Done it!

Today's a day for celebration. I've reached a significant milestone. Yes, I've finally hit the 'send' button and submitted my first three chapters to Mills and Boon. I can sink into paranoia tomorrow, but today I'm going to enjoy my achievement :-)

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.

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...

Another update

I didn't get much done this week, but that was in my plan - I've had a busy week both in my day job and preparing for a visit from a cousin and his family. Now that's over, I've gone through my first three chapters and made notes on all the things that need changing.

I'm encouraged that there's nothing too major on the list. I've already made a start - I rewrote the all-important opening paragraphs this morning and it's a big improvement.

I've got to get the changes done by Wednesday - I'm off on another holiday after that. This time to sunny Pembrokeshire. I don't want to have unfinished work hanging over me whilst I'm away.