Good evening, squiders! How’s your April going? Mine is full of volunteer commitments, but luckily I’ve got the biggest of those behind me at this point. Still more, but the stressful ones are done.
So, as we all know, for spring break, I was like, oh, I’ll switch over to Deep and Blue since I’m not going to have as much focusing time, and get that done, and then when the break is over I’ll head back to the Book 1 revision.
And here we are, three and a half weeks later, and we are still on Deep and Blue. I think I’m done now–I came up with the fourth iteration of the book description tonight, which is the final outstanding thing, and I’ve had a couple people look at it, and I’m declaring it Good Enough.
(I posted the cover earlier, but here it is again, just cuz.)
I should know by now that my “oh, I’ll just work on this for this short time period” plans almost always take longer than expected. I mean, not always–sometimes I can take a week off of a big project to do a smaller one–but more often than not. Am I bad at estimating how much time something is going to take? Sometimes. Sometimes, like this particular case, where I’m waiting on feedback, it’s out of my control.
(I did write a side scene on Book 1–basically a behind-the-scenes of what other characters are doing. It won’t ever go into the book but it helps me to explore other characters’ motivations so I know how they’ll react to things or why they’re doing things the way they are. Also read over a couple of other ones that I’d written earlier.)
Anyway, I am declaring Deep and Blue ready to go, and tomorrow we’ll read back over Book 1 thus far (to remind myself where I am and what I’m doing) and then dig into the meat of Act 3, where new chapters are needed and a surprising amount of work needs to be done. Yay.
Also, I need to edit chapters 20-22 from the critique marathon feedback and send them out to my in-person critique group. Probably do that first.
Here’s the final book description for Deep and Blue:
When the surface became unlivable, humanity retreated under the waves.
In the underwater city of Haven, oceanographer Kaeri has been given her first assignment: a coveted spot on the team working to return the people of Haven to the surface.
No friends. No family. An opportunity to earn her place.
Not quite ostracized but never welcomed, Kaeri has never belonged. Something about her parents, though no one has ever explained what. And though she has become a respected scientist, people still shy away from her in the corridors, their conversations dying away.
The new job is a chance to change all that. But before she can begin, strange things start happening. Shadows flit across the security cameras. Doors to airlocks and power generators unlock themselves. And people, across the city, are being attacked by something invisible.
If Kaeri can save Haven from these mysteries, people will have to accept her. But digging into Haven’s secrets may bring answers that were better left alone.
~*~*~*~
So. Refocusing. Moving forward. Deep breaths all around.
See you next week, squiders!
