MORE PROPOSALS GOING OUT

It took a while with the break due to all kinds of "life activities," but the tweaking edit of The Race that Lies Before Us is done. I have returned it to my agent, Terry Burns, along with a slightly revised proposal. He is now targeting places for new submission, so proposals will be out to several more editors soon.

BACK TO POLISHING MY MANUSCRIPT

Shortly after I started my polishing revision in April, I was distracted from my writing for about six weeks due to the kids' extra-curricular activities, helping my mother during/after knee-replacement surgery, and the graduation of our oldest son from our homeschool.

Now that I've had several weeks to relax and start catching up on writing activities again, I'm finally back to revising The Race that Lies Before Us. It's been so long since I've read it that I'm truly enjoying the story as I edit. What a nice side-benefit!

POLISHING MY MANUSCRIPT

In the last couple of days, I’ve been feeling a pull to review The Race that Lies Before Us. At first I thought I was drawn back to the story because it’s been eight or nine months since I’ve looked at it. But as I read bits and pieces of the story—some of my favorite parts—I found myself thinking things like, “I could word that better” and “I really don’t care for the way I phrased that.” I kept seeing small things I could tweak here and there.

I think a combination of the distance time gives me, plus experience from editing two novels for Port Yonder Press, as well as reviewing entries for the Touched By Love contest, is allowing me to see things I didn’t notice before. So I begin another revision—this time to polish the story a little more and make it shine even brighter.

A REQUEST FOR THE FULL MANUSCRIPT

I received an e-mail from the assistant to the agent I resubmitted my proposal to and they have requested the full manuscript of The Race that Lies Before Us! They liked the changes I made to the first 3 chapters, and she said, "You certainly moved the action up front and it drew me through the story." I am beyond excited!

FINAL WORDCOUNT

Earlier this week, I finished the major revision I've been working on since last fall. I started the project with 117,000 words and ended with a little more than 89,000. It just blows me away that I was able to take out 28,000 words! That's about 1/4 of the manuscript. Actually, I took out more words than that, because I added a few scenes too. But it's been worth it. The writing is much tighter. Along with losing all of the episodic, ho-hum scenes, The Race that Lies Before Us is now a more exciting, faster-paced read.

WORDCOUNT UPDATE

Four months after I began this revision, with the wordcount of The Race that Lies Before Us at 117,000, the total has now fallen to 91,500! The thought of dropping my wordcount 25,000 words absolutely boggles my mind. And I thought I'd be pushing it to drop it to 103,000. The most amazing thing, though, is that my writing is not only tighter, but now that I've taken the fat out, I had the room to put in more meat.

MY WORDCOUNT FALLS AGAIN

When I began my revision of chapter 17, I suspected that it would drop my wordcount, but I had no idea how much. When I finally finished it, I cut the old version out and pasted in the new version, then checked the wordcount. I was stunned. The rewrite dropped 2,000 words from my manuscript! Revising can be tough, but the benefits are well worth the effort.

A BREAKTHROUGH

For the last several weeks, I've had a nagging suspicion that The Race that Lies Before Us was missing a component, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. I didn't even know if it was related to writing style or content. Now that we're on break from schooling for the Christmas holiday, I began to catch up on critiques I'd received but hadn't had a chance to review. At the same time, I received a crit from a new critique partner. She noticed something in chapter two that another critique partner, Steph, commented on in chapter eight. Steph and I have been e-mailing back and forth about this over the last couple of days and finally narrowed down the problem. Today, God laid the issue on both of our hearts. When I received an e-mail from Steph today, her thoughts were in line with mine. It was the affirmation I needed and I felt that zing that comes with a creative breakthrough.

TIGHTENING MY WRITING

Revising chapters five and six of The Race that Lies Before Us has been the toughest so far. I have not only revised them, but also rearranged and consolidated scenes. Some of my scenes are set in time and can’t be moved, but many could happen within a certain time frame. I racked my brains trying to figure out what should go where and finally had to pull out my timeline and rework it.

After I gave these chapters a hard look, I realized that two scenes did little to move the story forward and deleted them. The most important information from these scenes I added into a third scene. This gave more meaning to the scene I kept, and gave me more bang for my words, so to speak.

