Critique Group

I am very lucky to have found a critique group to read Blessed Among Women.  Though it's a non-traditional historical (which I know makes it a tough critique) it does seem to resonate, and my group has so far been giving me dynamite feedback.  Apparently I have character on lock--setting is my issue.  I think that's a problem I'll continue to have.  I hate taking time away from my dialogue to describe things, but that's very necessary.  I need to make myself do it.  The world-building involved with the fantasy novel makes that a little less of an issue.

I've also been in the process of edit/re-edit/edit again/dammit, how'd I miss that typo?  The to-be-or-not-to-be nature of contractions in HiFi (how cool is that for historical fiction?) has also been bugging me.  On the one hand, we can't hope to approximate how people spoke with one another several centuries ago, which is why I'm more than tempted to go stylistically natural and let the characters have a conversation.  But on the other hand, there's a certain voice readers of HiFi expect, and if I don't deliver, it makes my book that much less likely to sell.  Well, less likely to get to the agent stage, honestly.

I feel tough.  July in Madrid made me believe that I could do things that I'd never have attempted otherwise.  And hell, if all else fails, I've got a vision board, dammit.  (Thanks, Happy Endings.)  If it's not this book, it will be the next.  Or, God help me, the next.

Checking Inbox

I have come to deeply detest the fine people that email ads, daily deals, etc.  Not that they've actually done anything wrong.  I did tell them that I wanted to know more about their various services (although Linkedin is wearing out its welcome, fast).  It's not them, it's me.  I have my gmail up all day, and every time I glance at it and see "Inbox (1)" my heart skips a beat.  Of course I'm hoping that it's Ms. Amazing Agent, writing to tell me that if she doesn't represent me then she's out of the business forever.  It's usually from J. Crew.

I finished the first draft of the first chapter revision/overhaul.  It was surprising how much of the original I was able to salvage (and gratifying, I had a lot of babies I didn't want to kill).  It goes to the critique group tomorrow, and to say that I'm nervous is an understatement.  As long as they don't tell me that it made their eyes bleed, or made them wish they were illiterate, I'll be happy.