The Inn at Market Snodsbury: Another Omniverse Series Blog Post

I had a wild idea. Vistors to my website may not realize The Omniverse Series is a blog. And so is Excepts. Excerpts is not about any one series or book, just the ones I have finished and registered.

I am editing novel number two, The Inn of the Star Crossed. I have already chalked up a rejection on my query letter. Tell me, is it my breath? I have not sent out more than a couple of query letters on The Inn of the Star Crossed. I am also trying to place The Inn at the Crossroads. The problem with sending out queries is you are judged on your query writing expertise rather than your novel or short story writing expertise. I am thinking of submitting some short stories to various publishing houses that are requesting them. As soon as I get a good short story idea. That would help me with my short form writing. I can condense everything into a premise sentence better than retell the plot of a 100K novel in one page. I think my queries are good. I have gotten interest with them.

Almost done with The Inn at Market Snodsbury. I am on the last chapters. When that is done, I will go over it, editing it. Then I’ll send it out to my readers and Colette, my editor, and do final edits. Let’s hope this is the perfect novel.

I am in process of reading Market Snodsbury to Kim, my sweet wife. I read and edit on the fly. Then we discuss. She tells me what she thinks. Kim was a technical writer and editor. She’s a great help.

What am I doing then writing this blog post when I have work to do? The answer is simple. I can sit and write for hours, tens of hours, none stop. I just recently threw my back out because of the long hours sitting and typing away on my crummy laptop. (Well, not really crummy because it does what I need it to do, but old. Very old. Ancient even.) And yet, I wrote and wrote. Editing is another game.

I have made all the changes my editor suggested and then some. Now, I am going through it and taking out the forbidden words. Remember when I told you, in a previous post, that for The Inn at the Crossroads, I had taken out 10% of the manuscript on the forbidden word edit alone? That’s what is happening now. I am going to take out thousands of unnecessary words and it can be tedious. I do not do it mechanically, no! I often stop to rewrite a section of prose. As Stephen King said, 2nd Draft = 1st Draft – 10%. After I reach the 2nd draft stage, I go back and read the whole thing, adding in words to make the manuscript more exciting. Or to keep the story moving. I MUST let go of my pretty prose. Delete, delete, delete is my mantra, just like the Cybermen. I don’t want to say it again.

On an aside, I love the language of my writing. The rhyme and the rhythm. It sounds, at times, more like verse than prose. Not to mention the clever literary reference. Thank you! Thank you! I adore this audience.

I am taking a break from this literally backbreaking process. And my break is to sit in the comfy chair in our art school/inn/chocolate factory office and write this blog post. I think I need one of these chairs for my writing corner. Yes, it’s literally a literary writing corner with air conditioning and heating and natural light. No candles and cut off gloves for this Bob Cratchit. Though, the downside to these comfy office swivel chairs is they are hard to get out of.

I have made my first pass, taking out all of the extra ‘thats’. I corkscrewed 500 of them. Lifting them reluctantly from the book. While doing this, I edited portions of paragraphs I felt were less than worthy. Now, while waiting to get dinner ready, I am reading articles on self-publishing. Here is one from David Carnoy about self-publishing paperbacks. He has also written one on self-publishing ebooks, which may be the way to go.

My old friend from SUNY Stony Brook has published, not self-published, another book. This one is called The Riddle of the Labyrinth. We were in graduate school together studying, you got it, Linguistics. If Margo wrote the book, you know it has to be great. Go to Amazon and buy a copy now!

It helps that she works for the NY Times. This means she is always writing and improving. I had a job, once, where I was always writing. I have published a number of research papers. As a matter of fact, I am writing now. I have two blogs I write for. No, make that three! I forgot to include this one. I am not including Excerpts. All of this writing is done without a net.

Back to why I don’t self publish.

Besides, we do not have the money to self publish my books. Why? For one, we are spending a lot of dolars framing all the art we use to advertise our art workshops. Oh, I know what you are thinking! You are thinking, Poor baby. Does widdum you have to frame ALL THE FABULOUS ART! You make me sick! Hey, cut that out. I’m just a working stiff. No need to get huffy. We use that art for visual aids and advertising the artists’ classes. But yes, that’s another excuse not to plop down the thousands it would take to self-publish. I’d rather be writing. There, I said it. Having fun. I want someone else to take care of the publishing end. Isn’t that what publishers are for? Whaaa!

Hallelujah! I finished The Inn at Market Snodsbury. It stands at a little over 90K words. Now the real work begins. I have to edit it and rewrite it and then get someone to publish it. I just saw my friend Susan Kayne, lovely woman. She already has 6 publishers wanting her book. I am happy for her. Now I need more interest in my novels.