*written very late, posted later during regular human hours*
Hey there everyone, how are you all doing? I was just laying in bed, yawning my ass off and flipping through a draft of my debut novel when the genius idea to write a novel editing update came to me. Inspiration sure does have a way of calling upon you whenever it likes, even if you’re comfortably snuggled under some heavy blankets and feeling just fine. Anyway, I’ll make this quick so I can get back to said bed and finally get some shut-eye.
So, updates, all right. I have to say I’m a little embarrassed to be coming here, especially since I announced so grandly that I would release this book November 1 of last year. And, well, that didn’t happen. So I guess I’m here to tell you that there is a new release date, but I have no idea when that will be. I’m guessing sometime before 2099. Perhaps I will, I don’t know, FINISH IT COMPLETELY before I go off spouting when it will come out, because, with leading such a busy life full of projects, I cannot properly forecast any releases.
What I DO know, however, is that I am just about ready to go in for the third pass. I wrote this beast way back in 2010, and then last year, I read it, then probably read it again, the WENT THROUGH THE WHOLE THING and changed a bunch, read it again, and then again, and, seriously, AGAIN. After so much reading and editing, I was quite honestly knackered and couldn’t come back to it. I’ve explained before that how unanticipated the amount of work was, sending me through the editorial wringer. Editing this book is probably more epic of an undertaking than my characters’ crazy adventure. I’d take a quest through dangerous territory any day. At least then I’d be outside, instead of holed up in the corner, fearing for life from the huge stacks of papers around me.
So as I said, I’ve had my space and am ready to come back (seriously, book, you were smothering me!), and this time, which a BUNCH of notes. In my mess of files, there is one that has EIGHTEEN notes about what needs to be changed or altered. Some things need to be reiterated a little bit. One minor character has to have her personality completely changed (which will, of course, alter fucking EVERYTHING). Another little scene has to be added that will serve multiple purposes. (I’ll tell you now that all those new scenes I wrote for the second draft I’m going to cut out again, which is fucking GREAT). One scene will be glossed over, and so on. It’s going to be a lot of work, but maybe not as much to freaking kill me like last time.
What’s good is that I finally, FINALLY, found out a way to rid of the tonal problems in the middle. (Remember the tonal graph I made?) So yay for that! Just took a year of hard thinking. Funny thing is, the solution to the problem came about when I was spacing out at my old market job. But really, once those tonal issues are fixed, this thing’ll be tonally consistent, which means that I will finally have the confidence to hand it off to some beta readers and see what they think!
Anyway, it’s very exciting to have everything kind of falling into place. Sometimes I feel stories are like gears, or, like, multiple thingies that have those gear-like teeth (this is the sleep deprivation talking). And for whatever reason, the teeth won’t fit together and they don’t lock. But then, after a while, they DO lock, and perhaps you didn’t know what you were exactly looking for but when you see it you recognize it. And I always had reservations about that middle part. In every single draft, even when my friends who’d read it already said it wasn’t a big deal, that middle part had always bugged me. It just didn’t MESH with the rest of it, y’know? BUT NOW IT DOES, BAY-BEE, and once that’s done, then I can give it off and then get it one step closer to getting it to ALL OF YOU GALS AND GUYS, which is, really, the most exciting part. (And the scariest, too).
Of course, there’s the whole “self-publish” or “small press” discussion in my mind, too, but that is really a whole blog post in itself. So more on that later maybe.
I guess all I wanted to say is that I am getting closer and closer to making this thing as best as it can be. Making it its purest self that it can be. And that I’m excited to get it all out to you sometime. If not later this year, then the next year, but hopefully no longer than that (seriously, the book ITSELF seems excited to get out there!)
But for now, sleepy time. Maybe I’ll work on it tomorrow. Or just nap. Yeah, a nap sounds better. Better books are written when you’re sleeping, right?
Until next time,
-Casey
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OTHER GREAT LINKS RELATED TO THIS TOPIC:
“A Distant Horn” Novel Editing Update: September 26, 2013 (09.26.2013)
“A Distant Horn” Novel Editing Update: July 20, 2013 (07.21.2013)
“A Distant Horn” Update: May 9, 2013 (03.09.2013)
Casey Poma 
