Clearing the Deck

I’ve been going through my back catalogue of unfinished/rejected manuscripts with the aim of making some final decisions about what can be saved and what has to go for good.

• In Charm’s Way has been critiqued by a very astute writer friend who gave me some much needed encouragement and some even more important ideas for how the ms could be revitalised. I have plans for it, but they are temporarily on hold because I have this great (I think) idea for a series that it could be a part of. I’m not up to a series right now, not with my new year’s outlook of one book at a time until I get my confidence back. So ICW is still on suspension—for now.

• Sweet Home Emmaline, my ill-fated RWA pitch novel, could actually fit in with the series I’ve just mentioned, as could my old old nano project, The Honeymoon Effect. I know, is it possible I could be so bold as to roll three of my left behind ms’s into one brand spanking new series? Time will tell. The ideas are brewing and I think I’ll let them do that a while.

• I’ve gone back through my old M&B rejected sweet manuscripts and made a decision once and for all. They’re history. Rejected by one publisher does not necessarily mean the book has no merit, but the other day while I was going through one of them I literally fell asleep under my laptop. Not a good sign. While there’s nothing drastically wrong with the stories, they honestly just aren’t up to the standard I now feel I’ve achieved with the books I’ve written since. True, I could rewrite them. The fact is I don’t want to. I’m not passionate about those characters anymore, and if I’ve learned one thing about writing its that you have to have a passion for the story you’re telling or doing the job is murder.

• That off the wall paranormal I had a crack at? What was I thinking? I'll leave that kind of thing to the likes of Lexxie Couper and co.

• Today I decided the novel I started 2010 with, Manhandling, needed another look. Reading over it this afternoon I realised it wasn’t as bad as I thought 12 months ago. If I do say so myself, parts of it (all 4.5 chapters of it) are quite good. What a difference a year can make to a person's outlook. With my enthusiasm for the story thus reenergized, I’ve decided to make it my next writing project.

Now to get back to the nerve-racking process of preparing my submission of the firemen book. Write synopsis-check. Query-check. Fingers and toes crossed-check...

Sami