I Made The Cut

My pitch for Double Down made the first cut in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest. They took 5000 entries in two categories and selected 1000 in each category, so the odds were good. Next they will read an excerpt and whittle it down to 250 in each category.  They won't announce that until March 20th. I told myself that I would feel good just to get this far, but I want more.

In the meantime, I need to edit Jealousy. If anyone out there is an English teacher or just an excellent proofreader, I could use your help. It's really hard to proof your own writing.

My next project is another young adult sci-fi, completely different from The Crystal's Curse. My granddaughter, Katherine, wanted me to write something using her name as one of the main characters. This one is for her and all my other grandchildren whose names I'll be using in it. I wrote the first two chapters over a year ago thinking I could work on it and Jealousy at the same time. I found out I had a hard enough time disciplining myself to work on one book, let alone two. So it has been languishing in my computer for a while. Somehow I deleted the outline. Fortunately, I printed out a copy and stuck it in a folder.

Now butt in seat, fingers on keys and write.

Jealousy - Coming soon

I finished the first draft of Jealousy tonight. A new mystery featuring Valerie and Detective Delgado coming soon to a web site near you. I've been working on this book for over a year and a half and now that it's done, I feel lost. I don't remember feeling this way at the completion of the other two. Maybe it's because I've worked on this one longer. Of course, it's not ready for publication yet. The ending still needs work. I need to write a jacket cover synopsis and think about what image to use as a cover. I'm sure it will need a few revisions before I'm ready to upload it. But the essential story is now down on paper.

I should feel elated. Instead, I'm still worrying about it. Should I keep the beginning? Does it start too slowly? Does the plot hang together? Have I wrapped up all the essential elements? Are there too many characters? Will the reader get lost? I guess I won't have the answers to any of those questions until someone other than me reads it.

In the last couple of days, I've read it through from the beginning to the end and I love it. After I test it out on my family, I'll post an excerpt here and hope you'll give me some feedback.