Another long break...

Wow, another few months have gone by. It's taking my just as long to "finish" the book as it did to write it. I wonder if that's typical. Before anyone brands me as a slacker, I do work full time and started college full-time again in January. I already have an Associates degree, but am now completing some pre-req courses to get into USF's Bachelor program for Elementary Education, which starts in August. On the more personal front, I'm excited to announce that my fiancee and I are having a baby! This last month has been a whirlwind of information, doctor's appointments, and post-baby planning. We are expecting in October and, before anyone asks, we don't know yet what the sex is.

So I won't say that working on the book has taken a back seat... but it's just gone very slowly. But I have good news! The changes to my first manuscript have all been made on the master document file, so editing is 90% done. I want to change two scenes in the book to make them more interesting and I also need to cut about 5,000 words. Eeek!! 5,000 words? How can I possibly do that? The story is about 124,000 words right now, and my research shows that fist time authors are usually only granted between 100,000-120,000 words for their first work, and many publishers wont take a risk over 100,000. I'm going to analyze my story and trim the fat as much as possible.

I have a list of agents I will query very soon and I've already started my query letter. It's nerve wracking to try and sell yourself on a single page, but it's how it's done and I'm confident I will succeed.

I have updated my website with some cool pictures I took and edited myself. I also added a "twitter" badge for microblog posts. I don't know how much I'll use it (I'm busy enough as it is), but it looks neat and is cutting-edge internet stuff.

By the end of the week, I think I'll have the whole story finished. I really can't wait for someone to read it!