Getting some feedback...

April is behind us now and I'm proud to say that I finished everything that I had proposed in my last update. I trimmed 5,000 words from the story, which involved taking out one minor character (Ghostpaw, you will be remembered!) and tweaking bits here and there. I think the story reads much smoother than it originally did and I am very proud of the end result, which is 119,000 words and 380 pages.

With that done, I went to the local Office Depot and had them print out two manuscripts. Surprisingly, it was done right there (as opposed to the 4 day wait I was originally quoted) and cost $10 less than I had estimated.

With two copies of my completed book in hand, what did I do? After I did a little jig, I gave a copy to my fiancee and one to my mother. Along with reading the book, Mom made three additional copies (printed on front/back of pages and bound in a spiral bounder) to make it easier for people to read. Of course, "official" manuscripts are not printed double sided and are never bound, but I will admit that these new copies were so much easier to carry around and read.

So, in total, four people have read my book. The feedback has been great. So far everyone likes or loves it. Let me set the record straight, friends and family will always say they love something that you spent 2 years of your life creating. In no way does having your mommy love your book mean that it will be a best seller or even find a publisher at all. In my query letters to prospective agents, I will not boast that my uncle said "the last 1/3rd of the book was some of the best fantasy writing I've ever read". This will not impress agents or publishers.

But does make me smile and feel real good about what I've done. It's true, having friends and family gush over your work will not ensure that it sells, however, if they are truthful and really did enjoy it, then it means that it's at least readable. Now, when these readers can identify your major themes and talk about your characters exactly as you yourself imagined them, then it means that your story was understandable... and if they are smiling while they are discussing all this, then it at least means that your story was enjoyable.

So, the feedback has been great so far and I am most excited to make a few minor changes to the master manuscript and start sending out those queries. I've wanted to send out the queries for weeks now, but it would be just my luck that someone bites and wants a final manuscript ASAP (I could only wish)... but how amateure would that look if I had to delay sending it because "my mommy hasn't finished proofing it yet"? So I decided to wait.

I am meeting my uncle tonight to get the last of his input. He holds the record so far of being the fastest reader, as not more than 30 hours after I'd handed him the manuscript he called me to let me know that he finished it and loved it.

So by this time next week I should have all the final changes made to the master and will have as final a story as any book can be (with the exceptions of editor input). I have my list of agents in mind, but I'm going to send to one in particular first. Something about him caught my eye and I want to give him full courtesy to read my query first.

To everyone who has helped me so far: Jeanie, Mom, Susan, and Reese: thank you very much and it has been a pleasure.