Paragraph death match

Things are great in Xmas Carol land. I like what I read, no matter where in the book I stop. At this point I'm just wandering through the text and enjoying the scenery . . . but every now and then an ornery paragraph surfaces and it and I engage in a death match.

I swear, at times I'll spend over two hours on one paragraph. It drives me crazy. There I am, happily driving through the book when I have to pull up next to a paragraph that doesn't sound right (or doesn't work logically, which is even worse). In any case, I don't like the paragraph. I'm mad at it. So I smack it around and try to say the thing every which-what way . . . and this goes on and on and on. Today I wrangled with one for over an hour and finally highlighted the whole damn thing and clicked "delete". Sometimes that's the only way out.

But despite my grappling with the occasional rude paragraph, the book is done. My sister is reading it, my nephew is reading it and my brother-in-law is reading it. Mostly, I want to see if they notice any typos, but of course it's always fun to get people's reactions. My nephew hasn't read it before, though my sister and her husband have. Thankfully, the latter two will find this version quite different.

By the way, speaking of fabulous catches (which is what editing is all about) I found an awful typo yesterday. I swear, some typos are the kind that can haunt your forever. I almost let one through:

Here's the set-up: a female character wondered why she was dressing with such care for a date. The final line in the paragraph was the answer to her question. It was supposed to say: "He was worth it." But reading the scene yesterday I found that it said: "He was worth tit." And this paragraph led right into a sex scene. Lord! It would have looked like I meant to say that. Typos from hell.

Anyway, all is well. The book should be out in a week or so -- as soon as my final pre-publication reviews roll in. (Read quickly, people!) Thanks for hanging in with me, everybody.

I finished Xmas Carol again

I just finished yet another edit of Xmas Carol. It might be perfect now but it's too early to say. Give me a day or two and I'll get back to you.

One weird thing about writing a novel is that if you write about a real thing, the circumstances of that real thing can change, leaving your book out in the cold. For instance, in Xmas Carol I mention the "new World Trade Center".

So I was horrified to see the news yesterday about that idiot Silverstein saying that his "tower" is only going to be seven stories instead of 80 or so. I thought, "Is that the tower in my story?!" After reading more about it, I don't think it is. There will still be a huge tower. Probably, maybe.

There'd better be, because it's in my book. You hear me, world?

Surely I'll publish Xmas Carol within weeks. Surely. Hang on.

Meanwhile, back at the salt mines

In the earliest days of this blog, I wrote a few posts that outlined my approach to novel-writing. I'm not the sort to heed other people's advice so I invented the process from whole cloth.

I had questions and I questioned everything. First person or third person? Must I include an antagonist? How would I avoid the boring pitfalls most novels fall into (like sci-fi novels including evil government agents in every single story)? How should I write dialogue? And how the heck do you structure a scene? It was all new to me. When I started writing, I didn't know a thing.

In the end, I just dove in and wrote the book. I like to figure things out for myself and the best way to learn is by doing the thing you want to master. Xmas Carol is the first book I've taken all the way through the process, from initial idea to completed book. It's been a learning experience every step of the way, including right now.

The recent Big Question is "when is it done?" How do you know? Part of me (and most of my friends) said to let go of the book. Yes, I could always improve it further but it was okay, so just publish the damn thing. That's basically been the advice. And to this I say, "Nuh-uh."

Right now, two friends are proofreading the book for me. They offered and it would have been foolish to say no. In the meanwhile, I'm reading the book. And yes, I'm changing things here and there. But you know what? That's what you're supposed to do. I finally figured out that you don't let it go until you're happy with every word. I always thought so, but now I know this in my heart. You have to be proud of every sentence in your book.

For those anxious to buy Xmas Carol, have no fear. It won't be long and I promise it will be worth the wait. This book is fun.