Wednesday, July 1, 2009

happy july 1st

I'd love to have this statue in my garden. I do have a stone rabbit peeking out behind some roses but this boy is far more clever. And I love the way he doesn't move or eat or break things! He simply reads:) My boys wouldn't like him at all!

It's a hot day here in the Pacific Northwest. About 82 degrees. We're having halibut on the grill for supper with some spinach and new potatoes from the garden. But what I really want is ice cream!

Today I reached a milestone on book 2 - Red River Daughter. Maybe I should call it Red River Diet as it's fallen from 149,000 words to 107,000! In case you care what writers do when they edit... I printed out another hard copy of the book and read through the manuscript as quickly as I could (it still took 6 intense days), making corrections/edits as I did so. There's nothing like holding the book in hand and marking it up with blue pen! So much better than fooling around on a laptop! I catch so much more with a hard copy. But next I'll transfer all those changes onto the e-file of the manuscript and then I'll print out another hard copy and start reading again. I really like the process of polishing a book but being a perfectionist makes editing a bit eternal. And then off it goes to my editor July 31st!

I just realized today that in exactly one month, The Frontiersman's Daughter, is officially released! I'm going to head to the nearest Barnes & Noble and celebrate (unfortunately it's 1 1/2 hours away)!

What makes you readers buy a book? I'd love to know.
Happy July 1st!

4 comments:

  1. I actually don't buy books very often. Sometimes at Goodwill I'll get some. My mom is a book-buyer so I just get hers when she finishes reading them. And I LOVE libraries!!
    I was just wondering... considering how many times you read and reread through your manuscript, do you know the exact page that a certain scene would be on? For example... a scene where the heroine falls in the river and almost drowns is on page 112?

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  2. Lisa, That's a good question. Yes, I can usually peg a page pretty accurately, or at least in the ballpark:) I nearly fell off my chair when you asked about my heroine falling in the river and almost drowning because that is what happens in book 2 - Red River Daughter!! No kidding:) Whoops - that's probably a spoiler. so I'll say no more!
    I love libraries myself and I've always said if I didn't write I'd want to be a librarian.
    There's another contest going on with The Frontiersman's Daughter on Goodreads.com. They have some really neat book giveaways there and 5 copies of TFD are going to readers by August 1. It's free and fun. Just thought I'd mention it here as I haven't on the blog yet.
    Have a great 4th of July!

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  3. that's funny! that scenario totally just popped into my head when i was typing. ok, but don't give me any more spoilers!
    i love surprises!

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  4. I was beginning to think you had some sort of 6th sense regarding books! I promise I won't give anything more away. You have a year to forget that scene as the 2nd book isn't out till August 2010:)

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