Well, I'm in an awkward stage with my own writing. I've "finished" my book. I'm calling it DETENTION these days, and "finished" really just means that I'm waiting for feedback and inspiration on how to change it for the zillionth time. I've have done some finagling in the first chapter in the last couple of weeks, and I think I'm finally moving in the right direction with those critical first pages. 

Of course, I sent the first draft of that new chapter to my sister and my mom before I'd really polished it. My sister said it was "choppy," and my mom wrote back with an entirely different idea for the opening. They were both right, so I tried it again. 

I'm pretty sure it's better now, but really, it could also be that I'm making the whole thing worse. No one actually knows at this point.

So, anyway, in times of limbo, it seems the only real thing to do let the first chapter in DETENTION rest and begin a new project. Everyone says this is the way to go. While you're waiting for critiques or querying agents or, if all goes well with those first two steps, out on submission to editors, you should write a new story.

Lucky for me, I have a new idea. I think I'm ready to outline it. Remember what I said about not retro-fitting a villain this time? I'm serious about that. The outline is coming first. I'm going to re-listen to a fabulous podcast called How Story Works and make sure Alice (remember Alice from #novelsnip? She's coming back, but she's becoming funny) hits all the marks. I think this'll make the whole process smoother - the drafting, the work with a developmental editor, the exchanging with the critique group, the copious revisions after all of that.

Maybe I can shrink the process from just over two years to just under? I'm excited to see.