Do Over

Crap. I was supposed to do a blog about characters, right? I thought I had an idea, but then I lost it, and then I forgot what I was going to write. I spent all last week in the revision cave, trying to finish up this next Library of Athena book before it's back to the daily grind at the Day Job and grad school gets back in session. I'm also trying to rewrite Talisman of Zandria for the new publisher. So I'll talk about that.

How often do we wish we had a chance for a do-over? I'm getting that chance with the Zandria books. And boy, am I glad. I appreciate everything the first publisher did for me, don't get me wrong. They were just starting out when they signed me, and we all learned a bunch of stuff together. Maybe not the best way to do things, but it's what we had to work with. Now that I'm going over this again, ten years later, I am cringing at some of the things that made it into print the first time around.

Ugh! What was I thinking? Too much narrative, not enough dialogue, a couple of tiny POV-shifts. in fact, I don't love the main character much either anymore, so I'm sprucing her up a bit. She's too young for her age.

How did this book ever make it out into the world? And yet I've had good reviews for it, and kids who read it love it. Just goes to show, I guess, that readers are really what matter in the end. I honestly don't even know if I would write a story like this now; it's cute and sweet and fun, but I've grown so much and kidlit has changed in ten years that I don't know if this quiet little story would make it. I've re-shaped it and changed it a little, but the same basic story is there at heart. It'll always be my first story, and I'll love it, if for no other reason than that.

But I'm glad for a do-over.