I just got back from visiting my brother and sister and my grandparents in beautiful Florida! And we were there at the perfect time...it wasn't even humid! We were gone for a week and as soon as we got home my dad picked us up from the airport and we started working on the basement...again.It's been a great learning experience but I think we'll make sure the basement in our next house is finished before we move in. We started hanging drywall today and I don't think I've ever been so excited in my life!!! I also rolled my ankle while I was trying to hook up our trailer so I could take it to Lowe's and exchange a door. Here's a tip: don't try and hook up a trailer by yourself wh
en the trailer is sitting on a slope. I can still hobble along though, so I don't think I broke anything. I should probably go to the doctor and find out, but I have an irrational fear of hospitals and usually won't frequent them unless I think I'm dying.Since I'm not much help in the basement with my maybe-broken ankle, I decided to read through the Branson Falls edits I got in the mail from Amazing Ashley while I was in Florida. I seriously don't know what I'd do without her. If you don't have someone in your life who will point out all the crap and inconsistencies in your manuscript, you HAVE to find that person. Amazing Ashley reads my manuscripts like an editor or agent and her help is invaluable. I've already told her I'm in debt to her for at least one Corvette, but she's worth A LOT more than that!
I haven't started revisions yet because Amazing Ashley wants to go through her comments with me page-by-page before I start rewriting. Yes, that's right, page-by-page because that's how fantastic Amazing Ashley is. Revisions always kick my butt and I know I have a lot of work still to do on Branson Falls, but for now, I'm hoping I can start to query in a month. I feel really good about the book though and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that an agent will like it as much as my beta-readers do!
We have had cold winter which is leading into a slow start to summer, so humidty hasn't been a problem as of yet. Glad you enjoyed your trip and sorry about the ankle. How did you begin putting betas and crit partners together. I am struggling to get them for mine. I could use an Amazing Ash, but who couldn't i guess.
ReplyDeleteShain, where are you in Florida? My family lives in the Satsuma area. It was my first trip to Florida but I can't wait to go back!
ReplyDeleteMy beta readers were pretty easy to find. I just asked people I trusted who liked the genre I was writing in. My crit partners were harder. I found that beta readers were good for giving me general feedback, but most of them only told me the good things about my manuscript and were hesitant to tell me what they didn't like. As for crit partners, I am VERY lucky that Amazing Ashley is my best friend, but I also reconnected with some old friends who also write, as well as finding new crit partners through online reading/writing networks like Goodreads.com and yalitchat.ning.com. Using online networking has helped me a lot, not only with finding crit partners but also meeting agents, editors, and everyone from novice to bestselling authors. Hope that helps!
I live smack in the middle, located centrally (east and west) between Orlando and Tampa. It takes me about 45 minutes to get to either.
ReplyDeleteI have one reader that just finished. Which he did enjoy and said he wants to read more, but I know it needs more editing and cleaning up. So, for now I'll keep looking and trying to make it better.
Good luck with the basement! And with the edits! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Guinevere!!! I started edits today and we're hoping to finish hanging drywall tomorrow. It should be busy. :)
ReplyDeleteOh I wish I had a basement!!! They aren't too common in Texas... something about our soil. I think it's too wet here because we are sea level.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with revisions!
Thanks Kristin!!! I didn't know that about Texas. I love having the extra space of a basement.
ReplyDeleteAnd almost broken ankle? Eww... that sucks!! Good luck with your revisions, though. Oh, and the querying. I hope you get an agent on the first try!! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Kimberly! I'm hoping to get the revisions done over the next couple of days. And I can walk on my ankle again so I'm happy it's not broken!
ReplyDeleteI hope your ankle is good now. I have to finish my basement, and I don't feel like spending the money!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lisa! My ankle is doing MUCH better. On the advice of a friend, I picked up a gel called Traumameel at Whole Foods. It made the swelling go down right away and the massive bruise I had was gone in 2-3 days!
ReplyDeleteHow big is your basement? Ours is 1100 square feet and my dad helped us so we didn't have to pay someone to finish it. Our basement bathroom was already done, so that made things cheaper, but the material costs weren't bad...around $5000. And the carpet will probably be another $2000. Compared to the $25,000-$30,000 contractors were quoting us, it came out to be a pretty good deal. Good luck with yours when you decide to start on it!