I haven’t been updating this blog much, but it’s been for good reason. I’ve been writing a lot the past couple months and I couldn’t be more pleased—I feel like I’m officially ‘back in business’. I did put my Dirty Eden agent search on hold for a while and went back to work on The Mayfair Moon. Well, I’m happy to say I’m about a chapter away from the end and I’m excited. Of course, I’ve mentioned before that the title will probably change, but I couldn’t be more happy about how the story has unfolded. I’ll be putting the first chapter of The Mayfair Moon up for download soon. Book two of the trilogy has already been swimming around in my head.

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But then there’s also a MG/YA novel I began around the same time last year I started The Mayfair Moon, which I’m anxious to get back to work on. I guess I’ll have to go with the flow and work on whichever calls to me the most.

Back to Dirty Eden – Okay, I just need to say that I really loved writing that story. It was a strange thing because in its conception, I was in the beginning of a two-year long emotional roller-coaster ride. It’s amazing what life-altering circumstances can do for a writer’s craft. Dirty Eden wasn’t just a story, it was an experience. Now, I just need to go in an edit it again so I can get back on the agent bandwagon.

Anyway, I have recently rewritten the Dirty Eden blurb on ‘The Work’ page. After several months of not reading it over and over again, I noticed something major wrong with it that I was shocked not to have noticed before. I’m mortified that I sent that synopsis to so many agents without realizing that error. The sentences were so damn long they were like a book in themselves. My writing, the actual story, isn’t like that at all. But the synopsis was because writing a synopsis is like walking a tightrope over a volcano. If you don’t do it right the first time….

So anyway, that’s my update.

It’s 8:10a.m and I’m just killing an hour before I have to go to work. I still need to mop my floors. Two of my kids are sick today and so they stayed home from school, though they are out the rest of the week anyway for Thanksgiving. Tomorrow I’ll turn 34. Guh! That means next year I’ll be 35 and in 6 years I’ll be 40! Ahhh! But with all seriousness, that scares the shit out of me. :-( I NEED TO GET DIRTY EDEN PUBLISHED! It’s down to the grind now and I will be doing whatever I need to do to get this cursed book rolling. That means shameless begging and plugging, kicking a few uncooperative asses, threats that involve the use of sporks and greasy French fries and maybe even me in a cat suit scaling one of those New York agent buildings to plant my manuscript on a desk with an Approval stamp on it.

OK, maybe not so much a cat suit, but you get the idea.

Yes, I’m still going to submit to agents. I guess it’s a necessary evil, so I’m sucking it up and am going right back into the belly of the beast. For now…. (I talk a lot of shit when I’m thoroughly upset – don’t mind me.)

They say most writers publish their first book in their 30’s. Let’s see if ‘they’ really know what they’re talking about.

Hmmm, let’s see. I’m just babbling this morning. I could tell my Greyhound horror story since it’s technically not in the same happy Chicago post, but I think I need more than 30 minutes to word it right and all, to give you the full horrific effect. So, I’ll save that blog for next time.

I can’t wait to go to Whole Foods this weekend to get some sushi and one of my new favorite drinks that I can’t remember the name of (Brian?). And I need to go to the AT&T store to get a new battery for my Blackberry. Why am I telling you this? Because, like I said before I’m killing an hour before I have to go to work.

~sigh~ One more day of work this week and I’m out for Thanksgiving, too. I need to get some writing in! I need to get my queries ready again and start submitting, while at the same time writing in my YA werewolf novel and on the side reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Yep. Much to do.

Now the energy to do it….

So, I edited Dirty Eden again and changed the first chapter up quite a bit. There were parts that were a little flat and some that simply needed to be altered to make them more clear (thanks Mr. Ron Wolfe for all your input!). I’ve already received several agent rejections, but I’m not going to let that get me down. As I said before, I knew in advance that rejections, even a lot of them, were inevitable. I know too that I’ll get many more before I get that magical acceptance letter. In the meantime, I’m doing what I need to do to make the manuscript better.

The one thing I can say is that so far I have not received any negative feedback on Dirty Eden in general. I even had a request to see more of it and although that did not prove beneficial, it to me is encouraging.

So, the first chapter has been revised extensively. Well, technically the whole novel has been re-edited and revised, but I’m only putting up the first chapter for download. You can download the pdf on this page.