spryng | Over There

In Geneve, listening to some loud crows right outside the window, chilling out and taking it slow. Dr Lady is still in bed, not feeling well, so we'll wait and see how this day goes. It's a good day to just chill out since a) it's Sunday and most places are closed anyway, b) neither of us can speak French (although Duolingo has certainly helped with basic phrase) and our friend / translator doesn't get in until tonight, c) still a little jet-lagged. We have a whooole week to see the city and a part of France, so I'm not too rushed.

We're staying in an Air B&B, which makes it even better, because it's just like being in an apartment. No one rushing you out so they can clean and we get a full kitchen etc. First time I've tried Air B&B and I know it really depends on the host, but I like it. Staying in someone's actual apartment also means we're not in the middle of the touristy areas, so we can better play-pretend at living here. We already hit up a grocery store last night and walked up and down the canal (river? [L'Arve]) and then went to bed early, only to spend an hour listening to an epic thunderstorm. Seriously, it would have made Florida proud.

My flights were completely uneventful - okay, not entirely true. We sat for almost an entire hour in Atlanta, waiting for them to get water on the plane, so the already 8 hour flight became 9+ hours and when we got into Amsterdam, I literally had to run to make my connection. Thankfully, I hadn't checked anything. Otherwise, my only complaint would be that I didn't sleep on the flight, at all. And I don't do well with sleep dep, so Dr Lady had to navigate the city and take care of me while we waited a few hours until we could get into the apt and I could pass out. Oh, delicious sleep.

Of course, right before I got onto the plane that would take me away from internet and cell service for 12+ hours, I got an email from an agent asking for a revise & resubmit. !!! While she absolutely loved my query (even reviewed it!!) and synopsis, she thought my writing was still a little unpolished. I'd only sent her the first three chaps, so this isn't like, super serious, but it's still pretty good. While I'm still a little hurt that she thought my writing wasn't quite there yet - because honestly who wouldn't be - I think I can tell what she means, and this is still WAY more feedback than I've ever gotten. I am making progress. And she seemed legit excited about it otherwise, so I'm hoping if I buckle down and revise like she wants, I might have a smidgen of a chance.

I was also a little prepared for it because I'd already been revising in the way she wanted, just not as... hardcore, perhaps? So, apparently, even fantasy isn't supposed to be longer than 115k, 125k words max for a debut author, which absolutely boggles my mind. Mine is 130k, which I thought was fine because most of the fantasy I've read lately is closer to 150-200k. But I mentioned my wordcount to a writer friend and she expressed concern, which lead me to scour the internet for the accepted range these days and subsequently tear my hair out at the idea of having to cut this beast down by 5-15k.

For context, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell was 308k words, Name of the Wind was 250k, and the Fellowship of the Ring was 187k.

Naturally, I thought less than 150k would be absolutely safe.

But nope.

That's okay. That's fair. I totally get why. And I already started revising with that in mind and have cut it down by 1k just by eliminating redundancies, adverbs, and totally unnecessary exposition in the first fourth of the book. With a little help from my betas, hopefully I can cut it further.

Anyway. So I'm in Geneve and I'd hoped it would take my mind off of all this, but apparently not. :P