April is the cruelest month

Happy April Fool's Day!

Today the joke is on us here in New York in terms of the weather. After two days of sunny weather and temperatures in the 60's. It's now cold, and rainy. The pope is on his death bed, and I forgot to renew my RWA membership.

Yep, I forgot that yesterday was the 31st which was the last day to renew without a $25 penalty fee. I guess I was so excited by the great critique that I received from Bev Katz Rosenbaum.

Nearly Famous is my baby. I've been working on this book on and off for the past 4 years. I know there is great book lurking in the manuscript. I just need to find a way to bring it out. I'm still suspicious that this is actually 2 books, not one, a before and after.

But I need help. The book has already been rejected by 7 agents, and 2 publishers. So, I took the step of sending it to a freelance editor. I chose Bev Katz Rosenbaum because of her experience, and her prices were reasonable.

The Queen Bee from my workshop, Jennifer Belle, typically charges $500 to critique a manuscript. Bev charges $175, which is doable. However, I took the step of just having her critique the first 3 chapters and the synopsis.

To my surprise, she loved the first 3 chapters but had reservations about the rest of the book, feeling that I didn't have enough work-related conflicts. I may have to downplay the romance in the book, and just stick to the work stuff. I have a triangle but I wonder if it's necessary.

My next step is to re-read the manuscript and start the delicate task of cutting it to the bone. That's what I meant by April being the cruelest month. I'd like to have the entire manuscript revised by May, so that I can start resending it out to agents and publishers.

TOR is looking for chick-lit right now. It's not my first choice of publisher, but they have good authors. I'm still going to resubmit to Red Dress Ink, although they aren't accepting unsolicited manuscripts, just queries at the moment. Also, I might send it to Dorchester as well.

I'm going to continue to post stuff I've cut on my Julia Chamberlain blog. I'm using it as a marketing tool. If the book is published, readers can go to the blog for backstory, and other amusing tidbits that can't make it to the novel.

I'm hoping to include lots of juicy stories about the horror films that she's done, as well as the nitty-gritty of what it means to be a working actress.

Right now, it's back to the grindstone. Time to print out the manuscript!