This Week Will Tell

I'm on page 275 out of 305 pages in the revisions of The Vase. Those revisions, as I've talked about, are focusing on POV in every scene. I also, at the publisher's request, revised the scenes that take place in the past. They are flashbacks or memories, now, and one of them I changed to a dream. It was their acquisitions editor's suggestion, the same guy who wants the POV changes.

As for the other publisher who's interested in The Vase, they sent me a contract yesterday. It's okay, as contracts go. It offered 40% across the board. Melange gives 40%, too, for digital. but 10 % for print. Virtual Tales offered 50% for both and so does this other publisher with whom I've been in contact. The worst contract was from Cogito. They offered 10% for print and only 15% for digital. Well, there's another one even worse, if you can believe it. The first publisher to offer a contract for The Vase, I won't name, but their royalties were 10% across the board.

Yeah, I'll take the 50% across the board, thank you very much. So now, it's a matter of finishing those revisions, and I should be done by the end of this week. Can't wait to get home and get it done!

The Vase Will Be Published

Yes, The Vase will be published. But even now, I'm not sure by whom. The publisher with whom I've been in contact is waiting on my revised manuscript. They all but promised a contract when they receive it. And this other publisher? Well, I advised them that I was still interested in them, because The Vase is still available, but I also said I wanted to be up front, that I was rewriting the manuscript for another publisher, and was nearly done.

And I am nearly done. I put a lot of work into it this past week, and I'd say by this week I will be done. Then what? Well, I'll send it to the publisher for whom I reworked it. And what of the other publisher? Well, it depends. The questions I  posed last week will be pertinent. Which one is the more established publisher, and the contract terms, certainly, will be a factor.

The bottom line is that The Vase will be published, and a contract should be signed this month. Which means that it could be out as soon as this coming summer. But that all remains to be seen. The good thing is that it is all coming together. Even the rewrites. They are working. And The Vase is better than ever. But for which publisher? That is the question.

Contract Offered for The Vase

But it's not the publisher with whom I've been working on the POVs. It's another publisher.

So now what do I do? I suppose a contract in hand is better than one in the bush. But still. Which one has higher royalties? Which one is more likely to sell the book? Which one has books already selling well? Which one is more established and less likely to tank, like what happened to the first publisher who had offered a contract for The Vase.

Or which publisher is less likely to be a flaky publisher, like the second publisher who had offered a contract for The Vase. Those are serious questions to me. I guess it's better to have two publishers interested than one. And better one than none. But not always. It would have been better to have NO publisher than a publisher like Cogito. No need to rehash that experience, it's all documented on this blog. If you want to know about it, just click on the archives under Cogito.

Well, this is a good thing. Stay tuned.

An Improved Manuscript

Well, I just have to say that this latest revision of The Vase is making it a much better manuscript. And yeah, the POV 'corrections" are a part of that improvement. I wouldn't have thought that at first, but I have made very notable changes throughout the manuscript, and even things that I wouldn't have changed before, have been changed and for the better.

So the moral of this situation is to listen to your editors. Is the Third Person Limited narrative better than third person omniscient? I wouldn't go so far as to say it is, but I can tell you editors believe it.

Different ways to fix POVs

I'm still fixing those POV issues in The Vase, and there are many ways to do it. I don't have the time to list them, but the old saying "There's more than one way to skin a cat" does apply. One way I'll mention is to delete the part that encompasses a head hop. But if it's too important to the story, you've got to put the perspective back into the person whose POV is featured at the time.

Anyway, those distractions I talked about the other day kept me from making too much progress yesterday, but at least I got something done. And that's my plan. Something done everyday if I'm going to be finished by this month. Keep on truckin'.

Advocates? Nope

So many writers out there have advocates. You know, husbands who support them, or wives who encourage them. Even friends who are editors and beta readers. I know this because of the many writers blogs out there, and I do read a lot of them. How many times I've read some woman's blog, and she's raving about how wonderful and understanding her husband is. She's got no kids, no job, (husband supports her,) and she's got all day to write with no distractions or responsibilities. Often these bloggers lament that their houses is a mess, too.

But whatever. I'm not complaining that I have a full time job, two sons, and a wife. But when it comes to distractions, those things more than qualify. I'm lucky if I get even an hour in the day to write. And right now, I wish I could go all day. It's because I'm eager to finish the rewrite, or revisions to The Vase. A publisher is waiting on it, and that is something worth working toward.

If only it was summertime, then I'd have a couple more hours a day to get this done. Heck, I'd be done by now. Still, I should be done by this month.

Past Half Way Point

I'm rewriting The Vase, and I've just passed the half way point. I'm combing though the manuscript ensuring the POV remains with a single character in every scene. At first I thought it would be a major effort, but it's not really. And it's a good thing. I fretted having to rewrite the book, but it's not really rewriting. It's more like revising. And that's something with which I'm very familiar.

I mean, I only revised Killer of Killers a kazillion times. And I'll probably end up revising The Vase that many times, too. Right now I'm just short of it. But I'll get there.

But this time, The Vase has a publisher waiting. I mean I think it does. They said as much. But I won't divulge the publisher until after the contract has been offered and I've signed it. Then it will be official. In a couple more weeks, I should be finished. In the meantime, just keep on truckin'.