Wednesday, December 24, 2008

MIA!

Hey faithful blog readers - at least I hope there's still someone reading this somewhere! Although most of you are probably off drinking and making merry with your families. Hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas and a new year filled to the brim with book contracts. I hope the same for myself :)
I've been absent most of December due to the wonderful birth of my beautiful boy on November 25th! He was early and we had a slightly rocky start but all is now perfect with Archie Edward. That's now three gorgeous little heroes for me alongside my big hero, so me and the big hero are calling it quits on the baby-making!

Speaking of baby making HUGE congrats to my lovely writing buddy Bec Sampson on the birth of her latest heroine. What a special Christmas Eve this is turning out to be!!

Other specialness came in the form of an email this morning from Lucy Gilmour - Assistant Editor at M&B, who emailed me her commentary on my mss from the Feel The Heat contest. 

In short she said:
*She loved my opening line and chapter, my unique voice, the heroine and the premise. Main positive - they wanted to read on!!
*They'd like to see the hero developed more and a little more insight into a) why he's attracted to the heroine and b) what his conflicts are!!! Hmm... I've got work to do :)
*With regards to the rest of the mss, they a) wan
t to see the full when I have revised according to b) the alphaness of the hero, c) the emotional conflicts of hero and heroine, which need to be deepened and d) really make clear the heroine's internal conflicts.

So... the plan from here on. Spend the next few days rereading my mss in full and making notes, then get stuck into rewriting on Lucy's suggestions. I'm hoping to submit the full by end of January but am realistic that with a new baby, t
here may be slight delays!!

Speaking of new baby... here's a pic!

11 comments:

Barbara said...

Congrats, Rach! Archie is adorable and I am glad both of you are well.

Take a few days off and enjoy the family before you start tackling WWMM.

Happy Holidays.

Barbara

Lorraine said...

Congratulations on Archie and also on finally hearing from your editor (!!!) - I look forward to seeing your chapter up on the ihearts site soon :-)

Eleni Konstantine said...

Oh isn't Archie so cute. Glad he is doing well.

Great feedback for you Rach - I'm sure we will be celebrating your book sale in 2009.

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

Lucy King said...

Archie looks gorgeous. Congrats on your feedback - so looking forward to reading your chapter! Happy Christmas :)

Aideen said...

What an absolute cherub! He's a very handsome little man already.
Best of luck as you tackle all those heroes, to say nothing of the one on paper!
Excellent feedback, I look forward to reaing your chapter in the new year.

All the best,
Aideen.

Sussan Marz said...

Merry Christmas RACH! Glad the adorable Archie is doing fine. Fingers crossed for you regarding the manuscript and hope the New Year brings a whole lot of awesomeness to you.

Rachael Johns said...

Hey ladies... thanks so much for your congrats on Archie and positive vibes on the mss. It's daunting rewriting when you've got an editor ready to take a look :)
Rach!

Christina Phillips said...

Aw, Rach, Archie is absolutely gorgeous!

And huge congrats on receiving the feedback from Your Editor!

Here's to a wonderful 2009!!!

Kirsty @ Bonjour Quilts said...

How gorgeous. He's a real cutie, Rach.

Best of luck with the edits. How cool to have someone 'in the know' to help you make your story even better. Can't wait to read it!

All the best for 2009,
Kirst

Jackie Ashenden said...

Great going, Rach! A manuscript and a new baby?? You're superwoman!
Congrats on your lovely little boy and fab news re your feedback from Lucy.

Good luck with the rewrites. I can honestly say that editing a mss is a pig of a job. And yes, very daunting when you've got someone waiting for it! I'm sure yours will be great though.

Jackie

Joanne said...

Hey Rach - congrats on Archie - he's sooooo cute, love the photo you posted :)

And well done on the feedback from Lucy, that's so exciting (and positive)

Cant wait to read your updates

Sounds like 2009 is going to be a great year for you writing wise and personally!!

Joanne x