Writing at three o’clock in the morning…what was I thinking?

I was thinking I was tired as hell, fed up with reading Age of Eden for the umpteenth millionth time, and really wanted to bite the bullet and finish it up. I think we've really reached the point where in order to improve the book further we need some new eyes to tell us what works and what doesn't. There is still so much than can be done with, so much that NEEDS to be done to it, but Stacey and I have both read it so many times that I really feel like it's all starting to blur together.

So, what's the next step? Well, it's in my partner in crime's hands now. She's going to give it one more read through/edit and then it's going to be sent to each of our three carefully chosen readers. Can you say freak out time? I wonder if every aspiring or published author finds themselves in this situation. I'd say it's probably a pretty common thing, considering the majority of writers are harder on themselves than anyone else could be. I can't speak for anyone else, but I know that I am extremely picky and self conscious of my own writing. As cliché as it sounds, I'm definitely my own worst critic.

Since we've almost reached the point where it's time to at least start planning book 2, I wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to start making a list of writing methods that both worked and didn't work while we were writing the first book. I really feel like we have both learned a lot about each other and our individual styles of writing. We've learned about organization, what editing technique works best, and how we organize our timing schedule. But, I have to wonder if our writing itself has grown. I'd like to think it has, but as I said before I am so critical of my own writing that I don't think I'm the best person to judge. Although, I can say that I am proud of what we've accomplished and I think Stacey's writing gets better and better every day.

Now, what to do next…I think coming up with a general outline for book 2 would be a good idea. But not today. Today, I just want to profit off of someone else's hard work for a while. J.R. Ward, here I come.