WWTBAM Bored

Note: Not a political post.

I just completed another manuscript, typing THE END for the 12th time earlier today.

This one, like most of my others, is a middle grade mystery, called Devin Drake and The Family Secret. It's the follow-on to Devin Drake: World's Worst Magician, which is still hanging around on my hard drive. In the Family Secret, besides being a magician, Devin is also a necromancer (he can communicate with the dead). A friend named Eva asks Devin to investigate why her late grandfather, Dmitri, is trying to contact her. Devin uses magic and his powers as a medium to delve into Dmitri's past to find the connection between Dmitri's outcast brother, their Greek restaurant and a secret family recipe. Can Devin figure it all out for Eva before her big cooking contest?

You'll see!

Unlike in the movies where the writer pulls the final sheet of the manuscript from the typewriter, places it on the pile and immediately sends it off to his agent or editor, my work must be edited, re-edited, then edited some more. Beta readers must shake their heads and mark it up. It will be months before my agent gets a whiff of it.

After this I hope to take a break. I started writing ten years ago this month and haven't stopped. My motto is BIC, HOK (butt in chair, hands on keyboard). We have Netflix, now, so maybe I'll check it out. Hey, it's Game of Thrones! I say that knowing full well that a SNI (shiny new idea) is hovering nearby, waiting to put an end to that thinking.

Hmm. Now it's on my shoulder. Now that SNI is whispering to me.

Okay, maybe just one chapter. Uh oh.

My name is Vandal and I'm a writer.

I recommend this Clark guy. He has some wack going on in his stories. I approve this message.

Beebs52 wrote:I recommend this Clark guy. He has some wack going on in his stories. I approve this message.

You approve of anything wack.

Excellent, Vandal!

Beebs52 wrote:I recommend this Clark guy. He has some wack going on in his stories. I approve this message.

He's a good actor, too. I've met him. He fooled me. I couldn't tell he was wack. Well, except for him turning is head towards the side and whispering "Shhhhh.... they'll hear you." every 5 minutes or so.

BackInTex wrote:

Beebs52 wrote:I recommend this Clark guy. He has some wack going on in his stories. I approve this message.

He's a good actor, too. I've met him. He fooled me. I couldn't tell he was wack. Well, except for him turning is head towards the side and whispering "Shhhhh.... they'll hear you." every 5 minutes or so.

That was you?

Vandal wrote:

BackInTex wrote:

Beebs52 wrote:I recommend this Clark guy. He has some wack going on in his stories. I approve this message.

He's a good actor, too. I've met him. He fooled me. I couldn't tell he was wack. Well, except for him turning is head towards the side and whispering "Shhhhh.... they'll hear you." every 5 minutes or so.

That was you?

No, I was the one standing in front of you. The only one you were talking to that cast a shadow.

BackInTex wrote:

Vandal wrote:

BackInTex wrote:
He's a good actor, too. I've met him. He fooled me. I couldn't tell he was wack. Well, except for him turning is head towards the side and whispering "Shhhhh.... they'll hear you." every 5 minutes or so.

That was you?

No, I was the one standing in front of you. The only one you were talking to that cast a shadow.

The groundhpg. Now I remember.

Vandal wrote: The groundhpg. Now I remember.

Finally! It only took 12,403 times.

Congratulations! Now you can do four rewrites and call the finished product your final draft.

My favorite spec script is titled The Family Secret. It has no resemblance to your book.

Congrats!
Love,

Let's rewind here a second. "World's Worst Magician"? That's a superb hook, mister. That is a title that yells out "pick me up and investigate". I assume you're not quite pleased with it at this stage of the game if it has been idle for awhile, but it may be worth applying some spit and polish to. Seriously, that title is eye catching and tickles the brain with amusement.

FWIW.

T_Bone0806 wrote:Let's rewind here a second. "World's Worst Magician"? That's a superb hook, mister. That is a title that yells out "pick me up and investigate". I assume you're not quite pleased with it at this stage of the game if it has been idle for awhile, but it may be worth applying some spit and polish to. Seriously, that title is eye catching and tickles the brain with amusement.

FWIW.

WWM kind of got caught in the vortex. I wrote it while still with agent 2 (of 3), but that agent was incompetent and eventually left the business. No agent was interested in it, so I wrote two more novels before I snagged agent 3 (current) with The Dragon's Song. She won't consider the other work until Dragon is sold (we're hoping soon), so WWM , The Night Train and the new one are just waiting their turn. It's a slow business.

I could have published it but I think it's worth waiting to be published well. I re-wrote it last summer (switched from 3rd to 1st person).

Congratulations on finishing this one. Now comes the fun part of all the book signings....