I’ve been at a plateau for a while on the big fantasy project: polished, but not quite gleaming. This weekend, three things happened:
I wrote a decent pitch for an upcoming pitch contest.
I tightened the first chapter, and bridged new and old versions with really strong scenes. I forced more emotion into one character, and more agency into another.
Both beta readers on this project (who are neither lazy slouches nor easily won over) have given me their vast approval.
So even if the pitch contest doesn’t work, I’m far more confident about this book than in its previous versions. It’s not wasted effort, if it improves the manuscript.
The only catch: it all has to be done by Friday the 24th. That’s when the pitch contest begins…but more importantly, it’s when I have to start work on a major art project AND wrangle incoming edits for the brand new, shiny version of Moro’s Price (coming from NineStar Press this summer).