Saturday, February 10, 2007

My Publishing Journey - Installment 3


Every Friday, I will take you on my publishing journey. I will provide a window into the world of an author, my interaction with the publisher, and the marketing/promotions involved.
Okay, so I'm a day off with this post. This week was a slow week with the writing because of a tedious week with the day-job. But you've got to earn an living. I did manage to crank out a second chapter for my young adult proposal.
The biggest hurdle with writing young adult is to keep the sentences fairly simple. I'm not pretending to write high-brow lit, so long convulted sentences with SAT-type words are not the order of the day. I'm also not writing with heavy dosage of hip lingo since most terms are dated six months to a year later. If that's the case, then my book would be dated by the time it got to the publishers and then finally to the bookshelves.
I'm enjoying the story as it unfolds, which sometimes doesn't always happen if I get mired into the pitfalls of writing: sagging middle of the story, weak characters, stilted expressions etc. The cast of characters is getting bigger. Maybe in the rewrite, some of them may not be necessary to the forward movement of the heroine's story. There is a developing subplot with her best friend, but I'm careful not to let it overshadow the main plotline.
So heading back to work on the third chapter. Here's hoping that I don't fall too behind with my timeline.
Enjoy your Valentine's day.
See you next week.
Michelle

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