Late last night, I clicked “send” on the manuscript for Book 2 in the SPARK series: Fire. It’s now in the publisher’s inbox waiting to be assigned to one of the two developmental editors Inklings has hired recently.
I have mixed feelings about it. I was so confident about the first book, that I was shocked when I realized how bad some of the early drafts were. Many thanks to developmental editors and critique group members who were willing to tell me I had an ugly baby.
This time around, I may have another ugly one, but I’m more aware of it. Hope that helps.
I also realized the book was going to be too long. So, I cut it at a cliffhanger. After talking to my various critique groups (I’m in 4. That’s at least one too many.), and my publisher, I extended the new ending to bring one of the story arcs to a clean finish. The book still ends with some things up in the air, but it should leave readers with less discontent than where I was going to cut it.
This week I’m going to send the current version to some beta readers for feedback. To be fair, I only trust the developmental editors so far, and want some additional eyes on the manuscript. I’m looking forward to their suggestions and seeing where they’ll take Will and Feral.
Inklings also added a NYC-based publicist for us. @mickeymikkelson We had a chance to meet him last night. Seems like a good guy who knows what he’s doing. Maybe he’ll have better luck getting some of you to write reviews! Do it for the gram!
That’s awesome, Pat! I wish you all the luck with your new book, and I hope to read it soon 😀