Thursday, August 13, 2009

New Contract

These are words I love to hear. :-) Last Thursday my wonderful, fabulous, amazing editor called to offer me a new two book contract. I said yes. The first book is a sequel to Whispers - it's Anne's story. You might even recognize her hero as well. :-) The second book is a stand alone that I'm really excited about, although it's going to require some fun and interesting research. I see a Playfriend trip in my future.

And while I love the giddy, happy feeling of knowing I have a job for a little while it also means I have to actually start doing the work. It's been a little while since I submitted this story and I was having a hard time getting back into it. Part of that was bad timing I think. The call came in right as I was making plans to get the girls ready for school. Part of it was I wasn't excited about it anymore. Don't get me wrong, I love this story and I love these characters but in the weeks since I'd put it aside I seem to have misplaced my enthusiasm.

Well, I found it again yesterday when I finally had a chance to open the first chapter up again and I remembered that I actually do love this story. And that I'm not a complete and total hack (My ego is a fragile, fragile thing apparently. I'm not sure I like that about myself). So I've set myself a deadline of having my first draft done by Sept 10th. This is totally doable and allows me to walk away from the project for a week while we're on vacation and come back to it with some distance and fresh eyes so that I can layer in those pesky details I always seem to forget.

That's the plan anyway. We'll see if it actually happens. I have a turkey leg at Disney riding on my getting finished so I think I probably will.

Have you ever stepped away from a project and found it difficult to go back? Ever walked away from a book only to discover those files months or years later and remember why you loved it so much?

Instigator

12 comments:

Unknown said...

yay. very cool. grats. xo

Andrea Laurence AKA Smarty Pants said...

*perk*

Playground trip?

Anonymous said...

Oh, I have had that feeling soo many times. I have two pieces in my file cabinet that got started, then delayed, then, well, I really ought to get back to them here soon.They've great characters, and the one is about a neighbor nearby, and she's been bugging me about the ending...

Problem Child said...

Road Trip! Where are we going?

~goes to pack~

Lynn Raye Harris said...

Yay, congrats! I kind of feel like that at the moment, though it's only a short time I'm away from the story. My editor has my latest proposal for the next book in my contract -- and until she tells me what she likes/doesn't like, I'm afraid to work forward for fear I'll have too much to change. Been there, done that.

Kira Sinclair - AKA Instigator said...

Don't you remember? Peach orchard. :-) I'm thinking Georgia.

Instigator

Lisa Rusczyk said...

Hey Kira,

Big congrats on the two book deal!!! That's awesome. I've definitely lost interest and come back to a story many times. The one I had published in Feb. took 5 years to write because of that! Then there are the ones that pop out in a matter of weeks. You never can tell...

Jane said...

Congrats on the book deal.

Angel said...

I've definitely learned that if I step away for any reason, for any length of time, it is much harder for me to get back into a story. Best case scenario: I force myself to write straight through the first draft. Changes can come later, but the first drafting is key.

Congrats!!! Can't wait to read about Anne.

Angel

Angel said...

I forgot to mention that this also applies to house cleaning. When I get into a "clean it all up, its driving me crazy" mode, I better run with it. If I get distracted, I lose that drive and it doesn't come around all that often. :)

Angel

Playground Monitor said...

But I just drove 515 miles home from Georgia. ::whine:: Maybe I should just leave things packed?

Christine said...

Congratulations! That's awesome news.

Yes, I have had that feeling as well. Right now I am anxious to get my MS out the door because I want to start revising my 4th book. I have tons of yummy ideas for it and how to fix it. Copy editing and polishing the 3rd is like putting my brain through a cheese grater.

Painful!