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I may be completely out of my mind, but I just entered Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Award contest, the grand prize being a $25,000 book deal.  The panel is accepting up to 10,000 entries and will narrow it to 500 by mid-March, based on the pitch submission. I would be honored just to make it past the first round–and if nothing happens, at least I went for it, right?  I almost didn’t enter due to that irritating little voice in the back of my mind that said, “What’s the point? You’ll just be wasting your time.”  But then I got to thinking about it, and I decided I might as well give it a shot.  I have everything required to enter–a completed novel, a brief biography, a pitch, and a synopsis. What I don’t have is an agent, an editor, a publisher, or a book deal–all of which can be achieved through this contest. When you’ve got nothing, you’ve got nothing to lose. I’ll keep you posted on my rise to publication or my current status of walking stereotype. After all, “those who can’t do teach.” Ha ha.

I finally finished my book proposal this weekend, other than a few minor errors I caught in yet another edit. I must admit that after writing an entire novel, editing the novel a gazillion times, writing a query letter, and writing a synopsis, the proposal, by far, was the most difficult thing I’ ve ever written in my life. That includes the 25 page research thesis I completed on all six Jane Austen novels my senior year of college.  It has been five years since I graduated from college, and until now, I have found nothing that could rival the Austen thesis. Anyway, with just a few minor correction, the proposal (I hope! gulp!) will be ready to send to the agents who require them.

It’s official–proposals are of Satan.  I have thirty pages so far and have thrown the how-to book across the room twice, but all in all, I am getting through this slowly but surely. I guess a little frustration is a small price to pay in achieving a goal I have had since I was eight.

Now that I have edited this novel about a gazillion times, I think it’s time to take a break and get a second opinion while I start to write my proposal. If by some miracle I haven’t been carted away in a straight jacket and locked in a padded room by the time I’m finished with market research, I will take a fresh look at my novel and edit yet again.

The first read-through and edit of my novel is finally finished, and I have to admit, it isn’t half bad…in my humble opinion, which means little to an agent or publisher. However, there is always room for improvement no matter how many times I edit. Regardless, I am about to go through and edit again and again and again, probably until my eyes cross permanently.

I completed the first draft of my novel today, and I feel like a huge burden has been lifted and a larger one has been added. I start the first read-through tomorrow, followed by the first major edit.