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| Meeting up with Katie Mills in Paris! |
The summer is over for me. I’m back at work … sitting in a teacher inservice meeting this very second, learning about all the mandatory changes happening this year. Right now, someone is probably advising me to Take a Positive Mental Attitude Toward the Changes.
Let’s not think about that. Instead, I’m going to look back at this summer and admire how productive I was by assessing the goals I set back in June.
1. Complete revisions for THE EIGHTH DAY #1. Not only did I finish the revisions, the manuscript came back to me for copy-editing at the end of July, and I completed that too! The next time I see TED #1, it will have been through the Design stage, and I’ll get a glimpse of what it will look like as a real book! Squee!
2. Complete revisions for THE EIGHTH DAY #2. I finished that, too, and sent the manuscript off to my editor. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous, but after completing the revision process for Book 1, I know my editor is going to help me take the manuscript to the next level. I look forward to the challenge. (I’ll have to remember I said that when I’m reading the edit letter and breathing into a brown paper bag. If you read my post at WriteOnCon, you’ll get the joke.)
3. Visit my sister and her family in Kansas. We had a lovely trip! My nephew and niece are getting so big, and my daughters were thrilled to spend time with their cousins!
4. Contact book stores and libraries about making appearances to promote THE CAGED GRAVES. Yeah, I tried that, and got almost no response – and the responses I got were NO THANKS. However, I did have a positive response from a local newspaper, which published a lengthy article about my teaching and writing careers. I was contacted by another newspaper and a radio show, and I joined the KidLit Author’s Club, so the summer wasn’t a total loss, promotion-wise.
5. Plan and plot THE EIGHTH DAY #3. I tried to plot; I really did. But eventually I had to resort to my normal method of plunging into the first draft to figure out the story. At this point, I have about 15k words written, and every time I think, That’s it. I don’t know what happens next, I realize what has to happen next and keep writing.
6. Swim and bike and walk. I did this! Unfortunately, I didn’t lose any weight doing it, which seems to be a nasty trick my body is playing on me as I come ever closer to an unhappy birthday with a 0 in it. But weight loss aside, I know it’s healthier to be active. I’ve built my stamina on the bike, and over the 9 days of my European vacation, my husband estimates we walked 52 miles!
7. Visit Cardiff, London, and Paris. Yes, we did, and I’ve been writing about it ever since we got back! The one thing I haven’t mentioned yet is meeting Katie Mills in Paris. Katie and I have been beta readers for each other for a couple years now, and it was awesome that she could meet my family while we were abroad!
8. Make a quick pass of edits/revisions to a manuscript and brainstorm/research a new idea. I did complete the edits on the older manuscript, but I didn’t really work on that new idea. However, I did review the author proofs for my short story BLOODY MARY, which will be appearing in this year’s Month9Books charity anthology, VERY SUPERSTITIOUS. And, I can now reveal the cover for that book, which will release in October. Isn’t it pretty?
Overall, this has to be one of my most productive summers ever!
What did you get done this summer?
Sounds like you were very productive. I was too, though not with writing or relaxing.
For the weight thing, I’m sure I have more 0’s than you. I found it takes standing more of the day as well as exercising and eating right to lose any weight.
Wow, Dianne your list impresses me. And yikes to #4–shows how resilient we authors need to be.
Good luck!
Wow! I’m impressed with your productivity. You rock. 🙂
Sounds like an extremely productive summer my friend. And you’re right about staying active, even if it’s not resulting in weight loss it’s still resulting in dozens of positive physical and mental benefits.
What a great way to put the business of fall into perspective! What an amazing summer full of goodness!
I’m tired just reading this. Dianne, you always inspire me to work and write harder. I did a lot this summer in terms of life (ya know, growing a baby and all) but nothing in the way of writing. I better get my butt in gear this fall : ) Congrats on being so productive!
Very productive! I’m impressed 🙂 I didn’t get nearly as much done, but hey, at least I got *something* done!
Hi Dianne .. how lovely to meet Katie and all your goals ticked off – great news … then the cover, yes I love it … the Charity Anthology sounds a great read for Christmas time and dark evenings …
Cheers Hilary
Whew! That was a very productive summer! Is it terrible to say my accomplishment for summer was surviving? Okay, that’s not true. I got a TON of reading done and probably 40K worth of writing, plus about 3 edits on different works and critiqued 2 books. Yup. Survived. 😉
Sounds like summer was quote productive :). It stinks that more places weren’t interested in your appearances. I hope the other stuff goes well.
Lucky you got to go to England and France AND meet Katie! And as far as TED#3 goes, I think you’re doing just fine 😉
As a former YA librarian, I am shocked libraries weren’t biting at the chance to have you speak. Shame on them. Do you charge a fee? I have connections in a library in Morris County, NJ and I know they would love to have you.
You did have a productive summer! What a bummer about the bookstores though. That’ll be me soon. 😉
You’ve been so very busy, Dianne. You do know how to make the most of a summer!
Your summer sounds so busy and exciting with all the traveling, and yet you still managed to accomplish a lot! I hope your edit letter is minimal and there are no paper bag moments. 🙂
Thanks for commenting on my blog. I’m trying to pick my battles, but I can’t give in on obvious grammar/punctuation mistakes. The readers will think I’m the idiot who doesn’t know the rules. 😛
Sounds like you can work hard and play hard too! YAY for all the revisions you did! And YAY for going to Europe!
What a great summer you had – the right mix of work and play. And how great you were able to meet up with Katie. I really need to get to Paris one day – I have visions of writing beautiful prose in those beautiful cafes 🙂
Oh, I love that cover! Of course, it’s a cat, and I’m a cat person. So I’m guessing pretty much anyone could guess my reaction. =)
Sounds like you had a ver fun and productive summer! It is very hard to lose weight and keep it off after those pesky 0 birthdays.
Exercise is great, but you must watch what you eat too… It’s a balancing act.