This morning I finished another draft of The Forgotten Road.  I say another with a very tired voice, because since November of 2009, this is my 10th full edit.  I don’t know exactly how many I did before that, but it was at least 4.  I started this book in August 2008, before the stock market collapsed, before H1N1, before I had even heard of the PNWA.  A lot has happened in the world and a lot has happened to my writing since I started.  I’d almost go so far as to say that I am a completely different writer now than I was back then.  And the story is completely different than I originally envisioned.  Part of me is disappointed by that.  It’s not the story I wanted to write, but the story I wanted to write was boring.  It didn’t have legs.  It had to be changed.  But that doesn’t mean I’ve completely come to terms with that yet.

I sent TFR out to an agent this morning.  I’ve got high hopes for this agent as we have spoken multiple time in the past, and she had some very encouraging things to say about my writing the last time we spoke.  We’ll see what happens, and I ‘m sure I’ll be quite anxious as I await a reply (I’ve already checked my email inbox twice this morning and I only sent it half an hour ago).

I really hope I don’t have to do another major edit without having a deal in place for this one.  To take it any farther without advice from a professional editor or agent would return minimal results.  If I get no feedback from any agents over the next few months, then I’ll consider the book done and retire it to my ‘what else have you got pile’.  As in, if I sell another book, and the publisher wants to know what else I got, I’ll slide them this one.  If I haven’t got a deal by the next PNWA conference, I’m going to set it up online for downloads and ask for donations.  That approach has worked for other authors like John Scalzi.  We’ll see.

So what’s next?  Today? Some reading.   I’m in the middle of two books right now, The Passage by Justin Cronin and The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz.  Two books?  Yes.  You’d understand why when you see the size of The Passage.  You can’t bring that on the train unless it’s an EBook.

Tomorrow, I’ll start the first edit on The Unexplored Territory.  Count on another 10 days before that is done.  Then I’ll send that to the printers and pass it around my critique group.  Then I’ll start story development on the next book that is percolating in my brain.  A writer’s mind never completely sleeps.

I’ve also got some other blog entries to get caught up on, so I might do that today.  And there’s this whole Christmas thing to get done.  And I have this job thing… you know the one that pays the bills.  That needs some more time as well.

But expect to see a new listing on the web site soon, with the opening chapters of The Unexplored Territory.  I think this one is damn good.