End in sight and a new deadline

I went over the first three chapters with my friend yesterday and it was really encouraging. She's picked out a few things that could be improved, but nothing major. Now I'm going to work through them and once that's done I can finally submit my partial.

One of her main criticisms was on my tendency to blunt the impact of a statement by using qualifiers. I know I do it. I'd already pruned out a load during editing, but there were still far too many left. They were so obvious once she'd pointed them out; I don't know how I'd failed to spot them before. All I can say is it's a good example of why it's vital to get someone to critique your work before sending it off.

So now it's time to set my revised deadline. Ideally I'd like to get it done by Friday, but I've got a busy week and I don't want to have to break another deadline. Therefore I'm going to set my deadline for the end of June. If I haven't submitted my partial by then, feel free to come after me with pitchforks.

Progress Update

I got an email from my friend who's been looking over my first three chapters - she's finished (yay!) and likes it (double yay!)

She's going to bring the chapters with her to the writers' group we go to. The next meeting is on Saturday. So I'll be able to look at her suggestions there and then start work on any alterations. Hopefully I'll have a good idea by the end of the weekend of how long it will be before I can finally submit to Mills & Boon.

I'm really going to do this...scary!

Deadline Update

Since I set a deadline of the end of May for submitting my ms to Mills and Boon, it's high time I updated.

I've finished my synopsis and cover letter, and formatted my ms to the layout given on the Harlequin website. I'm just waiting for my friend to finish reading it. I'm itching to just go ahead and send everything off, but I know if I do that my friend will come back to me saying I've committed some howler of a typo. I've worked so hard to get this far, I'm not going to mess it up by being impatient.

So I'll wait for my friend to finish, make any necessary corrections and send it off then.

I can't believe I'm nearly there! For so long, submitting my work has been a misty goal, way in the future. Soon it will be a reality. Then the nail-biting begins...

A scary step

I've done two things today that I'm proud of. First, I mowed my lawn. That might not sound like much, but between illness, holidays and torrential rain, I hadn't been able to do it this year until now. That meant it was a jungle that really needed to be attacked with a machete, instead of my flimsy Flymo. But I did it. It was so wet that now the lawn looks like it's been nibbled by a rabbit with most of its teeth missing, but it's still an improvement.

The other thing I did was to email my first three chapters to a friend from my writing group. That's definitely the most scary thing I've done in a long time. I didn't want to do it - I'm terribly self-conscious about showing my work to people I know - but I had a stern word with myself about needing my MS to be the best it can possibly be before I send it off to Mills & Boon. As much as I really don't want to hear about all the bits that need improving (or, heaven forbid, scrapping and completely rewriting) I've just become too familiar with my work now, and blind to its faults. It definitely needs a fresh pair of eyes.

But I know I'm going to cringe next time I see my friend...