Progress Report

Back in the olden days when I was in school, I used to hate when the time came for progress reports to go out. Even though I was an honor roll student, I always had the feeling there was something I didn't know that my teachers were just itching to tell my parents.
Now that I write my own progress reports, so to speak, I rather enjoy them. Right now I am revising my upcoming winter 2011 release, Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing . This book was the second manuscript I ever wrote back in 2002. The Real Thing is the sequel to Lyrics , my first manuscript and the book of my heart. It tells the story of an interracial couple who are faced with a devastating event that could destroy their marriage. The story has nothing to do with race. Instead it focuses on the issue of fidelity.
Going in I knew revising the story would be a lot of work, but I had no idea the first three chapters were going to be so hard.[image error]I had included way to much backstory. Once I started the revisions a few weeks ago, I was horrified that I had tried to retell the entire story of Lyrics in the first forty-five pages of the sequel! Of course, I need to let the readers know who the characters are and what their history is, but not by giving a major information dump in the first two chapters. I worked on the first three chapters for two weeks and think I've finally gotten them worked out.
TRT will be the last of my previously written manuscripts I plan to publish for a while. I still have Reasons , a story I wrote back in 2005 about Jan, Verna, Noreen and Kathy, four friends that each have to make a major life decision.
Recently the idea came to me to break this manuscript into separate shorts to publish individually on Kindle Singles. I have already taken part Jan's story and used it in Hollywood Swinging . The rest of her story, which is a May/December romance, is now titled, You Make Me Feel Brand New , and is going to be included in an anthology being put together by WG2E, the Writer's Guide to e-Publishing. The anthology will be published in February 2012.
My last remaining unpublished manuscript is Between Sisters , a story loosely based on my sister and myself. That story wandered like a Hebrew in the wilderness. It went too long and needs to be cut about 35-40 pages. Not a job I feel like doing any time soon. Maybe I'll revise it … someday.
Sixteen months ago I decided to self-publish all of my novels on Kindle and Nook before I wrote anything new. After almost a year and half later, I can't take it anymore. I am just sick and tired of revising. The next project will be a completely new story that I'll start from scratch, and I can't wait to start!