The Final Bite

I'm getting close now. I've bitten and chewed and slurped and swallowed and now here I am at the heart of it all--where I can hear the heart of the story slamming up against its ribs, rattling away in terrified excitement right before I go in for the kill, right before I come to the end. There are two chapters left on my list. One I'll finish up today. The other I'll work on for two, maybe three days. But come Tuesday, my minions, come Tuesday I'm finished with the first draft of Eighth Grade Bites.

It's thrilling me to pieces to see things wrap up the way they are--to know what's coming for Vlad in future books. I have the series planned out, you see, right to the end. And book one is laying the groundwork for what will be an incredible, fast-paced, scary, amazing ride.

Today, apart from writing, I'm beginning to organize my official query-these-agents-about-Vlad list. I'll take time researching them and then, when the time comes, I'll have a list of people who could be Vlad's ticket to the bookshelf. Organizing that list will be the easy part.

The difficulty comes in waiting.

Not for agents, not for editors, not for readers. I'm talking about the most immediate period of waiting I have to face: putting the manuscript aside for a month to gain a fresh perspective. I always get extremely hungry by the second week, which makes it difficult to focus on anything else. But I will. Because it's better for Vlad.

But right now I'm sinking my teeth in further and tearing away some tendons.