Stay on target. . . .

I skipped another day. I shouldn't be playing this fast and loose with a resolution (5/week, remember?) so early in the year.

The fact is, with YA MS the First done, I've been keeping away from the blog, I suppose. But that's a folly. So here's a small update:

1. I submitted the latest, longer draft of YA MS the First to aforementioned editor. When I first submitted this MS (albeit a much shorter version), he read it in one night. I don't hold any such hopes, but still, waiting blows so much.
2. Second meeting of my only class for this semester was last night. I'm not finding it to be very valuable as far as my education education (intentional double) goes, but I am learning a little about the Indigenous nations of North America.
3. The vacation in Azeroth is not the thrill I thought it would be. I don't think I will have any trouble making it only a vacation and giving up the game once again at the end of the 30 days.
4. I've decided while I wait to hear about YA MS the First, I'll get back to work on YA MS the Second. My plan is to make a very firm, strong outline to finish out the title, and to not shrink from the long road ahead. I intended this to be in two parts when I first conceived of it, but upon reflection, that felt daunting. I say daunting it shall be, then! And I will make it happen anyway.

All right, I suppose that's all I've got. I haven't mentioned Sam, but know this: he is right next to me, asleep. He snores a little sometimes.

Young-Adult Manuscript, the First

Um, I think it's, maybe . . . finished?

Just under 70k words, just over 200 pages. I'm not sure I've fixed all the issues of draft one, but hey, it's book length, right?

And I think, for the most part, it's not too bad.

I'll send it off before the end of the week, I expect. One more read through, since you know I am the typo king, and because I'll just feel better if I read it one more time.

Currently downloading the 10-day trial of WotLK, btw. Heh heh.

Home Alone 4: Pig in the City

Not much to report, as usual.

Today was the Fourth Day Alone with Sam. It went fairly well, I think. It was a long day, certainly, but I am getting better at picking up Sam's signals; I can identify hungry, tired, and post-evacuation pretty easily--almost always before the deafening high-pitched streaking begins. It doesn't usually last long, though, if it does start; my throat starts to hurt, you see.

I'll be alone with Sam again tomorrow, and Thursday. Beginning in two weeks, it will be every day when B starts her normal work-at-the-office-every-day schedule. Shame. Why aren't we more Canadianesque?

I haven't touched my YA MS since the meeting last Friday. I just don't know where to start fixing this thing. I mean, I can pad it; padding I know. But I don't feel like that's what it wants. A few ideas I've had include an opening passage that completely breaks the fourth wall and sets up the piece a little better; opening with a poem is fine, but the scene at the clothing store feels a little in-the-middle of things. B suggested adding another, shorter novella, connected but not, a la Franny and Zooey. I don't know what to do!

Also we went to BN last night and I picked up two books by John Green: Finding Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines. I'll read them in my normal slow fashion and get back to you.

Debriefing

Well, I had my meeting (over Two-Hearted Ales, I'm happy to say) with the aforementioned editor last night. I wish I had something concrete to report, but I really don't. Not that I expected to walk out of there with a book deal, contract in hand, whistling my way home. But I guess I was hoping for something along the lines of an if-then statement.

Instead, I learned he definitely loved the book as it is, but thinks of it as not quite a novel . . . yet. He gave me some of his notes, and promises to follow up with a full editor letter next week. I'll look forward to that, and hopefully I'll have a better idea of where he'd like to see this book go. Generally, it was pretty cool to hear that a rising star YA editor liked my YA MS. That's the biggest thing I got out of the night.

He also recommended I send the MS off to another editor, who he is sure would also love it, so I'll most likely to do that on Monday morning. I'll probably also read the book again and see if anything comes to me.

Shots and hopes

First, some Sam news.

His two-month birthday was yesterday, which means two-month well visit. Sam had his at 10:30 this morning, and now he is one very unhappy little boy. Three shots in his two legs, and now the violent fits of crying come every 2 minutes or so and last about ten or twenty seconds each. Shrill, painful crying. Truly difficult to be around. My heart is breaking constantly. But the reaction is normal, unless it goes on for three hours in a row. So for now I'll just be glad that he hasn't had a severe reaction.

I can't wait for next month for some more shots!

The stats: 23 inches long (nearly two feet!) and 11 pounds.

In other news, one of the editors to whom I sent my YA MS yesterday has already read the whole thing. Apparently he just couldn't put it down. Naturally, I'm buggin'. We're meeting Friday to discuss the book. I might not sleep until then. Which will be fine, since Sam, it feels like right now, might be crying until then.

Done

I finished my first full-length (if you can call it that at under 35k words) young adult novel this morning. This is a project that began as a 7-page short story in my college Creative Writing for Children class. I was inspired to augment it years later, and finally feel like it's a finished book now, 14 years after first sitting down to bang out a final project. Even more ironic is how many books I've started and finished since then. What, like twenty, twenty-five?

Right, so, I've sent it off to two editors, one who enjoyed a draft a couple of years back, and one I met recently and who must have been impressed enough with my resume and a summary of the MS to ask for it.

Now I guess I'll wait six months and continue to toil away at my chapter books.

In Sam news, he's a regular smiler the last week or so, which is nice. Caring for an infant before he can give you any real reactions -- smiles, gurgly attempts at speech -- can be a little frustrating. Now that I can pretty much always get a smile if I try, it's still frustrating, but less so.