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vault 3

The Keep of Ages

IMG_7204Last Friday, I sent in another draft of my third novel in the Vault of Dreamers series. It has a clearer shape than it has had before, and I’m starting to think of it by its real title, The Keep of Ages. While my editor reads the draft, I’m resisting the itch to go back and tinker for two reasons: I really need her perceptive feedback before I go further, and I need distance from the manuscript so I can see it with fresh eyes of my own.

It’s… Continue reading

Q. Do You Have Deadlines?

IMG_7090A. Yes. I have one today, actually, and I’m missing it.

My editor Kate Jacobs and I keep in touch regularly about my progress with my drafts, and we mutually agree about when I have one due, based on what stage the book is in and how much revising needs to happen.

For instance, I’m currently working on the 5th draft of Vault 3, and when I began it back in July, I thought I could turn it in by today. I started realizing last weekend, however, that I was… Continue reading

A Quiet Milestone

Wagon, milestoneWhen I work on a manuscript for months, and half the time it seems to be going backward, it can be tricky to tell if the work is adding up to anything, but yesterday I reached the end of another draft. It feels important, like real progress, even though I immediately turned around and went back in to keep working and changing things.

The draft has problems. It’s still too short, for instance, and I haven’t accounted for characters I’ve cut or figured out how to fill certain plot holes,… Continue reading