Here comes the hard part…

/ A.J. Colby / Leave a comment

Once upon a time I believed that finishing a novel was an immensely difficult task. I recently proved to myself that that is not the case, and spent a day or two basking in the glow of that revelation. Then the oh-so fun task of editing commenced. Ugh. I hate editing, but am pleased to say that it went better than I anticipated and I finished my first round of edits 5 days ahead of the schedule I had set for myself. It wasn’t until I was done with my edits that I discovered that the truly hard part (as in wanting to tear out your hair and scream to the heavens) of this whole process is handing that beautiful, glorious finished creation, or what I like to call my word baby, over to someone else and let them actually read it.

Gasp!

I know, right? Terrifying!

What if its absolute drivel? What if they don’t like it? What if they do?

These and a dozen other questions are currently running through my brain, slowly driving me crazy… or more crazy than I am already am. Whatever.

I know that Mr. Awesome Sauce is an awesome editor, hence the nickname, and would never be mean or abuse my word baby, and yet every time he begins a sentence with “I was thinking maybe we should tweak…” I feel myself begin to tense as if preparing for a strike. I want to cry “There will be no tweaking! My baby is beautiful and perfect! Thy eyes should burn in the presence of such perfection, and thy body should tremble in abject adoration! Bow down to me mortal, and worship all that is I!” Ahem… yeah, or maybe just “But I like it that way it is.”

I have no doubt that he’d never hurt my word baby, but I still feel like I’m steeling myself for an inevitable spanking. The logical side of me, which granted is usually buried under a dozen layers of craziness and neurosis, understands that I need the assistance of amazing people like Mr. Awesome Sauce and my beta readers, to help my word baby grow into a strong, beautiful novel. Their feedback is not criticism or a personal attack, it is just an opinion that in the end I can chose to ignore if I really want to, though that does kinda defeat the purpose. I’ve got a wicked awesome support group of people who are as excited for the book to be released as I am, and want to see me succeed. They’re happy and excited to be a part of the process, and they’re taking their roles seriously. But still the fear is there, and I’m not sure it ever really goes away.

All I can do is wrap my word baby up tight with my hopes and dreams, and pray that it doesn’t get spanked too hard.

Ooh Shiny!

/ A.J. Colby / Leave a comment

OohShiny

I’ve been told on more than one occasion, usually by Mr. Awesome Sauce, that I have a chronic, incurable case of A.D.O.S. (Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny!), and that got me to wondering if any other writers are all around artistic/crafty/disorganized peeps like me.

I know for a fact that two authors I have followed for years, Kim Harrison and Carrie Vaughn, are both crafty individuals (oddly enough they’re both knitters/crocheters), and Jim Butcher is into RPGs, which while not necessarily crafty is awesomely nerdy and worthy of mentioning, because seriously, Dungeons & Dragons. ‘Nuff said.

I myself have a pretty varied repertoire of artsy skills that I like to practice from time to time including jewelry making, sewing, quilting, and drawing. I’m also a gaming nerd, but that’s a whole other post for another day. I also have a tendency to bounce from one hobby to the next, focusing on it for weeks or months at a time in something akin to compulsion until I can’t stand it anymore and have to set it aside for a while. These obsessive episodes have included cookie making, costume making, and quilting. But writing has always been my one true love, and is something I have sought to excel at for more than twenty years. It is the one thing I always return to time and again without fail.

I can’t help wondering if we literary types have so many different creative outlets because we write, and the constant pondering and planning that comes along with that opens up an endless well of creativity, or if we write because we are inherently creative people, and writing just becomes another outlet among many.

What about you, dear readers? Do you have a plethora of other creative outlets, and do you find yourself torn between them and writing? Do you, like me, have phases wherein you can’t focus on anything besides one particular type of creative project?

I Won The Lottery!

/ A.J. Colby / 4 Comments

TheEnd

Okay, well not really, but it does kinda feel that way right now.

Yesterday afternoon I penned the last few words of Hunted, the first novel in the Riley Cray series. It felt both liberating and terrifying to sit back and look at the words on the screen and realize that I was finally done. Even more exhilarating was the knowledge that I had accomplished it in just over 90 days; 97 days to be exact, with at least 2 full weeks of no writing during that time.

As I mentioned in this post, when I first set out on the journey to write Hunted I never thought that I would reach my goal of 70k-80k words, and was astounded when I blew right past 80k and kept on going. And never in a million years did I think I would be able to write a novel in just over 3 months. It’s required a lot of long days and cramped hands, but it has all been so worth it to finally be able know that the story that had been rattling around in my head will soon be able to be enjoyed by others.

Now comes the arduous task of editing, beta reading and sending the manuscript off to a professional editor, which means that Hunted likely won’t be available to purchase until June/July, but I’m so excited and can’t wait to be able to hit ‘Publish.’

Stay tuned for more details about Hunted and the other Riley Cray releases coming soon!