get cupid

An Update on the GET CUPID Revision

It’s been a bit since I’ve given an update on my writing, so why not a quick one now? As of this moment, I’m about 43,000 words into the GET CUPID revision–my YA heist fantasy novel. The second draft clocked in at 108,000 words long, more or less. So by that accounting, I’m far less than halfway through the revision. However. In that 108,000 word draft, I’m at the point that happens around 78,000 words in. Does that make sense? It means that I cut 35k words from the first 78k words of the novel. That’s roughly 140 of the […]

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Writing Update: The Memory Thief and Get Cupid

Yesterday I finished the second draft of THE MEMORY THIEF, a middle grade contemporary fantasy. It’s off to my agents now to see what their thoughts on the book are at the moment. They saw the first draft and liked it, and this second draft incorporated the changes they suggested, as well as the input I’ve gotten from some alpha readers and my writing group. I cut a fair bit, but I added a fair bit more, bringing the total from 40,000 words to 47,600. The book’s still in rough draft condition, though. What I mean by that is that

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Writing Update: GET CUPID and THE MEMORY THIEF

Good news, people! I heard back from le agents earlier this week as to a verdict on the first draft of THE MEMORY THIEF. Survey says? We are clear for lift-off. (Trying to think if I can incorporate any other mixed metaphors here. Falling short.) They had some great suggestions for improvements, of course–but overall thought it was a strong first draft. What does that mean? It means I’ve pressed the “pause” button on my rewrite of GET CUPID (which had just passed the 24,000 word mark) to turn my attention to a second draft of THE MEMORY THIEF. I’m typically

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Revision is a Jigsaw Puzzle With No Picture

I’m in the middle of revising GET CUPID at the moment. I’ve made some comments about it on my social media sites, if you’ve been following along. It’s a biggie. The second draft of the book was 109,000 words long. I’m shooting to have the third draft come in at 60,000 words. (Of course, I’m shooting for that knowing that I almost always end up longer than my goal. So because I want the final thing to be in the 70,000 word range, I’m focusing on 60,000 words as the goal. I know this seems stupid, but this is how

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Turning It Down from Eleven

I have a problem. I know it’s a problem, and yet I have a hard time with the problem anyway. (I suppose that’s pretty much the definition of a problem, but there you have it.) I overdo things. I’ll come up with a plan or an idea, and it’ll be a great idea. And then I’ll come up with something that makes that great idea or plan even better. And so I add that to the plan. And then there’s another idea that makes it all even more supreme and wonderfulicious. So that gets added. Rinse and repeat. The problem

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