Vlad

I've finally tracked down a copy of Bend Sinister and have just started reading it. If I live for a hundred years, I will never write a word as brilliantly as Nabokov could have written it, oh my god.

Rewrites, aaaaand...GO.

So I winnowed AROL down to 84,000 words. Not quite as low as I wanted to go, but I'll see just how much is really needed in the rewrite phase. I've got the new Chapter One all done and sent off to beta readers. If it makes sense, I shall proceed.

I've added about 1000 words back in, which is good, because Chapter One really didn't exist anymore. I chomped the entire thing, and moved a bit of Chapter Four or Five into its place. I guess the new first chapter is around 1500 words. Not bad. A little short for my chapters, but I guess short is what we're going for here.

I'm feeling good about the progress, and good about the manuscript. Onward, onward.

Oh my goodness!

Pauline Gedge's Child of the Morning is being re-released in trade paperback in March 2010! With a new foreword by Michelle Moran.

Why does this excite me?

a) More Egyptian fiction spells good fortune for Libbie, even if it's re-releasing formerly out-of-print novels.
b) Book about Hatshepsut hitting the market = score.
c) Don't tell anybody, but I've read both Moran's and Gedge's books (all of them) and while they are certainly very fine works of fiction, I am firmly of the belief that I write at least as well. Ahem. At least. Working on tooting my Nabokovian horn here, as per a previous entry.

CAUTION: That is not to say that I think Moran and/or Gedge are poor writers. On the contrary, they are both quite good, and I referenced both ladies in my query letters as my "this book will appeal to fans of...." All I'm saying is that I have a much more literary, lyrical, less straightforward, more mesmerizing voice than either Gedge or Moran. While both authors focus admirably on their very admirable plots, I write mainly as a vehicle for my unique narrative voice rather than a vehicle for my cool plot ideas. That sets me apart from them, while still including me in their sphere.

So I guess what I'm saying here is, I feel that there is definitely room for more than two major voices in the world of Egyptian historicals, and my voice is interesting and new enough that I shouldn't have a hard time establishing myself as a proper player in the game. And YAY HATSHEPSUT.

Oh, sure, there will be some who say I only wrote my Hatshepsut novel (the one that will come after A River of Light, that is) because of Gedge's re-release. To them, I say PHOOEY. I've been cooking this one up since 2007, and River only happened first because I got so wrapped up in Ahmose and Thutmose (or Tut, as I call him. Do not be confused by the Amarna lad. It is not he.) I really don't give a pinch whether people will accuse me of riding the coat-tails of Child of the Morning. My Hatshepsut plot, my characters, my voice are all so drastically different from Gedge's that only people who don't read both novels will draw such a goofball conclusion.

I'm just psyched to see such a good book coming back into print. It's about freakin' time. And they pulled out some great cover art this time, too. The old cover was pretty disappointing. I'm digging this new one. (Edit: Apparently the new cover art for the trade PB is the old HB cover art, but juiced up a bit color-wise. The disappointing cover I was referring to is the old trade PB cover, which was just...boring.)

Gedge, Moran, congratulations to you, and let's do lunch some time. I'll be one of you soon enough.

HI-KEEBA

In just under 45 minutes, I DESTROYED 20,000 unworthy words in my manuscript. I AM A MACHIIIINE!

It's sitting at 90K now but needs work, obviously, because when you just chop thousands of words out very little makes sense until you rewrite. I figure I need to get it down to 75,000-ish before I can begin rewriting. That'll give me enough safety room to do whatever I need to do, get the gaps bridged, make it all typically "Oh-I-wish-I-were-Nabokov" in voice, and hey-yo, it's off to the beta readers for approval or rejection.

I'm going to TRY to get this all done by the end of November. We'll see how that goes.

At least I'm way excited about where this is going.

GENIUS!!!

In the shower, where I generally get my best ideas for story changes, I came up with a freaking awesome idea on how to pare out all the unnecessary stuff in my book. I am SUPER EXCITED to get these changes made; I think it'll make the book much better. As always with my shower ideas, IT IS GENIUS.

I AM A GENIUS.

I ROCK THE FACE OF HISTORICAL NOVELS (sort of. Okay, not yet. But I will.)

The real challenge here will be to see whether I can get edits done quickly and well while working my damn ass off. I'm working seven days a week until the end of the year. I've got Xmas off, but that's it. It's going to be rough.

Oh, man. Editing hell again.

I heard back from the agent with the full request. She said she loved the storyline and writing (yay!) but feels that 110K is too long for a debut (I was afraid of that!!) She wants me to bring it down to 90K or less. She'll be "more than happy" to take a look at it again if I decide to edit it.

Of course I decide to edit it.

She made some good suggestions on where I can cut, and I have a couple ideas of my own on what can go. I think I can condense it easily enough. However, here I am back in editing hell again, with little time in the day to get the results I want. I'm going to have to put my little NaNo romance on hold, but AROL takes precedence anyway.

Arrrgh, here we go!

Balls.

One of the things I love the most about Vladimir Nabokov is the false foreword he wrote for Lolita. In it, wearing the guise of a made-up professor, he praises his own writing -- "...how magically his singing violin conjures up a tendresse..." (among other proclamations of brilliance.)

Nobody had balls like that. Nabokov knew he'd written one of the finest works of art ever seen by mankind, and he told the world he knew it, wearing the mask of John Ray, Jr., Ph.D. I wish I had stones that weighty. If I did, I'd flaunt it, too.