Life: After THE BOOK

Photo: Inspiration Collage for VOICE

For those of you who don’t religiously read every oh-so-poignant word on this blog, here’s my latest news flash: I finished polishing my latest WIP enough that I sent it off to my critique group and agent (who wanted to see it at the same time as my crit group, honestly, even though I warned him that it was sure to be full of glaring typos and continuity errors….)

This all happened two weeks ago. I kind of figured—crazy me—that the time following would be, you know, nice and low key. Lazy, even. I’m thinking lots of time to read all those books piled from my bedside, time to pick up an unfinished article or two, time to start that PB class I’ve been meaning to take, and in between I’ll finish crocheting the shawl project i started over Christmas….

Yeah, right. It hasn’t happened *quite* that way because, like many writers I know, I perpetually overestimate the amount I can accomplish in any given period of time.

I’m not complaining—I like being busy. I love that a wonderful science writing project fell into my lap unexpectedly, giving me the chance to indulge my molecular biologist side. I love that I have a book proposal project elbowing for its share of mental space in my brain.

The busy-ness helps counter the strange post-partum feeling that comes with sending out  manuscript that I’ve lived and breathed for the past few months. (Yes, I even slept with it. Luckily my DH puts up with ink stains on the sheets from those times when I dozed off with pen in one hand and notebook in the other….and with the light flipping on at 2:00 AM because I had to jot down some fantastic idea.)

It also helps as I wait to hear back from an editor who requested a rewrite of my mg fantasy….

Of course, I have to finish all these lovely busy projects in the next three weeks, because as soon as I get feedback from my critique group I’m supposed to turn around a rewrite in a week because my wonderful and magnificent agent, Gary Heidt, loves the book and wants to go out with it ASAP. Hmm. Is that even possible? Guess we’ll find out!