Waking Up On the Other Side

I sent the manuscript yesterday. It took all day to finish the synopsis, but I did it. Several hours after the box hit the post office, I discovered four small cut and paste errors in the partial, the first fifty pages. I fought with myself for twelve hours and finally decided this morning, I had to let it go.

The contest entry is a deadline, but one that’s self-imposed. I needed the pressure to get to the next step. Second guessing is a form of procrastination. I’m moving on.

Yesterday, pre-error discovery, I made a list of new long term goals.

1. Tab the current manuscript using my Donald Maass workshop notes.
2. Write a research paper comparing Georgia O’Keeffe and Charles Dickens. (My heroine wrote her Master’s Thesis on this diverse pair of artists.)
3. Rewrite from start to finish.
4. *I’ve added a fourth this morning. Find a beta reader.

Now is also the time to begin a new story.

1. Write comic throughlines for the three new ideas I have.
2. Choose one and build character collages from magazine and web images.
3. Make up scene cards for the story.
4. Write a rough draft in longhand.

This list should take me through April Fool’s Day. I’ll start tomorrow.