Well, it's official. Somewhat. I handed in the final version of "Waking Lazarus" last week--the version that incorporated editorial changes from my editor--and so now we begin the final edit that will bring us to the Advance Reading Copies, or ARCs.

This provided, of course, that we don't have any major changes following my final edit. Dave, my editor, made some grand suggestions--suggestions which weren't too difficult to implement--but in typical obsessive/compulsive fashion, I used those changes as a launching pad, and ended up dramatically restructuring the last half of the novel. I'm holding my breath, hoping Dave doesn't come back and say, "What in the wide, wide world of sports were you thinking?"

Let's just say that won't happen. Now we move on to ARCs, which is a totally new process for me: softbound copies of the books to go to the press, to the trade, and to other authors/celebrities for endorsements. As I've said before, I've been writing fan mails to a number of authors over the past few weeks, begging...er, politely asking them to read my novel. And I've had some wonderful responses. In the next week or so, it will be time to start sending out printed letters to authors I have no email contact information for--usually, to their agents. I'm still torn whether I should write a letter first, asking if they'd consider reading an ARC (which is what I've done to the authors I've emailed), or if I should just send the letter along with the ARC and get it over in one fell swoop.

Then again, it feels pretty good just being able to write the words: "Dear (author): I'm writing to ask if you'd read my book for a possible endorsement."