Revisions Day 5 (Yesterday)--And the NEXT signing

OK, so yesterday (after the "Day of Rest" which I spent mostly in my car driving to and from a great signing) I managed to revise chapters 11 and 12. This means that today I only have to revise the last 30 pages, the final "chapter", which I still refuse to call chapter 13. Instead, I'm calling it "The Throne Room", which is what I called the last chapter in the last book. I'm not doing this arbitrarily; it makes sense for the book. I'm just superstitious I guess. *grin*

Anyway, in yesterday's revisions I had to actually write some new stuff. My first reader told me that the two other magic users in Amenkor (who I call Servants) had disparate and opposite power struggles. The more powerful one, Eryn, seemed to get defeated too quickly in comparison to the less powerful one, Laurren. These are in two separate battles, and there were some reasons for why Eryn gets defeated quicker (the evil Servants had grouped together and combined powers to defeat Eryn; for Laurren they didn't combine their powers, just overwhelmed her with individual attacks) but I took note of comixboy's advice so altered the scene with Eryn so that it took a little longer to defeat her AND emphasized the difference between the two battles. I think it's a much better scene now. I also added a few more pages to the manuscript.

I also expanded (just a little) some of the ideaology behind the history of the Skewed Throne, the people that created it, etc. Tried to bring them more into the picture here. The throne itself plays a huge role in the second book, so I felt this expansion was necessary. Again, adding a few more pages. Not as many as I expected, so I won't totally destroy the word count suggested in my contract, but I'm slowly edging above it.

I still don't know whether this book is good or not. My first reader thought it was good (I think). But my "Damn this is good" moment I had a few days ago aside, I just can't tell. I'm confusing whether it's actually good or bad with how nervous I am over whether my editor is going to think it's good or bad. This is the first book where the contract has been signed BEFORE the book was written, so I'm feeling a little queasy.

Thank goodness I have writer friends who will make me feel all better tonight with a round of food and games and presents! (There are presents, yes?)

Let's see . . . in other news, my next signing is on January 15th at 3pm in Orazio Salati's Gallery at 205 State Street, 2nd Floor. This signing is to benefit a local arts group called Southern Tier Celebrates! They do First Night Binghamton, plus a summer music program, as well as other things. Hopefully we'll raise plenty of funds for the organization, so if you're in the Binghamton area that day, stop on by, make a donation of $20 or more and get a free signed copy of The Skewed Throne! There will be a reading, questions answered, etc and I'll sign the books personally of course.

Ah, yes, the Progress-O-Meter:

388 / 421 (92.2%)

The Cracked Throne

Also, I've already broken my tentative New Year's resolution, I see. I never posted what book I'm reading yesterday. Same as the day before and today:

Current Reading Book: Chasing Fire by Michelle M. Welch

And It's Done

Well, the revisions to The Cracked Throne are done. The printer is printing. The obsessive worrying about whether I should have changed this or that has begun. But I'll wait to see what my editor has to say before I do any more changing. I'm sure she'll have things for me to rewrite. And I'm sure that they'll make the book infinitely better.

Notice I've assumed she's going to like the book in the first place.

At this point I must send all thanks to comixboy for suffering through the novel and giving me great advice on things to fix/change, what sucked, what worked, etc. I didn't make all of the changes he suggested, but looking over my revisions notes, most of the changes I did make were suggested by him. In fact, I made more of his changes than my own changes. I think the rules of the magic have been sufficiently explained now. I think I've expanded on the history of the Seven who created the throne enough to satisfy readers for this book. I ended up not expanding on the history of . . . oh, crap I can't mention that because it would ruin the book for the readers.

I'm still not certain about the ending. But I always have doubts about the endings of my books. The final, final scene is fine; that's not a worry. It's always the part leading up to that final scene. Is it dramatic enough? Is it a let-down? Were the readers expecting more? Bah! I've got to put it out of mind and let my editor worry about it. I might be able to do that once I get it in the mail.