It's Out of My Hands

9/23/2014 01:43:00 PM Lexie Dunne 15 Comments

So I’m worried about turning into one of those people that talks about nothing but food, even though lately it’s been a pretty all-encompassing issue in my life (I’m really tired of being in pain and food is directly related to that). So if I’ve seemed quiet (apart from the griping about the copy-editing process), I apologize for that.

First off, some good news: my sister and I have a move-date. Thanks to procrastination and dealing with anxiety, it’s not until October 6th, which is honestly probably better because I’m in no way ready to move in six days, which was our original plan. I have a couple more calls to make, a brother and in-law to rustle up, and then packing begins in earnest.

Wait, October 6th? Aren’t you flying to NY on the 9th?

…yes.


Schedule’s starting to fall together for NY. My panel’s on Saturday and I plan to bounce around the con beforehand, hopefully meeting up with fellow Nice Girl Cay and a few fandom friends. Friday ushers in a meet-and-greet for the HC authors in town for the con, so I’ll be going to that, and I’m planning on going to see Sleep No More with Chloe (not sure if Mama Dunne or Chelsea want to go to a very strange version of Macbeth). Thursday is for travel, the Daily Show, and a birthday dinner (I need to pick a place!). I really want to make it out to MoMA, the Strand, and a couple of other places. Sleep does not appear to be an imperative on this trip.

In book news: SUPERHEROES ANONYMOUS is officially out of my hands. I don’t know if my process through editing was typical or if it wasn’t, what was atypical about it, due to that being my first time through the rigamorale. I do know that I started the process questioning everything. Every change was met with a little bit of heartburn and nausea and debate. By round three, I had to be distracted away from trying to balance carrot sticks on my nose in order to edit the thing.*

If Chloe were here, she’d point out that I have to be distracted from things like that to do most things anyway, so why should editing be different? Living with me is an adventure.**

The book went through an interesting editing process. I’m not a writer that writes first/second drafts (unless a scene isn’t working), but for this book, I had an official second draft. Several people I know have read the first draft and I think they’ll be surprised by the final product, considering it’s undergone some serious and cosmetic changes. The original had a few scenes that made me cringe, and they triggered some serious self-doubt. Getting a chance to rework those scenes was cathartic. Or, I should say, it’s cathartic now. In the middle of the edits, it was terrifying because I took the book in an entirely new direction and I panicked for days about what my editor was going to think about that. Mercifully, she adored the new direction, and I stopped digesting my own stomach acid.

But now it’s done. Unless there’s a horrifying catastrophe, I’m not going to touch it again until you see it in November. Which is…weird. Luckily, I’ll have stuff to keep me busy during this waiting period, like writing that sequel a couple of you are going to want after you get to the end of the book. And moving.

And Nanowrimo.

If you’re near St. Louis, my friend Jen runs all of the Nano stuff for the area and I have already promised to go to a few pre-Nano events and talk about what it’s like to get your Nano novel published. If you’re curious about doing Nanowrimo with me, I’ll start putting some resources and advice on the blog. I’ve been participating since 2002, and I’m excited for this year because the novel I’m considering is pretty neat, all things considered.

Anyway, I’ll be back on Thursday (new blog day) with my weekly roundup of cool links, and a post about something else. This is just a “What’s happening in my life?” post. In the meantime, check out this pretty neat Pinterest board I’m curating for no reason at alllllll.






* Results: I sadly do not have an aspiring career in being a circus seal performer, as I am uniformly terrible at balancing carrot sticks on my nose.

** Currently an adventure in deliciousness.