But I Have a Plan…

In my last post I mentioned the successful pitch session I had with an editor at conference. I’d come armed with my one-sheet, the one-page synopsis I’d written during my pre-conference ‘conference’ at Maripat’s house. I also had along the new first chapter of the novel.

So the editor looked over the one-sheet and asked a few questions about the plot and the characters. I set the synopsis and the first chapter on the table. She glanced at the chapter but picked up the synopsis. Read the whole thing through with more questions.

Then she set it down and said, “Is this novel complete?”

The million dollar question. Okay, not many authors get that kind of pay-out first time out the gate, but you know what I mean. I’m into honesty, but I didn’t want to shoot myself in the foot, either.

“It was, two weeks ago. Before my crit group got to The End. Now? Not so much. But I have a plan…” I explained that the synopsis she’d just read was the new version, the unwritten version. And that I could have the novel to her in two months.

What?

Was I crazy?

Yes. The End.

Okay, maybe not quite the end. But maybe. I spent the first week after conference taking the material Maripat and I had worked out in our one-day session and turning it into an outline. The goal thereafter? Fifteen thousand words a week for four weeks. Then to the crit pals, then a brush, then out the door.

I’m on track. 30K written in two weeks. I’m also exhausted. See you on the other side!