Back at it!

I took a break from writing and editing for a while. I have not touched Mermentau for about 2 months. I will get ready to dive back in starting in January (December is too Crazy). During the break, my creative ADD could not remain stagnant so I started making jewelry. I am kind of a mess that way. The good thing is I truly believe as I dive back into the story it is going to improve drastically. I hope to finish this review by the end of February and then it will be time to start sending the query letters to the world of agents.

If you are wondering where the preview of the manuscript went, I just felt that I really didn't want it out there until it is good and ready.

Reading Aloud

This has proven to be a huge benefit in the progress of the book. I had read the book aloud, but I did it in chunks and not from beginning to end. Not to mention I was the one readin,g so my mind was passing over a lot of mistakes. Over the weekend my wife started reading the book to me. It has been awesome. I am excited at the improvements that I have already made in the first 155 pages. Each time I go through the book, it gets a little better and a little better. I have even updated the first five chapters again, and I posted the latest yesterday. Please add any comments as you read the book. Or if you have questions, feel free to ask.

This is a Raw Document

One more thing. This document has not been professionally edited. It is in a pretty raw form. You will find some errors. I have tried to clean it up as much as possible, but sometimes my mind puts things in that aren't there or takes things out that should be there.

I just made some corrections to the Preface and the first chapter so if you have started, continue. If not, the read may be a little smoother. The latest doc is attached.

Demographic

First of all I want to thank those that have already visited the blog and for some of the encouraging emails I have recieved. Some have asked about the demographic before they start reading so that they are in the right mode. I would say that the majority demographic is ages 12-18. The main characters are teenagers. I think and hope that adults will enjoy it too. If you like action and humor then hopefully this will keep any age reading.

Making Some Changes

So when you are writing a book or anything for that matter you often come across things you don't like or that you fear will pose a problem with your readers. The tough thing is that in the moment sometimes the brain does not offer up any alternatives. I worried about a couple of things in Mermentau: the names being too difficult and if referring to the group of teens as children seemed out of place. I can see that both of these topics are coming up in those that have read the story. For those of you that have only read the teaser offered to your right, this hasn't even entered the manuscript yet.

I have made or am making some changes to improve those two points of the story. The names will mostly remain the same, but the spelling and ease of reading will improve. I will also eliminate like names to help keep things straight. The deeper meaning of the names was too difficult to part with at this time so hopefully the simplified spelling will make them easier to pass over. Also, they will rarely be referred to as "the children" accept by one character and she explains why.

This is why critique is so powerful. When more than one person says the same thing, it probably means there is a problem.

I Had A Dream

I know it sounds a little cliche, but a dream was a part of the combination of events that started the creation of Mermentau. I had always wanted to write a fantasy book. Something about a place unheard of with creatures unseen always excited me. I had a fantastic dream about one of these places and that day I told my wife I was going to write a book. So I started it...and I couldn't stop.

Just a few weeks ago I went through it for the third time making sure that it was as clean and complete as possible. I feel that it is pretty close. Now it is time to see what the literary world thinks of it. Getting a book published is a journey, there are no short cuts (unless someone reading this is a publisher or literary agent). Another writer Rebecca Martin, inspired me to start to document this journey. Your time would be well spent visiting her site and learning about her book http://rebeccalmartin.blogspot.com.

To be honest, living inside my head can be exhausting. Some days my brain will never stop. So it has been a calming experience to place the commotion onto paper and to give it life.