100 Things #86 - Sometimes your work is cursed
Some days you have to sit back and wonder 'is my story cursed?' We all have one. The novel that doesn't save your changes. The novel that is lost repeatedly in hard drive crashes (disc failure, flashdrive failure, didn't back up into the cloud). The novel that develops five problems for every one you solve. You start whimpering whenever you even think about that story even though you love it.
For me, right now, that's Soldiers of the Sun. I'm TEN months behind on getting it sent to a publisher for consideration. I've had first reader issues. I've lost edits I've made. Edits they made. I come up with fixes only to find they don't work.
Last night I was almost ready to whip it into the correct format for the publisher and then remembered I found a stack of hard copy edits when I was house cleaning. I made them this summer and kept them just in case my flash drive died before I got home. It didn't. But I DID check them and sure enough...they hadn't saved. I about wept. It's weeks worth of work lost.
I have to fix it again. Then I realized I had a timing issue (relatively easy to solve) and I still have a dialog issue. This is 1932 but the characters don't really sound all that 1930ish. They didn't in the other couple in this series either so I don't have to load it up on slang but I would like more. This will not be an easy fix. I look at this novel and just despair. I think it's a good one but my god, it's been a long hard labor and delivery.
And I decided to get my nano time wasting out of the way early. I've mocked up a cover for my Vampires in Vegas project.
For me, right now, that's Soldiers of the Sun. I'm TEN months behind on getting it sent to a publisher for consideration. I've had first reader issues. I've lost edits I've made. Edits they made. I come up with fixes only to find they don't work.
Last night I was almost ready to whip it into the correct format for the publisher and then remembered I found a stack of hard copy edits when I was house cleaning. I made them this summer and kept them just in case my flash drive died before I got home. It didn't. But I DID check them and sure enough...they hadn't saved. I about wept. It's weeks worth of work lost.
I have to fix it again. Then I realized I had a timing issue (relatively easy to solve) and I still have a dialog issue. This is 1932 but the characters don't really sound all that 1930ish. They didn't in the other couple in this series either so I don't have to load it up on slang but I would like more. This will not be an easy fix. I look at this novel and just despair. I think it's a good one but my god, it's been a long hard labor and delivery.
And I decided to get my nano time wasting out of the way early. I've mocked up a cover for my Vampires in Vegas project.
