Manuscript Prepped

So, I had an e-mail exchange (briefly) with Editor Kathleen, referred to me by a BYU-Idaho colleague.

Not quite what I was hoping for – she doesn’t do her job for free, dammit – but a bit more than I expected. She’s actually done work with Orson Scott Card, which can be both good and bad news, depending on if you like OSC’s work. (I’ve never read any of his stuff. Well, brief little excerpts here and there, but nothing complete.)

So while I haven’t launched gung-ho into anything, I have kept the door of communication open – after all, she could be the bridge I need to get from aspiring author to published author. Also have to remember I’ve got someone at Stevens-Henager College in Utah who used to work in publishing and who might also be able to assist me in some minor ways. But it’s always good to have as many ins as you can get.

And oh yeah – I’ve got Query Shark where I can submit my query letters for the merciless yet beneficent ministrations of the literati there. Oh, so many tools at my disposal. It feels good.

So what’s next? I’ve got “Yershi the Mild” now in a standard manuscript form, and I need to read it again. And again. Just in prepping the manuscript yesterday, I made a few notes in spots where I need to add more story, more character development (especially character development, since I had no idea who my characters were at the beginning). Plus some plot holes to fill in with hot mud before the freeze comes. This is where writing a novel transitions into editing a novel, and I’m not as good at that. I may pick up where I left off with the “Hermit of Iapetus” as I edit Yershi, just to keep my interest up.

Speaking of the Hermit, I wonder where I left him? As I recall, it’s a novella now, not a short story. But how long? Ah. Just over 8,000 words. That’s not a bad start, as I’ve got lots of ideas and backstory I can use to flesh it out.