At least when a deadline is self-imposed, you only have yourself to disappoint. And perhaps anyone else you may have let in on your deadline that is interested in what you’re doing. Oops. About that: sorry!
As it turns out, waiting until a couple of weeks before you’re finished with the final revision of your manuscript to hire an editor (at least a well-known one (or ones) with a good reputation) is all but impossible, especially with the holidays looming. You see, much as you might want to delude yourself that you’re the only one aiming to get a book ready in time for Christmas, chances are reasonably strong that someone else is, too.
Of course I know that I’m not the only one who’s been trying to hit that deadline, but I really did drop the ball on my timing of everything. It’s easy to say that life has gotten in the way, and while that’s true to a degree, it also comes down to planning. Then again, this is still a new experience for me, so I haven’t quite gotten the hang of how far in advance I need to be booking people. However, as noted above, more than two weeks notice is definitely required.
My first go-round, it was a little different. I’m intentionally doing things differently now because I learned a fair amount with my first book. However, for as much as I learned with that experience, there’s still a lot more to learn. I can only assume this will continue to be a learning experience for quite some time. Because things are bound to go wrong, that’s where being adaptable comes into play.
So here’s the plan, just so I can be held accountable (to some degree):
- My next book is no longer due in December, but some time in the first quarter of next year (this is a different project from the Debate Team series).
- Debate Team book 2 is also planned for early 2012, but it’s unclear at this point if the first quarter is likely.
Well, that’s pretty much it.
As it stands, I’m currently working on Debate Team book 2 while simultaneously wrapping up revision on the Unnamed Project (UP). It’s probably for the best that I put a little more time into UP because I wasn’t entirely happy with what I had. A little more time to polish before it goes to editing (and in turns gets more polish) is a good thing. As it was, I was rushing. I knew that would be the case, but I really thought I’d have more time available than I have.
So I apologize for missing my deadline and being way, way off. But, I’ll have a couple new things ready to go early next year.
It’ll be like a one-two punch!
