Tuesday, July 1, 2014

So you want to write a book Part X

That final moment when you are three quarters of the way through of reading your manuscript for hopefully the last time for a long time is an awesome feeling until.....hold it....step on the brakes....you notice something is wrong. Something doesn't read write. Something's missing...an entire chapter. Holy crappity crap. So there I was at the end of chapter twenty five. My pile of papers decreasing as the hours go by (I find it easier to find mistakes in print then off a computer monitor). End of chapter...Brody McKenna finishes up with Ms. Delcott the head mistress of Ryli Madigan's girls school.  Next chapter...Ryli gets out of shower and forgets a friend spent the night in her apartment. Hold the phone. Cut. Stop. Flip back through the pages. And oh my God, something is definitely missing. My mind races. I start flying through emails. Questions form...did my editor chop out a scene? Did I chop out a scene? My fingers quickly pound out Kat Attalla's phone number. She answers and I frantically blurt out I'm missing a chapter. What's worse? I can't even find it....the bane of having one too many folders and drafts of my book. An hour later, I realize the chapter wasn't cut. Chapter Twenty-Six was technically challenged. Authors tend to feel they need every scene, every word written. Truth is, you don't. Some things are not needed. Chapter Twenty-Six was needed and is integral to the story. Good news is, I found it and it could have been a lot worse. Remeber Me? could have been published missing a chapter a perfect excuse for a person not to read my second book. Crisis averted. Finished my final review and whew....Sent. Time to offer my humble opinion on Liz Shore's Lady Smut blog.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Hope to hear from you. Comments?




1 comment:

  1. Losing a chapter is like losing on of you kids? How could you? Just kidding. We all do it. Thankfully the plastic box of circuits remembers all... Somewhere inside.

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