Yup. I started revising Sidewalks last night. I spent the second part of last week outlining the way I thought the story needs to go, and last night I dove in a worked my way through chapter one. It wasn't so bad. The early part of the book isn't. It's at about the halfway point things get funky and I'm going to have a lot of untangling to do.
So this morning I re-read my revised first chapter, and with much trepidation, posted it for my critique group to gnaw on. I've never been so nervous about letting my work out in the open! I feel like this book is my ugly baby and I've just taken it out in public for the first time. A couple of my CPs have already said they're going to read it tomorrow, so I'm just white knuckling my way through until then...
It's weird because I've never felt this way before. I'm usually champing at the bit to get my work in front of fresh eyes because I know how awesome my CPs are at finding the mistakes and flaws in it and offering solutions and fixes for them. But this book is probably closer to my heart than anything I've ever written before. Not that I haven't loved my other projects - I have. But this one's kind of special.
Have you ever had one project you've been terrified to show people?
When I did my first school visit after getting my contract for Touch of Death, I was terrified. My publisher gave me the okay to read an excerpt even though the book hadn't been fully edited yet. It was the first time someone other than my betas, agent, and editor was going to see the book. I was literally shaking. But the students' responses were amazing, and I'm so glad I did it.
ReplyDeleteI hope your CPs have great suggestions for you. :)
Don't sweat it, let it. What is done is done and nothing can change what the outcome will be. Worrying about what others say is like rocking in a chair, neither will get you anywhere.
ReplyDeleteYou took a bold step thus I sense a confidence in that regard, yet a lack of it among friends. Either way, you can always rewrite, right?
In the end, it's like my friend is fond of saying, "Don't sweat the petty things, pet the sweaty things."
The beautiful thing about a draft is that it's not final. Deep breaths. You'll be fine. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with the others, you'll be fine. Remember even CPs are subjective. Some will like it and others won't. I write both YA and adult romance and every fan of my adult romance expect a strong woman, so when I decided I was going to have a heroine who's not very strong,a bit absentminded and clueless about lots of things, I worried about it...but I overcame that.Chin up
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