Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed.

Have a happy and blessed Easter, everyone!

As I look back on my blogging journey thus far, the blog entry population along the roadside is pretty sparse. It’s like we’re driving through Wyoming, or the Dakotas, or someplace similar. Few towns, but lots and lots of “empty” wilderness.

On this day that Christians celebrate the resurrection of our LORD, Jesus Christ, I would also like to celebrate writing and publishing another blog entry. Another bright and shiny town alongside the dark and empty highway. Another colorful bead on the string of my aspiring authorhood. Whichever metaphor serves best on this day, in this life. Every day that we rise from the little death that is sleep is a bead on the strand of our lives. Stream of consciousness writing is generally not friendly to the reader’s eyes, so I will quit before yours cross in exasperation.

An update on Wyldling Snare

(Ha. Ha.)

After submitting revision four (R- 4) to ten literary agents, I decided to stop the submission process right there. Thus far, I have been rejected outright by half of them and the others have not responded yet, if they ever do. It was not receiving the rejections that changed my mind; I expected the rejections and the non-responses. Beta reader responses made me realize that I was not done revising. I swapped manuscripts with a friend of mine and she very helpfully pointed out some sticky plot issues (and I did the same for her). Around the same time, I submitted my manuscript to a professional beta reader on Fiverr to get her $100 opinion (most of the others reading in my genre were charging twice as much for a 100K word document). She also, had some very good comments and advice that I took. In fact, both readers agreed on some of the same things.

Hence, revision 5 (R-5) was born, hastily squeezed out in time to submit for another, less expensive critique by a literary agent/author through a writer’s organization that I recently joined. Yes, I am now doing that. Paying a fee to join writer’s groups online. It seems to be the best way to find a variety of beta readers within one’s genre and earn some credibility with publishers – when I get to that point again.

Looking back, R-4 sucked as much as I feared: like my Kirby vacuum in its heyday. Fortunately, it did not suck as much as a black hole. It was still salvageable. You see, Wyldling Snare suffered from convoluted plot syndrome. There were too many things going on in the storyline and my narrative was far too coy, keeping information secret while hinting at things for far too long. Something had to go. Correction: a few somethings had to go and a few things were changed. I ended up chopping out over forty pages (gasp!) but keep in mind the darn behemoth was already over 350 pages and pushing 110K words. R-5 is 290 pages and nearly 88.5K words. And I already know that I left out some information I ought to have included. That’s what happens when you’re in a hurry. So, there will definitely be a revision six (R-6) after the current critique sends her results. R-6 might very well expand to 300 pages, give or take a few.

That is the present state of Wyldling Snare, thus far. Naturally, this means that a few things in the massive tome of Book 2, Wyldling Quest, will have to go or change, as well. But that, as they say, is another story.

Blessings on your week.