Coming Up for Air

Yeah, I'm stealing Dorian's title. It's just that I honestly cannot think of a better one. Nothing else really describes this feeling. The picture says it all:

I turned in Stone Curse last night!!!!!!

And it feels like I've been living underwater, holding my breath for a really long time, and I just came up. And, oh! The air tastes so good.It's been a long, hard six weeks. The last time I wrote and edited and polished that frantically was back during that first summer when I was writing King's Warrior - trying to get ten pages written each day, and racing the clock to finish the story before the summer ended. Of course, I had a lot fewer responsibilities back then!But I did it! And I stayed inside the word count. Huzzah!It's also been a really fantastic, focused six weeks. It hasn't all been sunshine and roses, but I have thoroughly enjoyed this rewrite. I always come away from editing feeling like I've been made into a better author. I love the transformation the story undergoes, and the AHA moments I get when everything suddenly clicks and that one difficult, rough spot suddenly turns into something beautiful.Dear Reader, I am so excited about this little story. I cannot wait to share it with you! It has been through the wringer, the crucible, the kiln... but it has emerged on the other side so much prettier than it was when it went in. I hope you enjoy it when it's all finished and you can hold it in your hands. I hope you grow to love the characters the way I have come to love them - and let me tell you, we had a bit of a rocky beginning, the Stone Curse characters and I.So, what's next on the immediate docket?This Sunday - April 12 -  I'm participating in a "Meet the Local Authors" event at the local library. If you live near Raleigh, North Carolina, we'd love to see you there! The event is at the Cameron Village Library and goes from 2:00pm - 4:00pm. Several different authors are going to do readings from their books, and it's just going to be a fun time!I've also begun to receive notes back from my beta readers for Yorien's Hand, so I'll go read those until it's time to do more with Stone Curse - though it sounds like the hard part is behind me, now. Unless the line-editors find something major wrong with the story, I actually won't be required to do any more with the story until it's time to read through the galleys right before the book goes to print!!!Next week I have a whole series of posts (for entertainment purposes only) written up on the Four Stages of Receiving Editor's Notes. Hopefully you will find them humorous!