The hardest part so far came when I had to decide whether to keep or drop a favorite scene. Once again, the distance provided by the two months I took off from writing helped me to make the hard decision. Because of the revisions to chapters two and three, I no longer needed the scene to introduce one of the main characters. Since many of the characters thoughts had already been brought up in a prior scene, and will be discussed in another scene several chapters later, I finally bowed to the inevitable. The scene had to go. It was hard, but my consolation prize was dropping one thousand words from my wordcount.

I have moved on to chapter seven and will probably drop another large chunk of a scene. I’ve made so many revisions throughout the writing process that the original purpose of the scene is now moot. Once again, I expect that I will be able to pick out the most important information, consolidate it, and add it to another scene. And once again, I expect my wordcount to fall considerably. It’s so hard to cut these words I agonized over when I wrote the scene, but I can tell that it’s well worth it.

WRITING AGAIN

School has started up and my homeschool planning is finished, so I have finally picked up my writing again. The break has helped me more than I could have anticipated. It put distance between me and my stories, which helps me to see my writing with new eyes. The first time I pulled up The Race the Lies Before Us again, I immediately realized my hook needed to be rewritten and noticed a few sections that should be deleted. I never would have been able to do that without the distance of time.

REVISIONS...AGAIN

I’ve had a few days to think things over and spend some time in prayer, I now recognize that I need to devote much more time to revising again. I’ve had the feeling for a couple of months that I would need to do this, but put it off because I haven’t wanted to spend a great deal of time and effort working in the wrong direction. After receiving this latest rejection, combined with the other feedback I have received from agents, I feel like I have more direction.

I know the plot is strong, but I need to re-work the beginning and tighten up the writing. I have noticed for some time that at the end of every revision the writing at the end of the book is always stronger than at the beginning. I learn so much along the way, that it shows in my writing. That’s good, but it also points out a stark difference in the writing style at the beginning and the end. I feel led to revise the beginning—perhaps even to the middle of the book—until I get to a point where I feel like the pace begins to quicken and the writing flows well between the old version and the new. I can’t point my finger to where that will be, but I know God will show me when I get there.

FULL CIRCLE

It only took two weeks to receive a response back on the resubmission of my revised first three chapters to the latest agent to request more information on The Race that Lies Before Us. I had really hoped she would request the full manuscript, but it was another rejection.

Since receiving this rejection, I feel the need to put my writing on hold until the end of summer. I have been trying to work on planning our next homeschool year and writing at the same time, and it’s not working. I haven’t been able to give my complete attention to either project, therefore I haven’t accomplished what I would like in either venture. Homeschool planning is the more pressing issue, so I will concentrate on that for the next six weeks or so, the return to my writing.

In many ways, I feel like I have come full circle with my writing. Although I now have a "finished" project, I am returning to the beginning…again. I need to examine the manuscript with fresh eyes and make another trip through the revision process. I’m also close to the end of the list of agents I originally created. So I in some ways, I need to start over with this aspect of writing as well.

Hopefully I will return to my writing in six weeks refreshed and full of creativity once the weight of homeschool planning is no longer hanging over my head. With a new list of agents, a more professional query letter, and a fresh beginning to the story, I hope the agents I contact will be drawn in and enticed to ask for more.

AN INVITATION

While it feels great to get feedback from my queries, I’ve still been wondering exactly what I need to do to make The Race that Lies Before Us acceptable. The feedback I’ve received has given me hints, but without more specific direction it would be easy to spend hours upon hours revising, yet in the end simply be spinning my wheels. But God is so good. Today, He provided exactly what I’ve been asking for—very specific direction.

The response I received from the third agent to request a partial manuscript was neither a rejection nor a request for the full manuscript, but an invitation. It said, "This needs a new hook. The beginning did not grab me. May resubmit." Again, this isn’t exactly the glowing report I’d like to hear, but it’s what I needed. Besides that, it does have a positive element. She must have seen something she liked in the remainder of the first three chapters that she liked or she would have simply sent a rejection.

Now that I know what to do, it’s time to get busy!