Objective Achieved!

July is nearly over...nearly.

But something else that's over for sure, is my final read-through for the sequel, The Master Key.  Yay, me!!  I feel as if I've accomplished something.  You know, that satisfied feeling that you know you've achieved something productive from the sheer sweat of your brow.  That you, and you alone, have done it.  What a good feeling that is!  It's like how I felt when I finished writing my first book, The Lancaster Rule: Objective Achieved!

I still can't say "first book" without grinning like an idiot...just thought I'd add that in (grins like an idiot).

Yesterday, I read the last line in the last chapter and let out a great big sigh of relief.  I'd finished at last.  A month and a half, struggling through self-edits, rearranging some chapters, deleting other bits, adding more bits...then a final read-through, just to make sure it was coherent enough.  All done now!

First thing this morning, I outlined an email to send to Champagne Books and attached all the relevant information, then, with gritted teeth and a definite pounding of the heart...clicked the SEND button and cringed as I watched the progress bar gradually move from left to right.

Woosh, and then it was sent.

And now to wait to hear the outcome.  A few have said that there was nothing to worry about, you know, those seasoned writers who've submitted time and time again with countless books under their belts.  You know, with a track record for selling and grabbing people attention with their new books.  I still feel like a one-hit wonder, and I'm still wondering what the wonder is all about.

But my publisher's still have to like it and think it's worth something to publish it, right?  It's no matter that it's a sequel, it's still a stand-alone book in it's own right.  And I can't be thinking it's a shoe-in because it's a sequel - in fact, that had never been in my head.  A lot of other things were racing through my head, none pleasant or repeatable.

All I can do now, is wait with fingers crossed.

Sigh, it feels like the very first time I sent out a query for submission letter to an agent and publisher.  At least I've got a really long weekend to obliterate any negative thoughts out of my head.  As it is every end of July, for years and years, Barbados gets ready to blow off some steam with it's Crop Over celebrations.  The final, end-all, is a massive jump-up session down Spring Garden Highway, where revellers get blitzed with booze and music in micro-costumes and have a blast.

I'll be home, with the hubby, enjoying peace and quiet like we usually do.  Maybe chill with some friends, family, get inebriated (like, yeah! what's the point of not in a 4-day weekend), eat junk and just relax.

And then Friday we leave for Toronto! Yay!!! And get inebriated, eat junk, chill with friends and family all over again.  Well, I will be inebriated since hubby is a tea-toter.