drive-thru christmas

I think I'm ready! There's still no Christmas tree in the house but we do have one on the deck which the wind keeps blowing over. And Wyatt bought a big log cabin gingerbread house for $2 at a festival. I've wrapped a couple of gifts which is my favorite thing to do at Christmas. And last but not least, I ordered a Honeybaked ham as I've dreamed of doing for years. It comes with a cheesecake, thankfully. Saves me from butchering a hog and all that churning to make dessert, as Lael would say:)

Last year at this time I received the galleys for The Frontiersman's Daughter - a sort of early Christmas present from my publisher:) For those of you who don't know and want to, the galleys are just the typeset version of the manuscript prior to its being turned into actual pages and sent to the printer. It's the author's last chance to make any significant changes.

I call last Christmas my drive-thru experience as I hardly noticed that it came or went with the galleys in my lap. At the Denver ACFW conference a couple of months ago a fellow author and friend of mine told me she was expecting galleys upon her return home. I bit my lip and didn't tell her my tale. When I heard from her a couple of days later she'd finished with the galleys in less time that it takes to sneeze! The only way I can understand this is to say she's smarter than I am:)

I haven't seen Courting Morrow Little since the end of July when I submitted it a few days before deadline. Since then I've had time to sift through the story in between research and The Locket to see how I might improve it. Last chance, after all! I read it over many times during the three weeks or so I'm given and make changes, etc. I should see the galleys any minute now as this is how the publication schedule falls for me.

So...ready, set, galleys:)

post-Christmas bliss

Christmas is over and my living room is filled with Indiana Jones Legos just as my kitchen is full of leftovers. The Christmas trees are looking a little less green and lonesome without presents underneath. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday though I know many struggle this time of year. As I get older I sense the underlying sadness of the season. A writing friend oif mine just lost his wife of many years so I'm sure this will be a bittersweet time for him in future. On the other hand, I know of someone who recently adopted a little girl from Ethiopia and when asked what she was most thankful for over the holidays she said water and love.

I'm most thankful for my family, spread out all over! My brother is in Washington D.C. right now with his family and my parents celebrated quietly in Berea and Lexington, Ky. with my dear cousin, Leslie, and family. My cousin, Lorri, in Russia had a small Christmas as well with her two teens and husband. Wish we could all be together! But it's reassuring to know He is with each of us wherever we are. Read Psalm 139 if you are in any doubt:)

I will be thankful to get these galleys off my desk and back to the editors. I've been meticulous in making changes and think the book is stronger. You do catch some quirky things. One character changed eye color three times in the novel and I finally nailed them and deleted them. I can't believe I overlooked that to begin with but when a book is 425 pages or so strange things happen. Plus it's surprising how many times you can read a text and miss errors. I am even dreaming of The Frontiersman's Daughter at night, no kidding, so time to get back to book 2 and 3!

Yes, it finally did stop snowing on Christmas Day:) If you need a little snow scene, scroll down to my neocounter. Happy Saturday.

snowed in. the sequel.

Sometime in the night it snowed another half a foot! And it's still snowing this morning. The big spruce with all the colored twinkle lights on the deck was swept off by the wind and now sits in a drift. All this snow is unusual. We usually have a foot of rain about now, not snow, so we are thrilled:) A white Christmas, indeed!

Luckily we don't have anything on the schedule today but lunch with a neighbor if we can hoof it over there as Randy took the Jeep to work. I'm writing an additional chapter for the galleys and am almost done. Not with the galleys but with the chapter!

I've noticed a disturbing trend in fiction the last few years. I love beautifully written narrative but now the focus is on lots of dialogue with rapid-fire delivery. I think people want a novel that reads like a video game or t.v. show. A novel needs to unfold with just the right balance of narrative and dialogue or the reader feels cheated. At least this reader. But so many books today have that rapid-fire feel and I think it's a reflection of our society and how people want to be entertained and not have to think and absorb. Sadly, much is missed in reading this way.

I do want to mention my association with Books & Such Literary Agency in Santa Rosa, California. I'm so pleased that Janet Grant has just taken this about-to-be-published author on! Janet is a prolific author in her own right. Before founding her agency in 1994 she was formerly an editor for Dr. Dobson at Focus on the Family and had her own imprint at Zondervan. She has some wonderful clients and I'm humbled to be on her list.

Christmas is next week and usually I have our menu planned by now and lots of shopping done. But, at this point,if anyone asks me what we're doing all I can say is, "Galleys!"

May you have warmth in your igloo, oil in your lamp, and peace in your heart. -Eskimo Proverb

snow coming

Winter is coming to Washington and we're expecting snow by Friday. But I've hardly noticed with my head in the galleys. My grandpappy was a printer for the Kentucky newspaper, The Berea Citizen, in the old print shop by the college. We used to go down and watch him at work sometimes and I liked the smell of all that ink and the sound of the old-time machines whirring. He'd bring reams of plain paper home so my cousins and I could write stories and draw pictures. Sadly, he passed away in 1979. My mom remembers that the old print shop worked with very different galleys back then.

So far I've found 2 typos and am reworking all the words that don't have the right ryhthm. The track changes program on Microsoft Word is really a huge help. Frankly, my computer still scares me and I'd rather have the galleys in hard copy but don't know how you'd make all those changes with a simple pen/pencil.

An editor friend of mine once told me to enjoy the learning process. I'm learning several interesting things:

1. Every editor will see your manuscript differently and suggest different things, like it or not.
2. You, the author, will never be completely happy with the finished manuscript because in your mind, or at least mine, your book is never really finished and could always be better.
3. Not everyone will like your book.
4. You do need to eat and sleep.
5. If Providence has called you to write, don't sweat the small stuff.
6. Honor your deadlines.
7. Be thankful.
8. Work as hard as you can, then stop.
9. Typos will always exist.
10. Don't waste time blogging when you could be writing.

I set a can of chili in front of Randy last night for supper. When he looked baffled I proceeded to open it and warm it up. Luckily the boys had eaten at Arbys. Anyway, my deadline is December 30th. Guess what I'll be doing for the holidays? Enjoy yours!

galleys

The galleys for The Frontiersman's Daughter came in this morning which means my December just got a little more interesting. In my pre-publishing days, the thought of galleys sounded sort of glamorous to me. Now that I'm sitting on the other side of the desk, so to speak, they simply mean more work:) But I'm not complaining. Galleys are simply the "typeset manuscript that has not yet been designed in pages."

I haven't seen TFD in several months as it's made the rounds of several editorial departments back in Michigan. Last week I was thinking, "Hmmm. I really don't want those galleys right now as I'm so involved in this third book." But over the weekend I started missing Lael and wondered just what they'd done with her since we last met. Now I know. These editors work very hard, by the way, and suggest some interesting things! This is almost my last chance to make any changes to the book before it enters the final stages of production.

So now I have to step into Lael's shoes again and see things from her perspective which means setting other things aside, even homeschooling, (can you hear the boys in the background cheering?!) and try to polish those pages to a glossy finish.

So now instead of writing about galleys, I'd better start working on them. Prayers appreciated!