Cheerful

Vampy remarked yesterday that I seem cheerful lately, and though some of that comes from it being spring, most of it's coming from about six things floating around in my head as I finish up the HOLLOWS INSIDER.

I'm not happy with book ten, but I'm excited about some possible changes.  I don't think my editor gets it, why I'm cheerful about having to make some huge changes to the text.  First, I'm cheerful because she was seeing the exact same things that was bothering me, meaning she reaffirmed my belief that I'm good at crafting a story, I just have to trust myself a bit more.  Second, I don't mind rewriting chunks because that's my favorite part, as in seeing what happens when you miss the train and have to walk.  Third, I'm very competitive, but I don't like beating out my friends, and in rewriting, I can be as ruthless as I want to be.  –  let me explain.

There are days that Guy goes "lurking", where he goes to Amazon or websites to check out both my reviews and reviews of other authors in the genre.  Sometimes I'm interested, such a knowing if they go to the same places I do on tour, but for the most part, I try very hard to ignore him as he checks everything/one out.  I'm glad he's doing it, but I don't want to know how I'm stacking up against everyone else on that particular day.  It all changes so fast, that the only clear barometer I have is measuring myself over my last book, and today, I'm just kicking myself.  Book nine rocked my personal socks, addressing several issues I'd been building to.  In its current form, book ten doesn't stack up to its older sibling.  It's a good story, but it doesn't accomplish as much.

That will never do.

So today I am cheerful in that I've given myself a very high bar to strive for.  You might like what is coming in book ten.  You might hate it.  But I'm going to make it a cracker-jack story in the telling of it, and the crafting of that is going to be intense.

I can't wait.