Previous entry: "#101.7: Welcome To The Next Hundred"
Next entry: "#103: Editation"

12/01/2007: "#102: First Entry For December 2007"

Music: Beastie Boys
Mood: it's snowing! in Seattle!

Hello folks! I went back to Boston for Thanksgiving early due to the death of my grandfather. I am dedicating the book to him and I got to tell him that even though I did not get to see him before he passed away.

Anyways, I am back at the helm of my supercomputer here. I have been spending the afternoon poring over my books for information on manuscript formatting. This next edit will be both a format edit as well as a grammar edit. The first edit I did was the first time I had read the book as a complete work. It was satisfying, but I knew I had to whittle away a good chunk of it. The editing took a little longer than I had thought, mainly because I was still weary from the process of writing it. I finished the first edit in the middle of October, and have taken another month and a half off.

One of the many things I got from my trip back to Boston was the fire to focus on getting this manuscript out of my hands and into those of an agent. My passion is writing. I am a writer. My current job is something that I do for money. I need to structure my time around my writing, not around my job. Unfortunately, it is all to easy to forget that in the day-to-day sense. I had the focus locked in for the six months that I created the manuscript. I need to get back into that zone once more and complete what I started, and what I started will not be finished until I get the book published. Before I left I created the possibility of the book being published by 11/11/2008 so I can give signed copies of the book to everyone for Christmas '08. Updating the athenaverse regularly will make it so that these promises to myself and my adoring public are up on the interweb for all to see and call me on.

If I lock in, I can get this second edit done by next Saturday, 12/8/07. I will have the first manuscript package, complete with cover letter and synopsis ready to send out to an agent of my choosing by Christmas. It will be my Christmas present to myself and the world. All I have to do is focus like the proverbial shark with a frickin' laser beam attached to its head and go for it. Doing anything else in life besides going to work or the gym (and the occasional update here) is a distraction from this task I have put before myself. Ready steady go!