Wanna Win A Book?

If you’d like a chance to win a copy of SEXY DEVIL, LUSH or TROUBLE, then visit The Good, The Bad, and The Unread. Sybil has excerpts posted, as well as a contest!!

My birthday was wonderful. Thank you everyone for the well wishes!

Then, as is par for the course, after a few really good days, a few really bad days followed.
Not bad as in I’m hurt. But bad as in , Super ass-kicking busy at work (but I made really good money), and fighting a cold. And Bad as in, I lost a very important file on my computer. (as in the final finished copy of my last book) :cursing:

And normally I not only have the file on my USB stick (so I can work on desktop and laptop) but I try to stay in the habit of emailing myself the files, so I have a back up. No idea why I didn’t do it this time. I did email to my editor and agent, but my agent said the file never went through, and I’ve not heard back from the editor, so I’m thinking it’s gone.

But…honestly, after my first attack of “Oh, Shit!” Then a lot of “No, no, nooooo. This can’t be happening.” Then there were a few tears, and some effort to not pick up my computer and throw it across the room. Anyway, after that, I came to the conclusion that everything happens for a reason. Because I often have ten files of “work” for each story before I create the final file I sent in, I do have a file that it almost completely done. It’s about 70 pages short.

You see, one thing *I* think I really have going for me as an author is Voice. I never went to school for writing, and I often fall asleep when I take workshops or try to read craft books. I’m not a technical writer. (And if you read my blog often, you know I mostly suck at typing as well as grammar.) But I do think my voice is strong, because I believe in my characters, and in my stories. However, this last one, I really really wanted it to be super good. Not that I don’t want all of my books to be good, but I want each one to be better than the last. i want to grow and learn and keep getting better…right? So, I think I might’ve done what I always tell others not to do. I think maybe I over-edited it. I asked for more time to finish so I could really polish and write it perfectly – completely forgetting that a perfect book isn’t always a good story. So Maybe, just maybe, the reason I lost the final file and have to rewrite the last 70 pages or so, is because what I had wasn’t what should be.

Make sense?

Anyway, I’ll be rewriting the end to my book now, so I won’t be around for a few more days.