So, this morning I sent off the new version of THE MOUNTAIN OF KEPT MEMORY to my Saga editor, Navah. I read through the whole thing again over the long rainy weekend and actually . . . actually, I think it’s pretty good. Always reassuring to feel that way.
You may think that the most nervewracking moment in writing is when you finally see your baby hit the shelves. You have to just wait for reader reactions, and you never know! This is true, but. But, with a traditionally published book, at least, any new title has been through a lot of hands and you know that a) you like it; b) your agent likes it; c) your editor likes it; d) any beta readers you showed it to hopefully like it. This gives you some security when you let it go out into the wild.
So at least equally tense, at least for me, is the moment when I send a new manuscript to my agent, or a new or heavily revised manuscript to my editor. Those are important humps to get over. At least once, when Caitlin was slow to get back to me about a new manuscript, I was really concerned that she might not like it. (She was just busy.) (She always does get back to me fast if I actually ask a question.) My point here is, it’s hard for me to judge a new book, and hard to know whether other people will like it.
Oh, yeah, also, now that I think of it, I remember how worried I was about Justin in PURE MAGIC. I was all like, Is it okay to introduce a new primary character? I wasn’t at all sure that would work for people, but it turned out to be fine with everyone who’s read the book so far. I’m sure someone somewhere will just hate Justin, but so far, not a problem.
Anyway, so. Now I can check off MOUNTAIN for a month or so. I expect that in the absolute best case, Navah will probably have some suggestions. But still, finished with it for the moment.
So I thought, great, I could take a break until May and then resume work on THE WHITE ROAD OF THE MOON for Knopf. (Pause to consider: that one IS for Knopf, right? Haven’t gotten them mixed up, right? No, it’s definitely WHITE ROAD for Knopf.) (I live in fear of sending the wrong ms to an editor.) (Not a lot of fear, because that wouldn’t be the end of the world or anything, but it would be embarrassing.)
But then this morning it occurred to me, I did want to get the HOUSE OF SHADOWS sequel in order. Ouch. That may take the rest of April.
Well, we’ll see. First: I’m definitely going to finish ICE CREAM STAR.
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