#17 – Novel Update – Scary Exciting

There are some scary and exciting things on the horizon…

Agent Query

Another agent requested the manuscript! That filled my heart with joy and dread and hope and fear and an acknowledgement that I’m just a wee bit neurotic. The query process continues and until I have a signed contract I’m sending out at least eight submissions per month. Although that might be a little tricky in May. Which leads to the other scary/exciting thing.

Eye Surgery

My eye doctor told me a nearsighted person with pretty bad vision will have a prescription of -4. Not to brag, but I’m a -7.5 in one eye and -8 in the other, which is to say I can’t see a damned thing without contacts. Once I turned 45 I became farsighted too, meaning I can no longer read or work on my computer without glasses on top of my other glasses/contacts. It’s pretty hot, let me tell you. Also, I have astigmatism and thin corneas which puts Lasik out of reach, but I do qualify for one procedure designed for cataract replacement that will let me see without glasses or contacts. Whoo-hoo! As I am a writer, however, my brain creatively came up with every possible scenario that could go wrong. (As mentioned above, I realize I’m neurotic.) Fingers crossed everything will go smoothly and I’ll be able to do something I haven’t done since I was eleven – wake up and see the world clearly.

Books I’m reading

• “The Everyday Life of the Clans of the Scottish Highlands” by Michael Newton. This helps fill in the details of setting for the next two books in the series.

• “Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch” by Rivka Galchen. I need to read other witch books so I know where to market my own books.

• “Our Little Secret” by Emily Carrington. This is a graphic novel memoir about a teenager raised in an isolated cabin in Prince Edward Island who was sexually abused by her father’s friend. It chronicles her overcoming her shame by pursuing justice. My daughter recommended it as the lead character in my novel To Rescue A Witch is also raised in an isolated cabin and sexually abused by her stepfather’s friend.
• “MacLeod Castle”. It’s really more of a pamphlet, but I’m counting it! Even though the castle is named MacLeod (like the protagonist hero in my book, William MacLeod), it’s actually the home of the chieftain of Clan MacKenzie. I was lucky enough to visit it last summer and meet the chieftain himself.

• “Fight Your Fear and Win” by Don Greene, PH.D. is a self-help book I book in the Julliard bookstore when my daughter and I were touring colleges in NYC. It has been really helpful for me to stiffen my backbone when dealing with the agent query process.

• Audio Book – The Highland Witch by Susan Fletcher. It was a slow start but ended well and was based on the actual history of the Massacre of Glen Coe of 1692 where men, women and children in Clan MacDonald were murdered for signing an oath to King William six days late.

Elusive Writing Goal

I had hoped to pull a NaNoWriMo and write the entire manuscript (first draft at least) in May, but then I scheduled the eye surgery. Apparently my vision will be blurry the first few days and my eyes will feel itchy. It’s kind of tough to write a manuscript under those conditions. I’ll start on the 1st but won’t force myself to finish in the same month.

There’s also a conundrum I’m having. I’m not sure if I want to start book 2 immediately after book 1 and focus on Annaliese’s coming of age story, or if I want to time skip by five years and start in the middle of the Scottish Rebellion. Maybe the answer will magically arrive when I’ve got gauze pads over my eyes and won’t be able to do anything by lie in bed. Hmm.

That’s it for me. Hope you are doing well with your own creative pursuits 🙂

Lisa

Here’s my story. (Get your copy HERE).

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