breathing… 😉
Good luck with the final edits on your book! Getting ready for querying is nerve-wracking but exciting!
Have fun with War and Peace!
Definitely exciting, Emma! And I have some great Beta notes to help me. I’ll have fun with W&P, I’m sure, when I can find the plot…. 🙂
Good luck with final edits!!!
Thanks, Jennifer!
What an awesome group of beta readers! So glad they were able to give you lots of great feedback. Best of luck with your final edits. I’ve been loving your A-Z posts so far this month, Colin. Can’t wait to see what you come up with next!
They really have been an awesome team, Katy. Thanks for your well-wishes, and your kind words about the A-Z posts. They’ve been fun to write. 🙂
Any time. Good luck with edits! And good luck with finding time to read. It can be hard sometimes, but even fifteen minutes can make a difference.
Thanks, Rachael–I do appreciate your help. 🙂
Eeee how exciting to be on the final edits, Colin! Here’s to querying and signing with an agent!!! 😀
Thank you, Cole! I’m excited to get this ms into agents hands–when it’s ready… 🙂
What a great team of beta readers you’ve got there! And it’s pretty great that you’ve gotten all of their feedback and are ready to put the final touches on your story. How exciting and nerve-racking all at the same time that you’re thisclose to querying. Good for you, Colin!
I’m woefully behind on WAR AND PEACE right now. My original plan was to have it read by Christmas. Yeah, that didn’t happen. Obviously. I just need to stick to my plan of reading about five chapters of it per day and that should have it finished before too long. The funny thing is, I’m not sure I can find a whole lot of an actual story in the 40% that I’ve read so far. Have you found that too? So weird lol. Hope you’re having a wonderful week, Colin!
Aren’t they a great team? 🙂 I’m a lot more excited than nervous–I’ll leave the nerves until the query’s out there… 😉
One of the issues I’m having with W&P right now is finding the plot. There seem to be a lot of scenes and vignettes, but I’m still trying to identify the central storyline. I’m sure this is just a style thing.
You have a wonderful week too, Jaime! 🙂
it’s so exciting to see your progress. First with your WIP and now with beta feedback. Go Team Awesome! I admire your willingness to read War and Peace, the size of that book terrifies me. Good luck with the rest of the A-Z challenge!
Thanks, Prerna! Go Team Awesome, indeed!!
It’s great you have a awesome beta team. I have never read war and peace, I tried last year but struggled to get into it.
Thank you, Angel! W&P definitely takes some determination–it’s not an easy book to get into. I can’t honestly say I’m “into” it yet, but I’m going to read it! 🙂
Wow, I’m so impressed with you on multiple fronts, Colin! You are still plugging away at War and Peace – I would’ve given up by now. 🙂 And I said this before, but I’ll say it again – daily flash fiction for a whole month is really amazing. I find flash fiction really difficult to write! Maybe I’m just too long-winded. Lol. Have a great weekend!
Thanks, Kitty–you’re too kind! 🙂 Flash fiction is hard to do well. Writing 26 flash fiction stories may sound impressive… but the proof of the pudding’s in the eating, as they say. 😉