May, 2013:

Feedback from the peer edits is in. It’s time for the final push on the ‘Death in a Bottle’ edits. By early next week, I’ll be sending out the first of the query letters to agents. It’s an exciting time – the project has never felt as real as it does now.

I’d like to extend a huge thank-you to everyone who took the time to review the novel and share your thoughts. Andrea, Janet, Sheri, Seb, Graham and Garry. When I first asked for help with the review, I had no idea that so many would be interested in reviewing the novel. After I sent out the dozenth copy, I started to wonder whether I hadn’t made some sort of horrible mistake – that I was essentially asking for my novel to be edited by committee.

But as feedback arrived, I soon realized that this kind of peer review was exactly what I needed. Comments like “awesome”, “excellent”, and “magical” reaffirmed that the plot, characters and setting were still on the rails, while your solid constructive criticism will help ensure the novel is polished to a high sheen in the days to come.

I would like to give special thanks to Andrea, Graham and Garry for taking the time to perform a full copy edit on the work. I had reached point where my eyes simply don’t see the errors any more, and was debating sending ‘Death in a Bottle’ out for a professional copy edit until your feedback came in. Your edits have saved me a huge amount of time and money, for which I am very grateful.

For those of you who still have a copy that you were planning to review this week or next, please do continue reading and send over your feedback when available. I expect it will take weeks before an interested agent requests pages, so I will continue making modest changes after the initial letters go out.

Back to the word mines. Wish me luck.

(or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Peer Edits)

Suddenly, in the midst of a maelstrom of e-mails and edits, a strange calm has descended over my keyboard.

Writing a novel is a daunting challenge. Not only does the word count seem to grow at a snail’s pace, but there is the constant nagging worry that plagues every author – “Is it any good?” I took breaks during this creative period, but they were more… reprieves than anything else. It’s hard to truly take a break when you know that you have another 30,000 words left to write.

The day I finished the novel was a good day. I took the evening off, watched Captain America and Thor, and washed down a plate of beef curry with a cold lager or three.

The next day, the real work began. Editing. I gave myself a week to edit the rough draft, but I should have set aside two or three. Sometimes, I spent hours on the same page. But after a sixty-hour death march, I finally reached the end.

Or so I thought. Then it was time to build a website, draft a synopsis, craft a query letter and start knocking on doors. And, the most important of tasks, send the novel out to people who can tell me whether it’s any good. It will be two to three weeks before I find out the answer to that question of questions.

There is, of course, always more to be done. I could be researching agents and publishers. I could be integrating each and every piece of feedback as it comes in. I could start on the second instalment of the Bar on a Beach Mystery series.

But instead, I am enjoying the brief window in time, this eye of the storm, when there is no mammoth task begging for my attention. I am going to tidy my office and pull dandelions from my garden, and steel myself for the months ahead – the daunting business of convincing a publishing house to place their chips on my square for the next spin of the wheel.

Wish me luck.