Morgan’s Musings

Except for reading through after the copyeditor has a go at my manuscript, the edits for The Legacy Of Sleepy Hollow are done! Yes! And in reflection, I’m wondering why so many authors profess to hate editing. It was fun…and easy. But I think Michelle (my editor) had something to do with that.

Oh wait. After my last rant, you were probably thinking my editor was Dr. Jeckyl/Mr. Hyde, right? LOL.

Turns out Michelle was having technical/computer problems from heck, or we’d have had these edits done a lot faster! Bless her heart. When I finally discovered what was going on with her (blowed router, bad line, all sorts of techie stuff that mostly goes right over my head), I felt bad for being in such a rush. Really bad. I’d have been pulling my hair out if I’d had to deal with all that. Sheesh!

But anyway, edits are all done… and now I’m obsessing over the teaser and excerpt.

What should I use?

. . . thinking . . .

. . . still thinking . . .

After I read through The Legacy Of Sleepy Hollow three more times, and was still no closer to making a decision on which parts of the story to use for an excerpt and teaser, I called my daughter into my office for help. Since I love every single little bit of the story, I just couldn’t choose.

Bree loves the story too, she does. All of it. But it was still no surprise, really, when she said, “I like the potato salad scene.”

<Groan>

The “potato salad” scene?

It’s good. It’s really good. In fact, I love it! Romance readers will love it, too. But what about all the rest?

What about the other readers, I asked her. The ones who are going to want to see something, some hint, of how The Legacy Of Sleepy Hollow ties into the original Washington Irving classic, The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow?

So… I go through the manuscript again, to the “potato salad” scene, and thankfully yes, it’s in there. The tie-in to the other Sleepy Hollow that I just know everyone’s going to be looking for. So I decide the “potato salad” scene will be fine for the teaser my publisher asked for (although it’s a little long in word count). Now that decision is made, but…

What about the excerpt?

Obsess, obsess, obsess…

Well I finally did manage to choose. It was a difficult decision, and I may wish a thousand times over that I’d chosen a different one later, but for now, I think the excerpt I decided on is a good one. If you’re an author and you’ve ever had to do this for your own book, I’m sure you can understand.

For those who aren’t authors, choosing only a small portion of your story to let readers sample is like showing off a picture of your baby or grandbaby…but the only thing that shows up in the pic is the eyes. Or the hand. Or… you know what I mean, right? It’s just not the WHOLE picture.

<sigh>

But it’s enough, I hope, to intrigue you.

Anyway, I have to be sure it’s all approved by the publisher first, but as soon as I get word that it is, I’ll post a link to the excerpt so you can read it. Until then, keep wondering…potato salad??? LOL

Morgan