Writing is hard work

I finished the latest draft of my next novel! Yay! and I'm setting it aside to percolate before I go at it one more time. While I'm gathering some distance, I picked up my Christmas story to see that it's in good shape and I discovered a time warp.

I want to sit back and cry.

I shopped the Christmas story in March, and when the rejections came in, I moved on, figuring I'd share it with my newsletter subscribers as a bonus. Well, now I can see more clearly why it was rejected! I'd been working on a very tight deadline and rushed it through. This is what distance does from the works in progress. Gives you a fresh perspective to catch what you missed on the first go round. Like a major time warp.

Whattya gonna do about it Karla?

This is when I, as the author, have to kick myself in the pants, pick myself up, dust myself off, and put my nose to the grindstone. There is work to be done here, and I need to get at it! Crying isn't going to solve anything. "There's no crying in baseball!" (okay, so this isn't baseball, but the same principle applies.)

The market I'd originally targeted wanted a higher word count than I'd written. What I ended up with was a novella. I've made the corrections, and now I'm wondering if I can't hit that word count with a few more revisions. I did leave an open thread...

In the meantime, I've been chatting with my editor and the schedule could potentially slide into next year for the new release. I'd really hoped to be able to share the new book with you before then, but these things can't be rushed, I suppose. My editor (bless her heart!) says she's anxious to read it and is diligently trying to get to it sooner rather than later (the benefits of a good working relationship with your editor!). In the meantime, I'm diligently sitting at my computer, creating new worlds, writing new words, developing new characters. I may be behind, but I'm still in the race!