A week ago I attended a
Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators conference held at Canyon
Inn (pictured above) in McCormick’s Creek State Park. SCBWI’s Indiana chapter
did an excellent job planning and running the conference, which provided helpful
sessions and good networking opportunities. Unfortunately, it messed up my
self-imposed schedule for Desert Jewels.
Actually, I should
probably say, “Fortunately, it messed up my self-imposed schedule.” That’s
because what initially seems like bad news will be good news in the long run.
Two months ago, I sent in
the first few pages of Desert Jewels for
a manuscript critique. By the time I received the critique at the conference, I
had already made significant changes to those pages based on beta reader
comments, and I hoped that I was working on my last draft in incorporating
those changes.
I was wrong. The
critiquer had many positive comments, including that the writing is strong and
engaging. But she also had some excellent points about places where the story
sounded forced, especially when I was trying to show things that were unique to
the Japanese American situation of that time. During
our discussion, I also got some ideas for strengthening Emi's character arc,
which I wasn't completely happy with, anyway. Unfortunately, this means that I have
to make additional significant changes to the manuscript, which puts me off
schedule. But the good news is that the book will be better as a result.
Perfection is not my
goal. It isn’t possible to write a perfect story. If that’s what I were
striving for, I would never submit my work. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want
to do the best I can.
So let’s try it one more
time.
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