Writing Wednesdays: Surviving Revisions, and Jack's New Book

Hi all! I'm happy to say I have finally sent my revised manuscript back to my literary agent. It took six weeks and an average of 2-4 hours on week days, plus 5 or more hours on weekend days, and all I can hope right now is that I didn't somehow make my novel worse in the process.

Learning to revise has probably been my biggest challenge as a writer. It took a long time for me to fully grasp how crucial revision is to the writing process (drafting is the easy part!), and it is definitely a skill that develops over time. I think I might finally be getting the hang of it. Maybe.

And of course there was all the life stuff to deal with over these past six weeks, including the Cold From Hell that took down our entire family, strep throat (just me - that was fun), more car nonsense, and other crap I won't bore you with. But I do think my novel is much stronger thanks to these changes, and hopefully all my hard work will pay off!

In other news, Jack (who wasn't always a fan of Mommy disappearing in the afternoons to work, or locking herself in her bedroom on weekends) is now an author. He has penned a "chapter book" and a sequel, Marshmallow Joins and Marshmallow Joins 2. They are...how can I put this delicately? WEIRD. I still don't fully understand the title, although there are marshmallows in the book. He really wants me to share it with the world, but I'm not sure the world is quite ready for it.

Jack is a very serious writer (the pencil behind the ear was all his idea).

He has also asked me to be his literary agent, and he insisted we type the books up on the computer. When Auntie Shasha came over for brainstorming sessions (I owe Sarah a HUGE thanks for the amount of time she spent talking over plot changes with me), Jack liked to join us and ask our advice on Marshmallow Joins.

I love the fact that Jack wants to be a writer and is proud of what I'm doing. I've tried to find ways to make him feel included, like drawing a cover for my book (he really thinks it's going to be the cover; hopefully by the time the book is published he's over it) and reading "real" books at night time. So far we've read James and the Giant Peach and we're working on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He's chosen The Wizard of Oz as our next book. As someone who was once terrified of being a mom to boys, I love that this is our thing. And while his prose may need some work, I see a real future for him in illustration.

A picture of the good witch and one of her marshmallows from Marshmallow Joins.

Jack's cover design for Wintersoul.